All the Difference ~ Guest Blog

“But with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.” (1 Peter 1:19)

In our years at the farm, taking the highway to our former hometown was a regular route. I think I could almost have driven it in the dark, even though there were many curves, ups and downs, a river bridge, and a couple of places where the pavement separated into a “Y.”

One spring, I noticed a triangular lot at one of the “Ys” being leveled and fenced. Soon after a manufactured home was anchored at the back of the property. It seemed no matter how often I drove by, no matter what time of day, a middle-aged woman would have her shovel and wheelbarrow, planting rows of saplings.

In only a few months to my surprise, the trees grew tall, and the trunks thickened--much faster than any I had seen before. I stopped by one day to compliment the lady on her success. She said she had found the secret to growing. To each portion of rich soil, she mixed in equal portions of bone meal and blood meal. “The blood really makes the difference.” I sort of cringed inside knowing that it came from slaughtered animals.

In a day when offering slaughtered animals’ blood had become tiresome religious duty, God planted a tree in rocky soil. The men He used to place it there did not expect it to grow. But as God would have it, when His Son was nailed on that Tree of Death, it supernaturally transformed into a Tree of Life. The place where the tired religious or the wayward rebellious can come and be implanted with a forgiven forever new life. Jesus’ blood made all the difference.

I wonder when someone is becoming acquainted with me ... is the difference that Jesus’ blood has made visible? I know I can talk Jesus’ talk. I can wear the smile and give the hugs. But inside, is His love that is greater than all my sins bleeding through? So much so that others sense it without me saying so? Can others see that my heart is under His control of "Peace, be still"? To those who know me, am I noticeably growing in grace? Rooting ever more deeply into a devotion to this One who brought me to His Tree of Life. Who carved my name into His Family Tree. That One Whose precious blood makes all the difference for me.
~ martha langley

"O, Lord, Show me the Way ... "

                          Love the idea of going to the River to pray since Jesus is the River of Life.

Love Awakens Love

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails....”   (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

When my children were small I remember wishing that I could just place them in a glass dome so that nothing could ever harm them.  But then I realized they would also miss all the joys of living. They would miss love.

I remember the first time I studied the Scripture passage about love in an easier to understand text.  When I read it over, I thought, I have not loved anyone.  I found out how self-serving I was.  How sensitive I was.  Keeping record of wrongs others had done to me.  I had been loving out of my need, not as an overflow to others.

It hurts when you love and then others don’t love you back as you expect.  A husband may not be as attentive as you think you need.  A wife may be consumed with her children.  Teenagers may be in rebellion.  You may long for someone to be in your life to love you.  You may have lost someone you loved dearly.  Working through that sense of lost love is going to be extremely painful.  Where do you run with that pain?  Who but Christ can fill that void?  But if the love you receive from someone has been lost, and without it you absolutely cannot function, then that relationship has been a god to you. Confess it to Christ and to someone else, and ask for a repentant heart.  If God holds that place, run to Him.

When God’s love began to awaken my heart from its deep sleep of being stoic, in denial, and hardness, I began to experience what real love was all about.  My grandchildren hugging me and saying they love me awakens my heart.  I remember my elderly dad reaching for my hand, how that awakened love in me.  When I know I am wrong and a friend listens and doesn’t preach but prays for me, it awakens my heart.

I am very fortunate to have prayer support, friends, and family who have been there through the years for me.  In addition to that, in the last few years I have begun reuniting with family and friends I had not been close to for years.  How my life has expanded with opening our hearts to each other!  The richness and fullness they have brought to me was unexpected, but I am oh, so thankful for them all.  They have loved me unconditionally, believed in me, mentored me, and even become my soul mates.  I have been awakened to love.

We need the whole body of Christ and even unbelievers in our lives.  To love us and to teach us to love.  So that we may love them.  Christ knows how much we want and need love.  He loved us and wanted our love so much He was willing to die to get us.  He knows how it feels to want to be loved. God put this love and need for love in our hearts.  Only He can meet this need.  No one person, no matter how wonderful that person is, will ever meet your need for love as completely as Christ.  Without Him there will always be a void.  It is the fullness of His love in our hearts which spills over to everyone in our lives.  You will love with the same amazing love by which you are loved.  You will enjoy and love people more than you can imagine.  All kinds of people.  Not just those like you.

Father, Son, Spirit, release Your love from our hearts so that we can love You and others with Your unfathomable love.  May it take our breath away and dry our tears.  We are fulfilled in You.

Where is Our Comfort?

"You can be sure that the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with His comfort through Christ."  (2 Corinthians 1:5)

I remember a difficult week in dealing with my mental disorder.  I called on family, friends, and my doctor for help, for support, and for prayer.  It was really hard with the racing thoughts that were darting through my brain.  I grew so weary.

I was remembering when my granddaughter was here.  We would lie down together at night.  I would tell her the story of Cinderella, and then we would pray.  She would fall fast asleep.  Have you ever tried to slip out of bed without waking a little one?  Out of a high bed?  As I rolled over there was nothing beneath me but the floor.  I hit hard on my left hand.  It broke my wrist in three places.

Sometimes now, just out of the blue, that wrist will ache deep inside the bone.  It reminds me of a deeper ache inside my soul.  An ache I have for the gospel and all it means.  For love, acceptance, and forgiveness.  I long for rest, righteousness, and peace of mind.  I long to be whole.  I long for God in a deeper way.

I am so very thankful for my mental illness.  I think how self sufficient I was before.  How God has used it in my life, and in others' lives.  Now my depravity is ever before me making me cling to and depend on God.  I am poor in body but also in spirit.  But oh, so rich!  I so want God to be glorified in me.  We are such a beautiful story of His grace.

