Prepare Him Room

"Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion" ..."Safe?" said Mr Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”
- C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

I'm married to a Clark Griswold-type man. His father and grandfather TRULY taught him everything he knows "about exterior illumination." Every year his collection of lights grows, and grows, and grows. I joke with visitors if they stand still for too long he'll wrap them in lights.

Light covers every tree, door post, fence post and window of our home at Christmas {and it's BEAUTIFUL!} My Sparky does it right! ♥

And yet, despite the beauty of Christmas, JOY can be hard to find - which is proof what Christmas is all about is true: we need a Savior. And the same grace that covers me the rest of the year is there for me in my un-merry moments, too. It's a time for celebration, because the moments when I fall are when the message of Christmas means most of all.

This is a post I began at Christmas {can you tell?} But the heart of the message God was downloading into me wasn't clear until this moment. I've been studying the book of Revelation for the past few months through Bible Study Fellowship {BSF} click link to find a class near you. This is my sixth study through BSF and I cannot stress enough how much the study of God's Word, thru BSF, has transformed my heart, my mind, my response, my devotion and my calling. Revelation - the book I grew up FEARING, has become my greatest HOPE - and it's a hope available to each of you!

BSF {wisely} chose to focus on the GLORY and POWER of GOD in their Revelation study and through this study my heart has been opened to just how BIG the love of God is. From the beginning of the beginning God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit had a plan -a plan to love us, rescue us, extend mercy and grace. It's more than we can even comprehend. And yet, I must confess - it's something I have taken for granted most of my life.

I've never not known the Lord and I'm afraid that familiarity bred in my heart a casualness towards WHO God IS! He is the GREAT I AM! He took MY sins and bore them! When He returns, I and all who allowed Him in their hearts will be saved and given the gift of ETERNAL Life with our GREAT KING! He will restore the earth and open up heaven. He will give us new names, new clothes {love it!} and we will reign with Him FOREVER!

And yet, there's another group - the inhabitants of the earth. Those poor souls who are deceived and reject the gift God LONGS for them to accept. They are loved, just as He loves each of us. And yet, some will cling to their sin, insist on paying it themselves, and they will pay a horrible price. The second death - hell {which is eternal, forever-awake, forever-suffering, forever-hell}. Just typing these words makes my heart pound. The urgency of the Holy Spirit wells inside of me - insists I grow up - insists I embrace my part in God's story.

This year I'm trying to really focus my heart on being more like Christ. I try to keep a smile on my face {I realized my working face is serious-biz - not welcoming at all}, so at work I'm conscious all day long to smile. And I'm working each day to live in the JOY God gives. Not to say life isn't hard - it IS! But our God is big enough to handle it.

Christians who worry believe God can redeem them, break the shackles of Satan, take them from hell to heaven, put them into His kingdom, and give them eternal life, but just don’t think He can get them through the next couple of days. That is pretty ridiculous. We can believe God for the greater gift and then stumble and not believe Him for the lessor one. John MacArthur

This quote {in my inbox this morning} is me! I can believe God for some things and not others. You're right, John MacArthur, that is pretty ridiculous. And yet, that's human nature. And God understands and comes to our rescue. Monday I was considering dipping my toes in the pool of sadness {my eldest love, Noah, graduates in one month and begins college the next week}. We are SO proud of him and excited for the next chapter God is writing in his life. There's just SO many details for college and it's all combined into the rest of my life, which was already in progress. At times it's VERY overwhelming and Monday I came to a breaking point.

And at that very moment, as tears welled in my eyes and I cried out to God {and into my tissues}, one of the Godliest couples I have ever known, a couple so attune and obedient to the Holy Spirit, showed up in our hallway at the church. They walked into each of the church staff offices and handed us unmarked envelopes. And inside was this note:

For some time now, you have been under considerable stress and pressure ... in consideration of the "new things" about to take place, this may well be the beginning of something completely new, exciting, thrilling and God's next adventure. We just wanted to give you each of you a word of encouragement from the BEST sourt of encouragement available - GOD'S WORD.

Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing;now it springs forth, do you perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. - Isaiah 43:18-19 NRSV

Can you EVEN? God knows our story and writes every moment. All we have to do is be obedient. This couple, devoted to serving God, obediently wrote this note and made the scripture from Isaiah into an art card. They didn't know the individual moments they would enter into when they delivered the cards. But God knew.

God's love overwhelms me and brings me to tears. His love is so tender and true. Each day I'm more in love with Him. I can testify to His goodness and love. In my time of need He came and rescued me. It strengthens my devotion. I don't know when our Aslan - the Lion of Judah - will return, but it WILL happen and I want to be proven worthy of the inheritance - to wait, love, serve and ever-strive in JOY. I trust {and know} God’s way is perfect. All the LORD’s promises prove true. He shields all who take refuge in Him. Psalm 18:30

“Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.”
- C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe