Growing in Hard Places

      Have you ever found yourself growing in a hard place? A place where you felt pressed from all sides with nowhere to go, nowhere to look, but up? I am in such a place right now. It's a hard place to be and yet I know I am growing here; perhaps more than I would if the ground around me was soft. If I had a choice I might spend too much time spreading out or looking around...getting distracted with the space, but here between the rocks I must look up; grow up.

      A hard place can be any place that is beyond our ability to thrive apart from the help of God; a difficult relationship, sickness, finances, anything that presses in and threatens to squeeze the life out. But God has not just promised us life, but abundant life (John 10:10), not just provision, but all our needs (Phil. 4:19), and exceedingly abundantly beyond what we can ask or think (Eph. 3:20-21).

      So why the hard places? I can't tell you all God's reasons for allowing hard things in our lives, but I can tell you this - He keeps His promises! Somewhere in the hard thing is a good thing growing...a flower that will bloom. All things are possible when we look to Him in the hard place. When we look up, and grow up. He is there with us in the rocks.

Growing in the Rocks

Sometimes you’re asked to grow,
In places that are hard.
To sprout among the ashes,
Of things that have been chard.

A place where nothing else will grow,
And no one wants to be.
A spot you view as barren,
No good thing there you see.

But God says, “I have planted you,
For others who are near.”
To grow beside these harden rocks,
And show my beauty here.

When others watch you growing,
Within this rocky place.
Your Father will be glorified,
As He shows in you His grace.

He raises the poor out of the dust,

And lifts the needy out of the ash heap,
That He may seat him with princes –
With the princes of His people.

Psalm 113:7-8

 

 

In His abundant care,

 

Charlotte

Twas the Month After Christmas...

Twas the month after Christmas

And all through the town,

People looked tired

They seemed really down.

 Christmas was over

It was all packed away,

No lights, no more sparkle

Just regular days.

 The holiday feeling

Had faded and went,

Their pockets were empty

The money all spent.

 They looked rather hopeless

With heads hanging low,

The parties were over

They’d nowhere to go.

 Forgetting the good news-

The Holy One’s birth,

Can’t change with our actions

Or seasons on earth.

 

 

 Remind them that Christmas

Can never depart,

If Jesus – the Christ Child

Is born in their heart.

      After the Hebrew people celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles Jesus went to the temple early in the morning to teach. The lamps that were hung up through the city for the celebration were probably being removed that morning. I can imagine how people must have felt as they cleaned up the streets and put things away...kind of like we feel when putting away our Christmas decorations?  The party was over. But as they were taking down the lights that morning, there, in the temple was shining the Light of the World...right in their midst. He was the fulfillment of all the celebrations, but they could not see Him because they were focused on the party, not the person.

      What if it was always Christmas? Not the Christmas with Santa and shopping, but the kind that reminds us everyday that Christ was born...He came...He lived...He died for us...He rose again...He sits at His Father's right hand...and He is coming again!

      I don't know what Jesus was thinking as He watched them take down the lights, but I know what He said..."I am the light of the world, He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." ~ John 8:12

      If the Christ child is born in our hearts, then we have His light, "the light of life" within us every single day. Let's shine brightly for Him, as we celebrate Christmas even after the tree is taken down, the twinkling lights are removed, and all the decorations are stored away in the attic. Everyday is a party for His followers, as we dance and sing praises for Him...celebrating the Light of life.