Make Room For Jesus!

by Heidi Bylsma | Dec 17, 2010 | Blog

Hi, everyone. I know it has been a while since I have checked in. I don’t get writing time much any more, so I cheated and just recorded a video tonight.

I hope it encourages you. I would love to hear from you about it!

Rescued by the Community…

by Heidi Bylsma | Nov 20, 2010 | Blog

As I watched this video, shared by friends on Facebook, I couldn’t help but see myself as the baby elephant and my Christian brothers and sisters as the other elephants in this video. I have been surrounded and rescued…upheld, yes, even rebuked, but loved to safety. Thank you, my sisters and brothers. Thank you for your faithfulness, for your love, for your willingness to speak truth. I trust that you will see yourselves in this video…which, as a nature video is absolutely amazing. (I get blown away by this stuff as GOD CREATED ELEPHANTS to be SO AMAZING!!!!).

Is there anyone you know who is in need of rescuing? Can you offer a hand to be sure they don’t sink in the mire and muck?

Perhaps, like me, you are the one in need of help. When we struggle, it is a temptation to isolate. What community can you turn to for support right now?

Romancing the Tenderness

by Heidi Bylsma | Nov 19, 2010 | Blog

 When it is tempting to get my eyes on people or circumstances, I am learning that I can either “go with the flow” (NOT a good idea) or “romance” a heart tender to the Lord–setting my sights on restoration, nurturing whatever it will take in my life to be at that place where I want the Lord…desperately, even if I don’t feel that way now.

Practically, this means I don’t let just anything have access to my affections. I am more prone to wander so far from the Lord. Some who know me may think mistakenly that daily quiet times are my habit because I am “so godly.” Or that I set my timer on my watch to check in with God hourly (or more often) because I “love the Lord” so much. The truth is, I am so NOT godly. The truth is, I am so prone to love the things of this world that I have to do these things to survive without sinking into a horrific pit of sin and despair.

Knowing that about myself causes me to guard myself…even to the point that movies, books, magazines, music, and the company I choose to keep during this time simply must contribute to a godly mindset.

For example, while there may be nothing wrong with secular music for most people, *I* know where words bathing my mind can take me. Do I really want “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” (Linda Ronstadt in the 1970s) to be going through my head again and again, even during the night when my mind is idle? Or would I rather have something going through my head like what I woke up to this morning: “God has a perfect timing, God has a perfect plan, He’s asking you to trust him, even when you don’t understand. Our God is faithful, what he promises he will do, Our God is able, his truth will see us through…” (Thank you, Michele Wagner!)

Which do I want washing over my mind as I sleep (or don’t), as I go through the day, as I interact with others, as I am faced with sadness or surprises or disappointments? It is clear that “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” is likely to resonate with me more, but what is TRUTH? I am a daughter of the King! I have an amazing inheritance kept for me in heaven! I am NOT poor or pitiful. God IS faithful!

I have to choose truth right now, even if it feels like a reach for me.

This is a time when even if I don’t FEEL the truth of a song, I make it a prayer: “Lord, I want to see Your faithfulness afresh today. Help me to see with new eyes.” Music is either an expression of praise for me or a prayer beseeching God to meet me and flood all my empty places. For me,  music that can’t be used this way is often detrimental to fixing my mind on truth–at least during a season like the one in which I currently find myself. This may not always be the case–and this is just a season right now, where I must be exceptionally cautious.

Further, right now I need to guard my heart from people who, in an effort to be supportive  knowing my situation, will encourage an attitude of entitlement or “you have a *reason* to be mad!” I don’t need help digging in my heels, “donkey-legging” or being prideful.

This is also a really good time for me to get to know God afresh. Who is He according to His Word? If I  allow my *feelings* to define my God, I am, in effect, creating God in my own image. This is a temptation right now more than ever. Instead, I want an accurate view of God. I have to approach the Word *assuming* that I have a warped view of Him and invite His Spirit to give me  fresh clarity–a view of what is *truth*.

It is so clear to me that my mind is the battlefield and if I don’t guard it zealously and jealously, the enemy *will* invade it and/or my flesh will take command. So being paranoid, if anything, about what accesses my mind is vital to me. I would rather err on the side of caution than walk on in arrogance and in error.

It has also been helping me to pray verses that God has used to encourage me, putting many on a spiral bound set of index cards.

Even if God “disappoints me,” I have to nurture an awareness of His presence. I *have* to because it is my life line. If I don’t have Him to cling to, I may as well flush my life down the toilet. There, simply, is nothing I want to live for apart from God. No, not even my kids. They are human, too, and that means they can wound and disappoint. But when God is my all, when He is the only one that I pin my hope to, I have a better view of the things that people do that would otherwise disappoint or wound me. In other words, by fixing my eyes on God and allowing Him to orient my entire life, the rest is put in a better place, too.

Oh, goodness! Do you see what I mean? I have to romance the tenderness. I have to DO the things that will cause me to WANT the Lord and not my own way.

I have seen tangible benefits of doing this…enough so that it keeps me hanging in there. For instance, I have been surprisingly filled with gratitude for people in my life who God wants to use to refine me–the very same people who wound and disappoint! Apart from romancing the tender heart I *know* where I would go, instead–toward bitterness and resentment. If I let down my guard for even a moment, that is where I end up. Resentful. Filled with bitterness and maybe even hate. By romancing the tenderness, I have been able to see my own mistakes and foolishness and to ask others to forgive me for the things that have contributed to conflict. God is sanctifying…making holy through this process, but apart from romancing the tender heart, I would be in a very different place–defensive, much more arrogant, angry, totally depressed. Who wants to go there? I certainly don’t. That is a pit that is hard to get out of.

