girl talk

Grace for the Fire

Ever wonder if you would hold up under religious persecution? How would you respond if given the choice to deny Christ or face a grisly death?

These questions occasionally haunt me. I read stories of heroes in Scripture or history who kept the faith and I wonder if I could do the same. I believe I am a Christian and I hope I would display unflinching faith in suffering, but what if I don’t?

This morning Ian Duguid helped me do away with these anxious wonderings. He was commenting on the well-known story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace:

“God has not promised to give us the grace to face all of the desperate situations that we might imagine finding ourselves in. He has promised to sustain us only in the ones that he actually brings us into. He therefore doesn’t promise that we will be able to imagine how we could go through the fire for his sake, but he does promise that if he leads us through the fire, he will give us sufficient grace at that time. Like manna, grace is not something that can be stored up for later use: each day receives its own supply” (Iain Duguid, Daniel, p. 53).

That’s right, there’s no grace for my imagination. But there’s plenty of grace for whatever God has ordained for me to walk through. My job? Declare Jesus as Lord today and not imagine "a graceless tomorrow."

Strength to Overcome

Fear can feel so overwhelming and impossible to overcome. Oh, but the Bible brings some wonderful news. The battle is not ours to fight alone. No, there is One who goes before us and He has already won. The power of sin has already been broken.

As Ed Welch writes in Running Scared: “God’s deliverance means he will be with us; we will be able to with stand temptation without giving in to sin; and we will be able to stand firm even when attacked by our fiercest adversary, Satan the Accuser.”   

I love 2 Chronicles 20:15: “Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s.’” Read this verse again. Allow it to sink into your soul. Whatever fear you are facing today, you aren’t fighting it alone. The same Savior that died for your sin of unbelief, fights this battle with you. He will supply you with the strength you need to conquer.

Today's Trouble Eased

“Sufficient for the day is its own trouble,” it says in Matthew 6:34. Granted, my troubles aren’t very big. Lately it’s been things like the unexpected bill, the disobedience of my four-year-old or snags in the house-buying process. Nothing like the troubles several of my friends have experienced recently.

Because of fear, however, my minor daily troubles can sometimes seem worse than they really are. John Flavel (whom Mom quoted yesterday) explains:

“The grief we suffer from evil felt would be light and easy, were it not incensed by fear….If the face of things to come be threatening and inauspicious, fear gains the ascendant over the mind; and unmanly [or in our case “unwomanly”] and unchristian faintness pervades it; and, among the many other mischiefs it inflicts, this is not the least, that it brings the evil of to-morrow upon to-day, and so makes the duties of to-day wholly unserviceable to the evils of to-morrow.”

My four-year-old’s disobedience is exacerbated by my fear for the state of his soul. The bill seems larger than it really is if I'm worried about our family’s financial future. The snags in the house-buying process appear ominous if I'm anxious over the current housing market.

By fearing the future, I’m bringing in unnecessary and imaginary trouble and piling it onto today’s trouble. No wonder today’s trouble seems worse than it really is! What’s more, by fearing the future, I make today’s duties “wholly unserviceable to the evils of tomorrow.” I can’t effectively prepare for tomorrow’s trouble if I’m not trusting God today.

Matthew 6:25-34 doesn't simply tell me there will be trouble tomorrow. It also gives me reasons to trust in God. He is sovereign, caring, wise, and loving, and He has promised to provide everything that I need. I can face today’s troubles knowing that His grace will be there for me tomorrow.

The Arithmetic of Fear

I think it is fair to say that women (at least it’s true of the four women that write for girltalk!) can be prone to fear. And oh what ludicrous thoughts and images we can conjure up! So preposterous, we’d laugh at ourselves… that is, if we hadn’t worked ourselves into such a frenzy of fright.

Puritan John Flavel comments on this habit: “The rules of fear are not like the rules in arithmetic, where many nothings make nothing, but fear can make something out of nothing, yea, many things, and great things out of nothing at all.”

Now, I’m no math expert, but I do spend many evenings helping my teenage son with Algebra homework. I know that if x and y both equal zero, than the answer is zero. Not so when it comes to the irrationality of fear.

Take Psalm 53:5 for example, says Flavel: “There they are, in great terror, where there is no terror!” He writes: “Here was a great fear raised or created out of nothing at all; had their fear been examined or hunted home to its original, it would have been found a pure creature of fancy.”

How many of our great fears have been created out of nothing at all? And proved, in the end, to equal nothing at all?

But in Scripture we find something real and rational and comforting. Here’s Flavel one more time. “In the written word are found all sorts of refreshing, strengthening and heart-reviving promises prepared by the wisdom and care of God for our relief”

So let’s find relief with this refreshing, strengthening and heart-reviving promise: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Is. 41:10). 

Me and My Crystal Ball

As I admitted the other day, I am often tempted to fear for my children. But that’s only the beginning of my fears and anxieties. I’m what Ed Welch, author of Running Scared calls “an advanced worrier.” Unfortunately, worry is the only thing this average girl has ever been advanced in! It’s not something I’m proud of.

If a family member fails to call me back I worry that they’ve been in a car accident. If I hear sirens I think the church might be on fire (we live a block away). If an airplane flies overhead (like they do all day) I’m afraid the terrorists have come back to DC. Yep, I’m certifiable.

“Where worriers show their irrationality” Welch observes (and my husband often reminds me!):

"...is in their success rate: they are always wrong, at least in the specifics. They think the worst about tomorrow and it doesn’t happen. [But] if you worry about everything you will occasionally stumble upon an approximation to a real event. Suddenly you are a gifted prophet and it is your God-given duty to worry. You see the future, others are blind to it. You must sound the alarm for the people you love. Compassion demands that you worry."

I’m compassionate. That’s what I am! But no, Dr. Welch then exposes me for who I really am--nothing better than a back-room fortune-teller:

“Worriers are certifiable false prophets. Their peer group is not so much those with psychiatric diagnoses as they are astrologers, tarot card readers, and Ouija board devotees. How much better off we would be if all our future predictions were declared illegal and we were forever banned from making any others.”

So, I’m declaring my fears illegal today. I’m putting away my crystal ball and turning in my “advanced worrier” certificate. I wasn’t very good at predicting the future anyways. To be honest, I was terrible. Maybe I’ll try writing fortune cookie inserts for a change. Just kidding!

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11, emphasis mine)

Grace When We Need It

Tell me you can’t relate to this scenario. You talk to a woman who is in the middle of a trial. She testifies to God’s overwhelming and sustaining grace. You marvel at her peace and joy that belies her suffering. But instead of praising God for His evident faithfulness, you begin to imagine yourself enduring her ordeal. How would I cope? I don’t think I could handle it. I hope it doesn’t happen to me. With high-definition clarity and color you see yourself in the midst of her ordeal. Grace is nowhere to be found, and you are gripped by fear and dread.

So often we ignore the awesome displays of God’s faithfulness to people in trials and instead imagine ourselves in their situation, minus the grace of God. We would do well to heed Elisabeth Elliot’s wise reminder that there is no grace for our imaginations. None. It’s simply not available. God is not waiting in the wings to help us through whatever horrible imaginary trouble we can conjure up today. But His goodness is stored up and will be abundantly poured out whenever we walk through a real trial.

I’ve passed along this piece of advice to oodles of women. Maybe that’s because there are so many like me who easily submit to fear. So let’s resolve together: the next time we observe someone going through a trial, let’s turn off our imaginations and instead fix our gaze on the marvelous, abundant, overwhelming and timely grace of God—the same grace that will be available to us when we actually need it.

“…do not fear anything that is frightening.” 1 Peter 3:6

Mother Fears

Anyone out there afraid for your kids? I thought I saw a few hands go up. Mine sure did.

These fears come in all shapes, sizes and packages. I don’t need to suggest any for you. You know what your fears for your children are. You were probably thinking of them just this morning.

In his book Running Scared (which I highly recommend), Ed Welch gives us the biblical solution to our fears: we need to fear more. We need to fear God more. For “when you fear the Lord, there is not much else to fear.” The fear of the Lord banishes our fears for our children. Dr. Welch illustrates:

“If you are trained in medicine and have parented five children, you aren’t going to worry when your neighbor asks you to watch her ten-year-old for twenty minutes. If you really want to fight fear, learn to fear Someone who captures your attention in such a way that your other fears suddenly seem pedestrian and unimportant.”

But there’s more. When we learn to fear God, we will actually be protecting our children. Proverbs 14:26 says, “He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge.”

So if you want to be rid of those nagging fears and be a means of God’s protection for your children, fear the Lord today. Allow His wisdom, goodness, love, power and holiness to capture your attention. Then tell your kids about the awesome God we serve.

"The Blows of His Fist"

Three weeks ago, in my eighth week of pregnancy, I began spotting. I had an ultra sound the same day and the baby was fine. The doctor said not to worry if the spotting continued for another week or so. It tapered off and I thought everything was fine.

