Monday, February 20, 2012

Volume II


Streams of Waters
Entry 2, February 20, 2012

Dear Women of Grace,

            I just dropped my children off at an art class ready to enjoy this one treasured time a week I have without them nearby.  As I drove off, I began asking the Lord what I should do during this hour and a half?  What would bring peace to my racing mind and heart? After running through my past week at break-neck speed, I found myself desperate for a since of solace and direction.  My options included: coming home to wash dishes and laundry, going for a run, or cleaning outside our home from the aftermath of our construction project.  I was certain that bringing order to our home was the very thing that would rejuvenate my soul and get me off to a good start this week.

While still driving, He reminded me of His Word.  “Tanya, it is Me that you need.  Let’s go back to your house and sit together.  Pour out your heart to Me and listen to Me through the Word I gave you.  Clothes, dishes and cleaning can wait.  Feasting upon Me cannot.  You must stop before you go on.”  So, my friends, after the “feasting”, I was encouraged to share the following with you.

Lent, the forty days of preparation toward Easter, begins this Wednesday.  While Lent is traditionally Catholic, the discipline is something from which we can greatly learn.  It forces us to ponder more seriously, for forty days, Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.  Some people “give up something” for Lent while others “add something spiritual” for Lent.  Look beyond that.  Let us, together, ask Christ how we should sacrifice ourselves to Him in preparation for Easter Sunday. 

This past month, I have been greatly challenged by thoughts from “The Indwelling Life of Christ” by W. Ian Thomas.  I shared some of these thoughts at the Saturday Women’s gathering…sorry for the repeat…

This is what I desire during Lent…
“To rediscover the Lord Jesus Christ and the indispensability of His indwelling presence within the believer.”

What does this mean?  I encourage you to sit with this for a while… it’s amazing! 

We get to encounter the risen living Lord who shares His Life with us on earth on our way to heaven…so that He may accomplish through us what He began to do in His own physical body two thousand years ago.  What a fantastic privilege!

During Lent, I want to see the Person of Jesus, the Lord Himself, in residence within my redeemed humanity.  I am going to take a twist on Ann Voscamp’s book, “One thousand Gifts” and record EVERY day in Lent (and I don’t do “every-day” commitments very wellJ) when I see/feel the risen Jesus in residence within my redeemed humanity.  Then, when I come on Easter Sunday to celebrate a risen Lord, I will have already walked intimately with Him for 40 days and will be further convinced that He is alive and worth my sacrifice to Him.

Would you walk alongside me for the next 40 days as we prepare our hearts, souls, minds, and strength to worship Jesus more fully?  What a great way to be a church during this season!

Blessings to each of you,
Tanya

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