"It Happened For a Reason"

You've heard people reflect on a bad experience and comfort themselves and others by saying, "It happened for a reason."  My take on this philosophy is not a popular one and, I suppose it makes some people uncomfortable...but I would like to share it and see if it challenges my readers a bit. 

The Scriptures clearly say that "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more will you Father in heaven , give good gifts to whose who ask Him."  Matthew 7:11  In another verse, Scripture says "Be sober, be vigilant, for your enemy, the devil, is as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."  I Peter 5:8

I know that when bad things happen, tragedy strikes, we can bear the pain easier if we think that God has put this terrible "thing" upon us to teach us a lesson.  It makes it seem as if, just maybe, there is a good reason for "it" to have happened.  But as you can see from the Scriptures above, God gives His children good gifts.  But we have an enemy who is seeking to destroy us.

What gives me hope and helps me through a time that I can't understand or bear, is that Scripture also says, "God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him." Romans 8:28.  That is a vast difference than God causing bad things to happen to us.  On the contrary, He takes those things and works them to our good, if we allow it. 

I don't say these things lightly.  I have gone through experiences in my life, that at the time, felt hopeless, lonely and heartbreaking.  At the time, I could see no reason for them nor any good that could come from them.  I can say, without fail, that the times that I called on God in those situations, He brought me through and I found victory somewhere in the mess.  That's not to say that I don't carry scars from some of life's battles, but I remain undefeated with hope for my future!

When we lose someone dear to us, or our finances are a mess, or sickness falls on us, to say that God caused those things to teach us something, is really shortchanging Him.  He is omniscient and all knowing and smart enough to teach us the things that we need to learn without causing us harm.  We live in a fallen world and the Bible teaches that the "rain falls on the just and the unjust."  So when we travel through those rough times, He will walk with us, comfort us and show us a way to make some good come of it.

I'm so thankful that I have a heavenly Father who loves me and wants me to walk in goodness and peace.  I'm also grateful that when my life takes a turn for the worse, He is my way out, my shelter from the storm.  When you walk through a storm, don't try to find a reason that God caused it, but instead, glean your hope from how He will walk you through it and cause good to come from it that you may not have suffered in vain.

From His Lap,

Finding Significance

Significance...we all long for it.  It's what give us purpose, importance, meaning.  We want significance with our parents, our siblings, our spouses, our children, our friends, co-workers.  To me, the opposite of significance is loneliness, worthlessness, and feeling lost...like a small child, alone on a busy street. There are so many souls who don't have a loving place where their story begins.  Their core is empty because the people who should be filling it have let them down.  When we don't have significance, we don't have hope.  And when we don't have hope, no life can be found in us.

When we don't have that anchor of belonging and acceptance, I believe that is the tipping point where we see people begin to act out, to rebel, to question everything in their existence.  How can we find significance?  How can we have a sense of belonging and joy if the people we crave significance from are absent or abusive or self righteous?

There is one who gave it all for you.  He paid the price and sacrificed His very life.  He bore the lashes, hung on the cross, carried your sin, sickness and disease on His body because you were worth it to Him.  That kind of love takes away loneliness, worthlessness and being lost.  He can take the place of those who have let you down, abused you and left you.  You are significant to Him.  "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down His life for His friends." John 15:13

My friend, you have no greater love than the love of Jesus.  You have no greater significance than you do in Him.  If man has let you down, turn to the one who will never leave you nor forsake you.  Give your heart to the one who knows every hard place you've been to and through.  He will fill that void in your heart with hope and joy.  Let Him settle in your heart, once and for all, that you are worth dying for.  Your story can begin anew with your heart full of purpose, importance and meaning.

Listen to this testimony by the rapper Lecrae.  He found significance and you can too!  (You can turn off my music player to the right in order to hear the video)




From His Lap,

It's What You're Hoping For

Hope.  Hope is the stuff our very breath is made of.  When doubt and fear, questions and anger are pushing the life out of us, hope comes in like a rush of air, filling our lungs with His presence.  Choosing to believe our Father has a plan for us, a hope and a future; gives us stillness and peace, allowing us to walk another step, smile another smile, live another day.

Say "yes" to hope.  Choose to know that these hard moments you are in, can be filled with the very breath of God. Let Him fill your lungs and feel His life course through your veins. Now.  This moment you are in, that hurts...breathe...breathe in hope.  For it's hopelessness that will cause the very life and breath to be sucked out of us.  Breathe in hope.

