7/31/2019
We’re All In This TogetherWE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER
3 minute read “We’re all in this together”. Recently a friend described attending our church this way. I had never thought about it quite like that, but realized immediately how true those words were. We’re all sinners. Nothing we do, no church we attend, no services we perform, no money we give~ None of these things makes us any better than the person sitting next to us. None of these things guarantees us a home in heaven. (Isaiah 64:6, John 14:6, Romans 3:10, I Peter 1:18-19) Only Jesus. And we’re all in this together. I’m so thankful that the Bible didn’t stop at the verse~ ALL have sinned and come short of God’s glory. (Romans 3:23) God made sure we knew how very, very much He loves the WHOLE world, ALL of us, (John 3:16, I John 4:10) and even though we are all sinners and we all deserve punishment (Romans 6:23) ~God didn’t leave us hanging. He didn’t leave us wondering what would happen to us when we die. Instead, He gave us ALL the Gift of His only Son who took our punishment and hung on a cross. (Romans 5:8, Ephesians 1:7,I John 2:2) We don’t have to wonder anymore. We can know, because He tells us so. (I John 5:13) He tells us there is nothing we can physically do to be with Him in heaven when we die. (Ephesians 2:8&9) All we need is a heart of repentance and faith to believe in His gift of eternal life through Jesus. It’s all Jesus. None of us are better than the other. Not my husband (the pastor), not me, not the Sunday School teachers or King’s Kids workers, not the Children’s Church workers or any leader in any church anywhere. Because we’re all in this together. We’re all a bunch of sinners who desperately need Jesus. You don’t have to have some miraculous, pivotal moment in this journey. There are no “rules”. It doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t have to attend church or be baptized. You can be sitting alone at home or on a quiet beach. You can be in the middle of a busy restaurant or a crazy commute. Gods gift is there for the taking no matter where you are or what you are doing at this very moment. If you haven’t had that time in your heart of hearts that you have put your faith and trust in His gift of Jesus, you can right now! Just talk to God. He’s right there waiting. You can tell Him you love Him. You can say you’re sorry. You can thank Him for sending Jesus. You can just believe. (Romans 10:9-10) And you can know that I’m right there with you~ a sinner who needed Jesus and asked Him to be her Savior when I was 13. It doesn’t make me perfect. I still mess up every day, but thank God He loves me so much, He continually forgives and He whispers to my heart~ It’s okay Charisse~ We’re all in this together.
12/26/2018
It’s True, God Chose You!IT’S TRUE, GOD CHOSE YOU!
As I watched The Nativity on my television that day~ I saw the angel come to Joseph. Come to Mary. Speaking to their hearts~ ”Don’t be afraid.” Words of assurance. This was God. He would be born of the Holy Spirit. Messiah and Savior of the world. A baby. I saw His birth. I saw the manger. I watched His earthly parent’s faces filled with joy and love for this Child Who meant the world to them. I saw the gift of Christmas. My heart pondered the ones God had chosen to raise the Savior of all mankind. The parents whose house Jesus would live and be raised in. They must’ve been so special for God almighty to choose them. Why? Why did God choose Joseph? Why did God choose Mary? God answered me that day. He whispered words to my heart that brought tears. I chose you too Charisse. I chose you for my Son to live and dwell. Every day He is there with you because He has been born in you. That day, so many years ago, someone showed me God’s words of incredible love. Someone read me the Christmas story and told me that baby, grown into a man, died on the cross for me. He took my sin on Himself so that I could be justified and forgiven. The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart. I was no longer afraid of death. Christ was born in me and every day since that day He lives in me, and with me. There is nothing that can separate me from Him and His love for me. I am not special. I have done nothing, not one thing to deserve this. Yet God chose me, because I am His and He loves me. And He loves you. God’s gift of His Son is for you as well. The gift of being born again. The gift of everlasting life. The gift of Christmas. Just as the angel spoke to Mary and she in turn had incredible faith to believe that the Messiah would live in her~ God is speaking to you. Have faith and believe that He can live