The Wonder Of Winter

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Posted by Kim Stanley, January 31, 2024

“The Earth is full of his glory.” Isaiah 6:3

Wait.

Does that mean even in the “bleak mid-winter” the earth is full of God’s glory?

In the dark, hard, barren earth, where is His glory?

On foggy, cold, and dreary days with no sunlight to warm our bones, where is God’s glory?

Some of us would probably like January to just get on with itself, because that means we’re one step closer to Spring.  (I see that hand.)

But, wouldn’t we miss the gift of God in the Present?

Growing up in Ohio, the winters were cold and snowy and some years dragged on through April.

I do miss the snow, but just one good one would do. As much as I love this Georgia climate, I can start to feel the bleakness, the “meh” of even the mild winters here. 

It is understood that life is happening in the cold, hard ground.

I read an article on the term 'vernalization' about why plants need winter. Those apple trees that we like to pick in North Georgia in the Fall, need time to “rest” in the winter, with a certain amount of low-temperature days, so that they will flower and produce that luscious fruit properly. 

There is something unseen that God is always doing, even in the winter of our souls. 

And while the promise of Spring is a well-placed Hope, I do not want to miss the Presence of his Glory in the gray winter.

He is at work here. 

His Glory is seen here.

The cold temps make us want to stay wrapped up in a blanket in our favorite chair. 

The coffee pot or tea kettle is on and ready to pour at all hours for friends who stop by.

That book that has long been on our shelves, calls to be opened.

And if you go to work in another place, you can find His Glory there too. 

Look out your office window, or at the school courtyard and catch a glimpse of the Glory of God in the bare trees and cloud-covered skyline.

Notice the people beside you in your cubicle or in the classroom. 

Seasons are His idea.

It’s all over Scripture.

And He is Lord over every one of them.

Our study at Touching Hearts has been on decluttering the heart. It has been very timely.

The table is set before us, let’s enjoy this winter feast!

Here are a few things that are helping me right now:

• Reading the Word daily; the Author has written the greatest love story ever.

• Practicing stillness; asking God to search my heart and uncover any dark places. Then listening.

• Getting more sleep

• Eating my veggies

• Trying a new recipe (with veggies)

• Cleaning out a drawer, cabinet or closet (not the whole house, just one at a time)

• Thanking God for every little thing I can think of. 

• Praying Psalm 4 before I go to sleep at night. 

“To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

References: 

“In The Bleak Midwinter”  by Christina Rosetti

Link to the article mentioned:

https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/garden-scoop/2015-01-09-vernalization-why-plants-need-winter

Touching Hearts Teachings

Kim Stanley is a worship leader, speaker, writer, and is the worship leader for Touching Hearts Ministries. She and her husband Joe have been in itinerant worship ministry for over 30 years. She is the founder and director of One Thing Worship, a retreat ministry for women that provides sacred time and space to be still and hear the voice of God. She also co-hosts a podcast called “A Burst Of Hope” with Martha Wilson. She and Joe have been married for 40 years; they have 4 grown children, one in heaven, and 6 grandchildren. They live in the south metro Atlanta area. You can connect with Kim on her website, www.joeandkimstanley.com, and on Facebook and Instagram @onethingworship.

Praise Him

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Posted by Priscilla Carr, January 24, 2024

In one of our Touching Hearts studies, we explored the lives of various women in the Bible using the book Faithful. One week Martha Wilson and I co-taught on Leah and explored how rejection and disappointment can alter our outlook, cause us to seek refuge in a person or thing that isn’t God’s best for us, or cause us to withdraw from meaningful, life-giving relationships. Can you relate? Let’s review Leah’s life and longings.

Leah was the older sister of Rachel and the daughter of Laban. Jacob, son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham, left Isaac and his mother Rebekah and traveled to find a wife from Abraham’s relatives and to escape from his brother Esau, who wanted to kill him. Jacob (and their mother Rebekah) had deceived Esau and his father Isaac into giving him the privileges of the firstborn (he was not the firstborn) even though the Lord had already promised Rebekah that “the older will serve the younger” (Gen. 25:22-23 CSB), and so Esau was more than a little upset about the deception and wanted to murder Jacob. 

