Encouragement

One Foot in Front of the Other

~ Ami ~ Leave a comment

Maybe it’s the noise of a thousand children you carried in your body (because surely that’s how many are in the house right now). Maybe it’s 10,000 needs to meet. Maybe it’s working hard to “keep house,” but an outsider might be hard pressed to notice. Maybe it’s exhaustion from being up several times in the night— for the last six years. 

Or perhaps for you it’s something different. Something far more weighty like chronic illness, or being broken by someone else’s sin, or a sudden plummet to the valley of death. 

Maybe today is hard. Maybe it’s crushing. 

Either way, here’s to everyone putting one foot in front of the other…

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

As a younger believer this verse astonished me. It still does. This is God’s view of his own? He rejoices over them. He delights in them. It’s God’s line in the sand, so to speak, his declaration of his stance toward the redeemed.

He is with them!

He saves them!

He rejoices over them with gladness!

He quiets them with his love!

He exults over them with singing!

“Don’t overuse exclamation points,” they say, but sometimes you need to. Read the verse again like it’s the best news you’ve ever heard. The Lord, Creator of all things is with you, and has definite emotions about you. “This is not an aloof, emotionless contentment but it bursts forth in joyful divine celebration: he will exult over you with loud singing.” (ESV study Bible commentary). It’s the Lord’s own exuberant answer to the people’s rejoicing in verses 14-16. It’s as if he can’t contain himself and his own delight compels him to join the party.

Believer, do not for one instant believe God is begrudging in his kindness and steadfast love for you. While some of the promises of the surrounding context will be fully realized in the new Heavens and the new Earth, this verse came to fruition at the cross. The realities are yours to remember.

“The Lord your God is in your midst.”

Never will he leave or forsake his chosen ones again. The punishment was paid; the veil was torn. No longer does God reside only in the Holy Place. God, in human flesh came to dwell with man. (Hebrews 13:5, 4:14-16, Luke 2)

He sees your weariness when you rise yet again to respond to a child in the night. He gives grace to endure, and a song in the night. His compassion compels your compassion.

He is near when you battle to discern truth from error, to untangle lies you’ve been taught. His Word is truth, and he will lead you in it.

He sees you stop to adore him even when the day goes awry, and he meets you there, filling your heart with impossible joy.

He holds you as you wrestle with the fallout of another’s sin. He knows your faith is clinging by a thread, and he clings to you. His word says no man can pluck you out of his hand.(John 10:28) Your faith is fraying, but he does not despise your weakness. He is strong when you are weak. 

He feels the crushing weight of your grief, and sits beside you in the valley. He won’t rush you through it. But he binds the gaping wounds, his tears mingling with yours.

And he is with you. He is transcendent but he is also imminent, nearer to you than your own skin. If you are in Christ, you are a recipient of his good favor, and only his good favor. 

“A mighty one who will save.”

Unlike earthly heroes, God the mighty warrior doesn’t fail, or quit. He will always win. And when he rescues his people, he explodes in song – for them, rejoicing over them as a groom delights in his bride.

My favorite person to look at when I go to a wedding is not the bride. Of course I see her. She is magnificent and stunning in her bridal array. But it’s the groom who catches my attention. Watch him watch her. Whether he’s sobbing or beaming, his eyes never leave hers. Adoration radiates from his very soul. “This is the one whom my soul loves! Isn’t she marvelous?” 

“He will rejoice over you with gladness.”

Wouldn’t it be a sad marriage for a groom to merely tolerate his bride, to view her as a business transaction, to put up with her? Rather the best groom, the mighty warrior behaves like he’s won the most valuable treasure known to man. He exults over her, but in this case the bride is radiant only because he’s made her so. He deserves adoration, but he lavishes her with it.

Of course this verse spoke volumes to the girl who used to think God’s love was stoic—to the one who thought she still needed to earn God’s favor, though she would have dogmatically said salvation was by grace alone, through faith alone. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

But on my worst days, I already have God’s favor. It was won for me. It was purchased. I can neither diminish it or earn more of it (for there is none to earn).

My goodness, we could keep unpacking this. It’s utterly life changing to remember how God sees his beloved!. But it is the little phrase right in the middle that’s been banging around in my brain for weeks. It’s this phrase I hope ministers to you when you’re putting one foot in front of the other today. 

“He will quiet you by his love.” 

Not silence, but quiet. 

It bears connotations of calming fears, of restoring peace, of wholeness rather than brokenness. He restores rest to to the weary soul. His posture is not a stern, hands on hips, scowling face. His words are not harsh.

He quiets your soul with gentle embrace. Like a weaned child leans agains his mother for comfort, so do we lean on the Lord. (Psalm 131:2) His heart calms our hearts. 

One day my two year old stood before me his cheeks soaked with tears, his words on repeat, “I need you.” I don’t remember why, but my first inclination was irritation. It could have been that he seemed extra “clingy” that day, or perhaps it was another day that felt like too much noise, noise, noise. For whatever reason, I wanted to be frustrated with him. 