in you as well. He can live in your heart and life every single day and one day receive you into the home He has prepared for you in heaven. No fear of death any longer. You can be His manger. You can be His home here on earth. You can be the light of His star that leads others to Him. Not because you are special. Not because you are good enough. Not because you go to church. But only because of God’s love. Only because of Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross. Don’t be afraid. God’s words give us assurance. By faith believe and accept God’s beautiful gift today. The gift of a baby~ The gift of Jesus~ The gift of Christmas! Isaiah 43:10&11 John 15:16 Titus 3:5 Galatians 2:16
11/27/2018
It’s In The BagIT’S IN THE BAG
I was dubbed “The bag lady” by my teasing father~in~law. It’s true. A fact about me that I’m sure many of you don’t know. I stitch linen replicas of antique bags, and I love it. Almost always, the customer will want the initials of a loved one stitched onto the bag. Someone who is precious to them. A treasure. I can’t help but think of that person. That life. This touches my heart as I stitch. These are more than just bags to me. More than just orders for customers. They are memories and love and joy. I think of these initials and the love they hold in each person’s heart. How dear that loved one is. Or was. And just as precious as our loved ones are to us, we are so much more precious to God. I think about His life, and it touches my heart. It’s more than just a story. So much more. He lived on this earth. Born in a manger. He knows what it feels like to be human. He understands. And in all His glory, because of His unfathomable love, He died on the cross for our sins. But it doesn’t end there. It ends in such sweetness that it brings tears. Despite my sin, and because of His love, God literally tells me in His word that~my sins are sealed up in a BAG! And He SEWS up ALL my iniquity. Job 14:17 My name is on that bag. Sealed up and forgiven for eternity. He knows me. He loves me. He cares about me. Not because of anything I have done, but because of everything He did for me. “Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.” Psalms 91:14 “Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.” Isaiah 43:1b “...for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.” Exodus 33:17b I deeply want my orders to be beautiful to those who request them. A treasure. Yes, I am a bag lady~ and my longing is that everyone would see the sin our hearts hold, but not only that~ to truly see your heart as God sees it, through the love of His Son, repenting and requesting God’s precious gift this holiday season. Your own name, written in God’s book of life. Revelation 20:12&15, 21:27. Your own bag, your sins sealed up, never to be remembered again. Job 14:17 A home in heaven. John 14:1-3 That’s the gift I wish for you to receive. The beautiful gift God has given us. John 3:16 A treasure that surpasses any you have ever known. All in a bag. “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that fail not. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Luke 12:32-34
6/12/2018
This Place Called HomeWhen my kids were little, I used to have chore sheets for each of them. Every day after school they were required to do their specific chore and then mark it off the list. Some days would be good days. Happy moods. Willing hearts. Other days would be~ I. Hate. These. Stupid. Chores!Why can’t we just play outside with our friends and have fun?. At times I believe this is how many adults view God. They think that He is up in heaven with a list of rules they have to obey in order to get His approval. They’re afraid that if they choose God they will have to give up too much. They’re afraid they will miss out on all the fun. They look at church and the Bible as if it were one big chore list. But that’s not God. (1 Corinthians 2:9) There is nothing we could ever do to “earn” our way to heaven. (Ephesians 2:8-9) No rules we must to follow. No commandment we must keep. Church isn’t about rules. God isn’t about rules. He’s not up in heaven waiting to hit you over the head if you don’t mark off your daily chore. He doesn’t have a list of things He demands you give up before He will allow you into Heaven. (1 John 4:8) God is all about love and we desperately need to understand the extent of His love, (Psalm 103:12, Romans 8:38-39) and realize that if we could ever do enough good deeds, enough chores, if we could follow every single rule~ What was the point of His Son dying on the cross for us? God looks at us and He doesn’t see a chore list. He sees His Son and He loves us in