Flowers for a Crown?

I have always loved the country.
I always will. 

Years ago God brought me to a cross-roads of leaving many things that I cherished behind to obey and heed His calling. God used my own Dad as my hero-of-faith to follow in this adventure of leaving the familiar behind. Looking back almost eight years ago, I haven't regretted my decision...and my Dad is still one of my hero's-of-faith. 

It was God's simple call on our lives to "Follow Him" (Matthew 4:19). By His grace, we did. During that time of following God's direction eight years ago, God used a godly lady to share a simple poem with my family. This poem helped me see the BIGGER picture of life and opened my spiritual eyes to needs. I would like to share it.

"I said: 'Let me walk in the field;'
God said: 'Nay, walk in the town;'
I said: 'There are no flowers there;'
He said: 'No flowers, but a crown.'"

"I said: 'But the sky is black,
There is nothing but noise and din;'
But He wept as He sent me back,
'There is more,' He said, 'there is sin.'"

"I said: 'But the air is thick,
and fogs are veiling the sun;'
He answered: 'Yet souls are sick,
And souls in the dark undone.'"

"I said: 'I shall miss the light,
and friends will miss me they say;'
He answered me, 'Choose tonight,
If I am to miss you, or they.'"

"I pleaded for time to be given;
He said: 'Is it hard to decide?
It will not seem hard in Heaven,
To have followed the steps of your Guide.'"

"I cast one look at the fields,
Then set my face to the town;
He said: 'My child, do you yield?
Will you leave the flowers for the crown?'"

"Then into His hand went mine,
And into my heart came He;
And I walk in a light Divine,
The path I had feared to see."

~ George MacDonald 

Recently, God has been asking me to step out in faith once again...this time, on my own.  

God brought this poem across my path once again, and I just laughed inside at how He uses little things like this to help and strengthen my weak faith, to follow Him and grab a hold of HIS promises, purposes and passions.
It requires a surrender, but the exchange is unparallelled...and so worth it! 

Quiet Before Him

Being quiet before the Lord can sometimes be a challenging thing.

I think that’s why Jesus saw fit to find wilderness places to spend time with the Father. When physically alone, my soul must be quieted before Him. My mind lifted up to heavenly thoughts, my will surrendered to God’s will, and my affections set upon things above. As I do this, I can hear His voice. It’s amazing what you can hear when things are really quiet in your soul!

God has truly been sharing some amazing visions, thoughts, and plans that He has for me. It can be exciting, but at the same time a fearful thing to the flesh. With a revelation of a vision comes the call to die. I recognize that complete surrender and death of self must occur before His visions, His purposes, and His passions can be brought to fruition.

“…Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24).

I like how Eric Ludy puts it in his book The Bravehearted Gospel. Sharing about Job and Jesus’ lives of consecration:

The brave hearted life, the life of Job, the life of Jesus, is nothing less than the handing over of the keys to our possessions, our soul, and our future to God, and saying, “For whatever it’s worth, this whole outfit from top to bottom, from left to right, from here to there, inside and out, the whole kit-n-caboodle is yours to do with and spend as you see fit.” It’s offering not just the scraps but the whole of our very existence to our God-King saying, “I know that there’s not much here to work with. But please take it, break it, multiply it, and feed the hungry. And whether by pain or by comfort, whether by sorrow or by joy, whether by life or by my death, glorify Thy name in all the earth!

These kind of things get me thinking…and get me excited!

 Be blessed today!

~ Chad

Fountain of All Good

O fountain of all Good,

Destroy in me every lofty thought, Break pride to pieces and scatter it to the winds,

Annihilate each clinging shred of self-righteousness,

Implant in me true lowliness of spirit,

Abase me to self-loathing and self-abhorrence,

Open in me a fount of penitential tears,

Break me, then bind me up;

Thus will my heart be a prepared dwelling for my God;

Then can my Father take up His abode in me,

Then can the blessed Jesus come with healing in His touch,

Then can the Holy Spirit descend in sanctifying grace;

O Holy Trinity, three Persons and one God,

Inhabit me, a temple consecrated to Thy glory.

When thou art present, evil cannot abide;

In Thy fellowship is fullness of joy,

Beneath Thy smile is peace of conscience,

By Thy side no fears disturb, no apprehensions banish rest of mind,

With Thee my heart shall bloom with fragrance;

Make me meet, through repentance, for Thine indwelling.

Nothing exceeds Thy power,

Nothing is too great for thee to do,

Nothing is to good for Thee to give.

Infinite Thy might, boundless Thy love, limitless Thy grace, glorious Thy saving name.

Let angels sing for

Sinners repenting,

Prodigals restored,

Backsliders reclaimed,

Satan’s captives released,

Blind eyes open,

Broken hearts bound up,

The despondent cheered,

The self-righteous stripped,

The formalist driven from a refuge of lies,

The ignorant enlightened,

And saints built up in their holy faith.

I ask great things of a great God.

The Valley of Vision

Halfway through January?

I cannot believe that we have already passed the halfway point of the first month of 2012. Time has a way of steadily moving on, moving us closer and closer to the day of His return. 

The quiet stillness of the Northwoods has been a refuge for me for the past ten days. I have come to know new depths of God's nature, I have been challenged to deeper levels of commitment. As a result, I am encouraged to pursue Him all the more. 

With temperatures getting closer and closer to 0, I am encouraged to stay inside more and focus and thinking, studying, writing, and...making meals. LOL =)

It's an adventure that I am fully enjoying. I know that many are praying for the "little band" that dwells here in this wilderness outpost. But that "little band" really has appreciated those prayers because they have witnessed  the hand of God at work...
...keep praying!

O Chambers ~ January 9

A Description of Psalm 139

....“O Lord, You are the God of the early mornings, the God of the late nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea. But, my God, my soul has horizons further away than those of early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature. You who are the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot discover, dreams I cannot realize. My God, search me.”

Northwoods

Today I head to Northwoods...and I am so excited! The Lord opened the door for me to be able to go and spend a few weeks there. I have been desiring to get away and spend some time alone for an extended period. When this opportunity came, I was thrilled.
I know that these next few weeks will be amazing as I spend it seeking Him in the wilderness of the U.P.
I have found it easy to pour out my heart before God, but I realize I need to seek Him and find out more of what His heart is!
Pray that God will bless this time and this trip!

A New Years RESOLution?.... =)

Well...I decided to have a New Year's Resolution...............

.......................one CUP of coffee day . 

 

........................well.................LOL................. =)