Finding God's Presence ~ God Is Like That, You Know

by Nan Jones   @NanJonesAuthor

Burnt orange and gold waved like a banner against the oyster gray of the foggy sky. The darker the sky, the deeper and richer the color of the leaves. 

I love that.

I love that the brilliant leaves proclaimed their glory against the darkness, perhaps in spite of the darkness. I love that the darker the sky grew, the stronger their proclamation of glory.

I want to be be like that.

I want the glory of the Lord to shine through me and illuminate the evidence of His beautiful Presence to a darkened world. Like the leaves of autumn, I want the impending darkness to have an automatic response of my light shining brighter. With determination. With intention. With grace.

His amazing grace.

That's what it's all about, isn't it? His grace. His grace that rains down upon His children, especially in times of darkness. His grace that lights up and paints a prism of glorious color throughout our tear-stained broken places. And when the darkness of sorrow or fear or despair tries to invade, the prism of glorious color waves like a banner going into battle, proclaiming the victory of the Lord.

God is like that, you know. 

I want to be like that too.

"For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly."

~ Psalm  84:11

A Tweetable to Encourage Others

Where is God when I'm surrounded by darkness? @NanJonesAuthor offers a glimpse. (click to tweet)

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Finding God's Presence ~ God Never Wastes Our Pain

by Nan Jones   @NanJonesAuthor

Guest Blogger, Penny L. Hunt  @PennyLHunt

I'm delighted to introduce to you my guest, Penny Hunt. Penny is a fellow author with Lighthouse Publishers of the Carolinas. She enjoys encouraging others in pressing into Jesus when life comes at you hard. Penny joins me in praying God's best for you, our readers, and asking that you will receive strength for the journey.

Welcome to Morning Glory, Penny!

I wore a blue suit on my wedding day. White was, as mother said, "for virgins." So, as the shadow of a shotgun hovered across my grandparents' fireplace - I cried my way through what I had always dreamed would be the happiest day of my life as a justice of the peace pronounced two semi-amorous teenagers "man and wife."

 

Afterward, my new husband’s parents drove us to their home and we moved into their basement.  My in-laws were wonderful people.  They treated me like their own daughter, and I had a few months of relative happiness until at eighteen weeks I miscarried and lost the baby.

If you are reading these words and have lost a child or a grandchild either through illness or accident, or a preborn through miscarriage or abortion there is something very important you need to know. God loves children.  He loves the infant.  He loves the newborn.  He loves the preborn.  All children are precious in His sight.

We read in the Bible that when King David’s newborn son died he wisely said, “I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”  David knew – as Jesus later affirmed in the gospel of Mathew during a discussion with His disciples about who would be the greatest in His Kingdom – that God is not willing for any child to be lost.  “I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father…your Father is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.”  

For a long time after my miscarriage I believed I was being punished for getting pregnant out of wedlock and wondered if my baby was in heaven or not. What a comfort it was to learn that truth. 

I also learned something else through that season of anxiety and loss. I learned some of the foolish and totally inappropriate things people will say to a woman who has just suffered a miscarriage.  Things like:

• “You can always try again.” As if you didn’t “try” hard enough the first time and can do better next time.

• “At least you weren’t further along.” Loss does not have a timeline.

• “At least you didn’t know your baby.”  A woman begins loving her baby the moment she knows she’s pregnant.  She is grieving because she never had the chance to fully know the child she loved.

• “It’s probably for the best.”  Really?  For who? The mother?  The now dead baby?

• “Don’t worry.  It won’t happen again.”  Oh, how we hope and pray this will be true but building false hopes and expectations for the next time can be a set-up for an even greater letdown if everything does not go well…with an even longer time of healing.

So, what should you say?  A simple, “I’m sorry” is usually best. If you’re particularly close, really mean it, and will follow through, you might add, “Is there anything I can do for you?”

My life and your life will never be perfect.  There will always be good times and bad times.  However, it has been said, and I believe it is true, that the most vibrant and fragrant of blossoms are those that have been sown in the crucible of life. God will, in time and ways you cannot imagine right now, use even this heartache for good in your life as you trust Him and cling to Him for comfort. God never wastes our pain.

A Tweetable to Encourage Others

Where is God when I suffer loss? Guest, @PennyLHunt offers a glimpse via @NanJonesAuthor (tweet this!)

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Meet Penny: 

 

In her latest book, Bounce! Don’t Break… Amazon.com bestselling author and speaker, Penny L. Hunt shares the way she has learned to bounce-back from set-backs and emerge from unwanted change stronger, more authentic and resilient. 

Get to know Penny:

website pennylhunt.com 

email pennylhunt@gmail.com 

pinterest Penny Hunt  

twitter @PennyLHunt 

Bounce! Don't Break... can be purchased on Amazon. 

