As I am approaching my 33rd Anniversary tomorrow, I am reminded of Ecclesiastes 4:l2 which  says, "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of THREE IS NOT EASILY BROKEN. 

My adult children have commented to me that many of their friends and aquaintances do not have parents who are still together!  Divorce seems to be the new "normal".  I am so thankful I have a husband who not only loves me, but "has my back" and who prays for me every morning before he leaves for work.  You see our marriage is made up of three: My husband, Me and Jesus!  A cord or rope braided with only two cords will easily break or unravel, but a cord of three is not easily broken!  Don't get me wrong, we have had things come against our marrige over our 33 years, but Jesus has seen us through! As we've looked to Him, we have found strength for the inevitable trials in life, marriage, and parenting three children. My husband protects me by praying for me. He supports and encourages me when I grow weary.  He has worked hard to provide for our 3 children and me.  He puts us before himself.  He rejoices and delights when good things come our way. He has been an awesome father.  He isn't easily offended and he readily forgives.  He seems to have an amazing storehouse of patience and believe me, the kids and I have tested it!   He makes me feel like I am the most special woman in the world.  Even after 33 years, he tells me he loves me and that I am beautiful and that he is proud to have me as his wife.   He is gentle and has a great sense of humor.  He still likes spending time with me.  He has brought healing to many of my childhood wounds over the years by his unconditional love for me.   He has been all these things and more for me and the kids because of his relationship to Jesus.  I have been truly blessed to have both a Heavenly Father and a husband here on earth that have loved me sacrificially.  What more could I want or need?
Thank you honey for all your love and care for me. Thank you Father God, for all your love and care for me.  You both make me feel like I am a precious jewel to you.

Here is a poem I wrote years ago and have shared with a couple of different young couples as they got married.  It is dedicated to my bridegroom, Jesus and my husband, Matthew.

 What Love Is This?

What Love is this

that makes my heart sing

that fills me to overflowing

that consumes me so totally?

What love is this

that stirs such joy in me

that whispers my destiny,

that fuels the passion in my soul?

What love is this

that can endure and readily forgives

that seeks for me abundant joy,

that never abandons nor forsakes?

What love is this?

It is God's love poured out in you

and spilling over onto me

that seeks to build a firm foundation

for our marriage, home and family.

                                                                                   by Teresa Jobst

In The Garden

It amazes me that even as our world seems to be filled with so much inconsequential nonsense and hype, the power of God's creation still speaks volumes to a hurried, worried, fractured world. I recently took this picture while strolling through the Chicago Botanic Gardens (a taste of heaven on earth for me).  I had come off a busy week and was taking some friends to see the fall colors and everywhere we walked was a picture that spoke louder than any sermon about God and His love, mercy, grace and comfort to us world weary travelers.

I love how just walking through a field or grove of trees or beautiful garden, immediately recalibrates my mind to focus on the truly important things of life and to feel gratitude and peace well up in my soul. God says in Romans that His creation speaks loudly of His existence.  I concur. I often walk these garden paths and imagine myself in the Garden of Eden where God walked with Adam and Eve in the "cool of the day", communing with them.  I have often walked through the Botanic Gardens and seen birds, chipmunks, butterflies, geese, swans, deer, and even wooly caterpillars, and every imaginable plant and flower,  and felt my spirit stirred by the magnificence of almighty God.  And always I remember a song my grandmother used to sing, I have a copy of it on my prayer room wall, "In the Garden".  I've always loved this song and it has become a theme of  sorts in my life the last l5 years or so.  I feel like God has worked in me a bountiful  harvest of peace and joy and that I am happy to "bloom where I have been planted" for this season of my life.

The words to this song will always speak to me of God's walking through life with me.  He walked through life with my Grandma Brady and as she walked with Him she prayed for us, all her grandkids and great-grandkids, just as she had for her own eight kids! She was a gardener, a tiller of soil, a harvester. I was always amazed at the bounty that could come from her vegetable garden and nourish us so much when we sat around her table, just as her prayers nourished us.  I think she learned a lot about God's nature and faithfulness by working in her garden planting seeds, pulling weeds and waiting for harvest while depending on the Good Lord for sun and rain. She, too,was one who walked with God in the garden in the cool of the evening ~  thinking and praying over the needs of her large family whom she loved so much and thanking Him for caring for us all.

I can hear her singing in her little kitchen as she's rolling biscuit dough with her apron on and her hands dusty with flour:

I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses
and the voice I hear falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses.
And he walks with me and he talks with me and He tells me I am His own.
And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.  

