Purposeful Learning

Purposefully living for Jesus, one day at a time.

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Slowing Down to Listen

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Today, I’d like to share a few quotes I’ve found in a book called Here, Now by Kate Merrick. I’m hoping I can share a review of this book on my book reviews site soon, but it’s not written yet. I did get this book as a for-review copy, so I will be reviewing it soon on Goodreads and Amazon.

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I finished Here, Now last week, and highly recommend it. Lots of great thoughts here! I’d almost like to have a physical copy of this, just so I can see how it all fits together on paper. It’s good. And yes, these aren’t all the quotes I have, but I’ve managed to pare it down to five. I hope at least one blesses you!

“Slow down, take in your life, find the beauty, and see God moving all around you—it’s worth it.” —Jamie Ivey

“God is willing to speak to and lead us more than we are willing to be spoken to and led.” —Kate Merrick

“Prayer is the beginning of presence, the beginning of peace, the beginning of contentment.” —Kate Merrick

“We practice presence by asking him to show us just how near he really is, how he sees us, and believing what he says rather than our own feelings, impressions, or emotions.” —Kate Merrick

“Today is all you have; it’s all anyone has.” —A woman who lost her son to leukemia

If you would like to have a little more encouragement from Kate Merrick herself, I’d recommend you check out the book these quotes came from: Here, Now.

How has God been speaking to you this week?

Joy

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Contentment. Happiness. Hope. Peace. Thankfulness.

I believe they all have one thing in common—joy.

I could live in a sea of “woe is me” forever, and never find a bottom.

But in Christ, there is a bottom. I have the choice: Focus on my imperfections, or on His perfection. Bemoan my predicament, or praise Him for His hand in it all. Trust my own work to get me there, or trust in His.

It’s all that simple—and that hard!

But when I remind myself of God’s attributes, I find a solid rock to stand on.

He is love—and He loves me. He is faithful. His word is true. He is the great shepherd. He is our refuge. He is our strength. Perhaps best of all, He is my Father. He’s adopted me. Me! and you! Glory!

When I’m tempted to doubt, this is the space I want to come back to. Reviewing these truths refreshes my soul, and gives me that much-needed position of joy. Because on my own, I am incompetent, but in Him, I am complete.

And you are too!

What has the Lord spoken to you about today?

Blessings This Week

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I have so many thoughts that I could jot down and share with you. Today, I thought I’d give you a random collection, and perhaps something will inspire you where you are to keep going on for the Lord more!

1) We’ve just come through the Easter season, and oh, what a refreshing reset that has been for me personally! We’ve been attending an Easter conference the last five years as a family (hosted by a church group we’ve grown to love quite dearly), and this year we were blessed to go down there and worship with them again. It’s so good to remember what the Lord has done for us. To have rich fellowship. To laugh and sing and share together. What a blessing!

Blessings This Week
Top of Lewis Pass

2) I’ve been listening to a lot of songs from past years of A Cappella Gospel Sing lately, and it’s struck me over and over again how much we have to thank the Lord for! It’s amazing how songs can lift our spirits and refocus us on what matters most! If you need a bit of encouragement, I’d recommend reading chapters from the Psalms or picking up a hymnal and studying the words to the old hymns. There’s so much depth there.

3) This week has been a quieter week at home, so I’ve been able to do a bit of sewing and scrapbooking—two things I love doing, but rarely make time for. It’s so refreshing to be able to sit down and see something come together from a pile of mismatched pieces, or look through pictures and remember how the Lord has been faithful in the past. God is so good!

4) On our five-hour trip home from Easter conference, those of us in the van listened to probably 3-4 hours’ worth of a dramatized version of Christiana (Pilgrim’s Progress, part 2). I’m very familiar with the story, as I virtually lived on recorded stories when I was younger, but it’s probably been a good 4-6 years since I last listened to the story. It’s so good to be reminded of how the Lord uses different circumstances to bring us closer to Himself, that He is well able to take care of us, and He is the One we need to constantly focus on if we are to ever find victory!

5) I’ve just come through reading Ezekiel, and though I got a lot out of Isaiah and Jeremiah, this book has been a bit more dry reading for me. Probably because it’s a lot of prophecy I feel like I can’t understand so well, and I also haven’t remembered to pray for the illumination of the Holy Spirit as much as I need (ever met the trap called “I Can Do It Myself?”). HOWEVER, this morning I read the portion about the river running out of the sanctuary and into the Dead Sea and how everything that lives in the water was able to live in that river. This passage has always been precious to me, for two reasons: 1) To me, this river symbolizes God’s wisdom. There’s always more of it coming, and the further you wade into it, the more there is. You’ll never run out. 2) In Jesus’ love, there is life. And like the river, starting out as a trickle, and then becoming a full flood with all kinds of life in it, so His love brings all kinds of life to our souls.

Now, I may be terrible at allegory, but these are things my heart is mulling over right now.

What have you been blessed with in this past week?

Asking The Way to Zion

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I just finished reading the book of Jeremiah today, and was very blessed by a couple verses from chapter 50. I pray you will be, too!

“They shall ask the way to Zion…saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.”  (Jeremiah 50:5, emphasis mine)

Am I asking about the way to Zion today? And wow…we have been given that everlasting, perpetual covenant that will not be forgotten now! We now possess what the Jews back in Jeremiah’s day had to look forward to! Praise the Lord!

Ask the Way to Zion
Sunset over the river.

“Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land…”  (Jeremiah 50:34)

Our Redeemer IS strong. And I am so, so thankful!

Courage vs. Fear

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I read a quote last night that really struck me: “Living unafraid doesn’t mean that we don’t feel fear but that we don’t obey it.” (from the Our Daily Bread devotional)

As one who has had to deal with fear a lot, especially with regards to the aftermath of my brother’s death, this encouraged me to see another angle. Or at least hear the truth put in another way.

Courage vs. Fear

We were never called to obey fear—that is far removed from what Jesus called us to! He called us to walk and live out of love, loving God first and foremost, knowing His abundant, unreserved love, and that affecting every other area in our lives.

I recently read through Deuteronomy, Joshua, and 1 & 2 Samuel. Over and over, the phrase is repeated, “be strong and of good courage, do not fear…” Courage and strength are incompatible with fear.

Act out of love and courage today—He has called you, and He has also equipped you, so you have no reason to obey fear.