Author Archives: Nannette

About Nannette

Wife to The Sweetheart, Mom to the Fantastic Six, Nana to six of the cutest littles on the planet, Author, The Daniel Fast, A Devotional. UPCI ministers.

When Thanksgiving is Hard but God is Good

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When Thanksgiving is Hard, but God is Good. For some, this Thursday, November 23, is going to be difficult. Wondering how they are going to make it through the day with a smile on their face. Others will be fighting back tears because of empty chairs at the table. Their heart hurts, and the reasons vary but the heartache is so real. If this is you? I am praying God will give you strength that only comes from Him and that spirit-filled peace that passes our understanding. Be encouraged by the two saints of God in the following post and be blessed knowing God sees you, loves you and is with you especially when it is hard.

Francis Jane Crosby was the author of over 9,000 hymns. Do you know she wrote so many that she began using pen names so that the hymnals would not be filled with her name alone?

Beautiful hymns such as:

Blessed Assurance
Safe in the Arms of Jesus
All the Way My Savior Leads Me
Rescue the Perishing
Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross

Born in New York, Fanny was ill almost from the beginning. One day, their family’s regular doctor was out of town and another man, who claimed to be a doctor, prescribed hot mustard compresses to her eyes. She got over the sickness but the treatment left her blind.

Blindness didn’t deter her from her love of life and her love for the Word of God; she memorized scripture every day; five chapters a week.

Fanny loved poetry and wrote her first verse at the age of eight:

Fanny’s attitude kind of reminds me of someone else we know; the Apostle Paul was one acquainted with grief. He had lived through many, many persecutions. Most of them were physical.

“Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.” 2 Corinthians 11:24-28 ESV.

Wow. And we think WE are persecuted for the name of Jesus!

Drifting at sea
Stoned
Shipwrecked
Beaten
Dangerous rivers
Robbers
His own people
The Gentiles
The City
The Wilderness
False Brothers
Sleepless Nights
Hunger and Thirst
Cold and Exposure

And last, but definitely not least, he mentions the daily stress and anxiety brought on by the churches! 

Paul was under a tremendous amount of pressure. Remember, he was also blinded once on the road to Damascus. The Lord put him in that state for three whole days and his life was forever changed. Even though he regained his sight, he then saw things completely differently, through the Lord’s eyes instead of his own.

But even in the midst of the tremendous persecution, Paul found joy.

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” Philippians 4:12 NLT.

Contentment.

Paul knew that no matter what his circumstances were he could be content. Why?

Verse 13 tells us the answer:

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

Maybe you are feeling as if you do not have much for which to be thankful. Maybe life is not treating you kindly, or fairly, and everything seems to be upside down, like a little bug on the ground who can’t get turned back over on his feet.

God has not forsaken you. We understand that aren’t promised a life full of sunshine and blue skies, but we are promised He will go with us. Sometimes your season of need may last much, much longer than you had anticipated or had hoped for. But like Paul, and Fanny Crosby, we can always find something to be thankful for.

Is there breath in your lungs? Praise God! Are you in your right mind? Praise God!

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Most importantly, do you know Jesus? I mean truly know Him? If so, you have something wonderful to be thankful for. To be in relationship with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords means we have an awesome responsibility to share this wonderful Truth with others and let our contentment be a great testimony of His keeping power.

Fanny didn’t let her inabilities or her circumstances dictate her feelings. She didn’t even pray for her sight to be restored. “Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I was born blind?” said the poet. “Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior.”

Neither did the Apostle Paul. In everything, even in the difficulties, he found a reason to be thankful. Paul didn’t make it a practice to pray for things…he prayed that he might KNOW Him.

Grieving? Yes, it is good to grieve; it is necessary. But, in that grief, allow God to help you, strengthen you, speak peace into your heart and help you to find something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Just as the season moves on into another, this too will get easier and He will give you grace for each day as you draw closer to Him through your trial.

Enjoy this beautiful rendition of one of Fanny Crosby’s hymns by Chris Tomlin! Let it be your praise today…

 

Pattern your life after me?

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Pattern your life after me?

“Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.”  Philippians 3:17

Paul is speaking to the church in Philippi and gives quite the dissertation explaining to them his credentials first of all, and that he had the authority to even speak to them. He was a Jew by birth, but had abandoned everything in order to follow Jesus Christ.

In verses ten and eleven he says,‘That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death…”

He didn’t want to just know about Him, he wanted that personal relationship with Him.

And finally, he gets to what he wants to leave them with… “Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example.”

Paul was telling them to learn from what he had learned. Follow in his footsteps, pattern their lives after his life. Why?

