I define surrender in two words: “Yes, Lord.”

When I was younger (and a relatively new Christian) Louie Giglio came to my church and taught many summer Sunday night services. (I think he did this for at least two years.) During one session he taught on Isaiah 26:8 and I’ve never forgotten him reading the passage and saying, “For Your Name and Your renown, O Lord…”  

That night at the altar I changed. My thinking changed, my heart changed.

For Your Name and Your renown, O Lord.

And although I didn’t realize it at the time these two words (Yes, Lord.) and this verse (Isaiah 26:8) would become my definition of surrender.

Yes, Lord. For Your Name and Your renown I will ________________.

I daily try to live this out…but more often than not I fail. I’m weak.

It’s a little like walking on water. Often like Peter I start to sink. Often I don’t like it because it requires something of me -- me.

Often I forget, and I get afraid, and selfishness rears its ugly head (because the opposite of surrender is self) but after awhile I remember again…and I step out onto the water once more. Thankfully I’m not out there alone.

So thankful for grace.

in baptism;

raised to walk in the newness of life.

Last weekend Mark and I were privileged to witness a rededication baptism. (And a rededication wedding.)

On the way home (at close to midnight) Mark and I talked about baptism.

About the symbolic significance of it…about our sins being “buried” with Christ. About how going down into the water should be done with a sorrowful heart. Not sorrow for the loss of our old life, but sorrow for the sins we have committed against Christ.

Our sinless Savior.

For love.

And about how the rising out of the water should be a time of rejoicing. We should clap and sing and praise the Lord. Our sins are buried. They are no more. We have become new creatures…raised to walk in the newness (Christ-likeness) of life. 

(If you happen to have read Dekker’s Circle Trilogy -- we are no longer “Scabs” the ugliness on our outside and inside has been washed away, we have been buried in the water with Elyon and raised clean… we are Albinos.)

Salvation.

Buried with Him in baptism; raised to walk in the newness of life.

The next day as I was cleaning the house and listening to KSBJ the song Mighty to Save came on the radio. When I heard it I thought that this song would have been the perfect song to end the night with. A song of rejoicing…

There used to be a time in our church when (in the old days of hymn singing) the service would end with a song (the title of which I do not know) which went something like this “We go out with joy”.  

It was a joyful song and when we left church we did “go out with joy”.  So when I heard Mighty to Save I thought, “It is a ‘go out with joy song’.”

So…it has been on my heart…and this song has been in my mind all week…so here it is…dedicated to you and you…you know who you are.

He is mighty to save.

Lest I forget Gethsemane,

Lest I forget Thine agony;

Lest I forget Thy love for me,

Lead me to Calvery

      -Jennie Evelyn Hussey

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb taking the spices they had prepared.  And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.  And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, but has risen. …” -Luke 24:1-6

…just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life.  –Romans 6:4

He is Risen!

My calling as a mother is the same as any other Christian’s:  to fulfill God’s will for our lives and to glorify Him.  This means I am to follow the Lord’s design for my marriage—cleaving to my husband, supporting him, honoring him, loving him as my own flesh.  I am to be a careful steward of the world in which I live.  I am to seek opportunities to bring God’s message of redemption to other’s, to make full use of the gifts and talents He has placed in my life to bring Him glory and further His kingdom.  And I am to delight in Him and worship Him and praise Him in whatever circumstance I find myself.

But that’s just the point.  Because God has blessed me with a husband and children, a part of His call to me is to follow His plan for families.  And that means I am to shepherd the hearts of the children whom He has providentially placed in my care.  I am to care for them tenderly and to partner with God and my husband in leading my children to know and love His Word and to follow His will.

This design doesn’t mean I have to lose myself in my children’s lives.  On the contrary, following God’s design for living is the true key to finding myself — to becoming the person He had in mind for me all along.  And saying yes to the mission of motherhood has certainly not meant giving up my ministry.  To a great extent, it is my ministry.

                                     - Sally Clarkson

Amen.

Read more in The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson.

I grasp…               

Dawn breaking, another cloudy day.

Gray morning

Early

In bed, thoughts swirl – a feeling of revelation, and then, loss…

Thoughts flutter away. I try to grab them.

Thoughts swirl. Clouds break apart.

Verses resound in my mind…

“When you pray…”

Hypocrites

Synagogues

Standing in the street to be seen by men.

Confusion. A cloudy day.

How does this fit Lord?

Someone said, “Heart attitudes…” I think, “Attitudes of the heart.”

Wives. Women. Husbands. Families. Attitudes?

Prayer

More verses. “But when you pray, go into your room and close the door.”

Lord…? Matthew 6:6. Verses resound…But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

I grasp. A real closet? Praying on the streets?

Thoughts swirl and race away.

Clouds race across the sky. Gray morning. Dawn breaking.

Help my understanding!

Is my table enough? Is what I do enough? Is it wrong?

My family sees…now the world sees…am I standing on the street corner babbling?

Forgive…

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name…

Confusion. Clouds swirl. Thoughts flutter.

Pray in the secret…lifting him up to God…clouds breaking…

Don’t stand on the street corner…our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Pray for him but don’t babble to your friends.

Husbands, wives…love one another…verses resound…clouds race across the sky…gray morning…if you forgive your husband when he sins (is less than perfect) against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Love.

Dawn breaking, another cloudy day, gray morning. Early. Revelation. Reflecting on Matthew 6.

