My Anchor Holds...Or, A Strong Consolation

My soul needs strong consolation. You?

It is found in only one place: this gospel of grace through faith in Christ. I marvel freshly at how different my whole perspective is, since re-soaking my heart in the doctrines of grace. Truly, God can take a woman who has walked with Him many, many years (37 to be exact) and change her mind. Bless the Lord, Oh my soul!

So I've been thinking lately, as I look for grace-sightings in the Old Covenant, about how the high priest entered once a year into the Holy of Holies, to make his offering in the presence of God. He was "anchored" so to speak, outside the veil, by a rope around his ankle. If he didn't do it all exactly right, he died on the spot, and was pulled out of the presence of God with that rope.

There is no hope to be found in our performance, friends. We will never...ever...get it all right.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

Because of Jesus, I too am anchored. There is a rope tied to me. And when I don't do it all exactly right, if I stray, if I am faithless, I do not die.

Rather, I am pulled right back to God, rather than away from Him. God pulls me to His very heart, and breathes life into my moments and my days. Because the wrath of God was spent at the cross, I am the recipient of a great, great hope. I experience unmerited favor each and every day. God is rich in mercy towards me, and towards my seed, to a thousand generations. This is a generation-spanning rope, and I am tied securely fast, and in this I find not just any consolation...

I find...strong consolation.

My anchor holds within that veil...where God is, in other words. Anchors have to be tied to something, and weighted down by something. I'm tied to Him, Who is Great, Who alone is consolation, and Who is heavy with His own Weighty Glory. And. And. Because I am tied to Him, all that is tied to me is tied to Him.

You are so blessed, if I love you!

::she smiles::

Because if I love you, I carry you in my heart always, I can't let go, and my Father is always wanting to know what and who is on my heart.

By grace, through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus, I am pulled by God, to God. My anchor holds me and draws me into His presence. And there, I bring Him my weakness and my need. I bring Him those I love.

I'm not hoping in hope. No...my soul hopes in God alone.

Strong consolation. A sure salvation.

..."by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil..." (Heb. 6)

Book Recommendation

A few months ago, Tim and I discovered the work of Dr. Stephen Crosby. After giving several of his resources a look and a listen, and reading one of his books twice through, we'd like to highly recommend him to you. I plan on including an excerpt from his book "Silent Killers of Faith - Overcoming Legalism and Performance Based Religion" over the next several days or weeks. It is not often that we come across someone who has been teaching so many of the same things we have been teaching. It is not often we come across a body of work that this closely resembles our own.

He and his wife are moving from the west coast to North Carolina, by the way. We hope to get to meet them - we'll see what the Lord has in store!
Enjoy!

"We get it backward. We expect accountability to produce sons. Accountable behavior will never produce a father-son relationship; rather, a father-son relationship spontaneously begets accountable behavior."

"Holiness that leads to isolation or insulation is a biblical counterfeit. Religion without love has been responsible for most of the world's misery. A.W. Tozer said, "You can find more carnal, unregenerate, self centered characters in the church who have religion and are sensitive toward it than you can bury in the Grand Canyon." Separation that begets a spirit of superiority is a betrayal of Christ and His gospel."

"We need to testify to His redeeming hope, not the process of our sanctification."

(how I loooooove that. That says it all.)

"We Americans are so private in our paradigms and so "wounded" from, and resentful toward authority figures, that we are reluctant to reach out to others for help. Sometimes we are comfortable reaching out horizontally to peers when looking for comfort or help, but the real deliverance anointing comes when we reach "up", so to speak, to those who have oversight. We have to reach out to someone who values our future more than our friendship - someone who not only will provide comfort, but will also lead us to that place of discomfort, confrontation, and spiritual growth."

(My note - when a leader is accessible, and becomes a friend - and THEN there comes a time when they must assert their God-given role in a performance-based Christian's life, it often results in a great upset. The performance-based believer would much prefer to think of the leader as their peer...perhaps even their "student". They become offended - sometimes beyond their ability to deal with.)

"A salvation that only brings us to moral zero, moral neutrality, is insufficient. We will all be back in the red in no time. No, we are forever free from the creditor. The state of the New Covenant believer is one of the abundant life, an eternal credit....we are not moral debtors on spiritual probation, trying to earn enough credit to have our death sentence commuted. We are pardoned, not paroled. Our sentence has been done away with."
There is so much more in this book. Can't wait to share more with you!

The Coolest Guitar Amp EVER!

Look what our daughter (Sarah) and son-in-law (Jonathan) got for their dad! A friend of Jonathan makes these:






A guitar amp, in an Altoid's container!



The inside speaker...


Tim, and his Les Paul and his Altoid's amp (playing some ZZ Top)...

You would not believe the sound that comes out of this tiny thing!

Get your own from the maker, Christopher Shibley, here. Please tell him that Tim and Sheila Atchley from Harvest Church sent you...

A Gift

A pastor has to be becoming known for something, when a man sees this, while far away on vacation, and one pastor comes instantly to mind ~





Thank you Scott and Cyndy! The even better gift has been that of your friendship. Sharing a meal together, talking about the things that matter most, as we did last night, is mine and Tim's favorite thing in life.

A toast to the Grace of God, through Christ!