  • Because Paul was following Jesus Christ.
  • He had walked where Jesus walked.
  • He had endured trials and tribulations.
  • Paul had also been
    • beaten
    • threatened
    • starved
    • imprisoned
    • lied about
    • stoned
    • and many, many other atrocities had been committed against him.

And in all of these things he had NOT wavered. He had learned to give God praise, and to endure, despite his sufferings.

“Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;  In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.” 2 Corinthians 11:24-28.

The Early Christians didn’t have the New Testament to read…no self-help books, Matthew Henry commentaries or Google search to look up hundreds and hundreds of devotions and sermons online.

But they had Paul.

He had lived through persecution after being the Persecutor! Yet, in all of those things he still continued to be faithful and his concern was for the care of the churches.

Could we say the same as Paul did? Could we assuredly tell others to, “Pattern your life after me.”? (Of course correct grammar would change my title to “Pattern your life after mine”? But then my graphic image wouldn’t rhyme!) (insert smile here).

 

A sobering thought!

We have all heard it said that we may be the only Jesus that some people ever see or the only Bible they will ever read. That is why we must be so careful the way we live our Christian lives. That doesn’t mean we walk on eggshells all the time, scared to death we are going to make mistakes.

“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.” Matthew 5:14,15.

What it does mean is that we should be sure to spend time with the Savior. And the more time we spend with Him, the more we become like Him…the more we radiate His glory and His goodness…then others will see the Lord Jesus Christ IN us. They will want to know Him because He shines through us.

That is what Paul was talking about…pattern your life after me because I KNOW HIM!!

Kingdom2

 

 

One thing is needed

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One thing is needed! #FiveMinuteFriday and the word prompt is Need. Join others and see what they had to say about this word!

“But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:40-42 NKJV.

I have often been intrigued by the story of Mary and Martha, especially when I was younger. I didn’t understand why the Lord rebuked her when she was serving Him and those that were with Him. In my “Martha mind” I thought, “Well, somebody had to do it! Who was going to fix the drinks and the dinner? Who was going to clean up?” And there was that Martha mentality.  Martha was worried about so many things that she had anxiety! You can almost hear it in her voice when she says, “Lord, don’t you care?!”

We all know the effect that stress and anxiety has on society today. We do not know how to relax; we do not know how to rest. We certainly don’t know how to sit in the presence of God and drink in His presence.  She was hurrying around making sure everyone had everything they needed. Martha was worried about so many things that she was loaded with stress! The Bible said she was “cumbered about much serving”, it means she was distracted.

“…And she (Martha) went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” Luke 10:40 ASV.  Can you imagine going to Jesus and ordering Him around?! Martha was passionate to be sure. But Mary chose to sit at the Master’s feet. It wasn’t that she was lazy. It seems that she had been helping her sister. But when Jesus came, Mary knew what was important and it was not in the kitchen. Those things could wait, she knew one thing was needed and it was at the feet of the Master.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33.

One interpretation suggests Martha wasn’t just preparing rice and beans. She was going “all out” as we say. If she had kept it simple she could have prepared dinner AND sat and listened to the Master! He was saying there were other things more important than what He was going to eat and drink that day.  Do not let the important keep you from the needed; take time to sit at His feet and hear His Word!

So what did the Lord mean when He said that what Mary had chosen would not be taken away from her? Mary had chosen the eternal, the Word of God! She had chosen to sit at His feet and listen to what He had to say. She was interested in the Kingdom, in the eternal. She was laying up treasure in the world to come. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Matthew 24:35 NIV.

Shortly before Jesus was to be crucified, He was at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus again. Guess what Martha was doing? “So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him.” John 12:2.  This is where Mary anointed the feet of Jesus with the costly perfume. Martha prepared a lovely dinner for perhaps her last time. I love her because she was doing what she did best! And this was the time to do it. It was time to serve the One that she loved and called “the Christ, the Son of God”.

There is a time for everything, a time for serving, a time for listening, a time for praying and hearing the Word of God. We must make sure we keep our priorities in order. If serving is something you do best, then serve with all of your heart; but don’t let it get in the way of your quality time with the Savior. Do you excel at singing? Wonderful! Sing with all of your heart and sing unto the Lord! But if you sing for Him, and neglect to spend time with Him, then you are fooling yourself. You have not chosen the needful thing.

Those are just a couple of examples of thousands of things that we can get cumbered with or distracted by. Let us not be like Martha in the kitchen, but more like Mary in the living room, sitting at the feet of Jesus.

For the kingdom