Your Presence is the Promise

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I love teaching Scripture. I love everything about it: the in-depth studying it demands, the intimacy with God it brings, and most of all the treasure of talking about the Word with women.

I remember the night before my first Bible study. I was so SCARED. The only time I had ever spoken publicly was in one of my MBA classes, and let’s just say my group never asked me to present again.

Actual photo of my presentation

So, when God put it on my heart to teach, I was so scared. But something amazing happened. Once I started speaking, the words just flowed, and I know that was the Holy Spirit and not me. After that, I was hooked! I loved it so much that in the beginning, I begged God that I would always teach; I was holding on to it so tightly. And then, one day I read Exodus 33.

Long story short, after delivering His people from the Promised Land, God is FED UP with the Israelites’ rebellion. (Hello golden calf!) He is ready to wash His hands of them. In Exodus 33:1-4, He tells Moses  “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’… But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”

Whoah! We might expect Moses to say, “Thank you God! Promised Land here we come!” Instead he says, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here (Exodus 33:15).” Moses did not want to enter the long-awaited Promised Land, if God wasn’t with him. God was so pleased with this response, that He stayed with them on the journey and beyond.  

In that moment, something shifted in my heart. I realized that as much as I love to teach, I love the Lord more. It became so clear that it was HIS ministry, not mine; I began to pray that I would never take a single step without His blessing and prompting.

 It’s been a year and a half since I taught, and I miss it so much it hurts. I have grieved the end of that season. But I have learned that God is not just a means to an end, even if it is a good thing. He IS the end goal. Intimacy with Him is all that matters.

Much Love,

Natalie

Praying for a Miracle

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“You are the God who performs miracles;
    you display your power among the peoples.” Psalm 77:14

When speaking about the decreased number of Coronavirus cases in his state, a certain governor said the following. “God did not do that. Faith did not do that. Destiny did not do that,” he stressed. “A lot of pain and suffering did that.

Mind you, he is a professing Christian. Up to this point, I had liked this man. I believed he managed the crisis well. But when I heard those words, I literally felt sick to my stomach. And if you are a believer, you should too.

This is not a post about measures that should be taken to control the disease. God gave us brains, and we should use them. However, since when did we start thinking that WE were God? When did we start believing that something uncontrollable was in our control? When did we stop praying for Him to perform a miracle? He parted the Red Sea for goodness sake! I think He can slow the spread of this virus!

The LORD is my strength and my song… Ex 15:2

I believe with all of my heart that God is trying to get our attention, and none of our leaders, (and many believers for that matter), are submitting to His sovereignty. Not one leader has bowed the knee, and acknowledged that this thing is beyond our control. We need GOD, yes in addition to all the medical approaches. (Side note: who even gave us the brains to come up with the therapeutics and vaccines?)

For all the “slow the spread posts”, I don’t think I can even remember one asking God to perform a miracle to heal our nation and remove this virus. We aren’t even asking him to display His power. Don’t you think if His church got on their needs, He might just act? We are failing the test. God have mercy on us.

With love,

Natalie

Lost

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So this past week I did something I said I would never do: I went camping in the woods. If you know me at all, you are laughing out loud. And please understand this was light years away from “glamping.” Shockingly, we ended up having a blast, and I never had a breakdown. All in all, it was a success!

So many memories were made, but one in particular I will never live down. My friend Ashley and I decided to go for a walk around the state park. Unfortunately, neither one of us consulted a map or brought our phones. After eight miles hiking on dirt roads, the sun began to set. It wasn’t until we come to a sign named “Lost”, that we realized we had been walking farther and farther away from the campsite. Pretty soon, our walking turned into jogging, then running, as we tried to find our way back. Praise the Lord that her husband came looking for us, and he arrived just in the nick of time. Talk about a God thing!

lost.jpg

Can you see the parallels to our earthly lives? Many times, Scripture compares our time on earth to a journey, with many forks in the road. Do we go to the right or to the left? Left to our own devices, we will end up at our own Lost sign.

Thankfully, we have a road map. Psalm 119:105 says “Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light into my path.” God’s Word directs us through the maze. We are foolish to ignore it and go our own ways. Soon we will end up miles away from home.

Due to our sinful natures, all of us at one point or another have found ourselves lost in the woods. If we are part of the family of God, He will come for us. His Word along with the Holy Spirit inside of us, guides us back to the right path.

It would have been absolute insanity if we refused to accept help and continued walking in the dark. The same is true in our lives. When we see those headlights, we better get in the van.