Now I hear her singing as she stands beside me in the little white church by her house across the creek.  We would visit her in West Virginia from our nomadic lifestyle as a military family.

He speaks and the sound of His voice, is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
and the melody that He gave to me, within my heart is ringing
And he walks with me, and he talks with me and He tells me I am His own.
And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.

The Garden, a theme that has run through my life and brought me joy. The irony is I don't have a green thumb at all like my grandmother or even my mother who could grow anything! But I have been able to grow in my faith that God planted in me at l6.  I found out a few years ago that my name, Teresa, means harvester!  Just as my grandmother and many wonderful mentors have planted seeds in my life, I love to plant the seeds of God's word and watch them grow. I have planted seeds in the lives of students as a teacher, I have planted seeds in the lives of friends and other women that God has called me to as a mentor, and I have planted seeds in the lives of my own children in our home. I have not been a perfect gardener by any means, but I have walked with the Master Gardener and asked him to send water and sunshine on those seeds that there might be an abundant harvest to His glory. I sometimes think of my reunion in heaven with my grandma....I want to sing "In the Garden" with her
as we walk with God "in the cool of the evening".

Galatians 6:8b-9 He that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap everylasting life. Be not weary in well doing, for in due season we will reap a harvest if we faint not.

Embracing Who You Are

Often as women we do not embrace who God made us. Watch the following video and be inspired to thank God for all that He made you to be. Let it encourage you to embrace who you are and live for Him confidently.

http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=FFCC2JNU

 

Often, as women, we spend many years believing the lies of the enemy about who we are.  Since the creation of Eve, the enemy of our souls has been determined to rob us of our special place in the heart of God.  He wants to destroy our confidence and make us believe we are worthless and ugly and are "never going to be enough" for God to use us. God made woman the crown of creation, and satan has been jealous and angry about it every since and has determined to destroy us.

This story of Christopher so encouraged my heart because it reminded me that God is the one who speaks truth about who we are. God is the one who has a plan for our lives. God is the one who delights in us and finds us precious to Him.  God is the one who so wanted fellowship with us that He sent His own son, Jesus to die for us.

Christopher could have believed all the lies spoken about him and had a very different outcome, but Christopher obviously had an awesome mother who embraced who Christopher was and that God gave him to her. She must have taught him that he is only as disabled as his thoughts let him be. He is amazingly well educated and capable of communicating despite his disability.  After watching this I couldn't help but cry over the beauty of Christopher. He is a brother whose light shines brightly here on earth and I can only imagine the crowns that will be bestowed by our Father on him for embracing who God made him to be.

Will you and I continue to believe lies about who we are? Will we keep repeating the tapes from our past that say, "you're incompetent," "you're ugly", "you're useless", "you're too emotional", "you're
not smart enough",  "you're a failure"....any of these sound familiar?  We must choose to stop the lies as soon as our enemy begins to play the CD in our thoughts. Take those thoughts captive to Christ and allow Christ to show us the truth about ourselves and then embrace who we are and thank God for what He is doing in us!   Who we are is not about our dress size, wardrobe, abilities, disabilities, education, title, or age.  Who we are is about who God says we are. He has called us His children.
He has said that we are co-heirs with His son, Jesus. He has said that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. He has said we are His jewels. He has said we are His delight.

We are able to embrace who we are because of His great love for us. His love has bestowed great value upon each of us. We are each unique and precious and irreplaceable to Him! Let us rejoice in this truth and be set free!

Thank you Christopher for showing us the love of God so magnificently that we might embrace who we are too!

Flourishing Garden or Wasteland?

Just as in the natural world there are obstacles to growth, so there are obstacles in our lives to our spiritual and emotional growth.  In the natural world if there is not proper food and water a plant will not grow. In the natural world if there are weeds and they are not tended to, they will overtake and choke out the life of the plant.  In the natural world light is a necessary element to most plants.

In our life as Christian women, there are obstacles to our spiritual growth and to enjoying the life that God has given us. God delights in us according to Zephaniah 3:17, and Jeremiah 29:11 says he has plans for us to give us a future and a hope!  That sounds like "abundant life" was on his mind doesn't it?

 

But sadly many Christian women aren't experiencing that abundant life, and many are even living rather chaotically and far from the peace that Christ died to bring to us.  Many women have been sidetracked and sidelined by obstacles that the enemy of our soul has thrown at us, many of us, have let "weeds", "drought", and "lack of nutrition and light" impede their growth.

