faith

Full Grown

/ thinkfulkarin / 2 Comments

Growing in Appreciation

“David, come look! See that bud right there? I planted that plant recently and look how it has grown and is getting ready to put out its first bloom. So beautiful!”

We live in a flat beside the Indian Ocean. I do not have really any earth that belongs to us except for garden containers on our balcony. But it is amazing what you can do with containers! I love to see my flowers pop up, mature, and thrive. Sometimes I have to prune heavily due to fungus or other things that are making plants deteriorate. Breaking up the soil to aerate it, and watering regularly, give a good probability that the flower in time will bud and bloom.

Remembering Pleasures

Do you take time to remember and ponder things that God has blessed you with? I have been meditating on this quote lately.

A pleasure is not full grown until it is remembered.

C. S. Lewis

We often think of pleasures just past as now fading, wilting, and dying, but Lewis says “no.” Bringing back to mind a pleasure, some happy thing, can be compared to bringing that pleasure to maturity.

No wonder God tells us to be thankful in all circumstances. When we reminisce about things that He has done for us, it brings that pleasure to full growth. The beauty is that in thankfulness, a memory continues to bloom and bloom and bloom throughout eternity. God’s pleasures don’t have an expiration date. Just a fuller satisfaction as time marches on.

The Hebrew Practice of Dayenu

Have you heard of the word dayenu? I had not. It was new to me.

“Dayenu” (meaning “it would have been enough”) is a 1,000-year-old traditional Jewish song and spiritual practice sung during the Passover Seder. It expresses profound gratitude for God’s blessings during the Exodus, listing 15 acts of liberation—from slavery to receiving the Torah—affirming that each blessing would have been enough, even if the journey had stopped there, but God kept on blessing.

Your Own Dayenu

Do you have a plan or tradition to initiate remembering? Churches practice the Lord’s Supper as a reminder to remember. Could you or your family or church do a dayenu regarding Jesus’ life and death? Try it some time!

Do you have a quiet time in the morning in which you can muse about God’s character and the amazing things He has done for humanity? He is not a distant, angry God. Our God loves. Our God plans. Our God came near. Our God became one of us. Our God teaches. Our God heals. Our God serves. Our God saves. Our God makes promises. Our God keeps promises. Our God is steadfast love and faithfulness. Our God is victor. Our God intends to dwell again with us. Our God cannot be stopped.

The mind will not automatically accrue information on the character of God. You need to renew your mind in the Word. It takes intentionality. David just finished teaching Bible Doctrine 1 in Uganda. The students worked hard. The hours were long, and it was hot. They learned about the character of God. We discussed that these character traits were not just lists to memorize, but were fuel for vibrant worship.

I love learning more about our incredible, marvelous Creator God. Learning is step 1; remembering is steps 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on. We must practice remembering the wonderful truths about our Redeemer and keep the pleasure of who He is and what He has done alive and growing.

Frangipani

Pleasures Full Grown

Thank You…..

for your genius, creativity, and power in the creation

for Your sovereignty over the affairs of men and nations, and my little life

for Your hesed, your steadfast love for us

that You never lie and are completely trustworthy in your timing and choices

that You know the end from the beginning

that you are not a meager God who can be figured out

that You made us in Your image and likeness

that you didn’t stay offended and aloof, but came to reconcile us to Yourself

That you sent Jesus to come as a baby, live a perfect human life and die as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, and rise again victorious over death, sin, hell, and the evil one

that You provide for Your own

that You know every smallest detail and how it all fits together

that you give us the ability to remember the pleasures you give us, and to enjoy them all over again through gratitude!

Th(i)nkful Appointments

/ thinkfulkarin / 2 Comments

Mission:

Mission for Karin Brown: flight from Istanbul to Kigali, Rwanda, 3:40 am, establish contact with Swedish traveller, share the gospel.

Have you ever seen a clear direct appointment from the Lord? I had one of those recently. It caused me to be full of gratitude. I got to be th(i)nkful!!

David and I travel a good bit. It is part of our job. It is wonderful being in these places, mixing with God’s people, and doing ministry. But traveling here and there as we grow older is challenging, with jet lag, lost luggage, cancelled flights, headaches, contracting illness from a few hundred other people flying in the silver tube, and so on. My husband teaches Ethics and Apologetics and we have as a value that, as much as possible, we like to serve together as a couple. We can experience the joys and trials together and it binds us closer. We also get the privilege of exemplifying what a godly marriage should look like although we are far from perfect and rely heavily on our precious Saviour’s help.

