letters from Judy

I wish people wrote letters more often. They are so full of encouragement and beauty...

I wrote my dear friend Judy (pie baking Judy) about two weeks ago, and was pleasantly greeted with her return letter today. Several thoughts about her beautiful letter...

1. When loneliness and discouragement run rampant, never doubt God's ability to lavish fragrant blessing on you, even for a few brief minutes while you are reading a letter.

2. The Lord imparts wisdom to those who are willing to be still (just come meet Judy).

3. There is such freedom and joy in living rightly with God and with others!


I will leave you with a quote from Judy.

"It is very hard to not give way to a standard of perfection (not that I could ever accomplish that), but once that standard worms its way into your heart on any earthly level, striving becomes the result. As I prayed and cried to the Lord, knowing I had desired more than what I realized, I renounced every desire that had crept into rob be of my 'Peace and Plenty'. It was a freeing experience like it always is when God brings us back, like the turning and turning we come around right. It truly is a gift to be simple. So that's why I'm sitting in my swing having breakfast and writing this letter. I'm resting in what is, not striving for what could be."

journey

"The journey gets its meaning from the destination."


Wow, the journey is so hard sometimes. 


But how reassuring to know that our journey has meaning from our ultimate destination- an eternity in a perfect, sinless relationship with our Creator himself. 


What a journey!

resurrection

"Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." 
- I Corinthians 15:12-22

I've never had an Easter quite like yesterday...I have always understood that the resurrection of Christ is monumental to my faith, but never have I seen it as the essence of my faith- the very substance of my belief.

Without it, I do not serve a risen Savior, but a man who was subject to death just as the leaders of other religions. Without it, I have been falsely describing God- saying that he raises the dead, when in fact, he did not raise Jesus from the dead. Without it, I have no present victory over my sinful nature and am doomed to be an ugly, sinless creature incapable of serving God, bringing him glory, or having my devotion be wooed elsewhere. And without the resurrection of Christ, I have no future hope of being raised from the dead; I have no hope of bodily resurrection now or ever, and certainly no hope of ever being with Christ in bodily form.

Easter is a day of hope. More hope than any human will ever be able to grasp. Because that would mean that we are capable of understanding the unending and unfathomable grace of God, which we are not. We have hope on Easter that we have a purpose in existence- a purpose that is continually refined by the grace of our Great Savior.

"And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which I, Paul, became a minister."
-Colossians 1:21-23

The hope of Easter is that I am a sinful, dirty human being that God can redeem for his purposes through his grace. The hope of Easter is the Gospel.

Friends, don't shift from this hope! Continue in the faith of Jesus Christ, being stable and steadfast, knowing that you have been equipped to live the life he has called you to through his resurrection and placement of his Spirit in you. Because of grace, you have hope.

pies

I recently have been privileged to get to know a lovely woman from my church named Judy. She is a breath of fresh air and is beautifully fragrant the way that only a woman after God's own heart can be. And the story of how a few college kids came to bake pies and form a friendship with a woman who already has grandchildren of her own is a story that I will continue to tell for a long time, beginning now.

We met Judy one day after the church service had ended, and somewhere in the course of small talk, she mentioned how much she loved baking. She could have not known the effect of that comment. After a joyful exclamation from one of the girls in our group, numbers were exchanged, and a date was set for the purpose of baking pies.

St Patricks Day came, and we found ourselves on Judy's front porch, entering a home as beautiful as the heart of the woman who owned it. We learned the art of pie baking, which is saying a lot after experiencing how seriously Judy takes her pies. Within the timeframe of three hours, we cranked out 16 delicious- and completely homemade- pies.

But what was significant about St Patricks Day this year wasn't the delicious pies, although they truly were the best pies I have ever tasted. No, the significance was so much greater than a pastry. The significance was in the community, the sheer joy of just being in each others' presence. And I think we all were surprised to find how quickly this fellowship developed: after only a few minutes of having these college kids in her home, Judy began planning our next event. Our day was filled with laughter and conversation. The blessing of fellowship was evident in every moment.

Last night, a few of us went again to Judy's. And yes, we ate more pie. But after some violin music, conversation, and plugging in of electronics, we found ourselves lying on the floor with pillows listening to a record of 'the Gospel Road' by Johnny Cash.

Friends, it's the simple things. It's pie baking and laughing and drinking coffee and watching the sun set and listening to Johnny Cash late at night. The little things can be the biggest blessings. Like meeting a woman named Judy at church.

professional

I think it's easy to become a professional Christian. It's easy to go to church every Sunday and Wednesday. It's easy to have a recommitment every summer at camp. It's easy to lead worship on a routine basis and to enjoy the performance instead of the worship. It's easy to learn the right church lingo and to say the phrases that sound nice. We learn what works and what is efficient. And because those things are efficient and require no examination of interior motives to execute, we continue to do them.

Friends, may we never come to a place where entering into the presence of God becomes just another thing to do. May we never think so highly of ourselves that our attendance or performance or speech is what earns us His grace and life. May we not go to church because it is the 'efficient' way to fit God into our Sabbath.