To be healthy we need to drink deeply of the "living water" that Jesus says is in him. We need to stay close in relationship to the Lord. We need to spend time just being refreshed by soaking in His presence. That takes a commitment of our time and will. Will I find a quiet place to just play some praise music and give my attention to adoration of Him. Will I thank Him? Will I confess my need of Him?  We need to purposely choose to make time for Him, to be refreshed by being in the presence of the living water instead of going through perpetual drought.

We need to also be feeding on the right things in order to grow. Have you seen tomato plants and other plants that are given special plant food or fertilizer? They thrive and grow awesome vegetation and flowers. We must overcome the obstacle of starvation of our spirtual life.  "Man doesn't live by bread alone, the scriptures tell us, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." Most of us don't miss too many meals, we wouldn't let ourselves go hungry or eat only junk foods, yet we often starve our spiritual life, choosing to fill up on the junk food of life like entertainment, possessions, and status.  We must feast upon God's word and take it in so that it might change our attitudes, deal with our woundedness and pain, and strengthen us for life in a fallen world.  The fruit of our lives will evidence what we are feeding on.  I want to feast on the truth of God's word, not the "wisdom" or cheap substitutes of this world.

Weeds can also destroy a beautiful garden.  Wrong attitudes and motives, complaining, murmuring, being judgemental and critical of others, having perfectionistic, unrealistic expectations, being disobedient and prideful are all like weeds that grow and choke the life out of us and rob us of the beautiful plans God has for us.   Murmuring and complaining cost the Israelistes 40 years of wandering around the same mountain instead of taking possession quickly of the promised land.  Weeds need to be plucked out of a garden regularly to keep it vital and growing, the same is true of the "weeds" our enemy has sown in our lives. We must apply the "weed killer" of God's truth to the weeds in our life.  We need to ask the Lord to show us what weeds are growing in our life and to seek from His words the truths that will kill those destructive weeds.  It takes persistent application!

How about light? Are you letting the light of God's presence and His word move through you to others?  All around us there are people who are like limp, dying plants that are planted in the darkness and need to be transplanted into the light.  As the Light of the World has shone on you and given you a new life and encouragement and brought freedom, so God asks that we function as light bearers in the garden of  His world.  We are to shine the light of truth, encouragement, and love on those God has put in the circle of our influence.  Darkness is an obstacle to growth, and can lead to death. Jesus said we are to be in the light as He is in the light. We must battle the darkness that tries to encroach upon our lives. What we see and hear and give our attention to can bring darkness into our life.  We don't want to give place to these things that darken our minds, hearts, and souls. Remember Jesus said that we are the light of the world and that's because if we are in relationship with Him we bear His light to this dark world. His is a Kingdom of Light!

The Bible says we are to be rooted and grounded in Jesus to have an abundant life in this world and to overcome pain and loss. We get to choose whether our life is a beautiful, flourishing garden or a weed infested, wasteland. God has given us a free will to make that choice. He has given us the tools we need too. He says he is the vine or root and we are the branches.

  I choose to seek that my life becomes a beautiful, vibrant, colorful, butterfly filled, aromatic garden, don't you?

"My peace I Leave With You"

It's amazing how peaceful I feel when I walk through the woods or a garden and take in all the beauty of God's creation. I love walking and talking to the Lord...kinda like the Garden of Eden.  Somedays though, I am confronted over and over with reminders that "we ain't in Eden anymore, Dorothy". It can be just turning on the TV and hearing a news cast or seeing the "junk" that passes for entertainment.  Things can sometimes look pretty bleak and very un-peaceful in the world around us.

Jesus said in John 16:33..."In the world you will have tribulation, and trials and distress and frustration, but be of good cheer{take courage, be confident, certain, undaunted}for I have overcome the world. {I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.} Amplified version.

I am so thankful that we have God's word in times like these, when we look around us and there is so much corruption, lack of integrity, low or no values, greed for power, violence and mockery of  God and Godliness. God's word helps me to keep things in perspective. I know there will always be these things until Jesus returns and reigns in victory.  I am glad that we can love and serve a God who delights in righteousness and who deals mercifully with us. He is patient and He will continue to even woo the mocker. However a day is coming, the Bible tells us, when all will see Him in His glory and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus, alone, is the Lord of heaven and earth!

