Coming to a stop but not letting go:: Day 31 Hold Tight Series

“I can't promise you the world,
But I can try to give you a happy life.
I can't promise you I'll never yell,
But I can try to stay calm most of the time.
I can't promise you I'll never make mistakes,
But I can try the best I can.
I can't promise you that I'll catch you every time you fall,
But I can try to always be close by so I can help you back up.
I can't promise that our love will last forever like in storybooks,
But I can promise that no matter what, I'll never forget the memories I made with you.”

You may have seen that quote floating around Facebook or Pintrest and shared it with someone who’s dear to your heart.

Then I got to thinking, “What ‘can and can’ts’ would I say to you, friend, on this last day in this Hold Tight series and as a blogger in general?”  So here’s a try:

I can promise you I’ll try my best, but I can’t promise you I’ll do my best every time.

I can promise you I’ll try hard to be an encourager.  But I can’t promise you I’ll never make mistakes.  (In fact, I can promise you I make plenty of them every day!)

I can’t promise you perfection.  But I can promise you I’m imperfect and OK with it (most of the time).

I can’t promise you I know all the answers but I can promise I know the Teacher who does.

I can promise this all comes from the heart.

I can promise I need promises from Christ alone.

I can promise I need that reminder so I don’t go insane!

Then  I began thinking even more. “What would God say if He wrote something like that?” Would it be something like this?:

 

I can promise you that I love the world, but I can’t promise you you’ll have a always happy life. (John 3:16, 1 Peter 1:6)

I can promise you I never make mistakes, but I can’t promise you you’ll understand my way. (Proverbs 16:10)

I can promise you I’ll catch you every time you fall, but I can’t promise you that you’ll ask me to catch you. (Deut. 32:10-11)

I can promise you that my love for you will last forever like in storybooks, but I can’t promise you that you’ll never forget that promise I’m giving you.   (Psalm 138:8)

 

Such sweet yet sometimes hard to swallow promises.  I’m guilty of all of those things he can’t promise me.  But HIS promises will never end.

Focus on those can’s not the can’ts. 

Hold tight to the promises on the roller coaster of life.

 

Don’t let go. 

The ride might slow down, break down or run out of fuel but don’t let go!  

For His unfailing love is great, and it is intended for us, and His faithfulness to His promises knows no end. Praise the Lord! 

(Psalm 117:2)

 

The roller coaster has come to a stop…at least this 31 Day series has.  I hope you’ve enjoyed the “ride” and it’s had it’s ups and downs for sure.  But I raise it all to the One whom I’m writing this for.  He is the One who promises redemption, restoration, rest, revival and relentless forgiveness and love. And He never breaks them.

 

{ Thanks to those of you who stopped by in my little space this past month to read parts of this series!  I hope it’s been a gift to you.  I can’t promise you the exact date I’ll be back to post again because I need a little rest from this great ride!  But will come back refreshed! } 

See the rest of the Hold Tight posts

HUGE promise!:: Day 30 Hold Tight Series

 

God’s HUGE promise for you and for me!!

 

See more Hold Tight posts

Hold on! Just 3 Days Left! :: Day 29 Hold Tight Series

 

Hold on!  Just three days left!

The past few weeks have been a roller coaster of writing and living and remembering promises. 

If you’ve been on this coaster with me in October, or are just now stumbled across my little space, I’ve been writing about promises I need.  I wrote:

What could I use - or even more need - for encouragement these days?  Can anything uplifting be guaranteed in today’s darkened world where every day lies the thickening tension of uncertainty and “what’s to come” of our own little world that’s part of the big world we live in on this planet?  
Or closer to home, how about needing a glimpse of hope on days where you’re so dizzy with stress or you feel discouraged or plain ‘ole blah.                     .

I then went on a search for the first promise ever given in history.  And found it here. 

So, if that’s the first, then what’s the last promise God gave us in the Bible?

