Impossible Prayers & Morning Miracles

Birds sing. Red and gold streak across pastel blue as if crowning a miracle. The coolness and freshness of morning air caress sleep from my eyes. Today dawns a miracle, but another miracle captivates now. 

Not that God gives good gifts… He does. 

Not that God cares for temporal necessities… He does. 

Not that He owns hills of gold, and cattle times thousands… He does.

It’s that…  He rules in the impossible. 

That a child’s prayer is heard by the King of the Universe. That He finds no complexity in our perplexity. That unfeasible realities, farfetched dreams, impossible hopes- to human sight, look very different to Omnipotence. 

A miracle times two, but really beyond numbering floods my heart with wonder. Two and half years ago, two and a half really solid impossibilities stood in my path. And really, it doesn't matter what impossibilities face us. Today, the answer is two inches from my eyes: God rules the impossible. 

  God’s working is miraculous. 
  His storehouse is sufficient.

  His answers to prayer are as sure as His name. 

...and that's present tense.

Philippians: 120 Hope

“According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.” Philippians 1:20

With faith in what God’s doing,

And peace with what He’s done,

We can have this expectation-

That He’ll finish what’s begun.

Surrender is essential

For Christ to work His will,

But in yielding all to heaven,

Heaven can our hope fulfill.

What greater aspiration

Than this can there be found?

That Christ in me be magnified

And praise to God resound.

If this remains our longing,

Our aim, and confidence,

Then Christ and God that cannot lie,

Our hope will recompense.

So you see, the Savior’s working

Is both to will and do.

And when our hope is set on Him

It surely will come true. 

Simple Song - Unfathomable God// Part llll 7 Minute Layover

My God is so great, so strong and so mighty,

There’s nothing my God cannot do.

It could end there, but it doesn’t. 

The mountains are His,

The valleys are His,

The skies are His handiwork too.

Ding! 

“Ladies and gentlemen, please remain seated with your seat belts securely fastened. We are still in active transit to our gate. Thank you.”

My flying companions ruefully settled back into their seats for the few remaining moments of our “active transit.” We were all in the same boat, or rather, we were all on the same plane. Wintertime travel + plane de-icing = —time. It is impossible to roll toward takeoff exactly an hour after schedule, and not make for subsequently tight connections. 

We jerk to a stop. I had been tracking our tardiness beside the schedule. By that word, our arrival would be 5 minutes after the door of probation would shut. I look at my phone: 12:48. This left room to hope. 7 minutes of it.That’s 7 minutes for our door to open, everyone in front of me to wrestle their bags out of the overhead bins, and me to get to the other end of the opposite terminal. This is impossible. …But… 

The mountains belong to God. Those things that tower over us in massive defiance, threatening to topple upon us any moment. Those things that we cannot conquer, though we try. Those things, belong to God. In the face of sure defeat, we are to put our trust in Him who owns the mountains. 

Though He is well able to, God does not give us eagle’s wings to soar away from our difficulties in blissful flight. What He gives us is strength as our days. Strength to climb the mountains. Every ounce of our will power may be taxed, but the strength of God is as sure as the mountain. So we must run. 

And run I did. The whole way. My best efforts alone could not guarantee that flight, but neglecting the little humanity could do would guarantee failure. I have half a mind to leave the story there. The rest doesn’t matter. God has a plan for your life, and for mine. If He sees best that we miss a flight, that our plans get messed up, or that our hopes must find their rest deeper in Him, what difference is it? God’s plan is better. 

But I won't do that. :) Catching my breath in seat 31F, 7 minutes later, I marveled at the greatness of my God. 

The mountains.really.are.His.

Every Word...

Do you have a burden you can't carry?
Do you have a sorrow you can't bare?
Look to Jesus, not your adversary,
Even sparrows do not lack His care

Do your problems rise up like the mountains?
Do your questions seem to never cease?
Rest you case beneath the living fountains,
For they overflow with heaven's peace

When your daytime seems as black as midnight,
When you cannot see a way to go,
Turn to Him who's brighter than the sunlight,
In His time your pathway He will show

• • • • • • • • • 
Trust in Him, whose goodness changes never,
Take His word in calmness or in storm
Every promise given, stands forever,
Every word He's able to perform!

                      Every word... ;)

Thank You, Father

Father, thank You for this day,

For the privilege to pray

For communion with the King,

And a song of praise to sing

Thank You Father for the way,

You lead Your children day by day

Though all things to You are known,

To us, just what we need is shown

Thank You that Your grace is high,

Above, beyond the reach of sky

Yet it grasps the lowest soul,

That yields itself to Your control

Thank You that Your strength is there,

When all our own is weak as air

That You lend to us Your arm,

To lift us from the waves of harm

Thank You for the gift of hope,

That is to us a telescope

Bringing near what's far away,

And making clear a better day

Thank You Lord for Your commands,

That each enables its demands

Though impossible alone,

With You to fail is never known

Thank You- O how weak the word,

But it so graciously is heard

By our Father and our Friend,

From whom all good gifts do descend!

...Nothing to Fear... pt.2

      Even though I thoroughly enjoyed school, ah… the anticipation of “the end.” The end of school and all it entailed, equaled, in my mind, the beginning of work. But God is merciful. My textbooks had required several more months to complete than I had hoped for. Then there was the externship and testing and paperwork (which someone suggested was moving as fast as “molasses in the wintertime”)… and finally the end for which I had been waiting was upon me.