Where Is God? Sunday Glimpses

by Nan Jones   @NanJonesAuthor

Lord, I'm pressing into Your strength today. I can't do this on my own. I wasn't made to carry this burden, but I find myself clinging to it like a long lost friend. The burdens of fear and anxiety are not friends and they are not from You. Help me release them fully into Your care. Turn my ashes into beauty,  give me the garment of praise for this spirit of heaviness. I rejoice in You, the Lord my Maker. Yes! I choose to rejoice in You, for nothing is too difficult for You. When everything else crumbles and falls around me, You are my sure place, my constant. My Rock. My Refuge. My Prince of Peace. Thank You Lord.

I pray for those who, like me, are facing frightening situations. I bring them before Your throne of grace. Please touch them with the Healing touch of Your right hand. Pour out Your grace on them - their hearts, their lives, their circumstances and turn things around for them. Intervene as only You can.

You are Wonderful. Counselor. The Mighty God and our Prince of Peace. You are amazing Lord. We love You and we praise Your holy Name.

A Tweetable to Encourage Others

Where is God when I feel afraid? @NanJonesAuthor offers a glimpse. (Tweet this!)

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Please don't carry your burdens alone. I would be honored to pray with you. You may contact me directly at nan@jubilantlight.com 

Finding God's Presence ~ Do You Ever Feel Like Giving Up?

by Nan Jones   @NanJonesAuthor

The Lord encouraged me this morning. 

Sometimes I find myself just wanting to be a grandma and spend the afternoon baking chocolate chip cookies with my grandson. I want to spend a couple hours working in my flower garden ... just because I can. I just want to relax. And rest. And let the world pass me by.

But I can't do that and really, deep down inside, I don't want to.

The world I want to pass me by is the very world the Lord has called me to bring His love to. It's the same world where countless women struggle with their faith because life has become so hard. It's the same world where bad things happen to good people and we want to know why the Lord has abandoned us.

Those are the answers the Lord has given me to share with others.

He has taught me to open my eyes to find Him in my pain and frustration. He has taught me to open my ears to hear His sweet whispers of assurance when the world is screaming at me to give up.

And that's what He wants me to teach others.

But sometimes I just. Get. Tired.

Please forgive me for putting myself before your needs. With the Lord's help, His strength, His vision, I will press on. I will press on because to find my life again I  must lose it. To walk in the fullness of His joy, I must give it away. Please pray for me as I pray for you. We are all called to be ministers of reconciliation - we are called to comfort others with the comfort we have received. We are called to lead others to the foot of the cross where they too can receive forgiveness, redemption, restoration. 

Where they too can receive His peace.

Can there be any greater joy in life?

"One thing I do, 

forgetting those things which are behind 

and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize 

of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." 

~ Philippians 3:13b-14 

A Tweetable to Encourage Others

Where is God when I want to give up? @NanJonesAuthor offers a glimpse. (tweet this!)

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I know the perfect gift for your pastor's wife! It's my book, The Perils of a Pastor's Wife. Within its pages your pastor's wife will find strength for the journey, renewed confidence in her calling alongside her husband and, most important of all, she will realize that somewhere, somehow, someone knows what she's going through and she is not alone. 

The Perils of a Pastor's Wife is available on Amazon

Message me at nan@jubilantlight.com if you prefer an autographed copy.

Finding God's Presence ~ Like Honey Dripping From the Honeycomb

by Nan Jones   @NanJonesAuthor

Sunday morning dawned with a chill in the air and frost on the pumpkins. My heart was warmed, though, as I threw on a jacket and headed out to church. Ten Thousand Reasons to Bless the Lord was blaring on the radio as I crested Chestnut Hill. I tapped the steering wheel to the beat, belting out the lyrics, enjoying my own praise and worship time and then ... ? 

And then my jaw dropped.

A birch tree stood on the side of the road, it's leaves golden with autumn's touch. Suspended in the air were dozens of birch leaves that had fallen from the tree, but were stationary midway to the ground. Just. Drifting. In. Place. The sunlight reflected off the droplets of thawing frost that fringed the leaves like honey dripping from the honeycomb. It was amazing. I don't know how the leaves were suspended, except that they must have been caught up in a current of air that forbid them to fall.

I don't know. I just know I was dumbfounded by the beautiful sight.

And I've thought about it a lot since.

Strangely, when I revisit the image of the golden leaves suspended in the chilly morning air, the verse that comes to mind is Psalm 19:10, "More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb."

This verse is referring to the instructions of the Lord. 

Here is verse ten in context:

⁷ "The law of the Lord is perfect,
    refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
    making wise the simple.
⁸ The precepts of the Lord are right,
    giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant,
    giving light to the eyes.
⁹ The fear of the Lord is pure,
    enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm,
    and all of them are righteous.

¹⁰ They are more precious than gold,
    than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
    than honey from the honeycomb."

~ Psalm 19:7-10

God's commands are radiant, giving light to the eyes. His Word is precious, and sweet like honey refreshing our weary spirits. 

And like the glistening leaves dangling in midair vying for my attention, God is ever before us, if we will open our eyes to see and our ears to hear. He is not elusive. He is not dull and ordinary. The Lord is extraordinary and able to do far and above anything we could ever imagine.

