Category / scripture

by Bethe

I choose you

I must admit that there is one area of my life right now that I feel is defeating me. It makes me feel like an utter failure. It doesn’t matter what my “thing” is, we all have one from time to time. For me, it’s a battle that I seem to be fighting almost daily.
My husband calls it “bean plating,” because it’s like staring at a plate of beans and trying to analyze it, dissecting everything on the plate and wondering about how it’s cooked, why each bean is shaped the way it is, are they correctly positioned… and yet, it’s just a plate of beans. There’s no need to overanalyze. It’s just beans.
My plate of beans is causing me worry, fear, and stress. My plate of beans makes me doubt my abilities as a wife, it makes me wonder if I’m normal.
My plate of beans is winning.
Last night, as I confessed to my husband that my plate of beans–salted with insecurity and fear– is making me doubt my abilities as a wife, my kind, sweet, patient, Christian man did the greatest thing he could possibly do.
He told me, “I still choose you.” He chooses me. Even though he’s caught more glimpses of my deepest insecurities than he probably ever thought was possible… the flaws that I’ve worked so hard to hide from the rest of the world for decades… he still chooses me.
I know I’m not the only woman who craves to be chosen. Whether you’re watching Hard Time in a Women’s Prison or The Bachelorette, we see so many examples of women who will go to great lengths to be chosen. To be accepted. To be loved.
“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

“The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
Deuteronomy 7:6-8
Even in the midst of my battle of the beans, my husband chooses me to be his treasured possession, in spite of my biggest insecurities. That love shows me, in a way I can touch and feel, a tiny glimpse of the kind of love my God has for me.
I am so thankful for a husband who points me right back to the cross in the most unexpected of ways.
by Bethe

Delightful

(Photo courtesy of this site)
I want to be delightful.
“The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.”
-Psalm 147:11
“For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.”
-Psalm 149:4

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked, or stand in the way that sinners take, or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers.”
Psalm 1:1-3

“Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever.”
Psalm 111:2-3

“This is what the Lord says: ‘Let not the wise boast of their wisdom, or the strong boast of their strength, or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight.'”
Jeremiah 9:23-24
by Bethe

Pray pray pray!

Today is a two-fer post…

Last night we got the best possible birthday present for Mr. Right – someone put a contract on our house! Please, please, please say a prayer that this sale goes through – if all goes well, we could close at the end of August. But we’re not official yet, so please pray that God orchestrates the details, that this sale will bless the buyer, and that God will be glorified even through the mundane selling of our little house.
We’ve already prayed about it and decided with our heads not to worry about it (because what good does that worry do anyway?). Please pray that our hearts will agree with our heads.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” -Philippians 4:6
by Bethe

Praying through Romans

Because I can be horribly uncreative with my prayer time, I like to step back and pray through scripture. It takes me away from the “I want, I need, please give me” pattern that I tend to fall into, and helps me really focus on scripture, on praising God for his character, and praying something that I know He agrees with. The scripture says if we ask anything according to His will, He hears it (1 John 5:14-15). Since the scripture explicitly tells me what His will is for my life, I know He will hear this.

So here’s how I’m praying through Romans 12:9-18:

Let love be without hypocrisy.

Lord, help me to love people purely and unselfishly, without self-centeredness. Help me to love people without thinking about what they do or don’t do for me. Help me to love others the way you have first loved me – not based on merit, but simply because that’s what you called me to do. Because they’re loved by you, so I should show them that same love.


Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.

Lord, help me to stay sensitive to the things I should avoid. Help me to run from sin and to crave what is good. Help me not to compromise.

Give preference to one another in honor

Help me to put others first, instead of myself. Help me to remember that the world doesn’t revolve around me.

Not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.

Lord, sometimes I get tired. Or burned out. Please renew my spirit and my desire to serve you and your people. Help me to stay focused, and excited, and passionate about telling others about you, and what you have done for me. Please show me new ways that I can serve you. Please find me a place.

Rejoicing in hope

Oh Lord, I know that no matter how difficult life becomes, you are King, you are in charge, and you are coming back. I can’t wait for the day I get to see you face to face… oh how I long for that moment. May I continue to remember the hope I have even on my darkest days. Please make my hope contagious.

Persevering in tribulation

Lord, I’m a huge wimp. Please make me strong under pressure. I know I can do all things through you, who gives me strength. Help me to live like that is true.