Out of this deep longing and ache blossoms an abundance of comfort.  From Him to me, and then to others.  It is given, not only to be kept, it must move out as a wind from a storm.  His love for us is so extravagant.  So bountiful.  So very beautiful.  It is it beyond my ability to describe, just experience.

This sometimes comes after very hard times of striving, guilty conscience, trying to measure up, wrestling with God about where I am, and what He has allowed in my life.  Maybe even self pity, questioning, and silence from Him.  Where is He?  What is He thinking?  Why can't I sense His presence?  Am I doing something wrong?

Then, in comes the gospel:  "I went to the cross for you.  I did it all.  It is finished."

Christ cannot be restrained, predicted, or tamed as a Lion. Where did this King of kings come from?  This mighty warrior who is bold but gentle as a lamb.  Just a breath from Him can make the earth quake and the dark sky in a storm turn light as day.  He always was and always will be.

Thank you Lord for using even the hardest things in our lives to show us Your love for us.  You give us unexplainable comfort which we cannot find on our own.  

(Note:  Further reading:  2 Corinthians 1)

Note:  I'll post another one of Deb's writings soon ... but had another thought to add to yesterday's  "Sanctuary."

I talked yesterday about seeing a problem looming before me like Mt. Everest. But that the "mountain" became hardly visible once it was placed in God's hands.

Then last night, I thought about another mountain ... Jesus transformed Mt. Calvary from the Place of the Skull and Death, into a Monument of God-love and God-Forgiveness and ETERNAL LIFE! WOW!

Sanctuary ~ Guest Blog

                                    “...Only He should be feared; only He should be held in awe ...
                                                 He will be a sanctuary....” (Isaiah 8:13-14)

With two young sons and another on the way, my husband and I moved to a plateau area in the beautiful Ozark Mountains. The boys' paternal grandparents were not happy about us living farther from them, but they were excited about the region's camping parks. Camping, fishing, and hunting had been their mainstay of family recreation.

At one point during our first exploration, the curving, narrow highway edged a high peak on one side and a seemingly bottomless crevasse on the other. "Son," my father-in-law said, "you could drop a child off the top here, and he would be grown before he hit the ground." We all laughed. But there is something formidable, something awe-striking, about a great mountain.

Some years ago, a financial challenge loomed before me like a Mt. Everest. How could this happen? Why now? How can we fix this? Wrestling with that how evolved into utter frustration. Then a gripping fear. The pain of thinking there would be no legacy for our children's children seemed unbearable. I started to live in looking backward. Placed the blame on someone else. Angry bitterness to set in.

But that was not where God would let me live. One morning as I sat with my writing tablet, I drew a picture of a mountain. Seems foolish now, but I think I was so caught in my unbelief, that I was trying to prove to God that this problem was just too big. Impossible. Inescapable.

With gracious kindness, my Father then allowed me to visualize my mountain placed in His hand. There it was almost too small to see. Suddenly my faith reignited. Was not the God who spoke the mountains into existence the same One who could speak to them to move? The mountain I needed removed wasn't my financial loss, it was my unbelief. As I gave myself into trust, He moved me into His sanctuary--His rest and peace.

You may have your own mountain: An estranged son or daughter. A difficult marriage. The aftermath from divorce. Financial loss. Health issues. A long-time friend turned enemy. A cherished dream looking dead end. A bleak-looking future. (Maybe you have a mountain range of problems.) Please remember that God doesn't want you to live in the sadness or the hopelessness. There is sanctuary--a helping, healing sanctuary--in your Father's presence, trusting in Him. Don't delay naming that mountain(s) and placing it in your Father's loving, powerful hand.

Father God, YOU ARE OUR SANCTUARY. Nothing in this life is bigger than Your love for us and Your power to help us. Thank You for Your ever-kind heart to hear us and to restore us to Your peace that passes understanding. ~ martha langley

Man's Best Friend

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”  (John 15:13)

As a little girl, I loved to visit my friend Jeanette.  She was older than I and, to me, oh, so beautiful.  She had dark hair and dark eyes.  I was several years younger with a boy haircut called a ducktail, blue and white checkered glasses, and knobby knees.  I could go into her bedroom and open her big, deep dresser drawer full of nothing but paper dolls, and play for hours.

For many years I had been so very busy with children, my husband's occupation, and my illness, that I let many family members and friends go.  I do  have a few close friends who have hung onto me throughout the process.

But in visits home to see my dad before he died, I got in touch with family I didn't know, and friends I had not seen for years.  I loved spending time with them and with my dad.  Along with those new friends, I also have friends with whom I take off my mask.  I tell them my innermost thoughts and struggles.  I feel that nothing can separate us.

Are we willing to let someone take the mask off with us?  For us to take it off with them?  We can face the fear of rejection with a smile because we are totally accepted in Christ.  It does take wisdom to know which person we allow in.  Those whom we enter into their world and suffer, rejoice, and limp with them.  It can be uncomfortable.  We may want to rescue them and fix their world.  And we also want to be loved and accepted by them.  Even corrected when necessary, with the grace of our Savior.  Or we may just need someone to listen and care.

These friendships point to the greatest of all relationships.  The friendship of Jesus Christ.  I can lay my heart and mind bare before Him.  He is my very best friend.  No matter what I tell Him He will not reject, leave, or stop loving me.  He is closer than a brother.

Christ is jealous for me and is relentless to have my whole heart.  Not part given to Him and part to some idol such as in an adulterous relationship (like the woman at the well).

Christ opens His deep drawer full of His endless, eternal riches, and I just drown myself in the sea of His grace.  Sometimes we just listen to the silence, remembering His love for me.  The rest of the world grows dim.

Lord, sometimes we fail each other.  Your love never fails.  You were the sacrifice we could never be.  Only through spending time with You can we know selfless love.