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Posted on December 8, 2021 by beverlyeash

I, like many young people, wondered from an early age if I would marry one day. More than that, I believe my deepest longing was to be loved. Would someone love ME?

Yesterday we discovered that before anything was created, God already loved humans and chose them to be holy in his sight. So even though the creation of the physical world occurs prior to the creation of humans, it was all put together with us in mind. Exactly the right atmosphere and gravity and sunlight to sustain human life. All thought out. All well done.

So here we are living in a perfect environment with one charge — love others as I have loved you. (1 John 4:21) Seems easy right?! Except it isn’t always. As I reflect on what makes it difficult for me to reach out in love to others, it almost always comes back to the same problem. Am I experiencing love myself? Do I know the love of the Father? Love of family and friends? Am I secure in who I am? Do I live with the nagging feeling I deserve punishment?

17And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. . . 18Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 19We love each other because he loved us first.

1 John 4:17-19

The problem isn’t if I am loved or if I can love others — both are true and possible. The problem lies in knowing I am deeply loved then resting securely in that love. From this place of security, I love others well, without fear of punishment or shame.

If you find yourself struggling to give love, look closely at how well you receive love, specifically from your Creator. Begin there — turn on the light and see what might be in the way of receiving love. Find a spiritual mentor, expose the lies and replace it with the truth. Truth that you are deeply loved!

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Posted on December 7, 2021 by beverlyeash

Sitting at the dentist’s office, I hear another advertisement for a reality show that toys with the idea of love before sight. Love at first sight is difficult enough to embrace, but love before sight? That seems a genuine stretch. Living in a world that, for the most part, rejects prearranged marriages, I wonder what the fascination is with watching how and if relationships will develop under odd circumstances. In a simple Google search, I found fifteen reality shows boasting similar themes. What draws a viewer to this genre of entertainment?

According to one source, we are drawn to the shows because we are fascinated with love. Humans are created with the need to give and receive love. When we experience love and affection, our brains release hormones that make us feel good (dopamine and oxytocin). Watching portrayals of love and affection causes our brains to release these hormones. So while we know the relationship is not real or won’t last, it makes us feel good in the moment.

That makes sense to me. But what if I looked to the One who created that need in me? What if I filled my mind with the truth of His love for me?

If I pause for a few minutes and recall to mind my first encounters with Dave, my joy increases. I remember how I felt when I knew that he chose ME! I remember how I felt when I chose HIM. It didn’t take long after we met for interest to spark and grow into something lasting and substantial. But it required that we meet.

God’s love for me is not like that. You see, before he created anything, before he met me, he already loved me. He didn’t even have a habitat for me yet but I was chosen.

4Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

Ephesians 1:4

What if I sat with that for awhile today? Which part of my brain would be ignited? Which hormones would be released?

If this seems unreasonable to you, I might ask what you meditate on throughout the day? Do you read books, watch TV or movies that portray romantic love? Do these portrayals stir within the desire to be loved unconditionally? To be chosen?

The Truth is you already are. There is a Creator who loves you and goes to the craziest lengths to show you. When I consider these words from Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, I see God planning Creation. His first thoughts were for me and you — humans. And then he designed an environment where we could prosper and live — earth. But first, he loved us and chose us to be his.

And that’s the best kind of love story there could ever be!

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Posted on December 6, 2021 by beverlyeash

ADVENT – WEEK 2

The focus of the second week of Advent is love. Today “love” refers to the feeling one has toward pizza, a good movie, the weather or a life partner. A bit overused, so perhaps the message “You are loved by God!” doesn’t hold much weight. But you are, in fact, loved by God and everything he did to secure your adoption as his child was done because you are deeply loved.

In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses gives his final words to the children of Israel before he dies and they go into the Promised Land. He reminds them of the past and warns them to remain faithful to God when they get into the land and everything is going well.

Like many of us, the Israelites were confused about why someone would choose them as his special treasure. “Was it something we did?” they asked themselves. “Is it because we are a powerful nation?” they wonder. Moses brings them back to reality; the reality they are deeply loved by God.

