Robin's Reflections

  This article is marvelous, even to the last sentence . It was first published in 1963, two days after his death.  His "last words", so to speak. THE WANING AUTHORITY OF CHRIST IN THE CHURCHES by A. W. Tozer HERE IS THE BURDEN of my heart; and while I claim for myself no special inspiration I yet feel that this is also the burden of the Spirit. If I know my own heart it is love alone that moves me to write this. What I write here is not the sour ferment of a mind agitated by contentions with my fellow Christians. There have been no such contentions. I have not been abused, mistreated or attacked by anyone. Nor have these observations grown out of any unpleasant experiences that I have had in my association with others. My relations with my own church as well as with Christians of other denominations have been friendly, courteous and pleasant. My grief is simply the result of a condition which I believe to be ...

God is not going easy on me...he reminds me AGAIN, of where my thoughts need to go. I use to think of this verse as a mind "filter"....any thoughts must be filtered thru this verse.  If the thought can pass through each of these things, then it can stay in my mind. Many, many thoughts flunk out! I have been spending a day or two on each word...purposefully looking for things that fit these words. What is pure?  God's word is the purest thing I know...He gave me this verse to mediate on,  "And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."  Pure truth.  Keep it in your mind! Noble....that was a more difficult word to find...I kept thinking about the King that I serve.  I Chronicles 16:7-43 (NIV) David's Psalm of Thanks 16:8-22, Ps 105:1-15, 16:23-33,96:1-13,16:34-36,106:1,47-48 7 That day David first committed to Asaph and his associates this psalm of thanks to the LORD: 8 Give th...

Well, here we are seven months in to this missionary thing.  I always knew that being a missionary took great sacrifice. There is this thing called culture shock that I was told I would encounter.  I have and I am and it's not very enjoyable. I have not written on our family blog for months, because in reality I don't want to write what I know people want to hear-just to satisfy them and make them want to donate more.  It's like going to a festive party when you've just had an argument with your spouse (don't tell me you don't know what that feels like).  I don't like acting-(actually I LOVE acting, but only when it's FOR acting.) There are so many changes for a person to absorb on all levels, physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Food changes: things I've never seen, tasted or smelled before, guinea pig, intestines of who knows what, quail eggs, etc.  Things that I use to love but never see anymore (sour cream, ruby red squirt, marshmall...

I have found a trio of songs that make a beautiful segue into devotions.   1.  Abba Father, by Shaun Groves...I couldn't find a video of this song, but you can download it on itunes and it is a definite new favorite.  Worth the time and effort to download. 2.   Sweetly Broken by Jeremy Riddle 3.  Your Great Name by Natalie Grant

Love is patient I Corinthians 13 Love is kind it does not envy it does not boast it is not proud  it is not rude it is not self-seeking it is not easily angered it keeps no records of wrongs Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth It always protects, always trusts always hopes, always perseveres. The question arises every January-What are your new-year resolutions?  While I understand why many are adamantly against them, I believe there is a need to pause and reflect and January brings the perfect excuse to think about things we would like to change in our lives.  So, this year I found multiple blogs that discussed finding a "word" to focus on for the year instead a list of resolutions that will be broken by Jan. 12th  (or longer depending on your endurance!)  I decided to have a word for each month.  I knew right away that my word for Jan. would ...

I came across the following letter, (article) on Cailyn Steven's blog, she is a young missionary for Extreme Nazarene.  This letter is written by a 73 year old man, Dr. Ron Sider, and I immediately loved it, as it articulates many of my feelings in a "professional" way. Yes, it is long... maybe it will make up for my long absence in blogging! Many would consider Dr. Ron Sider the father of the modern Christian social justice movement. He released his seminal book,  Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger , in 1977 after observing racism and poverty in inner-city Philadelphia. Since then, Sider has written nearly two dozen books and more than 100 articles on social injustice and biblical discipleship, including  Completely Pro-Life , which ushered in a new “holistic” thinking on what it means to affirm life in areas beyond abortion opposition, such as capital punishment, nuclear weapons and severe poverty. Here, Sider considers his legacy and the legac...

Yesterday I started my day with asking God what He wanted me to "do" today.  I was telling Him that I was ready to go and accomplish whatever He had ready for me-I mean He did send us all the way over here to Peru!  I was sitting quietly listening and I felt His presence tell me that as Americans, we are often in too much of a hurry to check "things" off our list.  Perhaps we are addicted to our feeling of accomplishments.   He softly told me He wanted me to "be" today....be gracious, be kind....you fill in the blank. How often do I work at "being"?...not near as much as I think about "doing."  I know that both are important-which is why "The God of Intimacy and Action" is one of my favorite books.  I then remembered one of my favorite excerpts for Phillip Yancey's, "Reaching for the Invisible God."  Read the excerpt below. '"I have visited Calcutta, India, a place of poverty, death and irremed...

Have you ever been treated unfairly?  Something that you know you don't deserve...spouse, co-worker, family member...relationships are difficult.  No doubt about it. Did Jesus ever encounter people treating him unjustly?  What was his response... I Peter 2:23 "When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats." Well, that's nice-I'll just be a doormat and explode like a volcano in a few months from now. No, wait, there is more to this verse... ..."INSTEAD, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly." How do you do that?  For me it is quietly retreating and pouring out my heart and my side of the story to God.  Sometimes I feel His comfort and peace.  Sometimes I feel Him nudging me to go back and love some more.  And sometimes I feel his encouragement to speak a few words of truth, He helps me add the love that I would miss if I spoke those words on my own.  I am so glad I know this Ju...

I have been looking forward to the upcoming Lent season.  I had already made up my mind that I was going to have an hour of silence per day as suggested by one of my daughter's friends.  Although silence is somewhat lacking in my life and would take effort to obtain, it was something that I was eagerly anticipating.    This morning I woke up and God asked me for something  completely different.   " The Lord is my Shepherd ...I shall not want ."  That's it.   My forty days are to be spent worshiping and praising my God and King- NO asking.  Contentment.  Resting. The thoughts came quickly and strongly this morning-I shared them with my husband-his first reaction was similar to mine... not this month, we have to work hard at fund raising for our trip to Peru and that includes praying, pleading to God for financial support... we will still discuss our trip and plans with others...but for God and me, this Lent season is to b...

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul . Do I need to add anything?  God's word is beautiful, Amen.

How often does this little tiny statement rule what I do?  More often than I realize.  Think about it, from buying a nice car or home, to buying a coffee.  There are so many things that I just do because I can...but does this mean that I should?  Has freedom and money really given me more?  Or does it just steal from my dependence on asking God...for those seemingly simple choices that we just do because we can...we greedily ask, take and go for the largest, biggest that our pocketbook or time allows.  Is this really what God desires for me?  Lord slow me down enough to ask you...is this what you want for me?  

Today was one of my beautiful daughter's birthday.  She turned 20.  I was so very fortunate to get to take her out to coffee.  Where else other than Starbucks?  As we sipped on our coffee, I pulled out a book I recently picked up from a used bookstore, entitled IF2.  It is full of 500plus questions.  I opened it up and this question leaped from the page and I read it out loud to my daughter, "If God were to come down and whisper in your ear, what would you like him to say?"  She gave me a wonderful answer that God had actually whispered to her during a quiet time awhile back.  She then turned the question on me.  I couldn't even answer, my eyes immediately started to tear.  It wasn't only that I couldn't answer because I would break out in a full out sob in the middle of Starbucks, but I honestly didn't even know the answer.  So,  she kindly went on to some of the lighter questions and after we finished our coffee,  I le...