Devoted to prayer

Thank you for the mighty honor I have in coming to you, anytime I want, in prayer. May I never take it for granted. Just as I want you to strengthen me in other areas, I ask that you strengthen my prayer life. May I pray in a way that brings you more honor, more glory. Grant me the faith to pray without ceasing. I want to hear from you. I want our time together to be rich.

Contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality

Open my eyes to the needs of those around me. Give me a generous spirit. Help me to remember that everything I have belongs to you, including my home, and my checkbook. Help me to be unselfish with my resources.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

Lord, this is so hard for me. Just as you have given me forgiveness that I did not deserve, I know I owe that to others. But especially in the moment, it’s so hard for me to bless someone who is persecuting me. And the persecution I suffer is so much smaller than what Christians around the world face in your name. Lord, please help me in this – I cannot do it except through you. Soften my heart – replace my heart of stone with a heart of flesh.

Rejoice with those who rejoice

Lord, may I not be jealous. Help me to be genuinely happy for others who receive your blessings.

Weep with those who weep

Lord, grant me sensitivity and the right words to say to people as they mourn. I ask that you use me as your tool to bring peace to folks who desperately need it.

Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.

On most days, I want the world to revolve around me. Help me to shed the self-importance and judgment and to see people for who they are – someone who is loved by you, regardless of what they look like, or act like, where they live or what they do. Help me to treat everybody the same. Help me to be humble – a scary request, but one that I obviously need.

Never pay back evil for evil to anyone.

Help me to be quick to forgive, and quicker to ask for forgiveness.

Respect what is right in the sight of all men.

Help me to make decisions that glorify you and don’t make others stumble. I know others are watching me, and I ask that you help protect me from making decisions that could adversely affect someone else. Help me to crave what is good.

If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.

Lord, help me to leave peaceably with others. Help me to guard my tongue and my actions so that I don’t cause trouble. Help me to give others the benefit of the doubt when they make mistakes, since that’s what I want from others for myself. Help me to remember that the stakes are high and that my pride is not worth disappointing you.



Don’t you just love Romans? And now you know why it’s one of my favorites.

by Bethe

My pity party had an after party

I know I said my pity party was only for one night. And that was the case… for a few days. By the weekend I started to feel better, and by Monday I felt better than I had in ages. I even told my husband that I was planning a bike ride the next night after work, something I haven’t been able to do in three weeks. I was ecstatic.

And then Monday night I felt my symptoms coming back… and by Tuesday I was downright sick. Again.
I cried. Like, six times. In fact, I cried and reapplied my eye make-up so many times that I’m sure I’ll have to add money to my Dave Ramsey envelope budget for an early make-up refill. It wasn’t pretty.
I just lost hope. Every time I start a new round of meds, I get optimistic that this round will work. Every time I have a symptom-free day, I do a little happy dance and celebrate my recovery. And then every time I realize that it was a false alarm, that I’m still sick, or worse, that I’ve been healthy and then two weeks later it comes back… I feel a little more defeated. My determination to be strong and to stay optimistic gets smaller and smaller.
So when my eighth round of antibiotics didn’t work… I felt crushed. I lost perspective. I felt like this will never end. I got mad because I don’t deserve this.
But it will. And today as I start a new round of meds, I am again optimistic that this time it will work. I continue to beg the Lord to heal me, and am thankful for a praying husband, family, and friends who have walked alongside me and encouraged me and prayed for me. I am struggling now, but I am confident that somehow this will make me stronger in the long run. And no matter my circumstances, I still know that I serve a loving, gracious, faithful God and that at no point has he been taken by surprise. I may have stumped the doctors but I haven’t stumped him. In that, I am confident, and for that, I am thankful.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you… And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
1 Peter 5:6, 10

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Thereofre I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
by Bethe

Sick but thankful

I’m sick again. If you’re keeping track, that’s the bajillionth time this year. Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but what isn’t an exaggeration is that I just filled my SIXTH round of antibiotics. I’ve been sick six of the past 12 weeks. Gee whiz.
The last time I got sick, I was so upset I cried. Poor Mr. Right had to comfort me as I totally freaked out. I was SO TIRED of being sick, so tired of not having the energy to do anything.
This time when I felt the dang thing coming on again, I chose not to get forlorn. There’s no use in crying or feeling sorry for myself. I can’t change my situation. I’m just preparing to stay close to home and am going to sadly say goodbye to those two weeks of running three times a week. I had just gotten to where two miles didn’t even phase me. Grrr.
But I’m thankful. Thankful that I don’t have anything life-threatening. Thankful that while a few rounds of illness have been a bit intense, nothing has escalated to something I really have to worry about. Thankful that this time I was healthy for two glorious weeks, which is a week longer than last time. Thankful that I have a sweet husband who is there to console me when I get frustrated. Thankful that in the grand scheme of things, it’s just been three months. Thankful that I’m really a pretty healthy girl.
So instead I’ll celebrate the good things, and choose to glorify God during times of sickness, just like I glorify him during times of health.

“Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.”
-Psalm 40:5
by Bethe

Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

I like to think of myself as an upbeat people person who has a fabulous sense of humor and rarely gets cranky.

…most of the time.
But then there are times like last week, when every person I encountered over a 24-hour-period had lost their mind. Crazy. Dumb. They had all gone nuts, and I was the poor, helpless victim. None of the disasters were my fault, of course. I was simply the lone victim in a crowd of craziness, holding on for dear life.
Okay, maybe I exaggerate a little.
There’s a small chance that I was a bit cranky myself. And hormonal. And tired. And maybe, just maybe, all those crazy people weren’t 100 percent in the wrong. Maybe I made a few mistakes that day too. Maybe I was a little too quick to judge and a little too stingy with my mercy.
Maybe, just maybe, I lost my sense of humor and decided to react by wallowing in some self pity.
It’s exactly for those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days that God wrote this to me:
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
-Colossians 3:12-14
On that bad day, I chose to clothe myself in cute heels and a headband instead of in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Did I have extra grace and mercy in my heart for the folks who caused me grief? Not really. Was my love obvious to those around me? Probably not.
Luckily that’s not the end of the story. After a good bit of repenting on my part, I choose a new attitude:
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
-Colossians 2:6
I’m a work in progress, and I will keep on trying to live a life worthy of the Lord and to please him in every way, praying that he strengthens me with great endurance and patience (Colossians 1:10-13).
He is good.
by Bethe

Favorites from Hosea

Tonight was one of those evenings that I wish I could bottle and live over and over. After work I went for a 3-mile run around the lake near my house, then came home and cooked a big dinner. After dinner, I turned on some classical music and settled in to finish studying Hosea. What a wonderful and yet difficult book to study. I’ve been plugging along with the help of my trusty Believer’s Bible Commentary, along with the study notes in my Bible, and a good bit of flipping back and forth to look up cross references. I think I only “got” a small bit of what’s in there, but what I did understand was a complete blessing. Some of my favorites from tonight (chapters 11-14):
“It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them.” (Hosea 11:3-4)
I love those visual images of a God who is so intimately involved with his people. Of course, these people completely screwed up. But if He treated them like that, I wonder how He treats us? Does He maybe bend down to feed me? I hope I’m not like these people, who did not realize or give Him credit for healing them, but instead insulted Him by worshiping idols.
“For I am God, and not man –the Holy One among you.” (Hosea 11:9b)
Just in case you were wondering who God was… I love that. I love that I serve a poetic God, and yet at times He can be so extremely blunt. It’s like He’s saying, HELLO… I AM NOT MAN. I AM THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE, SO POWERFUL AND HOLY AND MIGHTY THAT YOU CAN’T EVEN CATCH A GLIMPSE OF MY FACE LEST YOU DIE FROM MY SHEER RADIANCE. IT’S HIGH TIME YOU LISTEN AND GIVE ME THE FEAR THAT I DESERVE!
Sometimes we need to hear that, don’t we? To be reminded that God’s not my genie, not my pet, not just my casual pal. That He leads me with cords of human kindness and bends down to feed me, but that He’s also God and not man, the Holy One among us.
“I will answer him and care for him. I am like a green pine tree; your fruitfulness comes from me.” (Hosea 14:8b)
He really does get all the credit for anything good that comes from me. And, I love any verse where God promises to answer prayers. They’re everywhere in the Bible.
“Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.” (Hosea 11:9)
Which kind of reminds me of this: “The way of the Lord is a refuge for the righteous, but it is the ruin of those who do evil.” (Proverbs 10:29)

So that’s Hosea. A book that terrifies me, and yet encourages me, wows me, and blesses me.
by Bethe

Pancakes & Jesus

For years now my happy little Saturday morning ritual starts with me rolling out of bed, making coffee, cooking homemade pancakes, and then spending a few hours studying for my Sunday School lesson. When it’s warm, I study on my back porch and enjoy the fresh morning air. In the winter, I spread everything out on my kitchen table and face out my back window. The combination of good food, warm coffee, and time with Jesus is one of my very favorite things in the whole world.

