A special thanks

Today has been one of those days where I am overflowing with satisfaction in God and how he has formed my life up to this point. Realizing that any of the mistakes that I made along my journey could have drastically changed my path had it not been for the sovereign will of God. As many people say, if you would have asked me six years ago if I would be where I am today, I would been taken back in laughter. Not because of many of the things in my life now, but because of this one thing: I am married to a senior pastor of a church. This one thing alone causes me to fall to my knees in praise towards God because it is because of this pastor, my husband, that I have grown in my journey with Christ in such an intense, face to the ground, kind of way. Of course it is only through the work of the Holy Spirit that we are transformed, but I thank God each day that the one he chose to be the closest, most defining influence of my sanctification process, is my husband Ryan.

I have always had a healthy respect and love for my husband, but it has been over the last few months as we have journeyed at Grace that I have seen his true freedom and joy in Christ. What a passion I see in Him as he strives to bring those around him a deeper understanding of God's Word. There is something so real about Ryan as he struggles, like each one in his congregation, to discern the will of God in his life and then embrace it, love God all the more for it, and rejoice.

So today Ryan, I thank you for who you are. My husband, my best friend, and my pastor. I thank you for your leadership in our physical family, but also our spiritual one. Thank you for always pushing me towards Christ, for loving me when I desperately need it, and for having patience when I fall. I look forward with great anticipation to the ways God will use in you in lives of so many. You are doing well my husband...Thank you for letting me labor with you as we live our lives together for His fame...

"For the Lord our God has made us
And the Lord our God has saved us
The Lord our God is growing us
And the Lord our God has brought us
This day in which to offer
Our lives together for His fame."
-Of All Daughters J. Ryan Davidson
copyright November 2005

Beauty of Creation

"The heavens declare the glory of God,and the sky above proclaims his handiwork."(Psalm 19:1)

Sometimes in the midst of changing seasons, it's nice to take a few moments and reflect on the amazing beauty that God uses to bring forth new life. I was in our front yard playing with my kids when I realized the tiny white flowers that had blossomed in our tree. The ones on the top have already come, served their purpose, and have died, but I happened to catch a picture of some of the ones still hanging on... I found this small clump of buds to be breath taking! I think the flowers sing the praises of God where I so often fail...

"And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" (Revelation 5:13)

Perhaps I have found my life's verse...

Soon after I completed my time in college, I ran across this particular set of verses in Ezekiel. At that time they had such a profound impact on my life.

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules...and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. (36:26-29a)

For a season of life, I had walked so far away from God that my heart had become like stone. In so many ways I was unable to see past my goals, my accomplishments, my struggles, my feelings, my life, and my mistakes, that my heart felt as hard as stone. I let nothing and no one in, and never let anything out. But, through God's constant pursuit of this saint, He began to break down the walls of my heart so that the heart of flesh, that He Himself has once placed in me, was able to hear His truth. How powerful the words "And I", "I will,""And I will,""cause you,""give you,""And I will be," and "I will" were to my soul. I was finally beginning to realize that it was by no work or merit of my own that could change the reality of my sinful state. It is only through the merciful work of God that I can be transformed. What a beautiful promise he lays out, "And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses." What an undeserved gift that Christ is the one that is looked upon by God, not me in my utterly sinful state. So, for a season, that was my life's verse.

But now, as I have reflected over the past months of how blessed I am in this season of life, I realize (in a very humble and joyous way) that I could be at the height of "physical blessings" in my life. The health of my husband, children, and extended family is good. Our house is more than we ever could have imagined. The church has surpassed all expectations and continues to do so. The love between Ryan and I gains passion and depth each day, and I could go on... So, in desperately desiring not to put my faith, my hope, or my trust in these earthly things, I look forward with great anticipation to the promises of the following verses:

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

We are not promised an easy life, in fact we are promised the opposite. It is through the struggles that we experience in this life that we grow in our "praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:7)." So my prayer is that I will welcome with boldness the future, all of the blessing and the trials, in hope that one day I will gaze on the things that are eternal...

Being Pure

Within Carolyn Mahaney's series A Fresh Look at Titus 2 she tackles the hard topic of being pure. In this talk, she challenges our approach to what we watch, read, think about, and even our intimate relationship with our husbands. It is absolutely worth your time to listen! Here is a link to the free download! "Being Pure" The other 6 parts to the series are worth the time as well!