 

It’s at the very end of the book of Revelation 22:20 in the last chapter in the last verses. 

“The One who testifies to these realities makes this promise:

Jesus: Yes. I am coming soon.

To which we say, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”

Jesus promises before he ascended into heaven:  I am coming back soon.”

 

He is coming back soon!

That makes my heart skip a beat!  The reason for that skip could be because the way our world looks these days makes me nervous but even more it skips because of excitement and anticipation to see the Promise face to face! 

And I know Revelation 22:20 was written quite a while ago but His Word is true and has never been erased!  We will never know that exact day but I do know today is one day sooner than yesterday.  Our timing is quite different than God’s but as I’ve learned even more this month, God’s entire Word in the Bible is a promise.  And one last time He reminds us of His never-ending and never-changing promise to bring hope in the days we do have on this earth. 

Maybe you can call it cheating, but I’m just sharing what I’ve learned.  I did a little research about God’s last promise and these words already written probably explains it better than I could.  So here is what I read and what it was what I was trying to say.

“The Bible, from beginning to end, is a book about Jesus. The Old Testament, God's first promise, carries the prophetic theme of the coming Messiah. The New Testament begins with the record of how God kept his promise by sending Jesus as the Messiah and ends with the book of Revelation, a new prophetic promise that Jesus will come again.

Revelation shouts a loud "Amen" to everything the Bible says about Jesus.

It reinforces God's promises from Genesis to Jude. It is a book of comfort and victory for the New Testament believer. It lifts our eyes from the cares of this life to peer through the windows of heaven.”

So, I’ve come to see promises with a whole new light.  I’ve heard the word “promise” forever.  But it’s not until I’ve been reading, praying and writing about more and more these days, I’ve come to realize how HUGE promises were made and meant to be.

He is coming back soon!  

 

reference:  http://www.wels.net/news-events/forward-in-christ/january-1994/revelation-jesus-last-word-his-people

 

 

See more Hold Tight posts

 

Choose to shine:: Day 28 Hold Tight Series

 

Corrie ten Boom was a hero for many Jews, hiding them in her home during the Holocaust.  She clung to God’s promises to get her and others’ lives through that horrifying time in history.  That part of history is over now but her legacy of her love for God and for His children still lives on.  She is a women who relied on God’s promises that gave her joy in the darkest of days where they felt trapped and had to hide.

Have you ever felt that way?   Are there days you feel like the walls are getting smaller and smaller around you as you stare at the same four walls and ceiling day after day? 

Lord, help me to remember to shine God’s promises on my problems so that I will have hope and see Your light each day.

 

 

See more Hold Tight posts

A Trust Promise:: Day 27 Hold Tight Series

 

See more Hold Tight posts

A Pretty Cool Moment and Song:: Day 26 Hold Tight Series

Oh the past couple of days I’ve written about how we can be bound in chains or we can be bound knowing for certain something will happen.

Earlier this month I had an extra bit of time one afternoon and I was starting to write how the Story of the Promised Land can be included in my blog theme of promises this month.

I was tapping away on my keyboard and decided to listen to some music to break the silence and hopefully inspire.  My husband had just told me about a website called Spotify where you can listen to all different kinds of music.  I don’t remember the musician I set my playlist on but a few songs into the list a song I had never heard began to play. 

I honestly didn’t pay attention to the words of the first stanza because it was just quiet background music but all of a sudden these words grabbed my attention:

“I am bound.

I am bound.

I am bound to the Promised Land.”

What!?

I was sitting there writing about the Promised Land and this song I had never heard before about the Promised Land *just-so-happens* to flow out of the little speakers in my computer.   

I’m still amazed how God gives gifts like that at just the perfect time.  How could a joy-tear not fall?

So this song I had never heard was sung by Jars of Clay who had revised an old hymn written by Samuel Stennett who lived from 1727-1795.  I love the way Jars of Clay sang that classic hymn that had been around for 250 years with the banjo mixed in to it.