Let’s grab that map off the shelf and pray for the Spirit’s direction. Help is on the way!

With love,

Natalie

Study to show thyself approved

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Does anyone else feel like Bible study gets a bad wrap these days? Like we can’t even say those words without people running for cover? I totally get that there is a concern that too much study OF the Word and not enough intimacy WITH the Word is a very real temptation. After all, we can know the Scriptures backwards and forwards and not really know the Lord, meaning we don’t have an intimate relationship with Him.  Jesus told the Pharisees in John 5:39-40:

You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

Ouch! But before we throw the baby out with the bathwater, we should look at 2 Timothy 2:15:

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

The King James version says it this way:

Study to show thyself approved, a workman that needeth not be to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Study…

A group of ladies and I are studying the life of Samuel and wow! At first glance, it seems as if the accounts are so far removed from us, that they may not even be worth reading. Ummmm…. Wrong. Last week, we ran out of time because our discussion was so rich.      1 Samuel 2 recounts the story of wicked priests who were dishonoring the Lord in His place of worship Literally, we talked about how Phinehas and Hophni (don’t you just  love Old Testament names?) stole animal fat from the sacrifices. Sounds like a real nail-biter, huh?

From this one passage, we talked about God’s mercy and justice, the seriousness of worship, the importance of disciplining our children, the danger in going through the motions in serving the Lord, the great responsibility on our church leaders, how the Levitical priesthood points to Jesus, how we ourselves ARE His priests….. Do y’all see what I am saying?? This is just what I can remember off the top of my head. And now, a week later, I am still thinking about 1 Samuel 2 and trying (through the power of the Holy Spirit) to respond in obedience.

But we had to study to get there. I can’t speak on the ladies’ behalf, but it took some time  with my head in my Bible, asking, “Lord, what in the world does this mean?” I had to read slowly, looking at the cross references at times, flipping back to Leviticus of all places, breaking it down, using other study tools, and trying to get to the heart of the matter. Why did the Lord leave this for us in His Word? What is He revealing to us about Himself? What can we learn from a couple of corrupt priests stealing some fat?

It turns out, a whole lot… And I would have missed it if I hadn’t asked the Holy Spirit to teach me along with putting in the effort to study. At times it felt like work. At times I didn’t feel super “spiritual.” But I kept asking Him to show me the wonderful things in His law and He did. And I can’t even tell you how cool it was to meet with a group of women and hear how the Lord spoke to them as well.

The Bible is not just a book; it is the living Word of God. Literally, it is His Word to us. ALL of it (even Leviticus) is useful for us, so that we “may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16.) If you are like me, you aren’t going to just pick up Leviticus and skim through it in your quiet time, immediately understanding what it means. It’s going to take some digging and studying. And yet the beauty and truth nestled in that book is so unbelievable, I could cry just thinking about it.

God has given us this amazing gift. Will we take the time to study it?

Natalie

 

Once a Year

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Tomorrow we celebrate Easter. The tomb is rolled away, Christ is Risen!! And everyone finds a church. Because you can’t miss Easter in the South…It’s the hottest show in town.

If we aren’t careful, we can make a mockery of Easter. When Christ actually rose from the dead, it was a scandal. The disciples didn’t believe the women who said the tomb was empty. Many hid for fear of being arrested.  The government tried to cover it up for goodness sake. Some to this day still deny it. I don’t say this to diminish Easter, I say this in hopes of adding some sense of reverence to this day.

It is not just a day to put on pastel dresses and show up to church for the first time in a year. (Although my sky blue sheath is ready for tomorrow.) If Easter is the only time you go to church, I am so glad you do!!! But I hope you ask yourself why you are going.

Tomorrow is His day. But so are all the others. If we don’t make an effort to worship Him the other 364 days,  maybe we should be asking why we bother to show up on this one.

With Love,

Natalie

 

 

 

Delighting in the Undelightful

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This blog is called “the delighted heart” based on Psalm 37:4. (My very first post explains why.)  I want to be transparent with y’all, sharing what the Lord is teaching me through His Word and Holy Spirit in real time, not just what He has taught me in the past.

The past few weeks, I went through an intense time of enemy attacks, the likes of which I hadn’t experienced before.  I found myself going back time and again to 2 Corinthians 12. If you haven’t read it you should. The apostle Paul is so transparent, talking openly about a thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan that has been tormenting him. I have read this chapter so many times throughout my life, but as I was reading it this last time something jumped out at me… Look at 2 Corinthians 12:10:

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Did you catch that? Paul delights. I think we could say that Paul possessed a delighted heart while going through some major trials. He even delighted in those difficult circumstances. Woa.