Let yourself be examined by the Spirit this week. Let Him go all the way to the depths of your being- to your traditions, habits, talents, insecurities, downfalls...let Him sift through it all. And ask Him to heal you there, on the dirt floor of your heart.

God doesn't need professionals. That's not what he wants you to be. That's not how he wants you to live. To be professional at reaching God is to rely on your own capabilities- to rely on the flesh.

"You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you...If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you (ESV Romans 8:9, 11)."

abandon

"In our abandonment we give ourselves over to God just as God gave Himself for us, without any calculation. The consequences of abandonment never enter into our outlook because our life is taken up with Him." -Oswald Chambers

It really bugs me when Christian books instruct the reader to abandon all to God so that ______ happens. So that you get a promotion. So that your prayer life is enhanced. So that you find the perfect spouse. So that your life can be good.

That view of abandonment is so very shallow! If we are entering into abandonment with the idea that we will receive everything we humanly want, we are not truly abandoning ourselves. Even if we enter into the idea of abandonment simply so that our prayer life will be enhanced, we are not abandoning ourselves for the true reason that abandonment even exists.

Abandonment is a complete trusting in who God is and what He wants to do in our lives. Abandonment is letting him do it. In fact, I think that the only proper response to God's goodness and glory is to abandon ourselves completely. Abandonment exists so that our lives are no longer about what we do or where we go or what we receive, but instead, they are intrinsically bound up in God's way of living- bound up in his patience, love, gentleness, generosity, humility, unity...we abandon ourselves not knowing what God will do with us but trusting him all the same. Abandonment is done out of faith, and that faith is always always rewarded.

Friends, abandon yourselves to Christ. Abandon yourself so that God receives glory and praise. Abandon yourself with the realization that God wants to use you even more than He already is. Abandon yourself because it is the only appropriate response to God's glory, holiness and goodness.

Oswald Chambers again sums up this whole idea perfectly:
"Tell God you are ready to be offered, and God will prove Himself to be all you ever dreamed He would be."

"You follow me!" -Jesus (Acts 21:22)

decisions

"Trust in the Lord, and do good; 

dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

Delight yourself in the Lord, 

and he will give you the desires of your heart. 

Commit your way to the Lord; 

trust in him, and he will act. 

He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, 

and your justice as the noonday...

The steps of a man are established by the Lord, 

when he delights in his way;

though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, 

for the Lord upholds his hand.

I have been young, and now am old, 

yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken 

or his children begging for bread. 

He is ever lending generously, 

and his children become a blessing...

The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, 

and his tongue speaks justice. 

The law of God is in his heart; 

his steps do not slip."

                          -Psalm 37, ESV

My favorite line in this, my current favorite psalm, is, "I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. He is ever lending generously." It's so true, isn't it?

So why do I doubt it? Why do I even for a second think that the Lord will forsake me or leave me begging for bread? 

I have some important decisions to make within the next few days. By this Monday, actually. These decisions, one in particular, are quite possibly the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make. God is asking me if I trust him, if I have faith in the promises that he has made. 

Here is a prayer from my journal from a few days ago:

"Test me, O Lord. Pray away at my heart, bit by bit. And find me faithful. Find me true. Only You satisfy, and I can only realize that when I am right here, thirsty and hungry for the Living Water and for manna. 

All these trials and emotions will pass, sweet Jesus, and I will be left just to be with you for eternity. What a blessed thought. I couldn't want anything more. 

To be with you, Jesus, is life. To talk to you, Jesus, life. Knowing you, satisfaction. Trusting you, the greatest adventure that life offers. 

I want nothing more than this right here. You. From today on, even when I break down, I still long for only you. Because I acknowledge that everything that's messed up right now will soon be made right. Your glory and Kingdom will reign. Hallelujah! I eagerly await that day...

Breathe on me your fragrance and trust. Put a fire in my bones. I am no true disciple of you if I sit here claiming to want your Kingdom and yet not acting in your name. Direct my passion. You are the God of all gods and the Light among lights. You give life and you heal. What an amazing Father you are to those that love You."

May the Lord direct you and uphold your head. May he guide your path. May his will for your life be your will for your life because of how close you are to his heart. 

"Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way." -Psalm 25:8

manna

Being in the desert is hard. Just ask the Israelites. They were there, in the wilderness, for 40 years (bear with me).

I often think about the Israelites and how similar I am to them. God delivers me from a place of hardship, and after a little more testing, I would rather go back to the first evil than face the current difficulty. Is this making any sense? Have you experienced anything similar?

Anyways, I was thinking about this same idea today and about how easy it is to worship God because of what I think he does or how I think he acts instead of worshipping him for who He IS. If I worship God only based on what he does or does not do, when a loved one dies from cancer, God cannot be who he says he is. When a friend hurts me and wrecks the friendship, God cannot be who he says he is. When a husband is unfaithful and tears apart the family, God cannot be who he says he is. When you have to spend forty years in the wilderness living on manna, God cannot be who he says he is.

And yet, God claims to be faithful, loving, patience, peaceful, gracious, gentle, merciful and unchanging. In fact, the very roots of our faith go back to and rest on the qualities that God says he has. Where does our worship go wrong?

