What If Your Blessings Come Through Raindrops? (Freeman-Smith, 2012)

What If Your Blessings Come Through Raindrops? is a devotional written by singer/songwriter Laura Story that is based on her Grammy Award-winning song “Blessings”.  The song chronicles her journey toward redefining the blessings in her own life.  When Laura’s husband Martin  was diagnosed with a brain tumor, Laura and Martin came to realize through studying God’s Word that sometimes “God actually blesses His children  through the very absence of the things they pryar for.”  Each of the 30 devotions follows a specific format;

1.  A Bible passage introducing the theme of the devotion.

2.  A concisely-written devotion that gets right to the point.

3.  Applicable quotes from Christian writers and theologians.

4.  Additional topical verses from God’s Word.

5.  Laura’s final reflection and summary.

6.  A page on which to journal your own thoughts and responses.

If Laura’s song has given you a new perspective on your ministry downsizing or career loss, this book will amplify that experience through Laura’s in-depth examination and discussion of her lyrics.  For those of you who are not familiar with the song, you will gain valuable insights into your devastating loss as well as encouragement that Jesus always is with you and can use your trials for His purposes.

Every Good Endeavor (Dutton, 2012)

Timothy Keller begins Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work by asserting the importance of recovering the idea of vocation- that all human work is not merely a job, but a calling in which we share God’s providential love with others as “the fingers of God”.  Pastor Keller cites writer Dorothy Sayers, who once stated that “work is not, primarily, a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do.”   Work has dignity in and of itself; thus all types of work have dignity.  As the author strongly emphasizes: “Simple physical labor is God’s work no less than the formulation of theological truth.”

Without meaningful work, however, we sense significant loss and emptiness.  We need work to thrive emotionally, physically, and spiritually.  Indeed, adverse events in our lives cannot stand alone- we must place them into some type of narrative structure.  Pastor Keller adds that “people can’t make sense of anything without attaching it to a story line.”  The key is to get our story right by understanding that creation, which is good, is not the source of evil.  Sin is the villain, an alien intruder that infects us all.  On the other hand, if work becomes the sole purpose of life, we create an idol (defined by the author as a good thing turned into an ultimate thing) that rivals God.  Such idolatry can be avoided by “serving the work”, an act in which work becomes a labor of pure love.

Ultimately, Pastor Keller tells us, our identity and significance must be tethered to Christ- not our job (or lack thereof) status- as we find our ”rest under the rest” in Him.  This rest becomes an act of trust in God’s providence and sovereignty.

Whether you currently are employed, underemployed, or job searching, Timothy Keller provides an excellent resource for evaluating your vocation in the light of God’s Word.

God is Closer Than You Think (Zondervan, 2005)

Pastor John Ortberg’s premise in writing God is Closer Than You Think is that the story of the Bible primarily is about God’s desire to be with people.  The author notes that the Bible’s most frequent promise is “I will be with you.”  God becomes a living presence when we are able to see Him in ordinary moments at ordinary places.  In order to do that, we need to develop perseverance, discipline and discernment so that we’re not dependent on extraordinary manifestations of God’s presence.  As we acquire those skills, we’ll discover that our ordinary days have extraordinary moments in them.

To live out this commitment in our Christian walk, Pastor Ortberg tells us that we must be willing to sit at Jesus’ feet- to be covered with the dust of the Rabbi.  This places our focus on the present moment, the greatest moment of our lives- for this is the moment where God is.  If we’re to be with God at all, it must be in this moment.  Yet we are not meant to embrace moments, which are not always good, but God.  Distorted beliefs and destructive feelings are crowded out as our minds become increasingly receptive to God’s presence in our thoughts.  Although we must intentionally make our minds God’s dwelling place, it is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that this change is effected.

As God’s uniquely created people, we draw close to God through specific Christian spiritual pathways inherently suited to our character.  C. S. Lewis once pointed out in The Great Divorce that the alternative to such surrender is defiant separation.  Even when we feel God’s absence, if we genuinely open ourselves to God we’ll discover that we’re not alone after all.  Ultimately, there is no place where God’s presence can’t break into you!

One Thousand Gifts (Zondervan, 2010)

Ann Voskamp’s contemplative and thought-provoking book One Thousand Gifts chronicles her e-mail challenge from a friend to write a list of 1,000 things she loved, a quest which would enable her to view the totality of her life through the gaze of her seeing inner soul’s eyes upon a saving God.  Ann, whose names means “full of grace’, did not experience grace, joy and thanksgiving (eucharisteo)  as a young child.  When Ann was 4 years old, her younger sister Aimee was killed in a tragic accident that traumatized her entire family’s world-view for years.  In Ann’s words, they “snapped shut to grace”.

Significant loss affects our sight.  We focus on all that isn’t- holes, lack, deficiency.  Our natural tendency is to write our ending to the story, not comprehending that we don’t know what our dream ending would hold, that only God knows how our story works out and where it leads.  We need to adopt the fresh perspective that the losses which puncture our world actually are places to see through to God.  Eucharisteo is the key.  The author notes that our response must be intentionally active, never passive.

