Drawing Back the Bow

By Tiffany Bleger

My oldest daughter has spent the last year or so slowly learning the sport of archery. Never having shot a bow either, I found myself in the position to learn a completely new skill in order to teach it to my daughter. It has taken a considerable amount of grace and patience on both our parts, but she is learning to enjoy this new sport she has discovered. 

A few months ago, I was reading in Psalms and stumbled across these verses:

I could see in my mind's eye my daughter, grown, releasing arrows into the sky with skill and confidence. Releasing her destiny. When children are ready, they will be released from our homes like arrows from a bow, full of power and strength. They have the capability of flying straight and true to their appointed destiny. 

As I was mulling over this image, Father asked me what it takes to release an arrow properly. He and I discovered together four aspects of an excellent archer: patience, concentration, strength, and tension. All four are required for an arrow to fly to its greatest potential. 

Patience:

It takes time to place an arrow in the string, to line up the target. It takes composure and self-control to wait for the wind to blow in a favorable direction, for your heartbeat and breathing to settle down. An arrow shot out of wildness or agitation will not fly as consistently as one released from calmness. 

Concentration:

A key component of archery is laser-focus on the target. You have to be able to see exactly where you want that arrow to hit, and nothing else. Your arrow follows your eye - if your attention is pulled to anything but your target, that is where your arrow will fly. 

Strength:

It takes tremendous muscle strength to draw the bow back and hold it steady while aiming. Even a child's training bow can weigh 20 pounds. You do not build that strength overnight. It takes consistent repetition to train your muscles to pull the bow back to its optimum tension. And that optimum tension is what gives the arrow its speed. 

Tension:

Oh the tension! The facet of archery most would like to forget is the most essential. You can have the other three aspects, but without the tension, the arrow will not fly. The speed at which the arrow will fly is directly proportional to the amount of tension with which the archer draws back the arrow. Little tension equals little flight. Full tension equals full flight. 

We were in the midst of a difficult situation with one of our daughters when Father taught me this lesson about archery. I found such hope in the realization that all four, including tension, were necessary for my little arrows to fly straight someday. It gave me such courage to continue to persevere with the girls, that the hard work and training would see a reward. 

And then Father stopped me dead in my tracks. 

"My daughter. What of the situation I've placed you in now?" 

The "situation" is a struggle we have been battling in my husband's business for the last five months. Some aspects of this struggle have come about as consequences of our choices. But other aspects have been completely out of our control. And it has been incredibly difficult to get up every morning and continue fighting. To continue hoping and believing the promises in spite of the struggle. 

"My daughter," He said to me, "I have allowed you to remain in this situation. You have dreams and passions that I have given you both. But those dreams will not be realized to their full potential unless you allow Me to draw back the bow. Will you show the patience, concentration, and strength needed to release your arrows? Will you allow Me to extend the tension to its tightest, and release only when I know you're ready? If you are done, if you truly no longer want this, I will allow release. But know that when you make the choice to release, your arrow will not fly as I have calculated. The arrows I've designed for you will fly their best when you allow Me to hold the bow, when you allow My strength to draw back the string, when you allow My patience and concentration to focus on the target, and when you allow the tension I have designed to hold the arrow back until I decide to release the arrow."

And here we find the crux. We each have dreams, arrows we want to see fly. Are we willing to let Him hold the bow? Are we willing to submit to His strength, or are we trying to pull back the draw on our own? Is our concentration solely on Him, or are we allowing distractions to pull us away from our target?  Can we be patient and wait for His timing? And are we willing to feel the tension? 

In the Open

By Kim Beach
 
It’s time to make a confession.

I pray in the Spirit. I speak in tongues. I have a Heavenly Prayer Language. I received the gift when I was about 10 years old and my prayer language vocabulary continues to grow. It’s real. It’s amazing and I’m so thankful God has given me this gift!

There -- I said it. It's in the open!

                             

I'm not bragging. God warns us not to boast of our gifts - in fact we are commanded to remain humble (James 4:6, Matthew 23:12) and to find our glory in His cross. 

However, neither am I willing to keep my gift a secret. Humility is not defined as hiding our Gifts or talents nor is it belittling their importance or being ashamed of them.  We must guard against false humility while we seek His best gifts for the work God has prepared for each of us (1 Corinthians 12:31).

In recent years, I've leaned to the quieter side of the Holy-Spirit-and-tongues debate so that I don't offend any believers, cause dissension or division. The gift of tongues, or the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in another language, is only one facet of the personhood of the Holy Spirit's character!  He is our counselor, comforter, instructor, guide and an ambassador of Heaven given to us by the Father to be with us until God returns again.  