      But God is merciful. In His infinite wisdom, God ordained more delay. There is a difference between impatience at delay and submission to delay. God wants us to learn to Wait. On. Him. A puppy may be restrained by it’s master’s hands, but unwilling to wait for a command from his lips. It's great to see a dog wait. How much better a person?

      One by one, the opportunities and options on my list withered. My small, but very faithful clientele evaporated as soon as I started to charge for my work. Chair massage in a local business produced virtually nothing. The list of what didn’t come to fruition could continue, but the point is simply that I was not seeing God direct me to what I honestly believed I was supposed to do.

      January, February, March, April… There was one door left to my finite way of thinking. One for which I had higher hopes, and even expectation than any other. My externship had been in a local nursing home, and both the employees and I hoped that I could continue working there. I had been waiting for a response with the requirements of their mother institution for working in that facility, and then… finally...

      “Hope deferred (or delayed) makes the heart sick...” so says the wise man. Then why is waiting such a positive thing? Good question, but keep reading. “…when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.” Solomon also wrote, “The fruit of righteousness is a tree of life…” Proverbs 13:12, 11:30. Delay may be unnatural to us. It may even feel wrong. It may be a chastening experience, but it is “for our profit.” For the joyous purpose that “we might be partakers of His holiness.” “Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness.” Hebrews 12:10,11. Perhaps that is why waiting is not a one time experience for the christian. A tree takes years to grow and develop. Hmmm… not a moment, or a day… but a lifetime.

...Nothing to Fear... pt. 1

      Waiting. It’s part of life. A seed planted in the morning will not bear fruit in time for dinner. Yeast does not instantly turn a bowl of dough into puffy-topped loaves. Nor does the oven immediately brown the hopeful products placed inside. We have to wait. 

      Abraham had to wait. Sarah had to wait. Noah, David, and the disciples had to wait. Have we any less need of that experience than they? Do we think somehow that the ideal world would be devoid of need for patience? 

      Lamentations 3:25 says, “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.” It is good… What does that mean? Waiting is a good thing? “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” Psalm 27:14. The fulfillment of the promise is conditional upon waiting. Would the Lord make a beautiful promise dependent upon something that was bad for us to have to do? 

      In merciful love our Heavenly Father leads us down a path that includes waiting. Not merely that we can learn the benefits of patience in earthly life, but that we will learn to wait on Him. 

      So it was a year ago.

A Song to Sing

There is a song I have to sing

Of simple praise unto my King
For He has laid His grace on me
Who would be lost eternally

Were it not for the gift of One
Who loved me as His only Son
Who lived and loved and sought and died
Between two robbers crucified

I could not taste His grace so sweet
Nor ever hope His face to meet
I could not be made pure and white
Had God not pitied human plight

But pitied He and more than this
He walked on earth in holiness
That not of man's nor angel's heart
But of God's own He will impart

No seriph knows the Father's grace
But Adam's sinful, helpless race
Can taste and see its matchless strength
Its height and depth, and endless length

That human flesh- corrupt with sin
Could become pure and whole within
Is tribute to the grace of One
Who will not cease what He's begun

For even in eternity
Upon that clearest crystal sea
This song the saints will ever raise
In earnest, heartfelt, grateful praise

To Him who brought new life and birth,
To dying sinners on this earth
Not just in "them" this change to be,
But also Lord, I pray in me!

Gather the Roses

      The promises of God: what a precious blessing they are! They encourage, strengthen, uplift, ennoble. God has given them already, it is up to us what we will do with them. Will we cherish them? Will we search for them? Will we share them with those in need? Will we value them? The promise of God are like flowers: Very beautiful when you stop to look at them, but they will not stop the busy passer-by. We must take time to pick the roses. The Heavenly Gardener has many flowers suited to each need. He knows exactly which flower to give, which promise to put before our eyes at the time of greatest need. Here are a few of God's flowers. 

      "Your life is precious in the sight of God. He has a work for you to do. It is not unfolded to you now, but just walk on trustingly without a single word, because this would grieve the dear Jesus and show that you were afraid to trust Him. Lay your hand in His; He is reaching over the battlements of heaven [for it] to be laid confidingly in His. Oh, what love, what tender love has Jesus manifested in our behalf. The Bible promises are the pinks and the roses and the lilies in the garden of the Lord... Do not listen to Satan’s lies, but recount God’s promises. Gather the roses and the lilies and the pinks. Talk of the promises of God. Talk faith. Trust in God, for He is your only hope. He is my only hope." – {DG 146}

Gather the roses, the lilies, and pinks,
Destiny rests upon that which one thinks
Promises brighten the heart and the mind,
But contemplate doubts and thorns you will find

There may be briers that poke and that prick,
But cherish the blooms that near them are thick
Dwell upon trials and thorns multiply,
Though promises blossom in heaven's supply

When thistles increase, and hardships abound,
Look for the blossoms that there will be found
Flowers like promises sent from above,
Bloom bright in trials of patience and love

Contemplate blessings, and more will be seen,
Splashing their colors across fields of green
Dwell in the pastures where God's word is found,
Eating each morning from heavenly ground

Gather the roses, the lilies, each one,
Pick them ahead of the fast rising sun
Think and consider upon heaven's word,
Faith will then strengthen and hope be assured