This isn’t easy, certainly. But God’s Spirit enables. I personally would rather go the path of least resistance. But I refuse to stop fighting for what I know is truth. I refuse to give in. In fact, I am in all out rebellion against my flesh and my culture that says “If it feels good, do it.” This does NOT “feel good.” This is hard. But if I let go, if I allow the hardness to have its way with me, I will stop living–or I may as well.

How about you? Do you need to romance a tender heart? What would help you to practically do this?

God Delights in Me? Wow!

by Heidi Bylsma | Nov 9, 2010 | Blog

(Typically in my blog posts I place a passage at the top for you to read in whatever version you prefer.  In this case, I chose this passage from the New Living Translation.  It speaks more clearly as to what I sense the intent of this passage is trying to communicate.)

This passage strikes me to the heart (in a good way).  I, like many of you, want to love Jesus and grow in His love and grace everyday.  There is a plethora of scriptures that encourage us to delight in God, to see Him as our “all in all”, to walk with Him through the eyes of faith, to fall in love with Him more and more each day.
Many years ago, however, I was deeply impacted by this passage in Zephaniah.  In fact, I first heard it as a song, taught to us back in Bible College days, by an awesome worship leader and fellow student from Hutchinson, KS.  Singing this passage not only made it easy to memorize but even 30 years later, I can readily recall the song to my mind and remind myself of a critically important truth –

The word “delights” can mean to exult which means to have exceeding joy or to be jubilant.  God has exceeding joy over you and me; in fact, He is jubilant because of us.

Other parts of the Bible tell me that He loves me with an everlasting love; that He lavishes His love on me; I am His beloved because my life is hid with Christ in God.  The list can literally go on and on.

During this recent chapter of my journey with God my desire, my focus, my passion has been and continues to be to honor God in all that I do, hear His voice more clearly, obey His will more readily and love Him more deeply.

But…today as I read this passage it was like God saying to me, “Stan, I love you My son and am greatly encouraged by your desire to honor and obey me during this challenging transition time in your life.  But, I want you to know and understand something even beyond that.  Stan, I delight in you.  I rejoice over you. My love for you is SO deep.”

This sounds pretty basic and seems like a pretty simple truth portrayed in Zephaniah 3:17.  But, if you are like me (and I know you are because we all live with the taint of Adam and Eve’s choices), you tend to be driven by pleasing God, doing things for God, taking actions that show forth His fruit in your life and well we should.
However, how long has it been since you just allowed the truth to soak deep into your heart and soul that God DELIGHTS in you and REJOICES over you, even to the point of singing.

I’m grappling with this truth even as I write this latest blog post.  So, here’s a few points to ponder along with me, your fellow sojourner:

• Do I really believe that God delights and rejoices over me through the power of His unconditional love?
• How often am I guilty of doing things for God because I’m driven rather than drawn
• How often do I feel His rest and peace in my life?
• Am I willing to cease striving and allow God to hug me?
• When was the last time I “sat in Jesus’ lap” and just rested against Him and  chatted with Him or even just sat in silence?

I wonder what joyful song God is singing over you and me today?

-=-=-

Today’s blog post is by a special guest. Stan Kellner’s blog was referred to me by a friend. When I read his post, I knew I had to share it with you all. I hope you find it encouraging. Stan Kellner has been speaking for over thirty years on various subjects including the Jewish roots of our faith, evangelism, insights on Israel and practical insights for effective living.   He grew up in a Conservative Jewish home on Boston’s North Shore and became a believer in Jesus as Messiah on September 23, 1973. Be sure to visit his website to find out more about Stan and resources he has available.<!–[if !mso]> st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } <![endif]–>

God is Faithful

by Heidi Bylsma | Oct 28, 2010 | Blog

Steven Curtis Chapman and his family have been through a lot. God has used him to write about the darkness that can descend on a life–even in the life of someone who loves the Lord passionately and seeks to live for Him. Steven’s fight of faith is chronicled in his songs from his “Beauty Will Rise” album. If you battle with depression or are in a season of suffering, I hope you will find encouragement from this song, Faithful, that is one of many on that album that can minister to a hurting heart. When I wasn’t in this season, I didn’t care for the album that much. Funny how being there causes songs that you didn’t like before to minister to deep places within you instead.

I Will Love and Trust Him – No Matter What

by Heidi Bylsma | Oct 22, 2010 | Blog

The Word of God and the God of the Word are the only things that will remain unchanged, even when the rest of the world is doing crazy things.  Nothing else is reliable.

God could choose to keep us from pain, but the truth is, He doesn’t. As long as we are in this world, we will experience pain. He has a purpose for it. As pithy as that may sound, there is something astonishing that happens when we choose to stop striving and surrender to Him, “Ok, Lord, you have chosen this pain for me for this moment in time. I know that it can’t come to me unless it is your will. So I choose to cling to you through it and to allow the fires of testing and suffering to be used by Your hand for Your purposes.”

I hope you are encouraged by this song. It is by Kerrie Roberts: “No Matter What.”