Looking for a Palce to Rest Your Weary Heart?

I remember the first summer we moved back to Arkansas. It was 1970 and I had just completed the 8^th grade in Tyler Texas. The move to a small town called Blevins was both sorrowful and exhilarating. I left behind good friends, but I was going to renew friendships with others and make new friends that I still cherish to this day.

Although it was June, that summer started out quite chilly. We had to use blankets at night! On June 3^rd of that year it dipped into the low 50’s in many parts of Arkansas. By July, it was back to record heat at 104 degrees! To say that Arkansas weather pattern is full of extremes is to put it mildly.

Again we see that crazy Arkansas weather working here. Tuesday night we had to turn on the a/c because it was plain hot and very humid (another Arkansas delight).  But last night we were scurrying for heavy blankets as it was in the low 40’s. Tonight’s call is for 30’s! Storms and rain abound as well.

You may have discovered that life is full of extremes as well. One moment it’s perfect weather and all is well. Not a problem in sight. No dark clouds of sorrow, no suppressing heat of trials, no chill of melancholy. You go to sleep comfortable and rested. But by morning all may change. The phone call, the news program, the envelope in the mailbox carrying news you never wanted to hear. The ups and downs in life can take their toll on the spirit and the body. If we’re not careful, the oppression will give way to depression and we’ll be unable to rest, no matter what.

Are you sweltering in the heat of hardships? Do you find no place to rest your weary heart? Are you thinking if only things would cool down you could relax? Maybe it’s chilly because you’ve been left to go it alone. The one who was with you has departed and you have no one to lean on. It’s hard to gather warmth when you’re alone.

Oh beloved, it’s time to settle in with the Lord  - the One Who made heaven and earth, the seasons and the changes. For He is your light in the night, your refreshing in the heat and your warmth in the chill. Life is hard and He knows that at times you have been to the point of despair, but He says to you again and again, “Never will I leave you or forsake you.”  And again He says, “I am your refuge and your fortress, your God in whom you can always trust”.  If you listen quietly you will hear His voice speaking sweet love words to you. All of His promises are yours, all of His qualities are for your very existence, all His Truth is your bastion of hope, your citadel of protection, your comforter in days that nothing else will do. Let Him hold you in His loving arms as He places His banner over your life. He knows, beloved, that it is hard, but He has promised that a new day will dawn and a better way will come. And, one day, He will come to get you and you will be hid in the depths of His love and His delight forever!

Isaiah 63:1 A psalm of David, regarding a time when David was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God; I earnestly search for You. My soul thirsts for You; my whole body longs for You in this parched and weary land where there is no water.

Psalm 31:7-8 I will be glad and rejoice in Your unfailing love, for You have seen my troubles, and You care about the anguish of my soul.  You have not handed me over to my enemies but have set me in a safe place.

Psalm 91:4 He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.

Psalm 107:43 Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord.

Psalm 18:2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.

Time to Move out of The Museum!

 

 

We’ve lived at our present address for 20 years. During that time we’ve managed to fill up the shop and load up the garage. Even the downstairs storage area is full. Danny decided Saturday it was time to clean out the shop and it was a chore! He called me out there once and asked me to look in a box he found. As I peered into the contents I found it was a box of my dad’s mementoes. There were a couple of AA coins, a 1949 quarter, a 1960 penny, several Father’s Day ornaments and a copy of our wedding announcement from the paper in 1973.  What a step back in time. Next Danny showed me a bag of clothes. Inside that bag were little dresses my mother had made our oldest daughter over 35 years ago. As I held one of them up, more memories flooded my heart. I could see our daughter in that dress!

I found that I no longer wanted to clean out the shop! Lots of the “junk” in there had special memories from some part of our lives.  From old dolls to old papers, it was amazing.

You can’t keep everything. If you do, you’ll end up with a mess on your hands. Although lots of these things were treasures, they are old, broken, tattered and useless. Do I want to hold onto them? Yes. Do I need to? No. While the special things reminded us of precious memories, we cannot live in our memories. If we were to be gone, most of the stuff would be quickly discarded because no one else has our memories. We agreed to keep the most important things and were very selective, but the rest just has to go.  We’ll have no room for new things, space to work or even a garage for the car if we don’t clean out.

Precious memories are wonderful and mementoes of happy times can be great to look at. But we cannot live in the past.  We need to move on and make new memories. We want room for our lives to be productive and precious, but we can’t if we keep looking at the past and living there. While we cherish many things about our history, if we only live in the past it’s like living in a museum. Great to look at but untouchable.

Are you wishing for the former days? Do you wish you could go back and live in happier times? Are you content to live in the past? Are you longing for the mementoes of your older days to be your present times? God loves your wonderful memories but He’s ready to move you on to a new day. He’s ready for you to clean out your heart and mind for new experiences and to help you be able to live in the present.

Oh beloved, God has wonderful plans for your life! Even now, when you may be hurting over lost treasures or not wanting to let go. He doesn’t ask you to forget your past, but He’s asking you to move on. To move on with Him is to find more treasures, the kind that moths and dust don’t ruin.  If you will trust God, He will take you by the hand and go with you into new things. For He always has fresh anointing for the new things He wants to do in your life! Keep the old memories, for they are silver to your life. But let God take you on to blessings and ministry, so that your life will remain useful and pliant and so that others will benefit from your walk with the Lord.

God loves you so much that He woos you out of the past and into the future. And He cares about you so much that He’s not willing for you to remain in the cobwebs and junk of past days. What a blessing it is to know He wants to take you out of the museum and into the new life He wants to build just for you!

2 Corinthians 5:17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

Isaiah 43:19  For I am about to do something new.  See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

Mathew 6:19-20 Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.