Daily Archives: July 5, 2011

Confessions of a Christian Wife, Proven Path Ministries, Uncategorized

>The Verdict

>So this housewife has spent the last few hours glued to the computer watching the defense’s closing arguments in the Casey Anthony murder trial. I have to admit that the defense’s arguments left me with a reasonable doubt and I believe at this point had I been on this jury I too would have said “not guilty”. Of course I have not watched the trial in full nor have I listened to the prosecutions closing arguments.

I am fully aware that my opinion holds no relevance to the case.

Many have spent today venting their frustration and indignation over this case. I don’t know if we will ever know what really happened to little Caylee. I have heard several assumptions. Many have their own idea and speculations all built around and from their own personal experiences with life. This is where most of us live.

As a friend’s facebook status said  “Please remember the absolute truth and promise of this: Ecclesiastes 12:14 ‘For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil'”

How thankful I am for the sovereignty of God. This is what we can know, God is the Judge of judges. He sees what we do not see. Nothing is hidden from His sight. Different life backgrounds and experiences do not help shape His opinions. He stands on truth. Justice is not blind to Him. It is always served.

This is where we should rest. This is where we can find peace. I also know that Caylee did not leave this earth without God’s permission. He alone holds the keys to life and death. This situation did not sneak up on Him.
I also know the blood of the slain calls up to God from the ground (Gen 4:10). The voices of the slain sit under His altar in the heavens and cry out for His vengeance (Rev 6:10). Matthew 18:10 lets us rest in the fact that even in her death, no matter how it came, Caylee was not alone, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.”

Now I have considered spending the next few hours listening to the closing arguments of the prosecution. You know… so I can pass my own judgment of the case… but God didn’t ask me to sit in this court. Instead of spending more time trying to decide whether or not I believe the verdict was correct in my opinion according to the evidence presented at trial, I think I will pray that God’s will be accomplished.

The truth is when we live our lives apart from the will of God, there is no limit to our sin. There is not a one of us, if not submitted to the will of the Father, if not putting to death the deeds of the flesh, that could not be sitting in her chair. When the enemy has free reign in our minds and complete control of our emotions and thoughts. When we are a slave to sin… “being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful,…” (Rom 1:29-31)

But for the grace of God there go I…

 

Confessions of a Christian Wife, Uncategorized

>Blah Days

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>So the last couple of days have been “blah” days. Do you know what I am talking about? Sunday was a wonderful day of worship. The days before this past Sunday were filled with distinct and memorable God moments of revelation. They were filled with moments of hopeful expectations for the future. My minds eyes saw endless possibilities of God’s purpose and hand in my life. Not even the sky was the limit. You know eye hath not seen and ear hath not heard what the Lord has planned for those who love Him (1 Corin 2:9). Yes it was that kind of week, that kind of Sunday… then Monday.

Why is it that after you have just had some amazing time with God it is followed with a blah day? Or maybe it’s just me…

Monday I woke up with a weight on my shoulders. Nothing tangible, no obvious reason, just a heaviness upon me. One of those mornings where I stare at the sky and the trees and gaze absent-mindedly at my unopen Bible and clean notebook page in front of me. One of those mornings when I need a pep rally to just have the desire to want to get going. One of those mornings when my focus is on the issues of life instead of the Creator of life.

When these mornings, these days, come I have learned I have to just sit and wait. So I just sat and continued to stare out into the open sky and watch the slight breeze sway the tops of the trees and I just listened. Then after some time I took a deep breath and wrote out to God about my heaviness. This didn’t cause any weight to lift, but at least it was not hidden. Then I proceeded to open my Bible and started digging into Isaiah chapters 40 and 41.    

I wish I could say that the heavens opened and glory came down and filled my soul and the weight was lifted and I walked away from my quiet time skipping light as a feather as I sang the praises of my blessed Redeemer… but I can’t.
However, I was reminded by my blessed Redeemer that He had chosen me and not rejected me. I was reminded that I was not to fear because He was with me. I was told that I was not to look anxiously about me for He was my God. I was told that He would strengthen me and would surely help me and He would uphold me with His righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:9-11).

He didn’t say that He would remove the blah day, but He would help me and strengthen me. Today I am still in the blah day, but there is less blah than yesterday 🙂

The blah days are when we trust what we learned in the wonderful days. As God is carrying us through the blah days, He doesn’t leave us without encouragement. When I checked my email this morning I received some words of encouragement from a fellow follower of Christ, Mr Chuck Swindoll:

I don’t know what your intimidating giant is today. It may relate to your job, your roommate, or your school. Maybe it is a person, a lawsuit, unemployment, a disaster . . . maybe even your own partner in life. Perhaps it is some fear that is lurking around the corner, sucking your energy and draining your faith. God is saying to you right now, “All I ask of you is five smooth stones and a sling of faith. I’ll take it from there. You don’t have to wear somebody else’s armor. You just trust Me. And I’ll strip you down to nothing but faith, and then I’ll accomplish a victory where I’ll get the glory.
But as for you . . . you trust Me.”
Perhaps you don’t know what lies across the valley. Maybe you can’t get a handle on what that giant is; but it’s there, haunting you. That uncertainty alone is a giant. But look at that worry in comparison to the Lord God Himself, and say, by faith, “The battle is Yours, Lord. It is Your battle. I lean on You. I give You all my weapons, all my skills, and I stand before You, trusting You.”
It is God’s love for us that causes Him to bring us to an end of our own strength. He sees our need to trust Him, and His love is so great that He will not let us live another day without surrendering our arms to Him, giving Him our fears, our worries, even our confusion, so that nothing becomes more significant to us than our Father.
Never, ever forget it: the battle is the Lord’s!
So from the pen of Isaiah and from the pen of Chuck, the Lord’s message remains the same… trust Him. 
I love how God never says, “well if you really loved me you wouldn’t be feeling that way.” God never condemns us according to our feelings. It is our actions that matter to Him. It’s not our feelings, but how we respond to our feelings. 
So in these blah days, these heavy days that haunt, these days that have us walking around like those old Looney Tunes cartoons… you know the ones… the ones where the one single rain cloud is above one person’s head and it’s pouring down rain and thundering and lightening above them and yet the sun is shining all around and on everyone else…
yes, in these days…
trust Him.