And through the Holy Spirit, the Father gives the gift of speaking in tongues. 

All of God’s gifts are important - why would He bother otherwise? Each gift is essential to the Body of Christ - God does everything with meaning.  

                                  

“Do not neglect the gift that is in you,”

1 Timothy 4:14

Neglect  is an action verb with heavy meaning - 

      1. “to pay no attention or too little attention to; disregard or slight:  

      2.  to be remiss in the care or treatment of:  

      3.  to omit, through indifference or carelessness:

      4.  to fail to carry out or perform (orders, duties, etc.):  

      5.  to fail to take or use,” (dictionary.reference.com).

The challenge is to live in, use, and stir-up the gifts in you and not compare them to the gifts of others!

                                 

Our Creator loves variety! From majestic mountains to the vast Sahara; desolate horizons to lush forests; jungle rivers to springs in the desert - our Creator loves to show His creativity! The same is true with the gifts He gives - abundantly, creatively, expressively - to all who ask Him. 

Ask our Father God - what are the Gifts you have given me that I am neglecting? What gift am I ashamed to admit that I have? What gift am I afraid to use?   

And when He answers you - and He will - use that beautiful, creative gift to give the God of all Creation the Glory!

Romans 12: 3 - 8 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Testimony - Is This My Battle?

Have you ever found yourself resenting a person or situation that you were in? In stopping to ponder this in my own life, there was a profound reminder that presented itself.

”Did you pick up a burden that wasn’t yours to carry?”

Recently I’ve had this conversation with our Father about two different situations. One that He called me to help with and the other where I helped in the wrong area of need - picking up something that wasn’t mine to “carry” or “fix”.

The first situation was full of prayer, with a dream of preparing the way so that my heart would be open to what God had planned. During this time each week I was called to pray, and each week there was a simple word given to speak over those in charge - Peace, Wisdom and to Bless them.  This time wasn’t easy, but leaning on Jesus for support made each day freeing.

The second situation, the burden I was not asked to carry, caused bitterness, anger and resentment. It took me to a place that I’m not proud of. Causing me to lash out instead of taking time to pray and see what the Father was asking me to do. Once prayer and worship was able to enter my heart again, I was reminded of a word spoken at our church recently. Forgive me as I’m paraphrasing what was said since at the time it didn’t resonate.

“If you are tired of fighting a battle, stop and ask if this was a battle God asked you to fight or if you picked up a sword in a battle that isn’t yours to fight.”

As I sit here this morning, finally able to write, I'm looking back over the second battle after dropping the burden. It's freeing, but honestly it is still hard. I'm realizing that using someone else's sword will cause wounds in others as well as yourself. 

Now it is time to ask for forgiveness. To sit at Christ’s feet in worship, pray and study. To hear what his path for my life is and follow it. To remember in ALL situations to seek His guidance for our lives, even in the small details.

We All Break the Same

By Megan Danquah

The title of this post is borrowed from one of my favorite songs by a band called Mute Math: We All Break the Same. I was reading through my Facebook feed this morning and was struck by three different friends of mine who are currently battling the most difficult situations of their lives. Death, divorce, betrayal, crisis. They are words that some of us are afraid of and that hit close to home for others.  

Two years ago, I went through my own crisis. It involved my husband and I, the ministry we were involved in and it was messy. And my life felt like it was shattered. Everything that I held dear was stripped away.

Over the course of time, living through emotional devastation and embracing the deep pain that it caused, allowed me to come into personal contact with my own brokenness. No longer was that brokenness something that I hid away for the world never to know about. No longer was it something that I pushed down with all my might, trying day after tiring day to keep far away from affecting me. No longer did I ignore and suppress that brokenness. Instead, I allowed myself to become acquainted with it, familiarizing myself with its breadth and depth and height and length. I began to live out my right as a human being, my right and dignity to FEEL all that was within me.  

Eventually, my brokenness became familiar to me. And just like it is with anything that we were once afraid of because we didn’t know or understand it, the more I got to “know” my brokenness, the more I found beauty and grace in it. I began to love myself because I wasn’t rejecting this huge part of me that was festering under the surface. Now I began to embrace my brokenness, call it beautiful and love myself with it and in it.

The truth is, we will never not be broken on this side of heaven. None of us have escaped wounds and hurts that have shaped us and have bequeathed us with lots of baggage. We walk through this life broken because we are descended from the original broken ones: Adam and Eve. Sometimes life will feel like grief upon grief, but the key lies in not rejecting that.

