So Amazing

Mark 7:37 "And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Not sure if this last verse stood out at all to anyone else, but I have a couple reasons why it did to me.

• First, "they were astonished beyond measure". 
• Second, "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak".

The first part of this verse made me think.  When was the last time I was astonished beyond measure about anything?  Kind of an eye opener, and could take a depressing route if you let it...but a good starting point to consider.

But then I think about the second part.  And when I combine them both I hear the song Amazing Grace. 

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

And, in this case, it becomes about me.  I am astonished beyond measure as I think about who I was when I finally realized what Jesus did for me, not because of what I have done, but regardless of it.  Before I knew the truth about the love of God, I was deaf to His Word.  I was unable to speak to others about faith in Jesus, because I didn't know Him (I only knew about Him).  And He has brought me to a point in my life where I am blessed to write about Him on this blog, speak about His love in Bible study, and sing His praises in our children's ministry at church.  It really is so amazing!

To Boldly Go...

I have had a bad cough for the past 3 weeks or so.  Have I gone to the doctor yet...nope - although I did finally make an appointment for tomorrow.  Basically - I don't go to the doctor right away because it's a pain to schedule, I wonder if it's bad enough to need medicine, or they won't be able to help, and if they can't then my sarcastic husband calls me a baby.

Vastly different from the people in Mark 5...all the examples of people who boldly reached out to Jesus, at the risk of public humiliation, but with confidence and faith.  The woman suffering from a bleeding disorder...she was considered ritually unclean and would have been excluded from most social contact.  Just her touching Jesus would make him unclean under Jewish Law.  That fear alone should have kept her from approaching him.  The Synagogue leader Jairus, asked Jesus to heal his dying daughter.  At that time, the Synagogue rulers had close ties with the Pharisees...so when Jairus bowed down before Jesus, it was probably a daring act of respect and worship.  When Jesus told the mourners in Jairus' house that the girl was not dead - they laughed at him!  But Jairus didn't lose hope.  Even the man healed from being possessed by demons boldly went to Jesus and begged to go with him.  OH...interesting note.  The name Legion, which always freaks me out, is a term for the largest unit of the Roman army consisting of 3,000-6,000 soldiers) This gives you an idea of Jesus' power to heal - releasing that many demons using the words from His mouth.

I don't have a bold and confident kind of faith in regular doctors...which is why I hesitate to go.  But we don't have to hesitate with Jesus.  Our faith in Him as God's son brings healing and changes lives.  Writing all this reminded me of a verse found in Hebrews 4:16  "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."  That's what each person in today's chapter did...and they received healing "in their time of need".  Look closely at the timeline with Jairus and the bleeding woman...can you imagine your child is dying and, as you rush with the doctor to save her, another less serious patient distracts the doctor, and he actually stops to help?  Wouldn't you lose faith in that doctor?  Sometimes we can feel like our problems can keep us from God...but we learn from these examples that Jesus was there for the woman in her time of need, just as he was for Jairus.  As Jesus said "Don't be afraid; just believe".

One Piece at a Time

Remember the movie E.T.?  (Stay with me for a minute...)  The part where he's in the hallway, and Elliot is leading him in the direction he wants him to go with a trail of Reese's Pieces?  E.T. moves along his path, one piece at a time...until he gets to the end and there's a whole pile of candy waiting for him.

Mark 4:24-25 stuck out to me today, mainly because upon first reading it I didn't understand what it meant.

"Consider carefully what you hear, he continued.  With the measure you use, it will be measured to you - and even more.  Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."

My Bible described this better by saying that the light of Jesus' truth is revealed to us and is not hidden....and as we put God's teaching into practice we will understand and see more of the truth.  As we obey, we gain understanding.  It also said that Jesus' words might have been directed at people who reject Him, and their hard hearts would render any understanding they had as useless.

To understand Jesus, and to be given further understanding, we need to take each piece he gives us (through his Word and in prayer) and let it direct our own paths - like the candy.  When we learn a new truth, we're asked to do what it says (see James 1:22-25).  We let it interrupt our thinking and redirect our actions (something introduced today in my bible study).  When we do this, Jesus tells us that "Whoever has will be given more"...we start out our path piece by piece going in the direction He leads us, until we are rewarded with more.

God's Creation

I'm sure we all say the same thing every year about this time...but man, it's been a long hard winter - am I right?  There's been below freezing temperatures for as long as I can remember, and we're still trying to recover from the blizzard earlier this month.  But now the weather is starting to get warmer, and as I watch the snow start to melt I realize that in two weeks it will be March!!  Then I start to think about how the boys will miss sledding down our front yard, and how Will loves to visit his friends to play in the snow...and how Nate likes to stick out his tongue and catch snowflakes.  And the cold nights with a warm fire in the house...looking outside at the stillness.  The way the sun makes everything around us sparkle as it reflects the ice.  There is beauty in winter (if you look hard enough). 

A couple years ago I took the boys up north, and Will got to learn how to make maple syrup from my Dad.  I took lots of pictures, and put together a photo book of their adventures.  This is one of the pictures I took:

When I was putting it into the photo book, I thought there just had to be a Bible verse to describe this.  I ended up finding Psalm 19:1 (which is in our reading today).  "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."  This verse will always remind me of making maple syrup...how we can find sweetness and beauty in nature, and how our Creator gave us all this to enjoy.

Another great picture that came shortly after my trip was this one...check out the cross in the frozen sap bag.  Talk about dramatic evidence of His existence!!