spite of our sinful self. (Romans 5:8) All God wants is you. All He asks for is your heart. (Romans 10:9-10) My children had some very close friends growing up. “Best friends”. I truly loved all of them but that love didn’t even come close to the love I had for my own child. (Isaiah 49:15, 66:13) But God~ He loves us AS HE LOVES HIS OWN SON JESUS! (John 17:23) That’s PROFOUND!! It is mind blowing and hard for this mama to even comprehend. Oh my friend~ that’s what you’re missing out on. The love of a Father that would give His own Son for you! (John 1:11-12, 3:16, 4:10&14, 6:35, 1 John 4:9-10) And when we realize all that- we realize that church isn’t about rules. Its all about God the Father and His amazing, unending love for us. It’s Home. It’s a place where we can have child like peace and comfort in a messy world. Where we can be God’s child and rest in Him. My children are all adults now~ but there’s something special that happens when they come to visit. There are no chore lists, there are no rules. There is only love and fellowship with mom and dad. Child like comfort and security, love and rest in the place they once called Home. Won’t you come home today? (Deuteronomy 31:8, Exodus 33:14, Psalm 4:8, 23:4, 37:7, 62:1-2, 119:76, Philippians 4:7)
2/21/2018
We Have This HopeIt was late and a school night. Everyone was tired. As my grandma straightened the blankets one more time, I noticed her hands lingered a little longer. Everyone kissed grandpa and walked out of the room and down the cold, sterile hall toward the elevator. I watched them walk ahead of me but something made me stop, so I turned and walked back into his room. He was sleeping and I wasn’t even sure if he could hear me, but I took his hand and whispered~ ”I love you so much grandpa”~then leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. I don’t know what made me do it, but I’m so glad I did. The next morning I woke to the phone ringing and my grandma’s sobs. I was a sophomore in high school, but I pulled the covers over my head and I cried like a baby. Losing a loved one is so hard, it doesn’t matter how old you are. Everyone’s heart breaks. He was my grandpa, my mom’s dad, my grandma’s husband. So many emotions and memories wrapped up in each one of those titles. My personality is the type that makes me want to run away and hide from the world when faced with tremendous heartache. But that doesn’t make it go away, and heart ache returns~ again and again. Even my wedding album reminds me of how often heartache has come for a visit. In one particular picture, 8 out of 15 of our family members are no longer living. Death has taken them. It is no respector of persons or titles, days or hours. Can we ever avoid this pain that is almost unbearable? We honestly cannot. As a pastors wife, I hear this question again and again and yet, I have no answer. Inevitably, we will endure pain and heartache, but we don’t have to endure it without hope. That morning, that phone call caused the tears to flow and since that time, many others have as well. But they did not flow for my grandpa, our cousins, my sister in law, my mom, or all of our precious grandparents. They flowed from the emptiness my heart felt for their absence. They flowed for the sorrow my other loved ones were going through. They flowed for the dark and lonely days ahead that my loved ones would be facing, but not for those that had gone home to heaven. And so, my hope is on the Solid Rock. Because of the gift of God’s Son and His death on the cross, my hope is in my Savior. My hope lies in knowing that my loved ones are in heaven with Him right now, dancing to the angel’s music, laughing with loved ones, sitting at their Savior’s feet. No more suffering this world has to offer. Can you even imagine? They can run to Jesus and hug Him any time they want to. And that’s the hope that puts a smile on my face. That hope allows me to face tomorrow. I don’t have to run away. I don’t have to hide. That hope tells me, it will be okay. Do you have that hope? God forbid, if something happened to you, would your family find comfort in that hope? Let that hope be your hope today. Titus 1:2, Titus 2:13, Titus 3:7, Colossians 1:5, Colossians 1:27, I Thessalonians 4:13, Romans 5:2, Romans 15:4, Psalm 42:11
4/8/2017