God once spoke to me in the midst of a silent, pain-filled sob where my gut felt like it was turning in on itself in pain. He said “It is just pain. It won’t kill you.” I held onto that with all my might. Now I understand that pain and brokenness are a companion that I walk with. They will always be with me and I need not try to send them away or ignore them. As a matter of fact, when I embrace them and allow myself the grace to feel them deeply, the joy in my life bursts forth with greater hues than I have ever noticed before. Yes, the dark is dark, but oh the glorious light is light!! We simply cannot numb one area of our lives without numbing them all.

What I find fascinating is that these feelings of brokenness come and go. They don’t stay forever. Sometimes brokenness wants to talk to us and sometimes she just walks with us silently. And you know where that points to, right? Straight back to the goodness of God! We will not be left to live every day with a miserable grief. It will come and it will go. And our sweet and kind Father gave us a promise: that our light will shine forth like the dawn; that we will rise up on wings like eagles!

Remember, dear lady, that we all break the same. No human is exempt. All experience the sting of that death that entered in the Garden of Eden long ago. Allow it to draw you closer to your humanity. Allow it to forge deep bonds between you and others. I promise you, the joy of living FULLY is encompassed by both the joys and the sorrows of life, and you will be the better for it.

Lord, Are You Washing My Feet, Again?

By Tawna Wilkinson                                                                                    

“Then He [Jesus] came to Simon Peter.  And Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, are You washing my feet?’”

“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.’”

“Peter said to Him, ‘You shall never wash my feet!’” 

“Jesus answered him, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.’”

“Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head!’”  (John 13.6-9)

This type of encounter happened to me a year ago. Jesus presented me with “His pitcher and basin” through a very uncomfortable, out-of-the-box method and venue, and my initial reaction was just like Peter’s: “Lord, you will never wash my feet…especially this way!”

In times past, I had granted Him permission to do that very thing. And though the process He chose was less than comfortable, and I didn’t understand the why of it, I did know I loved Him and wanted a richer, fuller, and more intimate relationship. So I would acquiesce.

However, when I saw Him coming this time, in this way, using this setting, the rumble in my spirit was so deep and unnerving, so agitating, and even humiliating; I didn’t think I could take it. 

“God, You know how much I love you, and how many times I have gone through this ‘foot washing’ process with You…but this way? Really?”

“What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”

“But, Lord,” I said, kicking and screaming with pride. “I’ve been pursuing You, right here.  I don’t need this venue. And besides, what if I’m viewed as a ‘conference junky’ looking for her next fix, in order to feel spiritual?”

He didn’t budge. He simply and lovingly, continued offering me a new level of intimacy
through this awkward avenue of a different kind of “foot washing.” 

Still struggling, I whined, “Wow, Lord, does this ever end?"

“Only if you want no ‘part’ with Me.”

What? That was it. That was all it took. And just like Peter, I was in. 

“Wash me, Lord; any way and every way You choose!  Dunk me.  Drown me.  If this is
the only way I can have ‘part’ with You, then do it.”

And He did.

Truthfully, when I saw how filthy my soiled feet made the basin of water after all the previous washings I had received, I writhed in shock and pain. I had no idea how dirty I had gotten, again.
 

But, He was so gentle and so loving as He bathed and massaged my feet. And when He
finished I was clean. I was free. I not only received my “part” with Him, but He went
exceedingly abundantly above everything prior.

So now, when I see Him coming, offering again His “pitcher and basin”; no matter the
form; no matter the shaking in me, I want my prayer to be: “Lord, thank You for washing my feet,
again!”

Testimony Tuesday - Pressing on Towards the Goal

My husband and I are on staff with a non-profit ministry, which means we’re responsible for raising our own financial support team. We also can’t report to our ministry assignment until we’re fully funded. 

No big deal—I thought we would crush it in six months or less and get back to our lives.

Well, here we are over a year and a half later and we still haven’t “crushed it”.
Sometimes it feels like it’s crushed us.

As newlyweds, we’ve had to sacrifice having our own place and having the freedom in that to learn how to be a married couple. Continually traveling for our job, we found ourselves always being a guest in someone else’s home—for days, weeks, months at a time—sleeping wherever people would let us, from an air mattress or a couch in someone’s living room to a whole guest suite in someone’s basement. In either case, it’s hard to explore the ins and outs of marriage and intentionally pour into it when we’re trying to be respectful of someone else’s space. Our marriage struggled because of it.
 