The very last thing I want to be is weak or go through difficulties. But for Christ’s sake I can. Because that is when His power shines through us. When we are weak, He is strong. Shouldn’t that be our greatest delight? To glorify Him and exalt Him whatever the cost, even if while we are weak?

The past couple of months have not been all rainbows and sugar cookies for me but guess what… my heart is ABSOLUTELY still delighted in Him. Possibly, even more so than before, because I saw first-hand that His grace is sufficient for me. That, my friends, is delightful.

With love,

Natalie

You are Beautiful

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Ellie hair

My daughter needs a haircut. Her hair is long and beautiful, a pretty golden blonde that I want to bottle up for myself. She always begs to wear it down, but I usually put it up in a ponytail to keep it out of her face. The other day, I surprised her and told her to bring me a headband instead of a ponytail holder. I brushed out her beautiful hair, put on the headband, and told her that’s how she was wearing it to school. She looked in the mirror, her face lit up, and she said, “I love myself mama.” Her words caught me off guard because they were so innocent and pure so I asked her to repeat them. ”I love myself.” Then she skipped out of the room beaming. I wanted to cry out of love for her.

Why is it so hard for us to love ourselves? I am not talking about a narcissistic, obsession. I mean an authentic acceptance of who we are in our own skin. Almost all of us struggle with so much insecurity, sometimes spilling over into self-loathing. I would imagine that even the most gorgeous women in the world have things they would change. Even many who seem to love themselves so much are compensating for something. And yet, despite what the media tells us, or what others around us say, we are each so beautiful.

It made me think how our Father must desire that we, his sons and daughter, love ourselves. Psalm 139:6 says,

“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it well.”

We see in Genesis 1:27 that we are each made in the image of God. And yet I often think I am too this, or not enough of that. I look back and am saddened over the hours wasted obsessing over the things I don’t like about myself. How sad that must make the One who created me and looks on me with love.

There is nothing wrong with taking care of ourselves, but when we allow it to contradict what Scripture says, it becomes a stronghold in our lives that steals our joy. I don’t want that for my daughter, and God doesn’t want that for me. The next time I see new wrinkles and those wiry gray hairs, I may just look in the mirror and force myself to say, “I love myself!”  And then make an appointment with my hair stylist to cover up those grays 🙂 Or maybe I won’t! Either way I am thankful that God’s Word tells me my inner beauty is more important than the external, and that my King thinks that I am beautiful. Isn’t that what matters most?

Natalie

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The God who Sees me

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desert

“Mommy are you watching? Look at me!” If you are a parent or have ever been around children, you know that this question is often on their lips. Children want to be seen by us, to know that they are important and noticed. As adults we are not much different. Perhaps one of the most important times that we yearn to be seen is when we are hurting, when we feel as if the walls are closing in around us and pain is unbearable. And isn’t it true that in those times we can sometimes feel the most invisible?

I am going through the book of Ruth with a group of precious women, and this past week we talked about affliction or suffering. At the end of Ruth chapter one, Naomi is in a deep depression. She has lost her husband and her two sons and feels empty, alone, She even believes that God’s hand has turned against her. If we are honest, haven’t we all felt like that at one time or another? If you have read the book of Ruth, you know that God has not forgotten about Naomi and indeed has a plan for her. It is one of the reasons the book is so beloved.

Before Naomi, there was a woman named Hagar, who went through her own type of affliction. Look back to Genesis 16. God had promised Abraham a son to carry on his name and give him numerous descendants. The only problem was his wife Sarah was barren. So they took matters into their own hands, as we often do. Sarah told Abraham to sleep with her maidservant Hagar to produce an heir. The plan worked and Hagar got pregnant, but soon after Sarah became jealous and mistreated her. (No surprise there!)  Hagar decided to run away from Sarah into the desert.

Hagar probably felt pretty invisible huh? She was the lowest on the totem pole. She was bullied by THE matriarch in the camp, and probably felt helpless, alone, invisible. She was about to find out that she was anything but. The Almighty God sent an angel out after Hagar in the desert. In Genesis 16:11 (ESV), the angel said to her,

Behold you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction.

This is the first time the word “affliction” is used in Scripture. Thanks a lot Sarah!!! Not a great to start off women’s relationships in Scripture ha! In all seriousness, my favorite part of this story is what happened in verse 11.