And quite often, when we least expect it, but desperately need it, the Lord makes Himself clear and allows us a glimpse of golden leaves suspended in autumn's chilly morning air that reminds us He is near, His Word is true, and nothing is too difficult for Him.

A Tweetable to Encourage Others

How do I know God is near? @NanJonesAuthor offers insight. (click to tweet)

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Where is God? Sunday Glimpses

by Nan Jones   @NanJonesAuthor

Lord, in my brokenness You have revealed to me the depth of Your love. In my crushing, the sweet aroma of Your Presence has been released to bless and encourage me. Would I have wished for this season of brokenness? No. But have I benefited from it? Yes. You have carried me through and proven to me that my faith really is more precious to me than gold. You have proved to me that NOTHING can separate me from Your love, and You have proved to me that in the midst of Your magnificence You are tender and gentle with Your child who is hurting. Thank You for the wonder of who You are. 

I ask that You work the same miracles in the lives of others. I ask that You give them the wings of eagles to rise above their difficult situations, to soar aloft in the company of angels. Open their eyes to see You working on their behalf. Open their ears to hear Your sweet whispers of encouragement and hope. Let Your love and healing touch flow through their broken places, restoring them to the joy of their salvation.

Thank you for Your goodness Lord. Thank You for being our sure place in this crazy world. Thank You for being our Strong Tower where we can run and be safe from our enemies. We love You Lord and we give You praise.

A Tweetable to Encourage Others

Where is God when life is hard? @NanJonesAuthor offers a glimpse. (click to tweet)

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Please don't carry your burdens alone. I would be honored to pray with you. You may contact me directly at nan@jubilantlight.com 
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Do you need to step away from the chaos for a few moments and concentrate on the Lord? Sounds like heaven, doesn't it? We all need those moments of refreshment in the midst of our busy days. This is why I created a facebook community page, Seeing Beyond the Veil. I would love for you stop by and join our community where you'll be refreshed with scripture, worship videos, inspiring quotes, and prayer. 

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Finding God's Presence ~ It's For Those Tears He Died

by Nan Jones   @NanJonesAuthor

Guest blogger, Marcie Bridges   @Marcie_Bridges

I'm so delighted to feature my friend Marcie Bridges on Morning Glory again. She has written a beautiful testament of God's grace as she watches the Lord heal her friend from a broken heart. I believe you will be touched by her words and encouraged by her insight. Perhaps you are praying for a friend or, like me, find yourself caught in the quagmire of grief and are searching for wholeness again. Marcie and I pray that you will be strengthened by the words of her heart and that you will find Him faithful.

Welcome Marcie!

I watched her cry. Tears poured down her face. The hurt was deep, cutting raw, sharp scars that will take years to go away.

I want to stop her tears. I want to heal her heart. I want to take her into my arms and assure her that it is going to be okay.

But I feel like all of my words are just empty promises that only leave a gaping hole in wounds that break open too quickly.

It’s been a year now and I’ve watched in amazement as the tears now cleanse instead of infect and the wounds slowly, but surely, scar over. I watch her walk in faith that only God gives her strength to walk and I quietly continue to pray for her healing.

Healing that comes through brokenness. Healing that comes through break-downs. Healing that comes through a flow of tears that are gathered up and put inside a bottle of precious comfort and sweet aroma of praise.

Psalm 56:8 says, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.”

God doesn’t just let us cry and leave us high and dry. He takes each sorrow, each wound, each scar, each tear and He holds them in one hand while holding us with the other, speaking and singing peace over us. He doesn’t always shield us from the pain, rather, He carries us through it and places our tears inside His bottle to let us know He loves us so tenderly He will never let us go. He will take those tears of mourning and turn them into a day of dancing.

I’m watching her, little by little, begin to smile. To lift up her face to the sun and just the other day, I’m pretty sure I saw her twirl in front of Jesus.

ALABASTER TEARS

An alabaster bottle

ornately carved with gold

the riches inside its cavern

too precious to behold.

Sits upon a pedestal

beside Jesus, God’s own Son

He keeps it closely by His side

a treasure of comfort and love.

For each time we shed a tear

each time they drop from our eye

He collects them in His bottle

because it’s for those tears

He died.

~Marcell Warner Bridges

©3 October 2015

A Tweetable to Encourage Others

Where is God when I'm broken? Guest @Marcie_Bridges shares via @NanJonesAuthor. (click to tweet)

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Meet Marcie: 

Marcell (Marcie) Warner Bridges is a wife, mother, and currently a student at Lenoir-Rhyne University studying for her Bachelors of Arts in English with the goal of becoming an Editor. Marcie began sharing her love of the Lord and His Word through poetry at a young age. Portraying difficult or emotional topics through poetry she deeply desires to encourage others in their walk with the Lord through the written word.  Marcie has been published in several anthologies and frequently shares her work through her blog: Heart Thoughts http://marcieheartthoughts.blogspot.com  Marcie can also be reached through email at mmkabrids@embarqmail.com

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