I have to be careful not to interpret the Scripture through my own socio-cultural grid.  Until this year, I Americanized abundance, making it a life that flows easily and powerfully and that what upsets the world will no longer upset me.

I attributed devastation to the Devil, not to God, despite my familiarity with Job.

Two years ago I began to get thirsty. My church began to get thirsty. At first, it was tolerable.  The water we had sufficed. But after a while, drinks turned to sips and sips to drops and drops didn’t go very far.

So I prayed for rain. Abundant, cleansing, refreshing rain. I expected a shower of warmth to soak into us and drench the ground. I dreamed of us dancing in the rain with upturned faces, waxing poetic about the hosts of heaven.

 I envisioned the stuff of songs … instead, He broke my back with a hurricane. Continue Reading…

Earlier I wrote about the Fatherhood of God.

His Fatherhood captivates my heart, but His Sovereignty captivates my will.

I am not talking about a theological understanding of His absolute authority.

I am talking about His Sovereignty being my Solution.

God is Sovereign.  That is not just my comfort – it is my solution.  It gives the only reliable interpretation of my life.

God is not restricted by space or time.  He is not restricted by my circumstances or my desires.  God’s Sovereignty forces me to stop interpreting the world through my own grid.  It isn’t just about learning to leave things in His hands, it is about learning to follow Him.  It is choosing to walk in integrity every day, tasks big or small, because He is worthy of me making good choices.

Does that make sense? Put another way: if He is in control of everything, I don’t have to control anything.  If I don’t have to control anything, I am released to love Him with all that I have, all that I do, and all that I am. In that, I worship Him with my daily choices.  I choose integrity, to prove His will is perfect.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.  -Romans 12.1-2

I trust His Sovereignty as it governs a promise beyond what I can ever be or contain. I can lean into His choices for me, for I know the things I endure are precisely measured and carefully managed.  I anticipate Him bringing rich meaning to my experience, just as I anticipate a lovely gift from my husband under the Christmas tree.

Trusting His Sovereignty means accepting that I am not my own.  I am a bondservant to the High King and He can use me as He wishes.

bondservant (Gr. dulos): devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interests

Being His bondservant is deeply satisfying: even though you learn to disregard your own interests, He never does.  He tends to your needs, and He grants the desires of your heart.

His Goodness makes me unafraid of His Sovereignty; His Sovereignty makes me unafraid of His Goodness.

I can follow Him, even if I am unable to understand His ways, because I know He is everything He claims to be. I am not afraid of an untidy Christian experience because I trust Him as Father, and as King.

The sovereign God wants to be loved for Himself and honored for Himself, but that is only part of what He wants. The other part is that He wants us to know that when we have Him we have everything — we have all the rest. – A.W. Tozer

When I make queso I don’t just cram Velveeta into a couple of cans of Rotel.

I’m very very careful with my queso.

I’m very very careful with any fondue (come on, you Tex-Mexers . . . queso is fondue.  Deal with it.)

I start by sautéing onions until they have a slight scorch.  Then I add green chiles and let the two get acquainted.  After a while I add some Rotel (yes, I admit it) and then eventually some fresh lime and cilantro.

I let all these diced up plants duke it out until they become friends. I know they’ve begun to love each other when I start smelling cinnamon.

It’s the strangest thing.

When I smell cinnamon I know its time to introduce the spices and cheeses.

Onions, chiles, tomatoes, lime and cilantro . . . smell like cinnamon?

Yet it is true and it’s the key to my queso.  The right timing is heralded by the aroma of cinnamon rising from the stove.

It makes no sense to smell cinnamon, but I think I understand why cinnamon-sprinkled desserts are so appealing after Mexican food.

In the last few weeks I’ve endured some major crises but have also had some long-awaited blessings.  Within just 4 weeks:

• New opportunities have opened up in writing
• New streams of income have begun to flow
• New friendships and partnerships have formed – most with people I didn’t even know a month ago!
• I have been given more gifts than usual
• Things that used to be difficult for me are now easier
• Homeschool has a better rhythm
• My husband and I are crushing on each other
• There has been a splattering of unexpected interruptions in our days – and they have all positioned us for an additional gift or blessing

That’s the brief list. None of these are related to the others except that they are in the same “pot”.

It feels like Someone’s making queso.

Ingredients are being dropped in at precise times, melding with the others before the next layer of flavors is added. I don’t know what God is up to . . .

but I know this:
I smell cinnamon.

This week’s topic: Kept

In the wilderness and in war

you don’t prove you are tough

but He proves you are kept

with  sweet love and a tight grip.

You can hold your own stuff

clenched fist, struggling to breathe, survive

Or you can look behind, above

even underneath and see that you

have not been forgotten, you’re kept,

and you are worth keeping.  So

you continue through the thick wilderness

and the dark valley of war

knowing that your defeat is impossible

because He is unbreakable, and He

commands the preservation of His own.

For more Six Word Friday contributions, click here.