Reality Check

It felt like 3 little bubbles gently bursting on the inside.

Unexpected, soft, yet very obvious.

My baby's first kicks.

What a miracle! We'd had 3 ultrasounds done and could see each time how our little one was moving about in my womb - lively, active, discovering his own tiny hands and feet and sucking reflexes. Then suddenly, at about 20 weeks, this whole other world could finally be felt on the outside! I don't think there are many more wonder-filled moments than that.

Despite knowing about Baby's existence for a few months now, it is still something quite different and extremely special to feel it. It helps make the 'inner reality' more, well, real!

There's another reality that I sometimes forget the truth of. I'm reminded of it though when I read verses from the Bible like Romans 8:1 or  2 Corinthians 5:17. And that is the fact that I, like a baby in a womb, am IN CHRIST. 

Even though I haven't even met our child yet, there is already so much love within me and a bond that can't be described. This baby hasn't done anything to 'deserve' my love; it simply is. And is it any different with God? He loves us and has saved us 'not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy' (Titus 3:5). Grace isn't something we earn, and our identity as God's sons and daughters isn't dependent on us proving ourselves. 

Me being IN Christ means that I am safe, secure, loved, and provided for. HE is my source of life.

Yet this amazing reality has another aspect to it...

 Not only am I in Christ; He lives IN ME! Colossians 1:27 talks about the rich mystery of 'Christ in us, the hope of glory.'

We talk about this all the time when we mention 'inviting Jesus into your heart.' While not quite a full picture of what the Gospel is all about, this is a central and fundamental aspect. Our old and sinful selves are done away with when we surrender our lives to the Lord, and we are renewed as Christ takes up residence in us through his Spirit.

Romans 8:11 expresses this powerful reality: 'The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you...' The same Spirit, the same power, the same potential that Jesus had is IN ME! I can love, serve, make wise decisions, and move in power because of the Holy Spirit in me.

This reality isn't something weird or psychic, and I'm not saying that we, as believers, can 'become one with God.' God remains God, and we remain human. But that's exactly the miracle - we are transformed by His power and though we can't take any credit for it, He moves through us.

I've already had well-meaning strangers rub my belly, commenting on the life growing within me. I can't make the baby move, but I am a vessel through which the movements can be felt. In the same way, I am not the one who heals, encourages, or reveals, but these works of the Holy Spirit can be demonstrated through me and touch the lives of others (if I let them get close enough!)

It truly is a miracle. Knowing my identity in Christ allows me to rest and receive love, knowing all is grace. And being aware of His presence in me helps me live boldly, building His Kingdom here on earth, knowing all I have to do is obey, allowing Him to move through me. That is the hope of the world.

Don't Forget Where You Came From...

1:30am, downtown Toronto City, Canada. August 2013.

We had come in two vehicles, excited to celebrate our friend's upcoming wedding and have fun at a Bachelorette party. And fun it was! A dinner cruise on the harbor, dancing, Starbucks espresso shots, night view from the CN Tower. Good times!

Then it came time to part ways and hop back into the cars to head home. Five of us headed toward the Parkade. We walked the downtown streets in our skirts and high heels, passing pizza shops that were closing down for the night, and construction workers who were just starting their shifts, taking advantage of slower traffic after midnight to finish bridge repairs.

So we walked...and we walked...and we walked...and we walked. Somehow, in the midst of our girly giggling and picture-taking and time together, we could not remember where we parked. I had driven into the city with the other 5 girls, so unfortunately I couldn't be of any help as we tried retracing our steps, even asking a security guard for help at one point after we'd been walking around lost for over an hour and a half.

[Side Note: never get lost in Toronto!]

Not only are there a bunch of parkades in the city, but after awhile, they all start looking the same. Did we drive up, or down? Was the signage black, green, or red? Were we on level 3 or 4? Did we enter from this corner, or a block further down? We passed hundreds and hundreds of cars, but none of them were ours. 

Photo Credit: Led Lighting Toronto

Long story short, we were getting worried (especially since all of our cellphone batteries were slowly dying), tired, and frustrated. We decided to go back one more time to the very first parkade we started in before calling someone for help.

Lo and behold, we walk in and go up a level, clicking the remote for the car alarm, and HALLELUJAH we hear it beeping! Found. Never had we been so relieved, and never had we been so happy to arrive safely back at home and catch a couple hours of sleep before the rehearsal the next day.

We all knew we'd look back on that situation and laugh about it some day. Some day. But you know what the most embarrassing part was? Driving out of the parkade, we noticed BIG signs written in BOLD letters posted all over the beams of the parking garage - "Please make note of where you park!" Oooooops. 

If there's one thing I learned from that adventure, it was this:

Don't forget where you came from.

Canadian Thanksgiving is coming up in a week, and it's a perfect opportunity to REMEMBER where we came from. Like the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 77:11-12 - 

"I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
    yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. 

 I will consider all your works
    and meditate on all your mighty deeds."

Our past doesn't define us, but it is a part of our story and we need to remember where we came from. Frustrated with your spiritual growth because nothing seems to be changing? Consider where you were a year ago. Under financial pressure? Remind yourself of how the Lord always came through up in the past. Tempted by pride? Consider Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 1:26-27 - "Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong."

Don't forget where you came from. It will help you get to where you need to go.

(Coming next week...pictures from our Canadian Thanksgiving Celebration as some German friends of ours are introduced to this feast for the first time!)