A Home In HeavenI'm a huge coffee drinker and can easily down an entire pot by myself, so one year while our family was on vacation in NC my husband bought me my own pot for our room. It stays at his grandparents home all year until we return again the following Spring. Every year I pack up the coffee pot and get nostalgic. It's only a coffee pot but it holds so many memories. It also holds on to the hope that I will see it again next year, along with my many loved ones. It waits patiently in grandma's attic, wondering who will return to the beach house next year and eager to hear the love filled laughter from all the other rooms. But for a year, it hears only silence. My husband's family members have been coming here in the Spring, since he was a baby. His sisters and brother, parents, aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents and now our grandchildren too. We all stay together in one house, every year looking forward to "the beach". When we drive away at the end of our stay, tears are always shed. Sometimes an entire year will go by before we see each other again. I recently read a quote that said "Heaven is a little closer in a house by the sea." Heartache has hit us all during these years. We lost our cousin Alan, and then our precious Amy, Mike's youngest sister. We lost parents and grandparents and our hearts wept. And for a moment it seemed like our laughter turned to silence. But we return and along the way God has brought us new loved ones, new spouses, new cousins and sweet grandbabies who are now so precious to us. We laugh and we love, we have hearts bursting with joy, not just because we have each other, but more importantly because of our great Savior. He fills our hearts with laughter when others might have thought that laughter would never return. He fills our hearts with joy because we know that we will see our loved ones again, just like that old coffee pot. We might not see them at "the beach" house but we have a sure confidence that we will see them when we go home to heaven. That home will far surpass the most beautiful ocean front house there is, and the laughter and joy it's halls bring will last an eternity. An eternity with our loved ones. An eternity with Jesus. I will fill my heart with memories as I pack this coffee pot back up in its box and I will forever be thankful to my Father for sending His Son to die for me. Because of His amazing gift, I will close up that box and know in my heart that we will all be together again.
3/4/2017
HospitalityI've been reading a study on hospitality and have a very sad confession. I am not hospitable. I'm more like a hermit. This is an area in my life that needs a lot of work. I enjoy having people over for an hour or two, but then I'm ready for them to leave so I can put on my pajamas and chill out. In fact, I wouldn't mind never leaving my house. Yep, like a hermit. I use my shyness as an excuse when in reality, God has all the power in the world to help me overcome this. Too often I choose to stay in my little bubble. Hospitality is mentioned often in the Bible. I just read a devotional about a family that had missionaries stay with them for a month and all I could think was " I could never do that" and immediately felt conviction. Especially when God brought to my mind those who did it for me. When Mike and I felt led to look for a church for him to pastor, my parents opened their home to us and we moved in with our 4 children for almost a year. From there we moved to Caseville with the pastor and his wife and lived in the upstairs of the parsonage for 6 months. In my small, selfish mind I always looked at these times as "my poor family~no home, our things packed away in garages for a year and a half, our family crammed in tiny rooms..." it was always me, me, me. I never opened my eyes to the hospitality of these precious people. Both had kids that were long gone. Happy to have their own schedules and the quietness of home to themselves. And then total chaos moved in. Two young people who were excited about the ministry and future ahead, constantly babbling about ideas, along with 4 children all under the age of 6. Noise and fingerprints and fights and sickness, not to mention toys everywhere. The fact of the matter is, if we have accepted Christ's wonderful gift of salvation~ our amazing Father has opened His magnificent home to us, for eternity. This house I live in is not really my home, it's just a rental for my time here on earth. God gives us opportunities to share with others the comfort, peace and love we feel when we think of home. What a beautiful picture of what our heavenly Father has done for us. True comfort, true peace, true love can only be found in His presence. The mortgage has been paid in full on the cross and a home in heaven can be ours forever. What a lesson to be learned. Today is a good day for me to start my real estate training and open my eyes to those who need that comfort, peace and love that a home can bring. Mine can be just the beginning.
