He Gives Us More Grace

"Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness."

Luke 11:34 NIV 



This branch is from my Flowering Almond bush. It has had its share of suffering and disease. At one point, several years ago, I considered removing the whole bush because it continued to die back and shed more leaves than what it was gaining. But the patient gardener in me decided to give it another chance, and pruned away the dead branches one more time. I would have missed out on these beautiful blooms if I had focused solely on the diseased portion of the plant.



And so it is in my own life. Where are my eyes choosing to focus? Where is the light within them?



This week a friend sent me a song, and because it was a reworking of a hymn that was one of my favorites, I went on a search to find the original. In so doing, as often happens with me, the history of the hymn drew my attention just as much as the song itself. Maybe you have heard of Annie Johnson Flint, poet and hymn writer from the early 1900's? 

Before this search, I had known she lived a life of suffering, and I had known her beautiful work came from a fountain of grace within her.  What I had not known was that her disease was one with which I am well acquainted:
Rhuematoid Arthritis.

But she suffered in the years when there was no relief for pain, and no medicine to halt the crippling effects. Where I might suffer some pain and weakness, and some residual tendon damage,
she suffered the full effects of a horrible disfigurement
and pain beyond compare. As the disease progressed,
she was forced to type out her poems using only her bent knuckles, because her joints had swollen and twisted to a point of uselessness.


What do I know of that kind of uselessness?
How would I have borne that kind of suffering?


In these days of stillness, as the Lord brings fresh convictions to me daily, I know that my heart has so far yet to travel. For you see, Annie Johnson Flint had let the Lord bring the true Light to her eyes.  When the darkness of a cruel disease could have crippled her heart, she chose to let the Light of Christ permeate her soul and body. She chose to let that Light redeem her suffering, and bring forth encouragement that would bless others who were facing darkness.


She chose Acceptance in the Pruning
from her own Master Gardener
and embraced HIS Light 
in the very place of her suffering.

"For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him"

Philippians 1:29 NIV 


 He Giveth More Grace

"He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
To added affliction He addeth His mercy;
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace. 

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father's full giving is only begun. 

Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,
Our God ever yearns His resources to share;
Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;
The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.

His love has no limit; His grace has no measure.
His pow'r has no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!"

---Annie Johnson Flint


In this Lenten Season, as we pause to meditate on the suffering that our Lord bore for us,
would you join me in prayer?


Dear Lord Jesus,  
I thank you for the suffering
that you bore 
for me.  
I rejoice in the salvation and grace 
that you won 
for me there.
And, now I ask that you would
purify my eyes
to see the light in my days
and the Grace within 
my own suffering.
May I let you bring Joy from Pain
and Beauty from Ashes,
And may the Love you have granted
sink deep into my soul,
body, mind and spirit.
Amen.     

Sadly, the biography of Annie Johnson Flint is out of print. However, if you are interested in reading a short history of her life, and a collection of her beautiful poems, then check out this site:

The Homemakers' Corner

And to hear Ravi Zacharias speak about Annie's life, here is a short clip:

I am linking today with:
Debbie Kitterman, #TuneInThursday 

Day 19: The Anointing in the Listening

Post Exertional Malaise

This is the term for what I lay in bed feeling.

It's the "payback" that comes with many 

auto-immune diseases--

24 to 48 hours after the initial stress of 

something that is beyond the scope of your normal,

you should not be surprised if your body has a

secondary reaction of pain

and fatigue,

just as you thought you were ready to move 

out of the extra resting,

and back into the more normal slow

that your days had been shaped into.

Oh, Lord, how many hours will this last?

And what will my morning look like?

And where will my strength for the day

be found?

So, as I woke to less pain, and a grateful heart,

but still bearing the heavy fatigue,

I began my routine of catching up on reading,

visiting my favorite Biblical Bloggers.

 And my dear friend Joy, over at her site,

PoetryJoy,   click here to read her words, 

had shared a beautiful promise

that the Lord had whispered to her.



And I knew that it was time for me to 
LISTEN 
to what my Lord was speaking 
 

Isaiah 28:23 (NIV) Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say.



Oh, yes, I understood what He was asking of me: it was time to revisit a song
that He had given me through a dream
more than 16 years ago.



"I will pour on you
the oil of gladness in the morning,

I will pour on you
the oil of my joy.

I will burn off all the dross,
Stir up what remains,

And I will pour on you
the oil of my joy."



At the time the song was given, I searched the Scriptures, and the historical processes for the Biblical anointing oil that 
was used by Moses. Was this song even Biblically accurate?  And this is what I found:


Exodus 30:22-25 (NIV) Then the Lord said to Moses, “Take the following fine spices: 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much (that is, 250 shekels) of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of fragrant calamus, 500 shekels of cassia—all according to the sanctuary shekel—and a hin of olive oil.  Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil 



Then to understand the process that the "work of a perfumer" would have gone through, I found these words by David Levy, in his book, 


The Tabernacle: Shadows of the Messiah 


"The anointing oil was made from a specific formula. . . 
Rabbinical sources state that Moses, having reduced the solid ingredients to powder, steeped them in water until all the aromatic qualities were drawn out. The olive oil was then poured into the ingredients and the water boiled out. The residue thus obtained was preserved in a vessel for use."



Oh, but is this personal for me today?
What is the point of all this research?
 Is God still speaking this?

      
Jesus is the Anointed One of God,
and He came to bring His anointing
to any of us who would look to Him
as our Lord and Savior. 



In this place of pain and fatigue,
there is a burning going on,
LITERALLY  some days, as I use that word
to describe what the pain of a
Rheumatoid Arthritis Flare
or a
Fibromyalgia Flare
feels like.



But if I will let myself trust in the anointing process
 Jesus walks me through,
I can see that the burning GOD allows is only to
take off the layers of dross
that have attached themselves to my body
and my soul.
This will not be my state forever.



For a day is coming, either here on this earth,
or in Heaven at His throne,
when He will pour that pure anointing oil
freely over all of me,
and my crown will be a thing of beauty.



In the meantime, I know what He is asking of me,
and maybe He is asking the same of you.



Will we walk in the way of trusting?
Will we let Him touch our lives now
with the anointing of His oil,
and the
praise of His garments?





This is Day 19 of the #Write31Days Challenge.

And I am thankful that we are still on this Journey of Listening together.

If you would like to catch up on any of the previous posts,

click here for the Series Index