Over at the Promptings blog, Violet is posting an advent calendar, complete with surprises to open every day from December 1 to 24.
What a lovely way to start each day! Why not stop by?
Online Advent Calendar
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Author Archives: Janet Sketchley
2008 Canadian Blog Awards, Round Two
Voting is into round 2 for the 2008 Canadian Blog Awards. Check out the finalists, you might find something new that you really like. Thank you, everyone who voted for this blog in round one’s “Best New Blog” category, and thanks again, Belinda, for nominating me. You are such an encourager!
Belinda and friends’ Whatever He Says (Religious/Philosophy) and Denyse O’Leary’s Post-Darwinist (Sci/tech) are still in the running.
Click on the beaver to go vote!
Healing for the Soul
Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits –
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalm 103:1-5, NIV*
King David is reminding his soul of all these benefits – not speaking to a group of people but to a single soul. Look at verse 4a: “redeems your life” is singular, not plural.
It’s safe to apply these verses to any and all souls belonging to God, not just David’s own. What strikes me today is how the context implies David isn’t listing the God’s benefits for all believers but for all believing souls.
I’d never seen this distinction between soul and body. Knowing the passage isn’t promising to reverse physical aging in verse 5 nor necessarily promising to satisfy all fleshly desires, I didn’t know how strongly to take verse 3’s promise of healing all diseases. But if this is all specifically promised for the soul, there’s a huge difference.
Forgiveness of all the soul’s sins – that’s fairly straightforward. Isn’t the soul the part sin kills? Some sins, such as inward rebellion, may even be specifically soul sins. Redemption language talks of our souls, once dead in sin, being made alive again.
Crowning a soul with love and compassion sounds like tender restoration. Renewal of youth sounds like rejuvenation of energy and wonder, maybe even of innocence. Reversal of the damage of sin.
Healing all diseases… what would be a disease of the soul, and how many might one soul have? Shame, self-deprecation, pride, fear…? God promises to heal them all in the same breath as promising to forgive all sins. Past, present, and future.
Shame and company are harder to get rid of at times than physical diseases. Praise God, He promises healing!
In this light, how can I pray for the people on my heart? How can I pray for myself? Father, lead and show me how to pray in faith for the souls of those You lay on my heart. Help me walk in faith that You are healing my own soul and finishing what You have begun. Thank You so much for the forgiveness, healing and renewal You give.
Today’s song is “By His Wounds,” sung by Mac Powell, Steven Curtis Chapman, Brian Littrell and Mark Hall on the Glory Revealed CD. This is an amazing video of Christian performance artist and speaker Mike Lewis painting as the song plays.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JElzkHX5smE
*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
2008 Canadian Blog Awards
I’m surprised and pleased that God with Us: Finding Joy has been nominated for the 2008 Canadian Blog Awards, in the “best new blog” category.
Thank you, Belinda!
Some of the blogs in my blogroll have also been nominated, including Belinda and friends’ Whatever He Says for “best religious/philosophy blog”, Imperfect Prose for “best personal blog”, Canadian Authors Who Are Christian for “best group blog”, Fit for Faith for “best blog post series”, Future Tense and Fiction Matters for “best professional/career blog”, Post Darwinist, Mindful Hack and Colliding Universes for “best sci/tech blog”.
Round one voting is from Nov. 23 – 29, with voters allowed one vote per category. To vote, go to the 2008 Canadian Blog Awards site.
Taught by the LORD
The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.
The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears,
and I have not been rebellious;
I have not drawn back.
Isaiah 50:4-5 NIV*
Reading this, I feel something inside whisper this is how it should be: close to God, taught by Him, useful to others… to sustain the weary is a needed gift.
The end of verse 5, about not being rebellious and not drawing back, gives me a bit of a pause, but we do need to make the choice of His will or our own.
Then come verses 6 – 7:
I offered my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting.
Because the Sovereign LORD helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame.
Isaiah 50:6-7 NIV*
This is Jesus, His suffering. What He voluntarily endured out of obedience and trust toward God the Father. For us.
He was not rebellious, and didn’t draw back, so we can be saved from our sin – and ourselves – and thrive in relationship with God today.
I don’t think I could face that level of obedience. I don’t even want to think about it. Rebellion, drawing back?
God calls us each to walk a different path with Him, and this hardest path He entrusted to His own Son. For all the martyrs and suffering saints in the world, there are others whose faith leads them in quiet and unremarkable lives.
But to be a Christ-follower is to face at least occasional opposition from those who oppose Him. Rejection and ridicule, however subtle, are part of the package. Nobody’s going to want to choose that.
Lord, help me choose You, for You have chosen me. Give me a hunger for You that won’t let me draw back or rebel against You. Help me want You more than I want self-protection. Help me trust You like Jesus, secure that the Sovereign Lord is my help.
I’d like to learn words to sustain the weary. And I’d love it if You’d wake me each morning and open my ears to Your teaching. Please give me an obedient and trusting heart. Because of Jesus, amen.
“Somewhere in the Middle,” from Casting Crowns‘ The Altar and the Door cd, talks about this struggle. But for this week’s song I chose the next one on that album, “I Know You’re There.” May the lyrics and melody be our prayer and help us to surrender in trust to our great God.
*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Glory and Peace 2008 East Coast (Canada) Christmas Tour
Violinist Trevor Dick and the 5th String Blvd band are doing a “Glory & Peace” Christmas Tour in PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, NEW BRUNSWICK and ONTARIO, Canada. They’ll also be the special guests and house band for the large east coast production of The Living Christmas Tree – The Cradle that Rocked the World at Moncton Wesleyan Church in Moncton, NB. In total, they expect to play for over 20,000 people during the Christmas season in these three provinces.
