(written to this.)
The evening light softens the stark lines of day, turning all it bathes into soft hued pinks, creamy lavenders, and rich, deep blues. The canvass stretched above me grows ever deeper still and one by one, through this ever darkening orb, out come the silver, laughing stars above. Each evening this happens with perfect faithfulness, each evening the sky grows dark, and each evening the stars know they will shine. They never doubt it. For their light is held by the One who created them, and so with perfect confidence and peace, they know that with every new night that comes to wrap itself dreamily around the earth, they will shine in His most perfect time and will and way. I don't suppose they gaze back at the centuries behind them with regret, or ahead to the years stretching before them with worry or anxiety for the way they may shine. I highly doubt that they question with frustration, what will happen if tomorrow He is not faithful. I cannot imagine them doubting the One who holds their light in His hands, wondering what might happen if tonight is the night He does not come through and they are left on their own...or if for some reason their light goes out because, they are but tiny stars, and He might forget to alight them this evening. No, such thoughts do not come close to the sphere of what these twinkling stars dwell on, they simply shine, watching as the comets streak by in all their blazing beauty, gazing down upon the human drama playing out before them.
Come to think of it, I have never wondered if the stars will shine tonight or on any other night. I've never thought to doubt if they will, for I am simply confident that this will be the outcome. I am confident that the God who holds them in His hands will give their light to them each night, allowing them to rain it down upon my upturned face.
Yet, I have thought to doubt the course of my life.
I do not doubt He will let the stars shine, but I have wondered if He can handle working all for my good. I am His child....and how much more does He love you and I over every star above?
And my heart aches for time wasted looking back or ahead, looking anywhere instead of gazing into the moment in which I live. Still, He is right here, pursuing my heart....pursuing your heart....and longing that we would pursue Him as well. Longing that we would understand how much more faithful He is to His children than even unto the stars.
For you are His child, His child, and the Father's heart beats for yours, for your very life, and the love He has for you is far greater than you'll ever be able to fathom. And I say it often because it is the air I breathe...you are His child, gaze into His eyes...He is the beat of my heart and I have seen the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Yes, because I have gazed into the eyes of the One who is my beloved, who rescued me from the darkness that would have claimed all I am, because I now know more than ever before that, beyond all loss and pain, all torment and hopelessness, all lies the enemy would whisper in the dark of the night, He is greater still, and so with every fiber of my being I would say, you are loved by a God who values who you are more than the stars or sea or sky, because you are His child.
It's amazing how faithful He is to bring me closer to His heart through that which I've lost, through that which He's taken. Looking back, there are certain situations in which I can now so clearly see why He allowed the pain to come...still others I'm waiting to understand. Yet, I know that the pain has pushed me deeper into Him, that I can now understand His love at depths I never have before, and so it has all been worth it. I would change nothing about this beautiful, hard, wonderful life He has given me. Jesus has pursued my heart and captured it in full. He is utterly irresistible to this heart of His.
Still, there are times in which I have doubted His faithfulness....there are times even now when the battle within rages with such intensity that all I can do is fall at His feet and cry out for Him to fight it for me. And He does. Always. And when He has conquered the fear or doubt that has somehow crept in, He gently lifts my face to His and there I am, once again, lost in His beautiful gaze.
Ah, and this is His heart for you, oh child of the Living God. To not live in the past or the present or anywhere else but right here. To fall at His feet when the war is too great, the pain too much, and allow Him to rescue you from all that would envelope you in darkness. To know that He loves you with an everlasting love, and that today, all you are called to is to gaze into His eyes, to seek Him with all your heart, and watch as He works all for your good.
Look unto the stars and know, He who so lovingly alights them each evening will alight your life as well, in ways unimaginable. Think of their perfect trust in the One who holds them in His hands and remember, He holds you even closer unto His heart.
© Jade Valcarcel 2013. All rights reserved
For you are His child, His child, and the Father's heart beats for yours, for your very life, and the love He has for you is far greater than you'll ever be able to fathom. And I say it often because it is the air I breathe...you are His child, gaze into His eyes...He is the beat of my heart and I have seen the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Yes, because I have gazed into the eyes of the One who is my beloved, who rescued me from the darkness that would have claimed all I am, because I now know more than ever before that, beyond all loss and pain, all torment and hopelessness, all lies the enemy would whisper in the dark of the night, He is greater still, and so with every fiber of my being I would say, you are loved by a God who values who you are more than the stars or sea or sky, because you are His child.
It's amazing how faithful He is to bring me closer to His heart through that which I've lost, through that which He's taken. Looking back, there are certain situations in which I can now so clearly see why He allowed the pain to come...still others I'm waiting to understand. Yet, I know that the pain has pushed me deeper into Him, that I can now understand His love at depths I never have before, and so it has all been worth it. I would change nothing about this beautiful, hard, wonderful life He has given me. Jesus has pursued my heart and captured it in full. He is utterly irresistible to this heart of His.
Still, there are times in which I have doubted His faithfulness....there are times even now when the battle within rages with such intensity that all I can do is fall at His feet and cry out for Him to fight it for me. And He does. Always. And when He has conquered the fear or doubt that has somehow crept in, He gently lifts my face to His and there I am, once again, lost in His beautiful gaze.
Ah, and this is His heart for you, oh child of the Living God. To not live in the past or the present or anywhere else but right here. To fall at His feet when the war is too great, the pain too much, and allow Him to rescue you from all that would envelope you in darkness. To know that He loves you with an everlasting love, and that today, all you are called to is to gaze into His eyes, to seek Him with all your heart, and watch as He works all for your good.
Look unto the stars and know, He who so lovingly alights them each evening will alight your life as well, in ways unimaginable. Think of their perfect trust in the One who holds them in His hands and remember, He holds you even closer unto His heart.
"The life of faith is lived one day at a time, and it has to be lived-not always looked forward to as though the "real" living were around the next corner. It is today for which we are responsible. God still owns tomorrow."
-Elisabeth Elliot, Let Me Be A Woman
© Jade Valcarcel 2013. All rights reserved
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