 6For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure. 7“The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! 8Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you. . .

Deuteronomy 7:6-8

Peter reminds reminds me that believers are God’s very own possession, his chosen people. He points out my responsibiity to being chosen, revealing my purpose as a child of God.

9But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

1 Peter 2:9

I am called out of darkness into the light of God for what reason? So that I might display the goodness of God to those around me. I am not loved merely to bask in and soak up God’s love, but to impact the people around me.

As you go throughout your day think on this: am I displaying the goodness of God for others to see? Will others be drawn to Christ because of my presence in this place (put in there the places you show up whether it be your physical body or your online presence.)

Let’s not waste the opportunity the love of God affords us to be changed and, in turn, to change our world!

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Posted on December 3, 2021 by beverlyeash

I wonder today, as I finish this week of writing, how your week progressed. Did your thoughts turn to hope more often? Did you experience a greater level of confident expectation?

I know that reading and writing about hope helped to refocus my attention on the foundation of my faith and refreshed my outlook. I arrived at the conclusion that HOPE in scripture refers to salvation and its benefits. It is deeper, richer and more fulfilling than the wishful thinking we often associate with the phrase “I hope.” I will finish the week with my favorite reference to hope in all of scripture.

13I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

Hope that does not disappoint comes from only one source — God. When we trust him, confident hope will overflow in our lives.

Have a blest weekend filled with wonderful times of worship! If possible, meet together with other believers to celebrate God’s overwhelming gift of confident hope!

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Posted on December 2, 2021 by beverlyeash

HOPE: confident trust with the expectation of fulfillment.

20Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.

Romans 8:20-21

It is an interesting thought to me that all of creation waits in eager expectation — hope — for the day it will be set free from death and decay. Paul continues by saying that creation “has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”

When a woman is in the midst of the pain of childbirth, her expectation, her hope of holding her child, is at its highest. As soon as the child is born, her hope turns into reality. In essence, she no longer hopes for what she is holding in her arms. Her hope is fulfilled.

23And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. 24We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. 25But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

Romans 8:23-25

The same is true for me as a believer. When I received God’s free gift of being right with him, he gave me the Holy Spirit as a deposit. This deposit is my assurance that one day my body will be set free from the effects of sin and suffering. On the days when I feel my age: the aches and pains in my joints, the difficulty seeing and hearing, the wrinkles around my eyes; on the days when I am weary with the news, the tragedies of life, the inequities, injustices, hatred — it is on these days that I can be confident. I have HOPE!

Hope that one day my full rights as a child of God will be a reality. I can sit in this knowledge, allow it to wash over me and watch my focus shift from the problems of today to the assurance of the future. I know it isn’t just wishful thinking, but a sure promise based in the reality of God’s overwhelming love for me expressed in Jesus.

When I carried my children inside my body, I waited eagerly for the day I would hold them in my arms. I had confident expectation that a child was growing inside me and would be born. In the same way, the Holy Spirit lives in me as a guarantee. I hope — live with confident trust and expectation — that all is well, all is well and all will be well.

The battle againt me starts in my mind. It makes a difference what I think on, what I allow to run through my mind on a continuous loop. I can meditate on all that is against me (my age, physical limitations, cataracts that are developing, trouble in the world, wars and rumors of war) or I can meditate on all that is for me (warm place to sleep at night, family that loves me, Holy Spirit that indwells me, clothes to wear, candle to burn, books to read, songs to sing, love to offer, service to provide, Jesus by my side, grandchildren to love, nature to observe). One brings blessed joy and contentment; one brings sadness and sorrow. I choose every day. And so do you.

Choose wisely!

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Posted on December 1, 2021 by beverlyeash

I have many fond memories of going to my grandparent’s house. There were certain things you could count on, certain corners that remained the same.

There was the cookie jar. Sitting in the corner of the counter, it always held cookies. The cookie jar wasn’t air tight so Grandma put the cookies in a plastic bag with a twist tie to keep them fresh. It didn’t really work, but the day old cookie was something I could always find at Grandma’s!