10/1/2016
To Die Is GainDeath can be a scary thing. It's something we don't ever want to think about, especially the death of someone we love, but at some point we all have to face it. Whether it was expected or not, it is crushing when a dear loved one dies. It is crippling and takes the breath out of you, making you feel like you don't have the strength to make it through another day. My former pastor, Blaine Farley, recently went home to be with Jesus. He touched my heart for eternity. He was always joyful and truly showed the love of Jesus to everyone he came in contact with. My heart breaks for his family, as I know that light that shone so brightly is no longer present. And even though it was expected, it is crushing. When we got the phone call that my sister in law Amy died, it was such a shock that my feeble heart did not want to believe it and when I got the call from my dad that my mom had unexpectedly passed away the crushing shock was present every single day. Each morning when I woke, my heart cried. But it did not cry without hope, as it doesn't cry without hope now for Pastor Farley. I KNOW that my loved ones are in the presence of Jesus, because of HIM and the love HE has for us. Because they accepted His gift of salvation and knew in their own hearts that they had a home in heaven one day. When I think of my dear Pastor Farley, I can't help but think of the words to a song I learned while I was under his ministry..."there is no peace, no joy, no thrill, like walking in His will, for me to live is Christ, to die is gain" That was my Pastor. He shone Christ's love and joy and the thrill of being God's child. I am so thankful for him and all he taught me and I'm so thankful to my Heavenly Father for loving me so much that He sent His Son to die for me so that I can have a home in heaven one day too, and see my loved ones again. My heart might be heavy, but I know that the death of my loved ones was only gain to them because of God's gift. I know that the peace and the joy and the thrill that Pastor Farley had here on earth cannot ever compare to the peace, joy and thrill he has in the presence of His Savior. That is our comfort. It can be your comfort too.
9/3/2016
That Master BathroomI was sitting in my bathroom last night at 2am (one of the joys of giving birth to four kids and being 50) and in my sleepy state talking to God. He put a thought into my head that made me chuckle out loud. My new master bath used to be my son's bedroom, but before that it used to be our bedroom. When we moved here 22 years ago, we moved into this parsonage with the previous pastor and his wife. We lived in the small upstairs for 5 months with all our belongings packed into one end of the garage. (This was after living with my parents for a year and having all our things packed into their garage) All my kids slept in one room and Mike and I in the other. It was crammed and miserable. It was very hard keeping four young children quiet upstairs so they wouldn't bother the pastor. It's so easy for us as women to focus on the "now" and struggle with it in our own strength. We feel sorry for ourselves and don't give our problems to God and ask Him for help. At that time I felt like it would never end, we would never have our own home, I would never see my belongings again. BUT GOD KNEW. He knew that someday down the road I would be so humbled to have this home, His home, featured in a magazine. He knew that someday down the road that bedroom that seemed so tiny that Mike and I slept in, and shushed baby Kathryn to sleep in, would be our master bathroom. A bathroom that seems so big to me now. And I'm sure He just smiled. I'm reminded of Paul telling us in Philippians that whatever state we are in, we should be content. I can hear myself 22 years ago, whining and complaining and saying "I know I should be content, but...". We can feel sorry for ourselves over the silliest circumstances and use that saying so flippantly, forgetting that Paul was actually in prison when he wrote it. I was talking to a dear friend this week about our children and how it's easy for us as parents to look at the choices they make when they are younger and see a future ahead for them that could be good or bad because of those choices. We have been through it as parents and we have a hard time understanding why our children won't listen to our advice, because we can see what is ahead. Then God showed me my own heart and how I do that to Him all the time. I'm His child but I don't always trust that He is in control and I make wrong choices and I worry and fret and have pity parties about my circumstances, when all along He knows my future and that master bathroom that will someday be mine. Whatever circumstance you might be facing right now, just know that your Father knows what is ahead and He loves you, because you are His child. A master bathroom might not be in your tomorrow but if you are His child, streets of gold are. Trust your Father, give Him your circumstances then take His hand and walk with Him into that awesome future He has waiting just for you.
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