Dates are from Nov. 23 through Dec. 21. Full concert dates and locations are on Trevor Dick’s website.
Hannah Briggs (Dancer) and Tina Newlove (Artist and Live Performance Painter) will once more be special guests during the Ontario leg of this tour. Trevor is also partnering with Compassion Canada for many of these events.
Those of us who, sadly, aren’t in the concert tour path, can order the Glory and Peace Christmas double cd online through CD Baby. The cd features electric and acoustic violins in a fresh fusion of pop, urban, jazz and even a bit of Celtic fiddling.
I have Trevor’s 5th String Blvd cd and love it. But I’d rather hear him live.
Holy Awe
When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.’
Exodus 20:18-19 NIV*
In Exodus 19, God had declared Mount Sinai off-limits to the people. Only Moses and Aaron were permitted to meet with God on the mountain to receive the ten commandments. God said, “Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they go up the mountain.” (Exodus 19:13b)
Maybe the trumpet the people heard here was the all-clear, and they could safely approach the mountain and their God. Maybe not.
Thunder, lightning, black smoke covering the mountain… no wonder they were terrified. And they hadn’t heard much about God’s mercy or grace. But didn’t anyone feel a longing, a drawing toward this holy God who created and rescued them? A moth-to-flame compulsion?
It’s sad that they stayed at a distance and begged Moses to stand between them and God. How would things have turned out if they’d said like Job, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.” (Job 13:15) If they’d come, shaking with holy fear, unable to look away from the glory of God?
Yet we do the same thing. We ask our church leaders to teach us, instead of getting to know God ourselves. We ask a praying friend for a word from God rather than listening for Him in our own spirits. What are we afraid He’ll do to us… or ask of us?
Or we ignore His majesty and buddy up to Him, enjoying His presence without letting it change us.
Father, teach us a proper respect for Your power and glory. Thank You that through Jesus we can come boldly and confidently before Your throne. Help us come ourselves instead of looking for intermediaries. And give us a holy awe of You. Let us never forget that although You’ve called us Your children, You are neither tame nor safe. We praise You that You are good.
Our song this week is by Michael Card, “Know You in the Now“.
*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Review: Eye of the Storm, by Janice L. Dick
[Note: this review is of the original version of this book, which has now been revised and rereleased. For the review of the 2020 edition, click here.]
Eye of the Storm, by Janice L. Dick (Herald Press, 2003)
In Eye of the Storm, we follow the characters from Calm Before the Storm through the years 1917-1919. A less compassionate author would overwhelm readers with the cruelty and horror of this part in Russian Mennonite history.
The story centres on the fictional Hildebrandt family, but gives glimpses of historical figures like Trotsky and Lenin – and the execution of Tsar Nicholas’ family. At times the sense of growing tragedy made me put the book aside until the next day, but the characters always drew me back.
Rich in historical and cultural details, the book opens a window into the suffering of both rich and poor – and the faith of the Russian Mennonites. The Mennonite landowners experience raids on their property and possessions, but their faith calls them to a peaceful life. Some choose to learn self-defence, but family head Heinrich Hildebrandt cannot reconcile this with his beliefs. He removes all weapons from his estate, “that I might not be tempted.” Whatever the reader’s personal beliefs on pacifism, this book brings the agony of the Russian Mennonites’ choice to life.
It also demonstrates the struggle to keep hope and live by faith when the world is falling apart. Although the characters usually come to decisions in line with the tenets of their faith, it is never trite or without serious wrestling.
I’m glad I picked up books two and three of the series together – the ending of Eye of the Storm is the beginning of a new adventure, and I can’t wait too long to discover how things work out.
To learn more about the series, or for an overview of Russian Mennonite history and some authentic Mennonite recipes, visit the author’s website.
Writers’ Workshop in Barrie, Ontario
If you’re a writer or aspiring writer living in or near Barrie, Ontario, I highly recommend taking in author NJ Lindquist’s Recycle Your Personal Experiences workshop on Nov. 15 at Barrie Free Methodist Church.
Recycle Your Personal Experiences is an all-day workshop filled with warmth, encouragement and practical help for people who feel a desire or even a pressing need to write, but don’t know where to begin or how to market their work. The goal for this workshop is to bring like-minded people together in an environment that allows them to connect with each other, learn necessary skills, and formulate an action plan in order to achieve their goals. [from the promotional material]
I attended this workshop last month in Nova Scotia, and it was empowering. Attendees ranged from published writers through those trying to break into print to some who came wondering “Could I be a writer? Is this writing thing for me?”
Speaker NJ Lindquist ended each of the four sessions by breaking us into small groups to apply what we’d learned. By the end of the day, we had identified some ideas to write about, thought through why they held our interest and how we wanted to present them (article, devotional, story, poem etc), and identified potential markets to research for them. We’d also made some new friends.
I’d never been to a workshop that combined teaching and practical application this way, and I think it’s great. Too often we get inspired but then in the cold doubt of second thoughts once the event is over, we don’t know how to follow through.
Recycle Your Personal Experiences
Date: Nov. 15, 9:00 – 5:00
Location: Barrie Free Methodist Church
Cost: $85 (students and seniors, $60). Group rates for 10 or more.
Registration: Via TicketWindow or phone 519-886-4196.
Sponsored by: The Word Guild and That’s Life! Communications.
A Song in the Morning
It’s my turn to post over at InScribe Writers Online. The post is called “A Song in the Morning.”