Then there was the closet. This was generally the first place I went upon arrival at their house. Grandma’s closet was built along one side of the bedroom with a door at one end along the side. It made for a long narrow room with clothes hanging on one side. At the very back of the closet, Grandma stored her purses. She allowed us to play with the ones not currently in use. After choosing a purse, the next stop was Grandpa’s study.

Grandpa sorted his mail in the study and often threw away mailings without opening them. Today it would be credit card applications. Fifty years ago it was something different, but an unopened envelope was especially valuable to me.

From the study, armed with a purse filled with Grandpa’s discarded trash, we went to the kitchen to play bank. My grandparent’s house had a double hung window in the kitchen that opened into a four season entry area. There were two doors into the entry area, one from the kitchen and the other from the living room. It was the perfect set up for one person to sit behind the window while the other person went through the drive up lane (kitchen to the living room). The open door even provided a slot through which we could pass official bank documents and “money.”

I am a grandma now and I treasure my memories of going to grandma’s so I want to create the same kind of memory opportunities for my grandchildren. I love nothing more than when my granddaughters come into my house and make a beeline for familiar places.

A few weeks ago, I picked two of my granddaughters up from daycare and brought them to my house for a couple of hours. Finley, the oldest, went immediately to the living room. I could hear her moving about but I didn’t know what she was doing. Soon she appeared and wanted me to help her put on a princess dress which I gladly obliged. (I have a wardrobe of princess dresses from when my daughters were in dance class. I saved all their costumes and they are perfect dress up clothes.)

She disappeared again and didn’t come to the kitchen until dinner was ready. Later I discovered what she had been up to. There are built in cabinets next to the fireplace and she had emptied one of them to make a bedroom for her baby. There were blankets and all the necessary comfort items in the cabinet and all my stored decor items were sitting on the hearth. I smiled the whole time I put the area back into order.

Last week my youngest granddaughter was over and she disappeared into the living room for a long time. At one point she came out and said, “Help. Help.” Following her to the toy box, I noticed she had completely emptied the toys but couldn’t quite reach an old cordless phone laying at the bottom. I helped her retrieve it and smiled at her delight with the phone. (I think she thought it was a TV remote.) As I surveyed the mess of toys, I had to chuckle. It is the oddest assortment of things and very little of it is new to my grandkids.

I am okay about that. You see, there is something comforting about the familiar. In a world where change is continuous, we need the constant, the familiar that doesn’t change. It might be Grandma’s almost stale cookies or the purses at the back of the closet or the unopened mail in Grandpa’s trash can. I want to be a place my grandchildren can come and count on familiarity — no matter what that is.

As I explore HOPE I find there is a constant that hope hangs on. HOPE is confident trust with the expectation of fulfillment. What is it that gives hope confident assurance?

3We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Romans 5:3-5

In a world filled with problems and trials, we dare to hope because we are right with God and, therefore, our future is secure. This world is not all there is! Our hope is further strengthened by the truth that God loves us which is evidenced by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

This gift of the Holy Spirit isn’t just “enough” to get us by. The word translated fill our hearts is the same word used in Matthew 9:17 to describe what happens when new wine is put into old wineskins. Jesus said, “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins.” Imagine a wineskin bursting and the wine spilling out. It wouldn’t be a gentle leak. It would be a gush and difficult to contain. It would make a mess!

That is God’s love for you – difficult to contain, spilling over, messy, beautiful and sustaining! And that is where our hope is grounded! Amidst all the change and chaos of life, His love for you and the hope of eternity is real, unchanging, and constant! Sit in it often!

That is great news!

Happy Hump Day!

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Posted on November 30, 2021 by beverlyeash

HOPE: confident trust with the expectation of fulfillment!

Hope that characterizes the kingdom of God, the reign of Jesus prophesied in scripture, isn’t wishful thinking. It is solid certainty, expectation that knows fulfillment!

4Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.

Romans 15:4

One way to restore hope is to read scripture. That is why they were written — for hope and encouragement. Even as I write that I think about all the objections to finding hope in some parts of scripture. I find I have to turn the question on myself. If I am not finding hope and encouragement in scripture, am I reading it right? Is there something I am not understanding?