Right now I’m teaching a series on forgiveness, and let me tell you, if we made a list of all the things I’m good at, this would be at the very bottom. God seems to magnify this fault of mine whenever I teach on the subject. It’s only fitting, because nobody wants to learn from a hypocrite. But the two or three times I’ve taught a series on this subject, I find myself struggling with my own ability to forgive, and yet am blessed as I lean on Him more and more to wash me clean and use my faults as another reminder of why I need Jesus so darn badly.
Here’s some verses that have nothing to do with forgiveness, but verses which I’m currently memorizing, and thought I’d share. They’re great encouragement to my heart.
“Jesus replied, ‘You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
John 13:7
“For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:9
by Bethe

Like the morning mist

Want to be humbled? Read Hosea… it’s what I’m studying right now, and it’s a good way to suck the air right out of your lungs.

It’s about Israel’s unrepetence… they’re compared to a harlot who continues to leave her husband, her true love, to sell herself for something cheap and tawdry.
The people of Israel forget God, are punished, and then repent… only they’re full of hot air.
Your love is like the morning mist,
like the early dew that disappears.
(Hosea 6:4b)
Ouch. God (through Hosea) is saying here that His people claim to love him… but they love with an A.D.D. mindset. It’s convenient today. Popular today. The church is super cool today, so they’re on board. A dynamic preacher. Awesome music. Cool audio/visual stunts.
And then the preacher leaves. The music changes. The stunts are passé. The singles group is no longer cool. That warm fuzzy feeling is gone. And like the morning mist… the believer’s commitment disappears. Actually… the commitment doesn’t disappear, it’s just redirected. To a boy. Or a girl. Or a job. Or a new hobby. Maybe another “it” church down the street offering a new brand of warm fuzzies.
Ouch.
Or how about this one?
Ephraim mixes with the nations;
Ephraim is a flat cake not turned over.
Foreigners sap his strength,’but he does not realize it.
His hair is sprinkled with gray,
but he does not notice.
(Hosea 7:8-9)
A flat cake not turned over is a cake that is burned on one side, raw on the other. It’s uneatable. No longer useful for the purpose it was created for. I am quite familiar with this concept as much of my cooking ends up this way… burned on one side, raw on the other… maybe God is trying to bring His word alive through my cooking… or maybe I have issues with my oven (at least this is what I will tell my dinner guests).
Basically, the people of Israel had intermarrried with foreign people who didn’t have the same beliefs in them. They didn’t worship Israel’s one true God. And little by little, His people forgot Him. Not all at once, but inch by inch, they backed away from their God and picked up the habits and beliefs of those around them. And when that happened, the people were useless… not a Jew, not a Gentile, not fully believing in God, not fully believing in the other Gods. Like a flat cake not turned over.
Don’t get me wrong… I would marry a foreign man in an instant… with some thick, sultry accent (preferably Australian, or British, or Spanish, or Italian, or Greek… or just about any for that matter–feel free to join me in praying that God will bring me a dark-haired foreign Baptist boy… and soon!!). The deal wasn’t marrying the foreigner, it’s that they were marrying someone of a different faith. Fast forward to present day – this could mean marrying someone of a different faith (oh man, if I just could have dated some of the beautiful non-Christian boys who have asked me out over the past few years… but it’s NOT worth it… don’t even dip your toe in that water, my friend).
Dating or just regular “friends,” we act like those closest to us. It’s just the way life goes… we pick up their gestures, their speech, their attitudes. The quickest way to make me materialistic and self-conscious is to put me in a room of materialistic, judgmental girls, and it takes me about 30 seconds to absorb that mindset. Want to make alcohol a struggle? Hang out with only folks who drink. Have an attitude problem? There’s probably a best friend with one too. We think like those we’re closest to, we talk like those we’re closest to. We start to comingle values, beliefs, attitudes.
Change can be subtle… slow… and then one day you wake up and realize that you’ve become one of “them.” Whoever “them” is.
Hopefully your “them” don’t have a faith like the morning mist.
And so as I read Hosea, I pray that I can have a faith that’s steady, tested, steadfast. That my “thems” will be people who model a faith stronger than mine, with pure hearts and sweet spirits (and remember… pray for that cute foreign Baptist boy… I’m not joking on this one).
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
(Psalm 51:10)