So [Hagar] called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly I have seen Him who looks after me.”

Is that not incredible?! Hagar, the Egyptian maidservant, gave the God of Israel a name, El Roi! And that is still one of His names today! He doesn’t change. Don’t you think if God pursued Hagar in the midst of her affliction, that He still pursues us? He sees what you are going through; you are not invisible to Him. Even if you feel as if no one else care, He does. Pour out your heart to the God who Sees and let Him comfort you with a peace only He can provide.

Natalie

 

 

 

Stretched

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gumby

Lately I have been feeling a little like Gumby. Not physically, although I really need to get to the gym; I probably can’t even touch my toes anymore. Ha!! I am talking about spiritually. It seems like the Lord just won’t let me get comfortable. Just this week, I got that familiar burning in my chest, coupled with anxiety when a thought popped in my brain that had all the characteristics of coming from the Lord. My immediate response was ABSOLUTELY NOT! No Way! Unfortunately, I am starting to learn that when that’s my knee-jerk reaction, it often means that I will absolutely be doing it. Can any of you relate?

There are many examples of individuals being stretched in Scripture. One of my favorites is Moses. In Exodus 3, he is minding his own business tending sheep out in the wilderness, when he sees a random bush that is on fire but not burning up! Turns out, the bush is none other than Almighty God Himself who begins talking to him. Crazy! Moses has no idea what is ahead of him. He is about to be stretched big time. And his first response was no, nope, no way, yada, yada, yada… He gave God about as many excuses as he could, but ultimately, He took on the task of being Israel’s deliverer. And the rest is history.

When I was reading over this story again, I noticed something. In Exodus 7:14, when Moses went before Pharaoh, God told Moses and his brother Aaron 8 times to stretch out their hand so they could perform miracles before Pharaoh. It was God’s power at work, but Moses physically had to stretch his hand out in faith to perform the miracles.

The more Moses stretched out his arm, the more God displayed his power and glory to the Egyptians and the Israelites. He does the same way with us. We stretch outward, but at the same time we stretch upward to Him, because He is our strength. When we step out in faith and allow him to take us out of our comfort zones, He will lead us places we could never go on our own. It’s usually scary and uncomfortable, but at the end of the day, it is always worth it.

When all was said and done, and God had delivered the Israelites, Moses never forget that it wasn’t by his strength. I’ll leave you with his own words to the LORD after the Exodus.

Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them. Exodus 15:11-12 (ESV)

If the Lord is calling you to stretch out, do it! His power is at work in you! You just have to obey.

Natalie

 

Don’t Miss the Boat

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One of my favorite traditions at Christmas is going to the Enchanted Forest with my mom. This year, my kids wanted to do the scavenger hunt, so they spent half an hour running around looking for obscure objects like 3 red scarves and a blueprint. The Enchanted Forest doesn’t play around! Ellie and James were having a tough time finding some of the things on the list, so mom and I jumped in on the nightmare fun. I was assigned “toy boat.” Earlier I had spent ten minutes looking for firetrucks that ended up being tiny toys hidden on shelves, so I just knew the toy boat would be hidden in that section as well.  As I scanned the other toys, I didn’t see one. My mom came over and said, “Natalie, do you not see that boat?!!!” I looked to the left and saw this.

boat

A BIG, TOY BOAT! My mom and I laughed so hard we cried! I was so sure it would be a small one that I completely missed the big one right in my face. I missed something so obvious because it was not what I expected.

How often do we miss what God is doing in our lives because we have a preconceived notion of what it will look like? God’s ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). If that’s true, why do we try to keep Him in a box, expecting Him to work only in ways that we think He should?

The best example in Scripture of this is Jesus Christ Himself. The Jewish people had been anxiously waiting for God to send their Messiah, but they had their own idea of what he would be. They expected a magnificent, stately, political king. But Jesus “had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” (Isaiah 53: 2). Jesus didn’t fit their mold of an earthly King and yet He was (and is) the King of all Kings. So many of them missed the promised One, because He didn’t line up with their expectations.

As we go into 2018, many of us will set goals and resolutions. And these aren’t bad. But if we are only focused on our own ideas of how things should work out or how this year should go, we may miss out. This year leave room for God to have His way, for Him to do some new things. Ask him to open your eyes to what is right in front you, to the unexpected ways He is working.

Don’t miss the boat 🙂

Natalie