If you have a moment, I highly recommend you listening to it. 

Click here to listen to it and read the words as it’s played.  I promise! It’s a gift!

I know I’ll be asking along the way in life,

“When shall I see that happy place
And be forever blessed?”

But until then, I’m choosing to be bound and determined  to keep heading to that Promised Land God promises us. 

 

On Jordan’s Stormy Banks  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uxLUwZem0U

(Another God-gift…the Scripture at the end of this song video is Acts 2:39. Of all the promises in the Bible I had chosen that same one as a promise on last weekend’s post.)

 

See more Hold Tight posts

Where are you bound? Part 2 :: Day 25 Hold Tight Series

Home.

It’s the place where floors creak when trampled on by kids’ feet, a steady rumble comes from the laundry room, the muffled sound of a base drum coming from the tiny space between the carpet and door to our son’s bedroom, silverware clinks on dishes, dog barks at a squirrel, the doorbell often rings, laughter and conversations flow. 

Other times though there’s quietness.  Piano music playing, the only sound is birds singing, fingers hitting the keyboard, the page of a book turning, a deep breath, whispers, silence.

Those quiet moments become little longings in a crazy-busy life.  Those little longings can start to add up and when you look at your life, you realize they all connect to a deeper, one core heart-longing.

Don’t we all have longings?

Even back thousands of years ago, people had them.  There were probably different physical longings in that day of age, yet at the core of all of our hearts is a longing for a forever and perfect home of security, love, peace and rest.

For generations, thousands of Israelites were slaves to the Egyptians.  And then God sent Moses, (one of my all time heroes) to help lead the people to freedom from bondage.

There during the burning bush experience, God told Moses to tell the enslaved Israelites that He said, 

“I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites…a land flowing with milk and honey.”      Exodus 3:17

Wasn’t God promising them a new home? 

I can imagine the thoughts of the people when they heard that exciting news.  They were dreaming of a land of milk and honey under the bright, blue sky.  They would have big, big houses with lots and lots of room, a big table with lots and lots of food, and a big backyard where they could play football.  It’s their longing coming true!

God promised to rescue them.  He did.

God promised a way out for them.  He did.

God continued to provided their needs even after He had already done such a mighty act to free them.

But then like every human in the history of mankind, the people began to grumble.  They began to complain.  They felt sorry for themselves because they had the same food everyday and it was too hot outside and their feet hurt.  Then when none of that changed, they became angry and rebellious.  With that came consequences…forty years of wandering. 

On their journey, God had told them many times,

“I will free you from being slaves and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm.”    Exodus 6:5-7

God had to remind them His promise over and over on their journey to the Promised Land (sounds kind of familiar to me in my life).  Yet, God allowed all of those long, never-ending days of waiting and being out of their comfort for a reason.  God was working more in their hearts and forming their homes on the inside, not necessarily on the land outside.  It took forty years until the people realized the true reason God rescued them. 

God longed to redeem them. 

I will redeem you, He says.

I will deliver you, He says.

Did you catch the promise?  “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm…” 

God redeemed their story and he wants to redeem ours.  Our stories of restlessness, sorrow, grief, war battles, and challenges are intertwined with some hope, joy and loving promises. God makes all of that into a beautiful story which is included in the Book in the Promised Land.

To cross that Jordan River into the Promised Land is waiting for me and is waiting for you.  It’s all about coming home to the place where purpose, comfort and security are found…and felt...forever.  That can only be found when we choose to rest in God’s outstretched arm.  

So, I’m bound.

My life might feel like those forty years but I will not give up trying to get there.

“I long to see that happy place and be forever blessed; therefore, I’m bound for the Promised Land.”

(words from an old hymn that I’m going to share with you tomorrow that’s been revised…so good and a story with it!)

 

My longing is that I always want my longing and the character of God to intertwine.

What is your longing? 

What is your story? 

What is your promised land?

 

See more Hold Tight posts