Add that to financial problems, and believe me we’ve had many. Where were we supposed to find the privacy and space to talk through and figure out how to manage our finances as a married couple? There were many times our bills (forget about normal expenses like groceries and gas) far exceeded our income. [Spoiler alert: God provided!] It was stressful to say the least. I could be working a “normal” job and maybe not be in this situation.

We also found that some of the community around us who we hoped would encourage us were actually the ones who discouraged us the most. Instead of pushing us forward towards our goal, they suggested that full-time ministry was pre-mature for us. Ouch! 

But still we press forward. Why? Because this is what God has called us to. These struggles won’t last forever. They’re temporary, but necessary steps as we’re obedient to the Lord. It’s so helpful to have that perspective—it’s a game changer.

Sometimes, it is only our confidence in this calling that keeps us pressing forward. If we weren’t confident, several people would have talked us out of it by now. But God is good and He’s brought people into our lives who have encouraged us and poured life into us when we needed it most.

The value of friends that stick with us and lift us up in times of need far exceeds any earthly treasure. They’ve rejoiced with us in our blessings, and they’ve cried out for us in our hurts. They encourage us daily and remind us of God’s amazing plan and provision. How could we not press on with such an amazing community cheering us on?

Resting in who God is and His character also helps in times of struggle and enduring.

There’s this amazing story in Ezra about the Israelites rebuilding the temple for the Lord. This is no small thing. It’s extravagant with gold and silver and lots of detail. Where did they get all these resources to build it? In Ezra 6 the King of Persia issued a decree that the costs were to be paid by the royal treasury!
 
Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let is foundations be laid…The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury. Also, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; they are to be deposited in the house of God. Ezra 6:3-5 

Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” That means the same God who provided for the Israelites to rebuild His temple is the same God who not only provides our financial support, but for all my needs. And He has! And He is still providing! That’s amazing! That’s worth enduring for.

Even though we’re not finished yet, encouraging community, God’s unchanging character, and His Word has kept us going and continues to do so.

By Faith, Not By Sight

By Jill Palmer

There was a time that my daughter, Kate, and I were at one of the several therapists we have seen over the years for her sensory issues. This therapist was fabulous and we learned a lot from her. The fact that she was a believer was even more of blessing because she helped us to see how God had created our bodies and how He was at work healing them.

One of the things she shared with me has had such a profound impact on what I understand about my life with Christ. She was working one day on Kate’s hearing and her sight and explaining how they work together to interpret the world around her. She then said that if she ever had to lose either her sight or her hearing and she had a choice, she’d rather lose her sight.

It startled me at first to think about that. I admit that I’ve pondered that question before but I’d always picked my sight as something I’d wanted to keep. Mainly because the thought of going around in the dark scared me and made me feel less in control. Why would I want to lose it?

She went on to explain that our eyes can only see what we’re looking at. You don’t really see what’s in your peripheral until something draws your attention that way. You can’t see what’s behind you either. Only what is directly in front of you. Your eyes alone don’t tell you the whole story. It’s very limited.

 

Our ears, on the other hand, can tell you where you are in a room. It’s truly amazing. For example, without looking (I can’t close my eyes because I’m typing but I can tell you what I hear and where it is) I can say that my washing machine is running just off to the right of me and slightly behind me. It’s fairly quiet to my left. My dog is snoring at my feet. My keyboard is clicking right in front of me. My home phone just rang but I can tell it’s in the other room. I hear my kids every once in a while laughing from downstairs. With all of those sounds I can tell exactly where I am in my house – at my computer. 

If I could block out all sound and rely only on what I can see in this moment, my world would consist of a computer screen and nothing else. My sight is very limited.

The same is true in the spirit world. If we only rely on what we can “see” then we are left with a very limited view. We need to close our eyes for a moment and “hear” what is around us, what is true, what God is speaking. And when we do this we will be able to “see” where we are and know that we are in the midst of His hands.

The Bible says to walk by faith and not by sight. Physically and spiritually, walking without sight is difficult. It can be scary. It takes getting used to. But it can be done.

Oftentimes we become so overly focused on what we see that we forget to listen to what is around us. Instead we need to close our eyes and listen intently. I believe when we do this we can hear God more clearly. We can pay attention to His still, small voice and marvel at the exact place He has us. 

Have you felt like God wasn’t speaking? Are you overwhelmed by what you see in front of you? Take heart. Close your eyes and hear the Lord’s whisper. Close your eyes to what you physically see – not out of ignorance but out of trust. He is there reaching His hand out to not only guide you, but to comfort and shelter you as well.