There is a foundational scripture that undergirds everything else and it certainly brings hope and encouragment to me. I hope it does for you as well!

20Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. 21He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. 22And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. 23And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded 24for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.

Romans 4:20-25

This scripture encourages me and gives me hope! You see, Abraham was declared right with God because he believed. He hadn’t done a single thing yet, but because he believed, he was declared RIGHT! This is God’s character to declare you right before him just by believing what he said!

I assure you today that Jesus died for your sins and was raised to life to make you right with God! Nothing you do will make that more true or less true. It is just a fact! It becomes reality in your life when you believe it.

This is the greatest inheritance, the best gift you could imagine, the lottery of a lifetime — you are right with God! This moment, right now, yesterday, today and forever! Now collect on that winning and allow HOPE to well up and take possession of your heart and mind! Don’t wait for someone to acknowledge you as the winner. Go collect on that winning ticket and allow it to change your whole life!

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Posted on November 29, 2021 by beverlyeash

Sunday, November 28, marked the official beginning of Advent 2021. Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas Day when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah. Promised to Abraham thousands of years ago, it finds fulfillment in the birth of a baby, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born to a virgin, Mary and her husband, Joseph.

Each of the four Sundays of Advent, represented by a candle, focus on a characteristic of the reign of Jesus as Messiah. These four are hope, love, joy and peace. This week the readings will focus on hope. Today we begin with the proclamation of the Messiah, recorded by Isaiah many years ago.

6For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!

Isaiah 9:6-7

We need this announcement of good news as much today as Israel needed it thousands of years ago. In a culture divided and cracked like an earthen pot left out in the elements, a bit of hope, a ray of light is refreshment to our souls. May our eyes see, our ears hear and our hearts understand the gift of the Child, Jesus.

How does your soul need a fresh surge of hope today? Where have you lost hope? How can you position yourself to experience the hope Jesus provides in a new way this week?

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Posted on November 26, 2021 by beverlyeash

10But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 11No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. 12And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

1Corinthians 2:10-12

As I chewed on this passage yesterday, the intimacy of this interaction between me and the Spirit of God captured my mind. Let me try to explain.

The thoughts in my mind are extremely personal, known only to me. While someone might be able to discern that something is “off,” they cannot know just by looking at me what I am thinking. The only way to know is to ask me and then I may or may not be transparent about my thoughts.

God, in his love for me, wanted me to have access to his thoughts. He filled me with his Spirit so I can know the wonderful things he has in store for me. As I reread this pericope, verse nine jumped out at me.

9That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” 10But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. 

1 Corinthians 2:9-10

Just as no one can know the thoughts scurrying through my mind because they don’t have my spirit, I cannot fathom what God has in store for me without his Spirit. But he has given me his Spirit so that I glimpse his plans for me.

The question that came to me is this: have I taken advantage of this great benefit? Have I listened carefully to what the Spirit of God is showing me? Do I slow down long enough to see, hear and imagine what God plans for those he loves?

Join me in slowing down to hear. This truth is like a warm winter blanket on a cold snowy night!

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Posted on November 25, 2021 by beverlyeash

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

If you are reading this today, perhaps you have decided to set aside the first five minutes to take a deep breath and focus on Jesus. I’m glad you joined me.

10But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 11No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. 12And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

1 Corinthians 2:10-12

Regardless of what is planned for the day, breath in this truth. No one knows your thoughts except your own spirit. At a time when motives and actions are regularly called into question, it is affirming to focus on this truth.

It’s also important to remember that you cannot read anyone’s mind or know their thoughts either. A good friend told me recently to assume all comments are neutral until I find out for sure they aren’t. It’s such a relief to not read into the actions, comments or questions of others. Assume the best and I think others will do the same in return.

Rather than questioning what others are thinking or meaning, remember that you have the Spirit of God and he wants to remind you of all the wonderful things he has given you!

Take a few moments to let him bring his blessings to mind before you go into the day!

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