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Seeds and Bread

/ Remember. Celebrate. Trust. / 2 Comments

Well, hello! It’s been a little while since I have had a chance to blog but today is the day! I’ve missed you.

As I was purging clutter yesterday (actually, as I was digging deeply in my home – searching frantically for my passport from 20+ years ago), I came across an old journal…. I was fascinated as I perused it this morning to discover that the idea of “Remember, Celebrate, Trust” was from all the way back in July of 2013!

Allow me to share my thoughts from July 11, 2013…because they could basically be today’s entry:

***

“Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God.”  2 Corinthians 9:10-11 NASB

Lord, I need You. I’m tired. I’m feeling overwhelmed with the day ahead of me. Please help me to see You as my Provider of seed and bread. Bread is for today, and seed is for tomorrow and beyond. I can’t eat seed {guess I hadn’t heard of eating seeds back in the day} and I can’t plant bread so You provide for both now and the future.

Has God taken care of you thus far, Lisa? Are you still living in your home? Do you still have clothes? Do you have food? Do you have “stuff” in your house? Too much stuff, in fact!

Remember.  Remember God’s faithfulness.  Celebrate.  Celebrate the victories thus far, and trust God for today and tomorrow.

Remember. Celebrate. Trust. Remember. Celebrate. Trust. Remember. Celebrate. Trust.

Remember.

“Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth…”.  Ecclesiastes 12:1 NASB

Celebrate.

“Go then, eat your bread in happiness, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart; for God has already approved your works… Enjoy life with the [man] whom you love all the days of your fleeting life under the sun; for this is your reward in life, and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun.”  Ecclesiastes 9:7,9 NASB

Trust.

“I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will dwell securely.”  Psalm 16:8-9 NASB

“In the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust without fear, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?”  Psalm 57:9-11 NASB

Trust without fear.

God is for me.

I shall not be afraid.

***  {end of 07-11-13 journal entry}

Amen!

The context at the time was that I was preparing a transcript for my oldest to begin dual-enrollment at the local community college during high school, and I was fretting. Fast forward – my oldest is graduating with a finance degree in May, and thankfully already has a job lined up; my middle is successfully finishing his second year of college; and we leave in just a few hours to take our youngest on college visits in Virginia and South Carolina…. Yay, God!

God is faithful. I will trust Him without fear. He is for me. And YOU!!!

May you be encouraged, and may you and yours have a very blessed Easter. He is alive!

Lisa Toth

Remember. Celebrate. Trust.

Disobedience & Detonation

/ Remember. Celebrate. Trust. / 2 Comments

Last night, my family and I watched a speech by a Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal officer who lost his eyesight in an explosion in Afghanistan. He told the story of a man who, rather than precisely walking in the exact same footsteps as the bomb expert in front of him, chose to take just a few steps to the right — to the path of less resistance. He was thrown by an exploding bomb, and the man following him immediately lost both of his legs in the blast. As the officer went to assist the wounded, a separate bomb exploded underneath him and he was blinded by the shrapnel. Even as I write this, I am reminded that my disobedience and desire to follow my own path does not only cost me, but also those around me.

This morning as I was reading a C.S. Lewis book, these words spoke to me:

“Laziness means more work in the long run. Or look at it this way. In a battle, or in mountain climbing, there is often one thing which it takes a lot of pluck to do; but it is also, in the long run, the safest thing to do. If you funk it, you will find yourself, hours later, in far worse danger. The cowardly thing is also the most dangerous thing.” Mere Christianity, p. 197

When I disobey (most notably the Lord) — or even if I’m “just” being lazy — it will cost me and those close to me — and the consequences could be severe. Those are sobering words. I think that we tend to think we live in a vacuum — that our choices are only our choices, and we are the only ones who suffer when we misstep. Sadly, that is not the case. Our disobedience (“failure to follow rules, commands, etc.”) can bring about a detonation (“the action of causing a bomb or explosive device to explode.”)

Here’s a prayer for us:

Lord, thank You for another day of life. Like following a bomb expert one step at a time across a mine field, may I obey You and put my feet exactly as You do. Please help me to discern and understand just the next step. You have promised that your Word is “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105)  Help me to follow you today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The great news is that there can still be beauty from ashes. Without totally spoiling the story, I encourage you to research Lieutenant Brad Snyder or purchase his book (which I have not yet read but hope to):  Fire in My Eyes: An American Warrior’s Journey from Being Blinded on the Battlefield to Gold Medal Victory.

In case I don’t have a chance to blog again before Christmas, may the joys of the season be with you and your loved ones. He is Immanuel — God with us!

Until next time,

Lisa Toth

Remember. Celebrate. Trust.