Susan's Blog: March 2014

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Far Beyond

When my circumstances are far beyond me

I acknowledge Your ways are not my ways

Far beyond my understanding

When I’m in the dark place

You are my ray of light

Guiding my next step on the path before me

Father, when I am inconsolable

It’s in Your presence I find peace

It’s You alone Who can comfort me

When grief and tears consume me

You whisper hope in my ear

Jesus, my confidence is in You alone

When words fail me

Your Holy Spirit perfectly translates my groans

Into prayers before Your throne of grace

When my world crumbles around me

You take up the dark and jagged pieces

Work them perfectly into Your sovereign plan

But LORD, right now

I just need You to hold me

Be here with me in my grief

by Susan Wachtel

March 23, 2014

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Five Minute Friday - God’s Blessings in Strange Packages

Sometimes God’s blessings come in some mighty strange packages.

If you had asked me a few months ago what my plans would be for the coming year, I would have guessed that our lives would continue to go on pretty much as they always have, including working during the week and occasional vacations a few times a year.

Never would I have guessed the sudden turn our lives would take. Sometimes God allows those clarifying times in our lives to help us to see what’s most important. In the last few months, God has done just that in my life.

He has helped me to see that other things had usurped what should be first in my life…God, His Word, my husband Chris and our marriage, the church and our family and friends.

As a Christian, I think of course God is first in my life. After all the years I’ve wait to find my husband of course Chris is a priority in my life. But when I started to see how I’ve been investing my time and attention in the last few months…I didn’t see God, my husband, friends, our church and our home as my top priorities. Instead I saw work at the top of this list. As a result of how I’ve invested my time and attention, everything else, including that which should be my top priorities had been put on the back burner and fallen short.

After seeing our lives with new clarity and the toll misplaced priorities have taken, my husband and I decided that it is time to have me quit work and stay at home. To take care of my husband and our home that God has blessed us with. To restore order and put a stop to the chaos of our lives. To put God first…to take the time to study and read His word. Not just go through the motions and forget what I’ve just read when I close my Bible.

I’m doing the countdown now…just 6 more working days and then I will be a homemaker. Not sure what all that means or looks like…but I’m relieved and excited. I’m prayerful that the Lord will bless us as we seek to put first that which He has revealed as most important. I’m looking forward to the love, joy and peace that will fill our lives and our home.

It’s another Saturday morn and I wanted to participate in Lisa-Jo Baker’s Five Minute Friday writing challenge. Head over to “Lisa Jo Baker”, and take some time to read some of the entries from other writers. I can promise you that you will be blessed.

Saturday, March 01, 2014

Five Minute Friday – Choose This Day

Time for examination

Looking at where I invest

My time, talents and treasure

Is what I’m investing in

That which has eternal consequences

Or that which is perishing and will not last

Is what I say I believe

Being lived out in my daily life

Or is something askew

I fear my life is out of balance

That which is most important

Has been set aside or put on the back burner

Lord guide me as I choose

To put You first

Make priority that which most important to You

May I fear You

Not what fellow man may say

For I will give an account You alone

By Susan Wachtel

March 1, 2014

It’s another Saturday morn and I wanted to participate in Lisa-Jo Baker’s Five Minute Friday writing challenge. Head over to her website “Lisa Jo Baker Surprised by Motherhood”. Be sure to read some of the entries from other writers. I can promise you that you will be blessed challenged and convicted.

My Colors Will Be Clear

I am a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I'm a disciple of His. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living, sight seeing, smooth knees, color-less dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, "chinchy" giving and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need position, promotions, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded. I now live by presence, learn by faith, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my destination is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few. My Guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity.

I won't give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of the One that gave me life, drew the line in blood for me in the hour of my destiny.

I am one of Christ's remnant people. I belong to Him and none other. All I do to bring this life to another is done because of that blood covenant poured out for me.

I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me. I must share will all that one more might hear and be drawn from the flaming darkness that longs to consume. Reach for another, touch but one more!

Until that moment...He will have no problem in recognizing me- my colors will be clear!!!

Not only are the words inspiring but so is the man behind them. The above letter was written by a Pastor in Africa who was undergoing severe persecution. On the eve of his execution he sat down and wrote the above note.