Our worship goes wrong when we forget that God is who he says he is. Period. End of story. God IS faithful. God IS good. And although our world is terribly messed up and sinful, and although things like death and destruction take place, those things do not occur because God willed them to. Those things occur because sin exists.

So, praise God for all that he does, yes, but more than praising him for external actions, praise God for all that he IS- his heart! What he IS is unchanging, no matter our viewpoints. How we view what he DOES changes. I mean, look at the Israelites. One day, they are praising God for deliverance out of Egypt, and the next, they want to go back into the very place they came from.

Back to the blog title. Elisabeth Elliot says the following in her book, Passion and Purity: "Was it necessary for God to test the fiber of His children for forty years in the wilderness? Wouldn't forty days have been enough? The process must go on...and on...and on...Through affairs of the heart God uncovers our true intentions: 'whether or no it was in your heart to keep his commandments. He humbled you and made you hungry; then he fed you on manna...' But it was not manna the people wanted. It was leeks and onions and garlic. It was meat and bread, wine and oil- ordinary food...[The natural is not] the only thing God has in mind for us. We are not meant to live merely by what is natural. We need to learn to live by the supernatural. Ordinary fare will not fill the emptiness in our hearts. Bread will not suffice. We need extraordinary fare. We need manna. How else will we learn to eat it, if we are never hungry? How educate our tastes for heavenly things if we are surfeited with earthly?"

Friends, if you are in the desert and are feeling abandoned by God because of circumstances and contexts, cling to who God says he is. And don't be afraid to be hungry and thirsty; God provides manna when we are in the desert to see if we are truly hungry for what is supernatural. Come hungry. Come thirsty, "For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things (Psalm 107:9)."

We need manna, not bread.

struggle

Are you struggling this week? With friendships? With family? With sin?


Read this.


"My soul, praise the Lord, 

and all that is within me, praise His holy name.
My soul, praise the Lord,
and do not forget all His benefits.

  

He forgives all your sin;
He heals all your diseases.
He redeems your life from the Pit;
He crowns you with faithful love and compassion.
He satisfies you with goodness;
your youth is renewed like the eagle.

  The Lord executes acts of righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.
He revealed His ways to Moses,
His deeds to the people of Israel.
The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger and rich in faithful love.
He will not always accuse us
or be angry forever.
He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve
or repaid us according to our offenses.

  For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is His faithful love
toward those who fear Him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has He removed
our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
For He knows what we are made of,
remembering that we are dust.

  As for man, his days are like grass—
he blooms like a flower of the field;
when the wind passes over it, it vanishes,
and its place is no longer known.
But from eternity to eternity
the Lord’s faithful love is toward those who fear Him,
and His righteousness toward the grandchildren
of those who keep His covenant,
who remember to observe His precepts.
The Lord has established His throne in heaven,
and His kingdom rules over all.

  Praise the Lord,
all His angels of great strength,
who do His word,
obedient to His command.
Praise the Lord, all His armies,
His servants who do His will.
Praise the Lord, all His works
in all the places where He rules.
My soul, praise the Lord!"

-Psalm 103 HCSB


You are healed. You are forgiven. You are loved. Be encouraged, friends. Take heart. 


Praying for you all this week!


-Kait

wholeness

This Christmas break is the first time that I have been at my new home for more than a week. It has been incredibly lovely and restful, but I did learn a few key things that I thought might help you out in case you ever visit me in the middle of nowhere in Colorado.

Here are 10 lessons that Colorado taught me:
1. It is not necessary to pack boots, scarves, mittens or warm cardigans when coming to a high desert area for Christmas. You will not need them and they will waste your precious luggage space.
2. Unpacking clothes and putting them in a dresser is very hard when you bring home more clothes than you need and when the dresser is smaller than you'd like.
3. In all honesty, it's okay to wear the same pajama pants all winter break in your own home, especially if you have a sister to borrow clothes from. You don't need to pack four pairs. And you certainly don't need to pack 10 pajama/workout/lazyday tshirts.
4. Even the longest and funnest list of to-dos can get bypassed when you end up realizing that you really just want three weeks of doing nothing and watching movies with your family.
5. Always use filtered water to make coffee in the morning.
6. Good luck trying to sleep next to an innocent looking 10 year old cousin. Chances are she snores louder than any grown man you've ever met.
7. Taking life slowly is always underestimated and always needed (trust me).
8. Even if you're a morning person, it's okay to stay up late and sleep in late once in awhile.
9. Skype dates do not measure up to real, face-to-face coffee dates. They just don't.
10. If the 'Christmas feeling' never comes upon your heart, that's okay.

And one last thing: Jesus came to bring peace. He came to make us whole. And take heart- for there soon will be no limits to the wholeness he brings (Isaiah 9). And until that day when the Earth and all that is in it is made whole, cling to the fact that His Kingdom is not just in the future; it is now. And at this very moment in time, Jesus can and will make you whole. Friends, let him begin the process of wholeness in you today!

And if you should ever choose to visit Colorado, let me know. I have many more tips that could certainly help you out.