Don't be fearful of the future.  There is hope in this moment, for the next step you are timidly putting your foot forward to take.  Can you believe for this moment?  Can you hold on in this moment and be filled with His breath, just long enough to get you to the next moment?  I know you want the answers. How will I get through this?  What will I do about that?  How can I go on when I have to live with this? How can I make it?  Where can I turn?

Choose this minute, this hour, this day to get by on the breath of Him, on the breath of hope.  Say "yes" to him in this moment.  For He will meet you...now.  He wants to be present with you ...here.  In all of this...in all the pain, in all the fear, in all the hurt, in all the disappointment...He wants to be your hope.

And if you choose hope, Dear Heart, it comes with an added gift.  It comes with JOY!  And each painful moment, turned to hope and joy, is another moment you take for the Kingdom.  Each time you breathe in that breath of hope it's a step towards a life that says "yes" to Him.  And oh, the rejoicing then.  Others will see and be caught up in your joy. They will want to know; How did you get through this?  How did you make it?  Where did you turn to?  And your life will be a living testament, offering up hope to others who can't breath.  And then, what joy will fill your soul!

Wouldn't you love to fill each moment with the breath of God, the giver of life and hope? Can't you imagine what it would be like to invite Him in with every breath you take?  Let Him take away the torture of choking on a hopeless life.  His breath is sweet and life giving.  It's what you're hoping for.

From His lap,

5x7 Folded Card

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Returning to Their Land

Being a mom is hard.  There, I said it.  I'm raising number 6 and I've earned the right to say it.  Don't get me wrong, being a mom is rewarding, fulfilling, and brings great joy...but it's hard.  As mothers, we pour our hearts and souls into each little vessel, giving of everything we know of, to give.  Sometimes we don't know what to give so we rely on prayer, guidance from the Lord, our own mothers, friends and even still...we're at a loss...so we just love.

The hardest part for me is pouring out my very life, giving my all and then watching grown children make choices that I would never have dreamed they would make.  Then, you just step back, pray, observe and have faith that what you did put in them is enough.  Enough to get them through wrong choices, through situations they shouldn't even be in.  Is that what we do to our Heavenly Father?  He pours Himself into us and whoops, there we go, walking down a path of destruction or calamity.

What does He do when His children take that path.  Remember the prodigal son.  The father didn't drag him back kicking and screaming.  He waited for him to get to his lowest point and when that son came home for the love he knew was there, his father ran to him, celebrated him and brought him back into the fold.  He had faith that his son would remember the blessings and the love he had poured into him and that he would return.

Scripture tells us a story of a mother weeping for her children.  Jeremiah 31:15-17 (NIV) says, A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more (rebelling).  "Refrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears," declares the Lord.  "They will return from the land of their enemy.  So there is hope for your future," declares the Lord.  "Your children will return to their own land."  What a promise!  What a hope!


Dear Ones, if you have grown children who look like they've left behind, all that you've poured into them.  If they seem to be looking for a life that can only lead to destruction, have hope in the mercy and grace of your Heavenly Father.  He will leave the 99 sheep to go look for the 1 who is missing.  He will use dire circumstances to remind them where they came from and the love they had there!

Yes, as a mom, sometimes it's hard, but we find our peace and strength in the joy of the Lord.  And we can rest, knowing that He cares for our children even more than we do.  I thank God that He watches over all my children and gives me the peace to wait for them when I need it!

From His Lap,

The Master Gardener

Last year's yield was like this every day!

The hubby made a canopy for shade.

Today, my garden just "gave up the ghost".  Yep, in one day, it stopped struggling against this Oklahoma heat and lost it's will to live.  It's supposed to reach 109 degrees today and go up to 113 degrees later this week.  So many days in a row, this searing sun we've been under.  Last years garden yielded more than we could manage ourselves.  We gave vegetables away to any one we could find to take them.  This year...no tomatoes, no cucumbers, no bell peppers, no lettuce, spinach, carrots, squash, cantaloupe and on and on and on...  The sweat and time and care we put into it everyday, was it wasted?  Was it for nothing?  My husband even put a canopy over the garden during the really scorching hours of the day to protect what was trying to produce, what wanted to live.

Sweet basil

The only thing that the heat didn't conquer were my herbs...hearty little things!  I've been cooking with fresh herbs all summer long.  There is nothing like serving up a home cooked meal that has seeped in the juice and aroma of fresh herbs.  I've just picked the last of them though.  Hopefully, they will last in some water in the house for a while...maybe squeeze a few more meals out of them.  If I'm lucky, some of them will take root!