Naming our blessings is a learning process that begins with child-like wonder and an acknowledgement that blessings come from God.  Thanksgiving creates a sanctuary of God’s presence and slows down the torrent of time by directing our full attention to moments of God’s grace, in good times as well as painful ones.  Ann adds that we are most fully alive when we are beholding God.  The secret to joy is to “keep seeking God where you doubt that He is.”  God’s grace must flow freely, so that in our gratitude for blessings received we in turn become the blessing.  Fundamental to this fulfilling, meaningful life is the principle that what God thinks of us is infinitely more important than how we think about God.  Ultimately, only full communion with God gives life.

Author Bill Hybels is the founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL.  Bill’s first whisper came to him while in 2nd grade, after listening to his teacher read the Old Testament account of Samuel and Eli(1 Samuel 3).  His teacher then gave him a poem entitled “Samuel”, in which the writer asks God to give him an open ear like Samuel’s, alive and always ready to hear and obey God’s whispers.  That poem essentially forms the foundation for this book.

Scripture, the author states, declares that our faith is relational- we speak to God through prayer, He speaks to us through whispers.  The issue isn’t whether or not God is speaking, it’s whether or not we’re truly listening.  Pastor Hybels describes 5 inclusive filters through which a whisper must pass to authenticate its validity.  Each prompting: must be from God, Scriptural, wise, in tune with our uniquely God-created character, and be submitted to the godly counsel of spiritually mature, trusted Christian friends.  Our challenge is to obey these promptings, no matter the cost and despite our fears and doubts.  Even, and especially, when God asks us to carry a heavy load, God’s purpose will be fulfilled through the assignment He’s entrusted to us.

It is vitally important that we be in God’s Word, the source of many of His promptings.  While God may not whisper specific wisdom relevant to our situation, we have the default wisdom of Scripture and the truth of His Word.  Even in our darkest nights, God is near, actively seeks us out and speaks words of comfort, insight and peace.  God also speaks to us via others, as Nathan did to King David, to help us apply Scripture to our lives.

Ultimately, we need to relinquish our lives to God rather than clinging to our accomplishments.  With the centurion (Matthew 8:5-13), we trustingly respond to Jesus: “Just say the word.”

Glorious Ruin (David C. Cook, 2012)

Author Tullian Tchividjian (cha-vi-jin) currently is the senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, succeeding the late D. James Kennedy, and the grandson of evangelist Billy Graham.  Pastor Tchividjian’s expressed sincere hope for Glorious Ruin is ”to explore how the reality of human suffering, in all its forms, might relate to the truth of God’s liberating grace in a way that is both honest and comforting.”

Two common responses to suffering that are barriers to honesty are moralizing (“the karmic result of misbehavior”) and minimizing (subordinating suffering to its possible benefits).  Both responses, the author states, are attempts to keep suffering at bay, to play God.  Chapters 4 and 5 discuss each respective concept in greater detail.

How and Why are honest questions asked by those going through adversity.  However, when we try to formulate our own answers, these questions can imprison us.  The only question that ultimately points us toward the truth is Who is present with us through our suffering.  We don’t need answers as much as we need God’s presence.  The gospel is a message of God’s rescue through pain, a “theology of the cross” rather than a “theology of glory”.  The gospel give us the freedom to speak honestly about our pain, since nothing rides on our ability to cope with or beat back suffering.

When we’ve come to the end of ourselves, the comforting good news of the gospel, that God has done for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves, makes sense.  God wants to free us from ourselves- suffering shows us we need something bigger than self-reliance.  In fact, we never move beyond our need for Jesus and His intervention- “the reality of His inexhaustible grace”.  God is interested in a new you, not a better you.  Pastor Tchividjian concludes: “the gospel alone provides us with the foundation to maintain joy in remarkable loss.”

The Life You’ve Always Wanted-Expanded Edition (Zondervan, 2002)

John Ortberg’s stated goal of The Life You’ve Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People is to help us grow spiritually.  Yet it is important to realize that “spiritual life” is not just one more compartmentalized aspect of our existence.  “Spiritual life”  refers to every moment and facet of our life from God’s perspective.  Since we will not always be as we are now, our life story is, in part, a story of transformation.  As we are transformed, we find ourselves wanting to do what Jesus would do.

In order to truly conform to Christ, we need to focus on the heart or center of spiritual life- growing in love for God and people- rather than superficial distinctions (boundary markers).  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we grow through training in specific spiritual disciplines, not by trying as hard as humanly possible utilizing sheer willpower.  Joy is one of those spiritual disciplines.  Our capacity for joy increases when we can celebrate the simplest gifts of God.  Periodic and extended periods of solitude spiritually discipline us to slow down and heal our hurry sickness.  The author notes that hurry is a sign of a disordered heart and diminishes our capacity to love.  To follow Jesus, we can’t go faster than the One who is leading.

Prayer is important for sustaining spiritual life, but will be effective only if we believe that prayer indeed changes things.  In addition, we need to be listening for and have a continuing awareness of God’s presence as we “seek first the kingdom”, taking every thought captive as we move closer to conformity to Christ.  It is essential for us to consider what it really means to live “in the name of Jesus” in all aspects of our life.