I find I can have a supernatural peace being in relationship to Christ. I don't feel I have to give in to the anxiety and stress of the world around me.  I can "take courage, be confident, and undaunted" by what I hear on the nightly news or from those who are fearful around me. Why? Because I KNOW in whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He is able to deliver me.

God says He is "the same yesterday, today, and forever. He doesn't change. That is a comfort and peace when we find ourselves in the midst of a time when bad things are being called good, and good things are being called bad.  I'd rather be found standing with God and what He has said than be standing with ANYONE "in power"who has gone along with every "whim and wind of change" when that "great day" of Christ's return comes. Wouldn't you?

TRUE HOPE FOR OUR TIMES

How majestic is your Name in all the earth!

The works of your hands praise You!

I may step on some toes here, but I really have felt a burning in my heart to speak up and point to our TRUE HOPE in these trying days in which America finds herself.  Many Americans have believed a
huge lie. We are not a post-Christian nation. We are still a nation under God because it is not God who moved, but it is we.

For years now we have had promises from our politicians (from both parties) for Hope and Change, but we got some changes we hadn't hoped for! For many among us. our hopes were dashed by broken promises, selfish and corrupt decisions, and politics before integrity as a regular way of life. Those voted in to protect our country and our unique values, have sold us out to a set of false HOPES.

I know many of us as Christians are fed up with the empty promises and scandalous focus on money as the solution to much deeper problems of our people than politicians even have an inkling about. And the reason money and power don't solve any issues we are going through is they're representative of dangerous and misplaced hopes! 

Our true hope is well highlighted in the Scriptures.  Our "portion" isn't something that the government can dole out to us! Our legitimate HOPE is in the Lord, God who is our true portion! Lamentations 3:24, "The Lord is my portion (share), says my soul. Therefore I place my HOPE in Him."  Surely Almighty God is where I need to place my HOPE.  Scripture tells me that if I will HOPE IN THE LORD there is blessing attached.  Psalm 146:5 says "Happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose HOPE is in the Lord." Jeremiah 17:7 says "Most blessed is the man who believes, trusts in and relies on the Lord and whose HOPE and confidence the Lord is."  Psalm 33:18, "The eye of the Lord is on those who fear him and whose HOPE is in HIS mercy."

As a woman of God, I have chosen to put my HOPE in the God I trust, who cares for me and has provided for me for 57 years, rather than a system of government.  God says, "choose this day who {what} you will serve".  I can't serve two masters: God and a world system made by man.  The Lord has been good to me through my life in times of plenty and times of lack, He has remained a "rock" for me to stand on (unlike the shifting sands of the whims of Washington power brokers.) Isaiah 26:4 puts it well, "Hope confidently in Him for the Lord God is an EVERLASTING ROCK". I can attest to that. Even now when some of our material resources are diminishing, I am filled with such peace and a true HOPE that God, my sustainer, will help me "pass through the waters" and that we "will not be overtaken".  That kind of HOPE comes from my 40 year relationship with Jehovah Jireh, my provider (the God of the Bible.)

I want to always be a woman of Godly integrity and purposes. I don't want to align myself with corrupt viewpoints and "cleverly devised schemes" and flowery talk signifying nothing. Psalm 25:20-22 speaks to this: "May integrity and uprightness protect me because my HOPE Lord is in you.

I know, I know.  This is a hard stand to take in our culture that has tried to jettison God from every part of our society, but I am encouraged on by Peter who said, "But in your hearts set Christ apart as Holy and acknowledge Him as Lord, always be ready to give an answer for the HOPE, that is in you."(I Peter 3:l5) That's what I'm doing here, giving my answer to the HOPE than lies within me,

I don't fear the future, because I have known the goodness of the Lord in my times. Lamentations 3:26 tells me "The Lord is good to those whose HOPE is in Him, to the ones who seek Him." We may experience even tougher times than these in the days ahead in America, but I know that my God can and will "supply all my needs according to His riches in glory." He delights in our HOPE in Him. He loves to do the "impossible". He is my Good Shepherd and loves to take care of me, His sheep. The Bible says, "It is He that has made us and not we ourselves".  Hard for some of those "self-made" political types to swallow, I imagine.