Then, over a week later, while my husband was away leading a youth retreat (and out of cell-phone range!) the bleeding got unexpectedly worse. I had to spend the weekend in bed waiting for a Tuesday ultra-sound. At first, I thought I might be losing the baby. Fear, anxiety and pre-mature grief rushed in to take control. I knew I had to fight back. I read my Bible, listened to a wonderful sermon by Mark Dever on the kindness of God, and, when Steve got home he read Spurgeon’s Beside Still Waters to me: “Some have only learned to trust the smile of His face, but they must also learn to trust the blows of His fist” (pg. 15).

The unshakeable truth of God’s goodness was the solid ground for me to stand on in the midst of the unknown. I didn’t know if my baby was going to live or not. But I knew that God was the upholder of my baby’s life (Psalm 54:4) and what ever happened—even if it hurt—was because His love allowed it. Here I found peace, and even joy.

As you probably guessed, the Tuesday ultrasound revealed a little heart still beating. I’m at eleven weeks now and the bleeding has stopped. This weekend of uncertainty could hardly be called a trial. The two women we’ve heard from this week are enduring suffering I can’t even imagine, and yet with true grace and faith. I want to be like them someday.

Right now, I’m grateful for another lesson in trusting God—both the smiles of His face and the blows of His fist. Both are for my good.

Sparrows

I don’t like to fly.

This wasn’t always the case. My dad’s ministry responsibilities took our family many places over the years, so I am a veteran airline passenger. And I used to love it—the excitement and adventure of it all.

But that changed in the summer of 1999 on a family trip to Orlando, FL. 

We were nearing the end of an uneventful flight when Dad noticed we had been circling for some time. Shortly thereafter, the pilot announced that we had experienced “hydraulic failure” and would have to make an emergency landing. We were circling the airport to use up the maximum amount of fuel before the descent.

The oh-so-helpful man sitting beside Janelle and me told us that hydraulic failure meant the brakes had failed. The flight attendants’ anxious manner wasn’t any more comforting.

As the plane began its descent, we were instructed to place our hands on the seat in front of us and lean our head on our hands. Upon our approach the flight attendant began yelling into the intercom system, over and over again: “Brace. Brace. Head down. Stay down. Brace. Brace. Head down. Stay down.”

In the end, the landing felt no different than any other (except for the yelling flight attendant). We never found out what “hydraulic failure” meant, but the only result was that our plane had no power to taxi to the gate. We had to be towed.

So now you understand why I wasn’t exactly excited about flying to Denver earlier this week to attend the International Christian Retail Show with my parents and Steve. Unfortunately, you can’t drive from Virginia to Colorado for a two-day trip.

God was giving me an opportunity to trust Him.

My wonderful husband Steve helped prepare me with a verse to meditate on from Matthew 10:29-31:

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."

As we landed in Denver, and then in Baltimore again last night, I repeated to myself (in place of the “brace brace” mantra): “He sees the sparrows. He sees the sparrows. He sees the sparrows.”

This specific promise for my specific fear (see Mom’s post "Fighting Fear") reminded me that nothing has changed, except my feelings about flying. Airlines aren’t less safe than they were before 1999. But more importantly, God hasn’t changed.  He is still faithful, and sovereign, and good. And He still holds my life in His hands, whether I’m in the air, on the ground, or asleep in my bed at night.

God hasn’t promised that I won’t die in an airplane someday. But He says that I am of more value than many sparrows, and that the hairs of my head are numbered.  He has told me not to fear.

So I am actually looking forward to flying again. It will be another opportunity to declare my trust in my Heavenly Father: the Unchanging One.

He Orders our Steps

The phone rang early this morning.  It was my daughter informing me that there had been multiple explosions in London’s transport system today.  I immediately experienced fear.  My husband is in England.  He is speaking at a leaders’ conference in Brighton.

My first thoughts were: How close is Brighton to London? Did CJ have plans to go to London today?  Maybe the reason I haven’t heard from him is because something is wrong!  I tried calling him, but got no answer.

Then I remembered Psalm 37:23—one of today’s take-away verses for meditation from my morning devotions.  It reads: "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord."  I had also read Charles Spurgeon’s commentary on this verse, which said: “All [of the Christian’s] course of life is graciously ordained, and in lovingkindness all is fixed.  No fickle chance rules us; every step is the subject of divine decree.”

I may not have been able to talk to C.J, but this much I knew: God’s lovingkindness was ordering his steps. How kind of God to give me that promise this morning! It brought instant comfort to my soul.

And C.J. did call. He is safe. I am grateful to God for his loving protection.

However, he said that our friends in the United Kingdom are in need of our prayers. Please pray for safety and peace for all, and for wisdom for the local church pastors, particularly in London. And please join me in asking God to use this tragedy for His glory, the good of His people, and the spread of the gospel.