Hudson Taylor Quote

Read this Rabbit Room post recently and found it encouraging...

Here is an excerpt:

"The sweetest part…is the rest which full identification with Christ brings. I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize this; for He, I know, is able to carry out His will, and His will is mine. It makes no matter where He places me, or how. That is rather for Him to consider than for me, for in the easiest position He must give me His grace, and in the most difficult His grace is sufficient. It little matters to my servant whether I send him to buy a few cash worth of things, or the most expensive articles. In either case he looks to me for the money and brings me his purchases. So if God should place me in serious perplexity, must He not give me much guidance; in places of great difficulty, much grace; in circumstances of great pressure and trial, much strength? No fear that His resources will prove unequal to the emergency! And His resources are mine, for He is mine, and is with me and dwells in me."

My Body

As we're about to start a new procedure soon, I have been thinking a lot lately about my body and what it means.

The thoughts that come to mind are varied and I'm not quite sure how to organize, so I'll list :) :

1. I've always regarded my body from a distance. Like I could stand apart and examine it objectively. And, unfortunately, I am a harsh critic. I've not always cared for it well. In hard seasons, I'm not often hungry and it has suffered. In training, I push my body hard without thinking of consequences afterward (I never even think about the option of ibuprofen). I get frustrated when it becomes sick and stays sick for months. When my body fails to do what it seems made to do (for example, produce and grow life or heal itself quickly), I feel I can't be angry with the Lord so the blame turns toward my body. It must be the faulty one.

2. At the same time, my body is a temple of the Lord's and the Spirit's dwelling place. It is made in His image. The mold was broken after He made mine, in all of its weird and lovely details. Every cell, sinew, tendon is knitted together in design. As something I've studied in detail, I am in awe of it's complexity and beauty. In gross anatomy, every new thing we uncovered pointed to a Designer; how could you not be made breathless by the progression of two cells into a complex, unique person? Shouldn't I respect my body for the value He placed on it when He created me? Our bodies are significant, as Christ incarnate was hugely significant.

3. I'm about to demand a LOT of my body in the days/weeks to come and I find myself more sympathetic toward it. I feel more tender toward it than I probably ever have. This is my vessel until glory and He has chosen it for me. And who I am is inseparable from it.

Here's to a New Year

Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

God, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the deer's;

he makes me tread on my high places.

Habakkuk 3: 17-19

Will post soon on reflections on 2010.....

Today, I'm celebrating a new year, new possibilities, new grace, new strength.....