Through faith in Jesus we are enabled to remain tenaciously obedient to the end, in steadfast hope that God will deliver us.  Press on!

Note:  Thanksgiving Short Meditation will post on Wednesday- “Simple Gifts”.

In the Eye of the Storm (Thomas Nelson, 1991)

Comparing storms that stir up the Sea of Galilee with little or no warning to the adversities that devastate our lives, author Max Lucado states that such storms create doubts, questions and demands.  As a result, we lose our joy and our song.  When God, in turn, brings hurting people into our lives, that opportunity enables us to gain a vital perspective on our situation. When energy intended to be directed outward is turned inward, it becomes explosive.  Yet, the author reminds us that “when all hell breaks loose, all heaven draws near.”

Following a life-altering adversity like a ministry downsizing or position loss, our lives are divided into 2 distinct halves- before the pain/after the pain.  As the initial pain recedes, however, the greatest storm rages in our heart, not our circumstances.  That’s why we need to maintain awareness of the joys and ordinary, yet remarkable life events we usually take for granted on our journey.  Rather than being fixated on our problems, we need to have a clear vision of our ultimate reward.  Max Lucado states that God “usually opts to measure the here and now against the there and then.”   Our season of suffering is a small price to pay for such an unobstructed view of God.

It is during times of great adversity that great acts of faith are born, not during time of “calm calculation”.  As Peter walked on the Sea of Galilee to meet Jesus he knew 2 facts- he was going down, but Jesus was staying up.  Peter knew where he would rather be- and, Max adds, so do we.  The author concludes that the essence of worship is an awareness that God has and continues to give us far more than we can give Him, that His touch keeps us from being hurting, bitter and broken.  Max states: “Worship is the ‘thank you’ that refuses to be silenced.”

King’s Cross (Dutton, 2011)

Author Timothy Keller is the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan and the man Newsweek Magazine has called a “C. S. Lewis for the twenty-first century”.  Pastor Keller’s stated purpose in writing the book is “to try to show, through his (Jesus’) words and actions, how beautifully his life makes sense of ours.”  The author bases his discussion of Jesus’ life on the Gospel of Mark because Mark’s narrative focused on the actual words and  (especially) actions of Jesus.  King’s Cross is divided into 2 major sections: the identity of Jesus as King (Chapters 1-9) and Jesus’ purpose in dying on the cross (Chapters 10-18).  While the second part of the book is an excellent analysis of the Passion Story, the first part seems more applicable to the spiritual struggles of displaced church workers.

The doctrine of the Trinity is central to the author’s premise.  The Trinity is characterized by mutually self-giving love.  Since God receives love within Himself more powerfully than humans could ever give, God created us not to get joy but to give joy.  In order to give joy, following Jesus must become the supreme passion of our lives.  Everything else must be secondary, because reality is a battle.  Our natural human tendency is to build our lives on something beside Jesus.  In fact, every culture says that identity is based on achievement and performance.  As our identity becomes rooted in Jesus and His gospel, the critical factor regarding our faith is not its strength, but its object.  Our real self will emerge only as we look for Him.

Ultimately, love is the only thing capable of reforging and changing a life at its root.  We need to sense and experience God’s love to nourish and strengthen us for the adversities of this life, so that we remain rooted in the Kingdom of God rather than the kingdom of this world.

Note: This book has been retitled.  The new title is Jesus the King.

Fear Not Tomorrow, God is Already There (Howard Books, 2009)

The title of Ruth Graham’s book is taken from a framed print belonging to the author’s mother.  When Ruth received the print from her mother during a particularly unsettling time in her (Ruth’s) life, it provided momentary clarity to Ruth’s situation.  However, maintaining hope and anticipation while continuing to face our daily struggles requires intentional activity on our part, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Ruth delineates how this can be accomplished in the 13 chapters of this book.  Each chapter concludes with a summarizing Point of Focus.

The author stresses that God meets us where we are so He can take us from brokenness into healing.  Whereas we look to our comforts to stop the pain, sometimes that pain is what opens the door to God’s comfort- which heals, restores and points us to His larger, eternal purpose.  Good times tend to be deceptive, convincing us that we are in control.  The truth is that we always are dependent on God’s power, even though that dependence is most obvious during adversity.  Indeed, God’s power shines brightly through our weakness.

Peace is described by Ruth as an inner compass and what Jesus is.  It is not something we do.  A lack of peace indicates our need to turn to God for His answers.  Burdens such as unforgiveness rob us of the joy and peace God intends for us to have, but when we realize and participate in God’s restoration, we are living forward- and in that process discovering the joy of the Lord.  It is a great encouragement that God can take the simplest, seemingly insignificant things we have to offer and use them- even in the most bleak and barren places.

Hope and anticipation are essential to our restoration.  Hope is kept alive as we focus on God’s character and determine to trust, while anticipation is maintained through a daily relationship with God.  We don’t need to fear tomorrow, for God is already there!