On one Turkish Airlines flight over Saharan Africa, in the early morning hours, we were cruising along in a packed plane. The African gentleman next to me had been quiet the whole trip, wearing earphones most of the time. I want to be ready to share the gospel whenever the opportunity arises, but not push when it doesn’t seem to fit. In fact, I was struggling with a pretty bad headache and some nausea and trying to choose profitable thoughts over grumbling.

Well, all of a sudden it was time! The man next to me began with a question. “Are you getting off in Kigali, Rwanda, or continuing on to Entebbe, Uganda?” I stated that we were going to Uganda and that my husband David was planning to teach a block course in Ethics close to Kampala.

This led to more questions and in time he revealed that he lived in Sweden, but was originally from the Congo. His family had been refugees from the Congo when he was young and had to flee to north Uganda bordering South Sudan. Both of his parents had passed away. They were brought as refugees to Sweden. He now was a Swedish citizen and lives outside Stockholm.

Well, I began to speak Swedish since I am fluent in that language. How sweet and odd to converse with this Congolese man in Swedish! He shared that he had heard about Jesus in the refugee camp and trusted in Christ. He is now married to a lady from the Congo, and they are part of a church called Livets Ord (The Word of Life) in Sweden.

We talked about the gospel and that the only hope for every human is to have a renewed personal relationship with God through the saving work of Jesus. I even got to mention I write this blog and gave him a card to check it out.

Prepared and Ready

A man once said, “When you put a believer and unbeliever together, the only thing you need to do to put both on edge is to mention the word ‘gospel.'” Years ago, I used to be terrified to share the gospel. Would I do it right? Would I leave something important out? If they trusted Christ based on what I told them, would it be a still birth?

Now, many years later, I have had lots of practice, and as with music and sports, it gets much easier with practice. It’s still a little nerve-wracking as I move through a gospel exchange, but it’s God who saves, not me. He opens eyes and hearts. My job is just to listen and to share truth with grace.

Afterward, you feel thankful for whatever truth you were able to speak, even if the Lord uses it to only move them a tiny step closer to saving faith. God gives us grace to think and speak; God gives them grace to see and believe. God gives us more grace to pray for them and be thankful for the encounter. It’s all about grace.

Part of the trick to being thankful about a gospel encounter is to do your preparation before God’s appointments arise. Do I have a list of “What to do if’s”?

  • Do I know the worldview and beliefs of the person to whom I am speaking?
  • Do they need relationship more than truth right now, or truth more than relationship?
  • Can I share the gospel points clearly with confidence?
  • Do I have on my phone verses that could help?
  • Do I have an awareness that there are no mistakes in what God brings into my life and at what time He does this?
  • Do I diligently pray for and look for appointments to reflect Christ?

Do You Have Appointments?

Of course you do! The Lord is shaping you for the work He has prepared for you to do.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:10

Be quick to sense His leading and obey. You only see a limited view.

Thank you, Father, that You do see the full picture and can be trusted. Help me remember that my job here on earth is to be Your ambassador and reflect Jesus to a needy world.

The Tebow Missionaries

Did you know that Tim Tebow, the American football player, grew up as a missionary kid in the Philippines? I came across this book lately, and have received blessing and challenges from it! Some of the stories and challenges sound familiar.

Pam Tebow shares how she was given multiple appointments to reflect Christ and share the gospel through difficult and challenging times. In fact, the level of difficulty of what she endured turned up the volume on what she was saying. Pick up a copy!

Future Appointments

Next October, Lord willing, we will be in Norway for a conference. David is teaching on developing a Biblical Worldview. I mentioned this to my new contact in the plane flying over Africa. Who knows! Maybe David and I will see him again!

My job is to show gratitude to my Saviour by being available to testify for Him whenever He asks. The fruit is His business.

Be ready! You may have divine appointments coming up.

Joy Fuel

/ thinkfulkarin / Leave a comment

Your Joy-Fuel Gauge

This girl brings me joy. 😃 She is a “fueler” for me, not a “drainer” – spending time with her increases my joy, settles peace in my heart, and expands my imagination. She mentioned that the song by Steph Schlueter entitled, “Counting My Blessings,” is one of her favorites. 🎶

Most of us are very familiar with the fuel gauge in our cars. It reflects what level of fuel is in the tank. But, try to picture an “emotional gauge” inside of you. It reflects how much strength and resilience you have in your “emotional tank” to meet new events and people and struggles each day. People who care a lot and give a lot can empty their emotional tank. If they do it too often without sufficiently refueling, they will struggle with burnout. And your emotional gauge affects your physical and spiritual gauges as well; these three are tied together.