Chocolate mint basil

Life can have us under a pressure cooker, like a 109 degree sun.  It can seem to drag on heavy and dry.  Weary bones.  Do we let our soul wither and shrivel or do we dig in deep, roots going as far as they can?  Water. Sweet Holy Spirit.  Water to our soul.  It can refresh, revive, renew.  Even on days where there seems to be no sign of life, go digging...it's there.  You can always find a sprig of hope or joy or peace, waiting to be cultivated, pulled from among the lifeless dead stems.  I dug around today and found some green in the midst of the brown.  I thought it was all dead.  I'm so glad I looked closer.  It gave me hope.  Now my house is filled with the fragrance of the basil, rosemary, and lavender.

Cinnamon basil

Lavender

Time spent in prayer, on His lap, I can feel the water course through my life again.  And just as the fresh herbs add flavor and spice to my cooking, the Lord adds flavor and spice to my life.  I'm glad He loves me enough to go digging deeper, prune back the lifeless "stuff" to find a sprig of life in me.  He'll water me and I will grow roots and be strong and vibrant.  A Gardener who doesn't give up when there's been a drought.  He's so merciful and thoughtful, so devoted to His creation, His seed.  He'll water, He'll cut away whatever is not producing fruit.  But He'll never cut us off!  He'll make sure our roots are buried deep in Him, a wellspring of life.  I love my Gardener.  My soul thirsts for Him, for His pruning, for His watering.  When He works on me, it is well with my soul.

From His Lap,

From His Lap

This post is dedicated to a dear friend, Karen, who, like me has battled fear.  She is overcoming and winning the battle, one day at a time!  I'm so proud of her and I pray for her!


Are you ever overtaken by fear?  I have a sleeping disorder and there have been times when I worried about something so much that I literally didn't sleep for days.  I could hone in on and dwell on problems and get myself so worked up that I couldn't even obtain enough peace to fall asleep.  So I would just lay there and grind my teeth until little pieces of them broke off in my mouth.  As a mom, for me, fear and anxiety over my children has probably been the hardest obstacle to overcome.


I have six children and I never seemed to have those types of fears when they were young, but as they grew into their teens and started making their own decisions, there were times that I actually became paralyzed with fear; fear that they were hanging out with the wrong people, fear that they would drink and drive, fear that they would be involved in an accident...probably all normal fears.  But I let them overtake and control me.


There have been a couple of times in my adult like when our finances were so meager that my fear would make me unable to talk or think sensibly about a solution.  What drives us to have fear like that?  Is it pride that we won't look so successful as parents, as breadwinners, as whatever?  Is it a lack of ability to lay our cares at the foot of the cross and leave them there?  Is it a trust issue?  I don't know the answer but I do know that the devil knows if he can get us in that kind of fear, we are worthless to do any good or constructive thing to help ourselves and others.


Fear is not even a reasonable emotion...because it solves nothing.  It has no good purpose and it leaves us in worse condition than if we did not have it.  I'm not speaking about concern or conscientiously concentrating on a problem.  I'm talking about a fear that grips you in the gut and keeps you from moving out and away from a problem.  Fear holds us back and squelches hope and faith.  It does not lead to a solution for the thing we fear.  

Sitting on my Dad's lap

For me, the opposite of fear is hope and peace.  Hope and Peace.  Without these two things, I could not live.  If you read my blog often, you are aware that I always sign off "From His Lap, Erin".  There is a specific reason for that.  The only way that I have ever found to dig myself out of a big muddy pit of fear is to climb up in His lap.  I literally picture myself coming to Him with my arms outstretched like a child, climbing to His lap, and putting my head on His shoulder.  Sometimes I can almost feel His hand on my hair.  Did you ever notice a toddler reaching up for you?  It's a total act of surrender on their part.  They are wanting to be held, comforted and safe.  We would never turn away a child that is asking for that.  Just as our Heavenly Father would never turn us away.

Dear heart, if you ever feel like you are in the grips of fear and you can't find peace, take a moment to put yourself in the arms of the One who has the answers; the One who holds the hope and peace that you are so desperately in need of.  Let Him minister to you there.  Let Him calm your jangled nerves and quiet your worries.  The Scripture says that His peace passes all understanding.  That means we can have peace even when we don't know the answers or don't know what to do.  We can have that blessed peace and hope that God has a dream and a future for us!


From His Lap,