violence, mountain moving, threshing

So awhile back I wrote about the passage in Mark 11 where Jesus tells us that we can talk to the mountain, tell it to get lost, believe and it'll happen.

I copied the passage in Sharpie and stuck it to our closet with a picture of an imposing, glorious, and very established mountain. We look at it daily. It prickles and penetrates my heart because we feel like we're living with some very strong mountains in our family. I am just waiting for them to land at the bottom of the sea, somewhere near all my sin. I laugh when I look at the words, certain that they are the reality and wondering what they mean and if it will happen today or tomorrow or...
well, just how much longer will we have to wait? 

Yesterday, I was reading and praying and soaking in God's words through the prophet Isaiah. Words of hope, rebuke, justice, restoration, comfort and promise. And I came across this:

"Fear not, you worm Jacob,

   you men of Israel!

I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;

   your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,

   new, sharp, and having teeth;

you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,

   and you shall make the hills like chaff;

you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,

   and the tempest shall scatter them.

And you shall rejoice in the Lord;

   in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory."

(Isaiah 41:14-16)

Definitions of thresh, crush, winnow and scatter include: thrash; deform, pulverize, or force inwards by compressing forcefully; violently subdue; remove things from a group until only the best ones are left; throw in various random directions. 

What can God mean here? I cannot pretend to get this. I'm only on the front end of starting to explore. But what I read, stops me. I ran in the bedroom and re-read the Mark passage. I ran back to the couch and looked at Isaiah. I ran back and looked at Mark and held up and re-read Isaiah.

I get that I'm told to speak and believe. Honestly, even that felt wild enough...

But is Isaiah saying that I have the opportunity to join in violently subduing, deforming, pulverizing and winnowing these same mountains?

The repeated theme of clearing land, making straight, flat, evened ground is talking about making way for God. Jesus himself is the way (the path), the truth, the life; he is how we come to God. And a primary route is through repentance. Remember at the beginning of the gospels, John yelling in the wilderness? He said, 'Repent! Prepare the way of the Lord!' This is good news!

The Mark and Isaiah passages are strikingly similar. There's the acknowledged tragedy, the call to faith in God and then the proposed action which involves long-established, natural, enormous land structures being utterly demolished. Does anyone else notice that this is crazy?!! It's super easy to be familiar and unhearing. But it's also stupid to be so familiar that we're not blown over by this. (And I think this is part of the point that God is trying to communicate in both of these contexts.) Why are we so casual about this concept?

So, like I say, I don't get it. But I want to. My questions are these: What is going on here? And how can I join in?

here we are

Here is my family. What a gift from God they are to me.



Now, I've not written on my blog in quite some time, nor have I posted pictures on facebook. It's been awhile and there are a number of reasons. Partly because there was a season that pictures just made me really sad. Another part is that I've been working on a big project.

But today I am posting and we are all here and Sophia is the cutest she's ever been. Her smile brings us wild amounts of joy. And we are daily praising God for "health and strength and daily bread." We are growing and learning and worshipping.

This is one of Sophia's very favorite activities these days:


And one more. I love her thoughtful little expressions.

whoever, whatever, whenever

Jesus said this,

"Have faith in God.

Truly, I say to you,

whoever says to this mountain

be taken up and thrown into the sea,

and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass,

it will be done for him.

Therefore, I tell you,

whatever you ask in prayer,

believe that you have received (or are receiving) it,

and it will be yours.

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone,

so that your Father also who is in heaven

may forgive you your trespasses."

(Mark 11:22f) 

On occasion (particularly in the middle of the night or when dinner is late or when stress is turned on high), I have been questioning in my heart if we are crazy. We daily ask God for healing. In our spirits, we sense that he is leading us to believe. And now that I re-read the gospels, I see that I am right--Jesus is asking and promising and commanding us to believe. He is telling us to believe that we have received  (or are receiving) whatever it is we asked for AND that it will be ours. Interesting tenses, interesting play on time. But whatever the case, it is a finished thing.

• We have the opportunity to speak to the mountain (crazy or what?), to ask in prayer, to stand. 
• We are told "do not doubt...believe...believe...forgive."
• We can expect "it will be done...you have received it and it will be yours...that your Father may forgive your trespasses."

What a wild passage. 

In the first portion, Jesus talked about us talking to the mountain. This morning I talked strongly to the sickness and fear. The sun shines bright in and I laugh at the days to come.

And then the last part--the whenever--how does forgiveness play into all of this? How is it connected? I'm not really sure, but I do know that forgiveness and repentance always initiate and open the path for relationship. So, yes, you probably don't even know who you are :) and I highly doubt that you are even reading this...but I forgive you. I do!

Maybe we are crazy. But Jesus talked to things like fig trees and demons and storms. And Jesus asked and believed and forgave beyond imagination. And he's telling me to do the same. So here goes! (Help, help.)

My faith is in God. 

challenged by this

Sophia and I listened to this today. She smiled when he mentioned truth and reconciliation. Sure do love this girl's heart.



I am challenged.

happily home!

to know him more

This morning my heart echoes with Psalm 130:

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

     and in his word I hope;

my soul waits for the Lord

     more than watchmen wait for the morning,

     more than watchmen wait for the morning.