There are several fuels that can slowly refill your emotional tank, like peace and solitude and meditating on God’s truth. But there is nothing like the fuel called “joy.” Joy is the #1 fuel for your emotional tank. When you have no joy, you can barely move forward. But joy acts like a medicine.

“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”
Proverbs 17:22

“The joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Nehemiah 8:10

So, where can you get this fuel? What is the level of your joy storage to refuel your emotional tank? Is it brimming to the fullest and pouring over?

Joy Is Different

Most of you already know that joy and happiness are not the same. Happiness is a response to positive external happenings; happiness disappears when things go sour. Joy is an internal mindset that sustains you when things are sweet or sour. So, how can you get this “internal frame of mind?”

Meg Bucher gave us the insight that “Happiness is a reaction to something great. Joy is the product of someone great.” True joy is connected to the Creator. In the biblical worldview,

Joy is my calm enthusiastic confidence in the presence of God’s face shining on me, the goodness of God’s character, and the perfection of God’s sovereign plans. In short, God’s delight in me, God’s kindness to me, and God’s control in my life.

We can differentiate joy and happiness in several ways, including:

  • Source: Joy is a fruit of the internal workings of the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:22), while happiness comes from things outside of me (having a flowing spring within rather than seeking a stream nearby – John 4:14).
  • Duration: Joy is a long-lasting state of being, while happiness is temporary and fleeting.  
  • Origin: Joy is developed internally, while happiness is achieved externally. 
  • Nature: Joy is a deep enthusiastic peace that comes from within, while happiness is an outward reflection of circumstances. Happiness may be more animated than joy, but joy has more staying power over time and through hardships.

Creating the Fuel of Joy

How do we create the fuel of joy? We extract it from God’s truth and from deposits God has placed within our circumstances. It takes a choice. It takes thought. We must choose to meditate on the good things that God has given us. Being th(i)nkful is what creates the fuel of joy.

Even if our circumstances are not that great, we stop and think for a bit, and find these deposits of joy. In fact, we are to count it all joy when we face trials. Why? God is building long-term virtue in us, and God loves long-term virtue in His children. Our calm enthusiastic confidence in God’s love, goodness and perfect plans for us fuels and sustains our steadfastness when driving down the sometimes long road of sorrow and heartache. Joy heals. Joy gives power.

Gratitude is the first step to building joy into our lives…

Jim Wilder

We are at God’s table every day, and it is free, whatever we have. It is accounted very unmannerly for a man at his friend’s table to find fault with things…Now when we are at the table of God (for all God’s administrations to us are his table)…for us to be finding fault and to be discontented is a great aggravation of our sin.

Jeremiah Burrough, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

So many of us are trouble-shooters, problem-solvers, which has a nasty side effect – we spend our days focusing on trouble and problems. True, we can’t just live all day in the bliss of thankfulness and militant contentedness where we leave everything a mess and get nothing done. But in our mornings and evenings, and repeatedly oscillating throughout the day, we need to focus on things we are thankful for.

Think the thanks, express the thanks, remember and honor the One to whom the thanks is due. You are creating the fuel of joy for your emotional tank. The ancient word “rejoice” means to intensify joy by repeating it, recalling it, and expanding upon it. It is a sister to being th(i)nkful.

“I do not think the church rejoices enough. We all grumble enough and groan enough: but very few of us rejoice enough.”

Charles Spurgeon

Why Invest in Joy Fuel?

Perhaps the first reason should be because God asked us to rejoice in Him (Philippians 4:4), to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18), and to even rejoice and give thanks when we face persecution (Matthew 5:11-12).

But also, when we purposefully develop a habit of gratitude, and discover the huge deposits of joy in the discipline of thankfulness, we become gospel-contagious. So few people in this world see joy. Their eyes and hearts are heavy with sorrow, regret, and guilt. A joyful person is an anomaly. Many people are skeptical when they see a truly joyful person. “Why are they being that way? That can’t be real.” But a follower of Jesus who knows the gospel well has a treasure trove of things to be thankful for and joyful about.

Most of you know this good news, but some do not, so read this carefully. Jesus of Nazareth was God in human form who came to die in our place and for our sins to save us from God’s judgment. Hundreds saw him after he rose from the dead, and the news of his teachings, death, burial, and resurrection has spread around the world. One day soon, Jesus is returning to planet earth.