When Jacob saw Rachel after an arduous journey to get to his relatives, he was told that she was of his grandfather’s family. He must have felt extreme relief and hope. “As soon as Jacob saw his uncle Laban’s daughter, Rachel, with his sheep, he went up and rolled the stone from the opening and watered the sheep. Then, Jacob kissed Rachel and wept loudly. He told Rachel that he was her father’s relative, Rebekah’s son. "She ran and told her father” (Gen. 29:10-12).

Many of us know the story. Jacob fell in love with Rachel and agreed with Laban that he’d work for him for 7 years in order to marry Rachel. After 7 years, Laban deceived Jacob and gave him Leah to wed instead of Rachel. Jacob then agreed to work for Laban for an additional 7 years, and he became husband to both Leah and Rachel. But Jacob “loved Rachel more than Leah” (Gen. 29:30).  

When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He… (Gen. 29:31) [emphasis added]

Leah was unloved by Jacob. It wasn’t her imagination, and she wasn’t deceived into thinking she was unloved; it was real, and it was played out in their daily lives. Can you imagine what it feels like to know that the only reason you’re married is because your father tricked your husband into marrying you? Can you imagine the rejection Leah must have felt? And to know that your younger sister has captured the heart of your mutual husband? Wouldn’t you hope that giving him what the culture deemed important (sons) would win his devotion? That was Leah’s goal also…at first. But, Leah came to realize that although her husband didn’t love her, God did. 

Her focus changed from seeing her husband as the solution to her longing to be loved, to praising the God who saw her and who had made her fruitful (Gen. 29:35).  

We all have rejection and disappointment stories. Maybe you have childhood memories of rejection (i.e. bullying, molestation, always being the last one picked, not being asked to the prom) that have caused you, like me, to distrust and believe that you’re unworthy or less than. Or maybe adult memories or current situations (i.e. divorce and abandonment by a spouse, rejection by a son, daughter, father, or mother, disappointment that God allowed loved ones to die early or in horrific ways) have you questioning God’s love for you. 

Aren’t you encouraged by Leah’s story?

Isn’t it grand to know that God sees you and He desires fruitfulness and only the best for you? 

He is faithful and able to take our heartbreaks, our disappointing and difficult circumstances, and use them for His glory and for our good (Romans 8:28). If we allow it, He can take the rejection that we’ve faced, the false beliefs & conclusions that we’ve adopted, and fill us with the truth of our identity in Christ so that we can reflect His light and life to those so desperately looking for hope!  

Jesus was betrayed and rejected even by those closest to Him (John 18), so He can relate to us in our rejection. He knows what it feels like. Even though all of us deserve to be rejected by Him because of our sin, He did the opposite and gave Himself becoming Emmanuel (God with us). He did this so that we could have a relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. 

He sees us, He knows us, He wants us, and He loves us. 

He is what each of us really desires. He is the fulfillment of the longing that we so often try to get fulfilled in others or material things. In the book Faithful (p. 85), Ruth Chou Simons describes it this way:

Leah recognized in that moment what believers like you and me would only come to know centuries later:  God Himself, through Jesus, His Son, is the Good we’re really after.

And although rejection and disappointment are inevitable pages or maybe even chapters in our stories, we can refocus and say as Leah did, this time I will praise the Lord” (Gen. 29:35).

Praise Him, praise Him. 

Praise Him, praise Him.  

Jesus blessed Savior

He’s worthy to be praised.

From the rising of the sun 

Until the going down of the same,

He is worthy, Jesus is worthy,

He’s worthy to be praised.

Praise Him, praise Him. 

Praise Him, praise Him.

Jesus, blessed Savior

He’s worthy to be praised.