I pray that men and women of faith in our nation's capital will humble themselves and look at where they are placing their HOPE and begin to see that real change will only take place in the hearts of Americans and thus America when we have placed our HOPE back in God. We need to "humble ourselves and pray, and seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways." (II Chronicles 7:l4)

A wise young woman I heard recently wisely remarked that it is what we answer to this one question posed to the Apostle Peter by Christ that can make or break our life: "Who do you say that I am?"
May my answer always remain:  "You are Christ, the Lord, the son of God, who loved me and gave His life for me. I put my HOPE in you, Lord."  He, unlike politicians and government, has never forsaken me and never will.  He is my strong, and high tower and the lover of my soul!

Reflections of Creativity

I know many women who tell me they are not creative.  I've even said it myself in my younger years before I knew better. That's because we too often equate creativity with being "artsy". You know, painting, drawing, sculpting, pottery making, writing, playing an instrument, acting.  But creativity is so much more than that, and I believe that every woman is creative, but may not realize it because her definition for creativity is way too narrow.

At one time, I too denied my own creativity until I began to realize that because I am made in the image of God and He is the creator of the world, then I must have some creativity in me somewhere.
That's when I began to look more closely at my life to uncover my own unique creativity.

I found creativity in my quirky way of putting outfits together and accessorizing (or decorating, as my husband calls it) with jewelry and scarves on a very limited budget. I didn't care what was "in", I just wore what I loved and that made me feel good.  This did not occur until my 40's (what can I say, I'm a late bloomer).  I love to shop clearance sales and resale shops. I have found some of the greatest accessories: vintage jewelry, colorful, textured scarves, amazing handbags, cute jackets and coats; all for prices no one can believe.  I think finding these things is creative too.  There is an art to it and I feel beautiful and special to the Lord as He leads me to these great finds.

I also love decorating my home (shabby chic style).  Since going to Paris when I was a senior in high school, I have always had a love of anything French. My house reflects that in the prints I have found and framed for my living room walls, the prints and textures in furnishings I choose, even the paint and lacy curtains on my windows.  I have several prints that I love of a Renoir, a Van Gogh, and a Monet.  I love playing french music when I'm home alone relaxing.  I love to watch movies that highlight Paris or the French countryside and remember my own visit there.

I also feel I am creative in the way I encourage others. I love to "study" people and look for their special gifts and then encourage them to use those gifts or thank them for how their gifts have blessed my life.  I love to encourage other women to not let fear limit them.  If they share something they really want to do, I really ask God to use me to encourage them to step out and do it.  I love to bring women together and encourage them to learn from one another. I have learned a lot from other women. Another way I have discovered I am creative is in building relationships with women and assuring them that they have found in me a safe place to share their woundedness. I love how God has brought that out in me through my own woundedness.

I have a friend who is creative in how she has handled some really hard times that have come in her life. She is creative in her trust of God to provide a better attitude toward her struggles She has a marvelous sense of humor and has developed the amazing ability to laugh her way through her hard times and get me laughing with her. She has helped me through some trying times.  I have another friend who couldn't draw or paint, but put so much love into creating amazing scrapbooks and cards; she has blessed her entire family with that creativity. I have another friend that has turned making kalochkys (a Polish "cookie") into its own delicious art form.  Everyone loves them and often asks if she will bring them to a gathering. One of my friends who loves to support women's creativity, started a yearly Christmas Open House at her home that showcased many different women's creative renderings such as scarves, ornaments, jewelry, baskets, baked goods, doll clothes and other unique handmade gifts (a highlight of my Christmas shopping experience). Another dear friend who loves to cook and especially bake has such a gift of hospitality, I feel like I "went home" every time I go to her house, because I feel so pampered with her love and yummy food.  I have one friend who is so creative with how she encourages me by sharing God lessons from her life. All these are reflections of the creative God in their lives.

Do you see what I'm getting at?  We are the body of Christ, ladies. God already bestowed on us as women one of the most creative things in the world: giving birth! We don't just birth children. We as women give birth to so many ideas and innovations that bless our world. No one is unnecessary because all of us are creative in carrying Christ and his message into our world. In our own unique ways, we reflect the creativity of our God to others and invite them to share the special creativity He has given them. Don't continue to think about being creative in an "old wineskins" kind of way.  We have our Father God's DNA running through us and it manifests uniquely in each person, that we might love and serve one another.  If you don't know your particular creative footprint yet, ask God to reveal it to you and then flow in that.  I've found that it brings peace and joy to your soul and then opens the floodgates of inspiration and more creativity.

Another word for creativity is courage~George Prince

Stop trying to pattern yourself after the pastor's wife, the news anchor, your girlfriend, and your next door neighbor, and develop the unique, exquisite woman within. ~ Jacqueline Jakes