Looking into the Son

From my chair in our living room where I usually sit to read, journal, pray (or blog!) I noticed one of our plants on the bookshelf ledge:

 

In the few weeks that it's been there, it has changed. 

Slowly, the leaves have turned a little bit to the side, the stems getting taller, almost as if reaching for the window. Why is that? Because plants are attracted to the light. And they always grow in the direction of the sun.

Today I'm headed off to a week-long seminar on the theme of intimacy with God. Deepening our friendship with Jesus, learning to walk in the Spirit, developing a life of prayer. We want to grow in the direction of the Son.

Do you realize that Moses, that great but timid, imperfect, and humble leader of God's people the Israelites, was able to speak to God face to face? He regularly encountered the Living, Great "I Am." He was friends with the Creator of the Universe; he walked in glory. What could be better than that?

His encounters with God left him physically changed - so much so that his face brightened, and he had to put a veil over it. I always thought the veil was to protect the Israelites, but actually we read something different in 2 Corinthians 3:13:

"We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away."

Moses had to cover his face so the people couldn't see the magnificent glory departing. As amazing as his encounters were, they were temporary. He heard God's voice and passed on the Lord's commands to the people and walked with Yahweh, but even that glory was fading. 

But there's GOOD news in v. 18 - "And we all, who with UNVEILED faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

Because Christ came to earth, died and rose again and sent the Holy Spirit to us, we can now encounter Him, live in relationship with Him, and walk with him with unveiled faces! Why? Because we don't have to be afraid that the glory will fade. Ever-increasing glory! "From strength to strength" we are promised (Psalm 84:7).

Does that mean it will always be easy? No. Is a relationship with God only mountain-top experiences? No. But we can be sure that whatever we walk through will, in the end, give us MORE strength, and we'll encounter MORE of God's glory through it. 

  

Friends, I pray that this week, you will look into the Son. I pray that you will grow in the direction of the Light of the World and encounter Christ's glory in such a tangible way that your face and life would reflect Him. Would you pray the same for me?

Transplanting

They came in a can. I opened the lid, set the can by the window, and added water...a little bit...every other day.

After a couple of months they looked like this:

I was thrilled that something was at least growing in my house! My roses, parsley, and lavender have all turned brown and dried up. Maybe I have a "black thumb" (as my mom likes to say!)

I admired the tomatoes in this can for awhile, marveling at their ability to grow and produce fruit. How something can come from seemingly nothing is always amazing to me!

 I finally realized it was time to do something with them, since there wasn't much more room for them to grow in the little can the seeds came in. So I started the transplanting process:

 Slowly, carefully taking out each individual plant and gently pulling it out by the roots and placing it in a bigger container with new soil.

Ta-da! :-)

I'm sure those little plants are happy to have more room to breathe. I'm sure they would have started to shrivel up had I not moved them to a bigger pot. I'm sure their roots would have become tangled or moldy if they were not separated. I'm sure that now they can GROW.

Isn't that the point of transplanting? Giving something more room so that it can grow? I worked in a greenhouse one summer and stood for hours on end in a type of assembly line, poking my fingers into soil, making room for seeds to fall into, or for small vegetables or flowers to be transplanted. 

Growth is linked to transplantation. Yes it is also linked to other factors like water and sunlight, but if a plant continues to receive water and sunlight while it remains in a small pot when there is potential for more, it will not grow fully or healthily.

In the last few months I've seen growth in my own life, and I realized it's because I've been transplanted. I was reading through some old journal entries the other day in which I recorded parts of our journey of contemplating moving to Germany and praying about what we were supposed to do after Bible School. Allow me to share this entry from April 13, 2011:

Ecclesiastes 3 says 'There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven. ' What stood out to me is verse 2 - 'a time to plant and a time to uproot.' It seems that leaving Prairie will in a sense be uprooting. But Germany won't just be about planting; it's about trans-planting. Perhaps this Bible School is too small of a pot - good for a season, but ultimately my roots won't be able to grow any more or expand to their full potential. Moving Germany isn't  about destroying what's already been planted in my life, but about transplanting so there's room for more growth.

Little did I know at that time exactly what type of "pot" God was transplanting me into. Here I am now, over a year later, having lived here for 9 months and having experienced so much, being challenged and changed along the way. 

Looking back I know that if we had not moved here my roots would have remained shallow. If I had stayed in my small comfortable pot soaking up the sun, I never would have grown and expanded like I am doing now. I was so content with where I was back then and wouldn't have minded staying there forever, but God had a bigger pot for me.

I feel like I am in such an exciting season of life right now; it is hard to describe. It's not always easy, but I simply know deep in my heart that yes, this is indeed where God wants my husband and I . I never would have dreamed it and some days, on the hard days, I wish it wasn't so, but I know God is doing a deep work in me. This doesn't discount the last "pot" I was in - it was extremely vital soil for me to learn to bloom and bear fruit in. But whenever God takes us out of our comfort zone by transplanting us, it means there's even more potential. It feels sometimes like the rug is being pulled out from under my feet, or should I say that my roots are being harshly yanked out from the soil I was so familiar with, but as I settle into new soil - spiritually, emotionally, relationally - my roots find their way down and I am strengthened and refreshed, excited about the potential for more.

Jeremiah 17:

⁵ This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
    who depends on flesh for his strength
    and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
⁶ He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
    he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
    in a salt land where no one lives.

⁷ “But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
⁸ He will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”