(from “Praise Him” by Carol Cymbala)

 *Faithful, 2021, published by David C. Cook, 4050 Lee Cook Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80918

Priscilla Carr was born in NYC, but has lived in metro Atlanta since 1979. She is a Navy veteran trained in electronics which God used for a 30-year career at the FAA. She uses her training to provide audio support to Touching Hearts Ministries, and is the Editor and Producer of “A Burst of Hope” podcast. She began her adult new life in Jesus in 1990 right before leaving the Navy, and today she exudes her love for Jesus. She is the proud mama to two rambunctious fur kids, Gracie (Lab) and Faith (Pit-mix). Priscilla was encouraged by elementary teachers to write. She took creative writing courses in High School and college, but in the mid-eighties, she stopped writing. The desire to write has been recently reawakened, and she is thriving in her new writing adventure.

Firm Foundation

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Posted by Annette Burrell, January 1, 2024

“Christ is my firm foundation; the rock on which I stand. When everything around me is shaken, I’ve never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus. Because He’s never let me down. He’s faithful through generations. So why would He fail now? He won’t.”

This week has been a week of storms and threats of storms, literally. I saw a report of tornado damage that swept through parts of Panama City Beach, Florida. The pictures of the damage were devastating, but one photograph, in particular, stood out to me.  

The area hit was on the curve of Thomas Drive. There are houses to the left. To the right is the beginning of high-rise condominiums on the beach. 

These houses are mostly 3-stories in the New England style. The picture broadcast over news reports and social media is of several houses sitting in a row, and the one in the middle is totally off its foundation and leaning on the house next door. The foundation is still there, but the house is detached from it. None of the other houses appear to have been affected by the storm. It is the weirdest-looking thing.

Life is like that sometimes. Storms are all around us, passing us by yet hitting others straight on. I have been in a season of blessing for many years. The year 2023 was difficult. The storms began rolling in. One blow after another. 

"Do you suppose God still blesses us even as we experience storms and trials?"

Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him.  You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.  Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord. Psalm 128:1-4

As I cling to the promises God has given us throughout the Bible, I also lean on my precious sisters to remind me of who I am grounded upon.

I am blessed to be a part of an arm of Touching Hearts Ministries called Shoulder to Shoulder (S2S). My S2S sisters are a blessing to me. We have a safe place to share what we may be going through and need prayer for. Things stay in the group, unless we say it is ok for it to be public. 

My S2S group met this past week, and I shared life’s storms and opened up about some bad dreams I had been having. My sisters laid hands on me and prayed for me to allow God to take control of my dreams. These women are so seeded in the Word, and I know that God has put me in this place with them for such a time as this.

 In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety. Psalm 4:8

I had been having “not so good” dreams for weeks. My S2S sisters reminded me that it was fear. And they were right. I have allowed fear to creep into my heart and soul.

God doesn’t give us the spirit of fear.

The evil one wants us to be confused so that we take our focus off the One true God and miss out on God’s protection, mercy, and peace.

For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. 1 Corinthians 14:33 KJV

As I lay down to sleep that night, I prayed for God to control my dreams and give me peace. He answered my prayers, and I awoke to peace and a different perspective on my circumstances.

At this time of year, when considering goals or resolutions, sometimes we miss the importance of building on the foundations already there.

Even when difficulties arise and I am shaken from my foundation, my foundation is still there. When I feel like life’s pressures are too much to bear, I can turn to those whom God has placed in my life to lean on for support and reminders that I belong to God. 

“Are the storms still raging around me? Yes. Are they shaking me off my foundation? Maybe so, but that doesn’t mean my foundation isn’t still there. It is. God is.” 

“He is my firm foundation. . .”

Where does life have you right now? Are you in a season of blessing, or have life’s storms hit you and knocked you off your foundation? Cling to God’s promises. Lean on a spiritual sister. You can find one at Touching Hearts Ministries if you need a sister to lean on. We are here to do just that—touch your heart.

God, I pray today that you touch someone’s heart and give them peace in the middle of their storm. In your son’s name, I pray. Amen

Annette Burrell is an author, speaker, and singer/songwriter. Through Annette’s years of being a public servant, and her devotion to studying the Bible, God has equipped her to lead women into His presence, and share with them how they can grow in Christ. Her passion is learning, sharing about the Heavenly realms, and God’s plan of protection for us as believers.