But then I saw his vulnerable little face. And the Holy Spirit whispered, “He will quiet you by his love. Quiet him with love.” 

I gathered him in, spoke kindly to him, empathized with his little boy heart, and let our closeness quiet him. And it did. He snuggled against me, tears slowing.

As I’ve interacted with my children these last few weeks, I put that phrase on a loop in my mind. “Quiet them with love.” Sometimes it’s a reminder that love meets needs with grace and compassion. Sometimes it’s a reminder that God himself quiets me.

When they’re screaming, whining, sobbing, hitting, kicking, throwing… quiet them with love. Before anything else, quiet them with love. Because if they are calm, and I am calm we all can learn.

Yet, I am not completely faultless. I’ve lost it more than I care to admit. 

But God quiets me so I can quiet others. He gathers me with words of truth. His Spirit is gentle with me. He fills me with peace and hope. Because of the cross, God has changed his posture and tone.

I love watching my giant husband kneel down and gather one of our children in his arms. He envelopes them with his strength, but holds them tenderly. This is how God quiets me, and you. His Holy Spirit comforts. The Word calms stormy emotions. When we remember who we he is and who we are, there is peace. 

“May the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

When you’re trudging along one foot in front of the other, perhaps it’s time to stop and rest. Jesus is the better rest. Lean into him. Lean against his heart, and he will quiet your soul.

He Takes Good Care of Us

~ Ami ~ Leave a comment

His hands were sticky and peanut butter smeared his cheeks. Strawberry jam coated the corners of his mouth. As I had done a thousand times before, I washed chubby hands and a bright-eyed little face.

“Mama, why you wash me hands and me face?” 

“Well buddy, I want to take good care of you.”

“Why you take good care?”

“Because God takes good care of us.”

“Why God take good care?”

“Because He loves us.” 

A short exchange, but my words penetrated my own heart. God takes good care of us. 

Pinpointed Care

It’s who He is: a God whose care is not only lavish but precise. Jesus fed thousands from a little bit of lunch, but He also embraced individuals who longed to be touched. He healed sickness, but waited to come until Lazarus was dead so He could display deeper, more extravagant care (John 11). He comforted some and admonished others. 

Jesus was not a far away philanthropist, tossing mass-produced, look-alike blessings from the sky. He taught with words His audience could understand, perfectly pinpointing the need of each heart.

His care in our lives is also precise. Shifting scenes come into focus, evidence of His precision: Specific Scripture passages spring to mind as I pray for comfort. A financial need is met at just the right time. A spectacular sunset radiates across the sky. A surgeon skillfully removes a tumor. A woman praises God at her husband’s funeral. A baby sleeps through the night. And on other nights the weary mama has grace to rise yet again, praising God for quiet, stillness, and soft baby skin nestled against hers. 

All are gifts of precise, tangible grace, flowing abundantly for the day when they’re needed.

Inexhaustible Compassion

How marvelous it is that God never has to prioritize whose need is bigger or more important? He has the power and compassion to meet billions, trillions, quadrillions—an infinite number of needs at once. 

My children are close in age, so I’m constantly evaluating whose need is more urgent—one calls for help in the bathroom, the toddler has bumped her head, and the distraught baby needs to eat. Sometimes I’m not exactly sure of the best response. I’m talking about total meltdowns when a two-year-old’s dinosaur sheets are in the washing machine or how to handle it when shouts of “It’s mine!” “No it’s mine! I had it first!” reverberate down the hall. It’s exhausting. And exasperating at times.

Praise God, He’s never exhausted or exasperated by the constant care his children need! He already met mankind’s biggest need, through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. So rest assured, your needs are not too great. Or too small.

God is also a Father characterized by perfect compassion toward his children. “For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14 esv). He understands our weaknesses and gets down low to meet us there (Isa. 57:15). He is a shepherd who tends his flock with gentleness—especially the young (Isa. 40:11).

His care is precise, powerful, and perfectly compassionate—all because He loves us. Because Jesus took care of His own even to the cross, we know kindness when we deserve wrath, grace when we deserve judgment, and gentleness when we deserve rebuke. As a result, our care can reflect his care. We take good care of our own.

By this we know love, that he lay down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. (I John 3:16 esv)

Caring for the Needy

By sacrificially meeting our children’s needs, we get to show a fraction of God’s lavish love. God doesn’t leave His own in their filth, so even the physical act of cleaning our children is a kind of mercy. Of course, small children need a parent to do these things because they can’t do them on their own. How quickly they would succumb to their own excrement. How pervasive is our filthiness if not for Christ!

Sadly, not all children are well cared for by their parents. In a broken world, even the natural desire to provide and care for our most vulnerable is marred. Most folks in our culture are rightly appalled by horrific stories of abuse, but many still promote a “children are jerks” culture. 

A medical professional sat across from me talking about his young son, “I love him, but sometimes he’s a total *expletive*.” 

I made my next appointment with another doctor. Children are image bearers and loved by God. They are our little neighbors too.