A person can only be forgiven of their lifetime of sins when he or she believes in what Jesus did and asks God to save them (Romans 10:9-10). When someone turns from their sin to the Savior, God declares them fully righteous in His court, gives them spiritual rebirth, adopts them as His children, and sends His Spirit to live inside them beginning the lifetime work of transforming them to become more like Jesus. They have peace with God and begin to experience the peace of God.

When Christians sin, we can confess that to Him, be cleansed from that unrighteousness and be restored to the joy of a clean conscience. That joy is catchy! Joy is attractive. Your obedience in cultivating thankfulness and joy could be the catalyst that brings another to Christ!

“You have put more joy in my heart
than they have when their grain and wine abound.”

Psalm 4:7

Thanksgiving Connected to Peace?

/ thinkfulkarin / 2 Comments

Philippian Exhortation

A few weeks ago David and I visited a new gathering of God’s people, Redeemer Community Church. We knew of people that had joined this new work, and wanted to visit one day; then the opportunity arose. It was so good. Refreshing and edifying. Pastor Erik shared from Philippians 4:4-9. He emphasized how we are to rejoice in the Lord ALL the time (verse 4).

But, how is this done, practically speaking? How do I rejoice when I see the earth or my country destabilizing? How do I rejoice with my recent medical diagnosis? How do I rejoice when my loved ones are making the decisions they are? How could Paul write this while sitting in prison?

The key is simply this: Rejoicing, or having joy, is a calm enthusiastic confidence in 1) the goodness of God’s character, 2) the reliability of God’s promises to His children, and 3) the absolute perfection of His sovereign plans. So many of us begin with the unspoken presumption that God’s job is to protect my world, keep me comfortable, free from sudden downturns in health, finances, and relationships, and to slowly carry me to a peaceful death at some ancient age. But God is not “about us” and has made no such promises.

We can rejoice when we choose not to be anxious (let go of our expectation of our world going as planned), but instead, through prayer and supplication with THANKSGIVING (affirming His choices in our circumstances), we take our requests to God (verse 6). Only then can we experience God’s overwhelming peace, described in verse 7.

God’s Peace Follows Prayer with Thanksgiving

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:7

Have you ever meditated on what that verse is really saying? It’s pretty amazing to experience peace … like when you find one of God’s lovely places far away from tech and humanity. But what about a peace that surpasses all our understanding?? A peace that causes others to scratch their head, or accuse me of being in denial of my circumstances?

I really WANT that peace. I want my heart and mind to be “kept” or guarded. I want God to carry through on His perfect plans, even if it means hardship for me. I am determined to keep my eye on Him because I know His eye is on me, as Peter when he walked on the stormy waters.

Perhaps I should ponder how to discipline myself to pray with thanksgiving?

12 Monthly Verses

I am choosing the theme of “Peace” this year and am memorizing a verse on peace each month. I want to know these verses so well that I can pull them up in my mind and meditate on them at any time I want. OK, I cheated and started in December.

John 14:27 is urging us to receive His peace, not worldly peace, but God’s peace.

So you may say, “that sounds wonderful, but you don’t know what is happening in my life. There’s everything but peace. I have sorrow, worries, fears, and pain … physical pain, emotional pain, spiritual pain. The road to experiencing peace is too gnarled. Not sure I could ever get to peace, much less peace that passes my understanding.”

Well, I am here to say that you can! It is not dependent on your circumstances. It doesn’t have to do with that. It is dependent on something else!!

Because of what Christ did on the cross when He paid for our sin, and when He defeated death, sin, and oppression by rising again, we too can “defeat our circumstances” by trusting in the character of God to work things together somehow for our good, our becoming like Jesus. Romans 8:28-29 states that is what God desires in our lives. Like a great sculptor with a rough rock, He is chiseling away in my soul anything that doesn’t look like Jesus. He has to use different “tools” such as pain and sorrow to make that happen. And it takes time.

Thinking Thanks is Part of the Journey to Peace

To envelope our burdens and challenges by choosing to think thanks about them, and in the midst of them, is a path of hope that leads to peace, God’s peace.

To identify gifts from the Lord right in the hardships is vital. Thanking God for His presence, His wisdom, His sovereignty is a good place to begin if you feel at loss to know on what to think thanks.

May God fill you with His surprising PEACE this year as you set your mind on Him.

You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is set on You.”

Isaiah 26:3