God hears…help my understanding.

blessings,

dani

“For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” (Matthew 6:14)

Off and on I read Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening during my morning quiet time. Here is a link to this morning’s reading. I think you will enjoy it. Spurgeon too has something to say about a heart of thankfulness and praise.

blessings,

dani

“The Lord has done great things for us; whereof we are glad.” (Psalm 126:3)

Lord, help me to see the good in things instead of the bad…help me to praise You for all things, in all circumstances. I’m going to try to take my circumstances and plunge them into the fluid of praise…

Thank you for allowing me to spend some extra time with Elisabeth (Bess) last night.

Thank you that even though Bess is grumpy - she still laughs.

Thank you that I went back to sleep last night after being up with her.

Thank you that Aaron is reading – I praise you for the progress.

Thank you for Bethany’s messes – they show creativity.

Thank you that the kids like experiments and therefore drop things down from upstairs to see how fast they fall. J Thank you for the creative messes that result.

Thank you for all the work my hands have to do. What would I do with myself otherwise?

Thank you for Caleb – that he is potty trained - even if he misses the toilet half the time – at least he is trying.

Thank you for the neighbor kid who is over all the time. Thank you that we can be a witness to him and the kids have someone to play with.

Thank you for friends who go through situations that are, so far outside of my ability to comprehend and my comfort zone…thank you for stretching me.

Thank you for keeping me humble and needy.

Thank you for giving me strength and energy even when I am tired and would like nothing better than to sit and do nothing. Thank you that You keep me going even when my feet would stop.

Thank you for Bess' crying -there must be something good about it...thank you that I can hear it and she can do it...

I could go on (and I will on my own as I go about the rest of my day). I could give praise for easy things, like our house, having enough food, being healthy, and Bess taking a long nap, but I thought I would do the hard things…some of the things that I would rather complain about…and just things that have happened today. This has been difficult – which tells me I haven’t been praising God enough.

 In her book, Something More, Catherine Marshall talks about how she decided to praise God for the loss of her granddaughter…I can’t even imagine. My things are so small. (Thank you, Lord. I don’t want them any larger.) But, like Marshall, I do want to praise God in all things and for all things. In all circumstances. I think of Elisabeth Elliot and how she went back and witnessed to the very people who killed her husband…this was an act of praise. Would I be willing…?

Praising God for the bad. It seems to make no sense…and yet, once we do it we’ve taken our thoughts off the bad and focused, as Catherine Marshall says, by an act of will, on the good…and because of this our attitude about our circumstance changes. Our perspective changes…and the sun comes out again…maybe not immediately, but eventually.

God is good. He is faithful. He is true. He is eternal. And as Mark taught on Sunday, he is the first-goer, the archegos, or pioneer. He has been there before us. On the cross. Sometimes I try to imagine what He felt when the weight of the world’s sins descended upon him…and I can’t. I don’t really want to. It is beyond me. Yes, he knows it all. Praise Him.

On Sunday, Mark also asked, “What is worship?” He asked the class to give examples of worship  in our daily lives…I’m wondering,… no I’m sure…praising God for our “less than good circumstances” is an act of worship.

Lord, make me worshipful. Help me to praise.

blessings,

dani

“Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of His name; give to Him glorious praise!” (Psalm 66:1)

Lord, you’ve heard me lately. I’ve sounded very selfish. Very foolish. Where did these thoughts of self come from? I know they are there…but I thought I’d overcome them…

Time for me.                                      

Can’t you help out!           

Can’t you do it yourself?

Why, do we have to do that, go there, respond that way….?!

If I have to do this one more time…

Can’t you see I’m busy?

I only have two hands…

Whine, complain, grumble…not always aloud…but God hears…

Me, me, me, me…

I thought I’d overcome these selfish feelings…I was doing so well…so at peace…yet suddenly here they are…surprising even to me…rearing their ugly heads…dragging me down…stealing my joy, robbing me of peace…causing my husband to look at me like I’ve grown another head.

A few words were said to me recently, innocent words, common words, typical words, words that so many women say to one another…but evil…because they are a lie and they burrowed down into my soul and caused my selfish self to rear up…“You, need to boss him around a little. Tell him to help you. He needs to help you with those children.”  This from a godly, sweet, christian woman. Words that are, oh so innocent, right? Evil. They go against all I believe. Yet, they affected me…

Lord, forgive…

I don’t believe the mantra. The one the world whispers…shouts really…self, me, self.  I believe it robs us of our ability to pray, to love our spouses, to have a happy marriage, to have happy children…to be happy. It is why so many marriages are failing. Self. Me. Self.

Serve…

I don’t believe that God ever said, “Take time off girl, you deserve it!” And I know He never said, “You need to boss him around a little.” No, He said, serve. Give. Serve some more. Be a help-meet. Sacrifice. Love beyond all ability to love. And when you are tired, when you are weary, when you are spent and there is no more to give…give MORE…and turn

to Me…

and I will strengthen you

and give you rest…

so you can

give even more.

God says…I gave…that you might have…and you grumble…about what?!

Lord, forgive.

“A wise woman never expects anyone to serve her, and is therefore never disappointed.  She is ready to help, always the giver.  By her example, her children learn to cheerfully and energetically serve.”       -Debbie Pearl

blessings,

dani

“And the Lord God said, it is not good that a man should be alone; I will make a help-meet for him…” (Genesis 2:18,22)