May our parenting flow from a life overflowing with the fruit of the gospel—that is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal. 5:22–23). We can be counter-cultural by not berating, shouting at, shaming, or demeaning our children.

Furthermore, remembering God’s care produces so much joy in the mundane. Instead of merely washing hands and faces for the seemingly millionth time, we get to touch a hand loved by God and cleanse little faces made in God’s image. What an attitude changer on a hard day! 

Do we begrudge them their neediness, become frustrated because they inconvenience us and demolish our “plans,” or do we realize the potential to show them the heart of Jesus? 

We cannot meet their spiritual needs, but by tenderly, generously, compassionately, and kindly meeting their physical needs we reflect the One who can meet all their needs.

Unseen moments, then, become acts of worship and reflect the heart of God.

A parent’s days are filled with unseen moments, but they’re holy moments, nonetheless. Holding a hand in a parking lot, rocking a sick baby in the night, giving a toddler clean clothes after a potty accident, changing a blowout diaper, loading a dishwasher—all reveal something about God to the people around us. Whether we like it or not, the way we parent contributes to our children’s perceptions of themselves and of God. Unseen moments, then, become acts of worship and reflect the heart of God.

Is He a God who is rough and gruff? Is He fickle, some days speaking calmly and others flying off the handle? Does He grudgingly get up to answer our cries? 

Sometimes I’m fickle, selfish, and moody, but “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8). Amen.

Commenting on Romans 2:4, Jared C. Wilson writes, “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. Not his law, not his berating, not his exasperation or his cajoling. His kindness.”1

I wish I could say I’ve never been guilty of berating, cajoling, or exasperation. But because the Holy Spirit indwells believers and the gospel empowers us, we can respond to our children with kindness and gentleness. We can respond rather than react. 

But what about when we sin against them? What about when we don’t meet needs tenderly or do give in to anger boiling inside?

Well, God’s kindness leads us to repentance also. He is notoriously patient and long-suffering, and his compassions fail not. Over and over his mercies are new (Lam. 3:22–23). He is near the contrite and lowly because Jesus already paid the penalty for selfishness, angry outbursts, frustration, desire for convenience, and all the other parenting temptations that come our way. 

When we sin we are encouraged to bring our mess to Jesus because he will know just how to receive us. He doesn’t handle us roughly. He doesn’t scowl and scold. He doesn’t lash out, the way many of our parents did. And all this restraint on his part is not because he has a diluted view of our sinfulness. . . . His restraint simply flows from his tender heart for his people . . . rather than dispensing grace to us from on high, he gets down with us, he puts his arm around us, he deals with us in the way that is just what we need. He deals gently with us. —Dane Ortlund, in Gentle and Lowly2

On our best days and on our worst, He is our intercessor and advocate who constantly brings us before the throne, His own righteousness covering us (1 John 2:1–3, Heb. 4:14–16). He silences the accuser, and we recall who we are—called, capable, new creations, redeemed. 

He has cleansed us from our own filth. More than that, He moves toward us and embraces us, and is committed to the work He began. He will sanctify his own (Phil. 1:6). Therefore, we walk forward without shame.

So take heart friends, He takes good care of us.

1 Jared C. Wilson, The Imperfect Disciple: Grace for People Who Can’t Get Their Act Together (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2017).

2 Dane C. Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021).

This post was previously published at Revive Our Hearts

A little shot of encouragement.

~ Ami ~ Leave a comment

So I came across these two verses today, and they were too good not to share. So here you go, just a few quick thoughts for the folks who like short chunks. Like a little shot of encouragement right in the arm. I know I’m encouraged. God’s word is kind of amazing.

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.” I Thessalonians 5:23-24

So I stopped and thought about this for a minute.

God of peace— Because of Jesus (because of the gospel),  God is at peace with me. Praise God He initiated reconciliation with me, making peace!

Himself– This same God. This is the One who makes the the astounding promises ahead. He Himself will do the work in you.

Sanctified completely-I’m reminded that nothing can stop God’s faithfulness. There’s great assurance here that He has promised to keep us, to sanctify us completely. He WILL make us actually, what He has already declared us to be. He IS transforming believers into the image of his Son.

I love the language here- “kept blameless.” He promises to keep us blameless, which hearkens back to the way He already views us now. Perfect. Spotless. Above reproach. Crazy! What a beautiful thought that He is completing and will complete the work He began in us. Though I can’t often see sanctification in myself, it is happening. What an awesome reminder.

He will surely do it- So none of this is just conjecture or wishful thinking! It’s gonna happen. God is staking His promise on Himself. “He who calls you is faithful.”  That’s pretty incredible when you stop to think about it.

The only logical response is trust. God has put His very nature on the line. Would He possibly fail to do what He’s said? Therefore, because Christ did and is doing what I cannot do– counting me blameless–I can trust Him.

Yeah, I am kind of shocked at myself for actually keeping it short. Anyway, thanks for letting me ramble for a minute…