The Gospel is Worth Our Cheerful Endurance

Go find your hairbrush. Go on...I'll wait. Draw from it a single one of your hairs. Now, take that hair and tape it to the front cover of your Bible study journal. It will be an icon for you, both of what is about to happen in your life story, and the outcome of your story. That single hair will also remind you of how to deal with what is about to happen.

In short - it will be more than difficult, but you will be more than just okay.

If you stand firm on the gospel of Christ Alone, here is what will happen to you:

You will be betrayed. (meaning: someone who you thought was with you, will leave you. Usually they will betray you "with a kiss" - saying with their lips that they love you, and still want to be your friend...or your family.)

Betrayal does not come by the kiss of just anyone, otherwise it wouldn't matter. No, betrayal comes by the kiss of a dear one, always.

But listen to me. It is a loss at first, but in the end, you will not have lost so much as a hair from off the top of your beautiful head. This is experience speaking! I have found the words of Jesus to be dramatically true.

Expect to be betrayed and lose those ones, yet expect to lose nothing. The Christian life is full of paradox. Bear it all with cheerful patience. Patience is no patience at all if it is not cheerful. Otherwise, it is just fleshly stoicism...an unattractive martyrdom.

You are not going to suffer the loss of so much as a hair from your head, see. That is yours and God's little secret. So let them kiss you and walk away. The gospel is worth your cheerful endurance, and it is through this cheerfulness that you possess an untroubled soul.

I taped a single hair of mine to the front cover of my Bible study journal just now. It is for me an icon of the fact that I am living a dream I do not deserve. In spite of weathering the worst, I am receiving the best.

If God is fully committed to the preservation of that hair from my head, how much more will he preserve and protect my heart...my reputation...my relationships and my resources? I've been betrayed, and I have lost, but as I look at the bottom line of my balance sheet, there is more in the bank than ever before, so to speak.

Each time I open that journal, and break open the word of God, I will see...a seemingly unimportant part of me that God has committed Himself to keep count of, and to protect...a single hair of a woman with an untroubled soul, a soul breathing deeply of the atmosphere of eternity, where all is undisturbed Shalom.


"You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But not a hair of your head shall be lost. By your patience possess your souls."

Slipcovers by Sarah

My newly-married daughter Sarah discovered some amazing fabric last week, clearanced for a dollar a yard. She decided, just like that...

::snaps fingers::

...to sew her mother (me) new slipcovers for her parsons-style dining room chairs.

The fabric color couldn't be more perfect. The quality and weight is the best - a very heavy weight fabric with a soft, thick hand to it. Here is the beautiful result, delivered to me just yesterday:

Side view - she also made the pillow.

Back view - contrasting tie



I'm loving this grayish-blue color. This color is going on a wall adjacent to the dining room. It plays well with my beloved white/neutral palette.


My idea for changing up the look whenever I want - pillowcases, standard size. (These are from Target...gorgeous stripes. So fresh and summery.)

My first truly "styled" picture I've ever snapped for this blog.

The whole look...love! (Pink linen napkins bought at an antique shop today, $5 for all four! They are trimmed in a tiny white crochet!)

Thanks, daughter. I could not be more happy, more comforted, more cheered! (Well, I could be, but only if you found out you were...you know. But no rush. Really.)

I love you...

Mountain Moving Faith

A faith that moves mountains is simpler than you think. Jesus said it best, when He said, "...if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'be removed and cast into the sea'..."

A mountain represents a Present Problem. A mountain is a problem so looming, it chills you with its consuming shadow. A mountain is a problem that fills your field of vision, blocking out everything else. A mountain feels too big, and seems too urgent. It is an obstacle to living a peaceful and ordinary life.

But in Christ, you have been given a measure of mountain moving faith. The mysterious paradox of mountain moving faith is this: you aren't supposed to work it up.

You are supposed to speak to the mountain. In the case of mountain moving faith, actions speak louder than words. Your actions do all the talking, in fact.

First, you acknowledge your mountain. You let it be there - tall and daunting. Let it be every bit as unvanquishable as it is. This isn't mountain climbing faith you have, it is a faith that moves the mountain...it is a faith that allows you to live with the same joy you had before your mountain existed; the same joy as if your mountain did not exist. For all purposes in your life, this mountain is no longer in the way of anything God is able to accomplish.

Secondly, you do the next thing, without regard to the mountain. Let your actions do the talking - and your actions are declaring, "What mountain? Before my God you shall become a plain!"

Plan your weekly meals. Shop for the best ingredients. Kiss your spouse. Redecorate. Wash the car. Take a vacation. Do your job, every day. Obey God in the very next thing He says.

This is the critical thing - live! Keep calm, carry on. Really live, and do it smack-dab in full view of your mountain. The very act of living, of doing the next thing, is the faith-speak it takes to move the mountain!

And if simply living and doing the next thing seems too easy - you have never encountered a real mountain. When facing a real mountain, ordinary days seem impossible.

With God, all things are possible. Let your actions shout "Grace, grace!" to your mountain!

The Lord sent you here today so that I can tell you, when you "speak" to your mountain, there will come a day, not too far away, when suddenly you will feel the warmth of the sun. The chilling shadow will be gone. You will look up, and behold: the mountain is brought so low, it is at sea level! Gone!

And in its place will be a road. Proceed with great joy.


Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth...(Is. 40)