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Sorrow and Spurgeon

I confided in a friend one weekend: confessing how tired I was of being sorrowful. Weary of crying regularly. I want to be able to wait confidently on God for a family… and not grieve the season of waiting. Then I read Psalm 13:

Followed by these words by Charles Spurgeon (emphasis mine):

It is not easy to prevent desire from degenerating into impatience. O for grace that, while we wait on God, we may be kept from indulging a murmuring spirit!
– Charles Spurgeon on Psalm 13:1

Let the eye of my faith be clear, that I may see my God in the dark; let my eye of watchfulness be wide open lest I be entrapped, and let the eye of my understanding be illuminated to see the right way. … It is worthy to be observed that the joy is all the greater because of the previous sorrow.
– Charles Spurgeon on Psalm 13:3

He hath dealth bountifully with me. So it shall be with us if we wait awhile.
– Charles Spurgeon on Psalm 13:6

God, I pray that these wouldn’t simply be words written on a page, but that these truths would take root in my soul. And when I get sad again (because I will), I pray I will return to You again for help of my countenance and enlightenment of my eyes.

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Sorrow and Spurgeon

July 16, 2013

I confided in a friend one weekend: confessing how tired I was of being sorrowful. Weary of crying regularly. I want to be able to wait confidently on God for a family… and not grieve the season of waiting. Then I read Psalm 13:

Followed by these words by Charles Spurgeon (emphasis mine):

It is not easy to prevent desire from degenerating into impatience. O for grace that, while we wait on God, we may be kept from indulging a murmuring spirit!
– Charles Spurgeon on Psalm 13:1

Let the eye of my faith be clear, that I may see my God in the dark; let my eye of watchfulness be wide open lest I be entrapped, and let the eye of my understanding be illuminated to see the right way. … It is worthy to be observed that the joy is all the greater because of the previous sorrow.
– Charles Spurgeon on Psalm 13:3

He hath dealth bountifully with me. So it shall be with us if we wait awhile.
– Charles Spurgeon on Psalm 13:6

God, I pray that these wouldn’t simply be words written on a page, but that these truths would take root in my soul. And when I get sad again (because I will), I pray I will return to You again for help of my countenance and enlightenment of my eyes.

Show Hide 0 comments

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Can I tell you a secret?
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One of the most basic tools for a strategic quiet time is also often one of the most overlooked.
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A Bible reading plan isn’t just a list of passages to read or a type-A lover’s dream of a checklist to mark off. Every one of those daily passages serve as a stepping stone into the general vicinity of your morning reading. And every time your spirit pulls at a word, or your eyes flit to a cross-reference?
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THAT’S when the Holy Spirit is tailoring the reading plan to you and your right-now.
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It’s the first stop in learning to recognize the nuances of God’s voice speaking to you, if you let it.
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Comment “plan” and I’ll DM you a link to download my favorite Bible reading plan!

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Open post by jane_johnson with ID 18202901680312118

Can I tell you a secret?
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
One of the most basic tools for a strategic quiet time is also often one of the most overlooked.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
A Bible reading plan isn’t just a list of passages to read or a type-A lover’s dream of a checklist to mark off. Every one of those daily passages serve as a stepping stone into the general vicinity of your morning reading. And every time your spirit pulls at a word, or your eyes flit to a cross-reference?
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
THAT’S when the Holy Spirit is tailoring the reading plan to you and your right-now.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It’s the first stop in learning to recognize the nuances of God’s voice speaking to you, if you let it.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Comment “plan” and I’ll DM you a link to download my favorite Bible reading plan!

The last quarter of my year took a sharp turn toward rest a few weeks ago when God dropped two distinct words heavily into the core of my spirit: fallow ground.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
As soon as He did, I went digging to see what the Bible had to say about them. I was shocked to find it tucked in with the law of Sabbaths in Exodus 23, and not for any other reason besides the fact that I had never paid attention to the fact that God commanded TWO types of Sabbaths. Turns out, the weekly Sabbath that we are all familiar with? It’s the second. The first? The one that sets the precedent and lays the groundwork? It’s the seventh-YEAR Sabbath.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce,” God said in Exodus 23:10-11, “but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The short version of the fallow ground story? It’s not a barren, bare, or otherwise unplanted field that’s sitting out there in its bare dirt clumps.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It’s fertile ground left uncultivated.
It’s letting something lay that’s working well, producing well, growing well, and flourishing.
It’s releasing all ownership to any of its produce and letting anyone come and take of it freely.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It’s something you and I are entirely control of. God commands it, yes. And, like anything else, it’s up to us to do it.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
And the long version of the story (including how I came to take all of this VERY literally)? That’s too much to fit here. You can read the full-length post on my blog:
JaneJohnson.com

94 5

Open post by jane_johnson with ID 17925381726122718

The last quarter of my year took a sharp turn toward rest a few weeks ago when God dropped two distinct words heavily into the core of my spirit: fallow ground.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
As soon as He did, I went digging to see what the Bible had to say about them. I was shocked to find it tucked in with the law of Sabbaths in Exodus 23, and not for any other reason besides the fact that I had never paid attention to the fact that God commanded TWO types of Sabbaths. Turns out, the weekly Sabbath that we are all familiar with? It’s the second. The first? The one that sets the precedent and lays the groundwork? It’s the seventh-YEAR Sabbath.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce,” God said in Exodus 23:10-11, “but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The short version of the fallow ground story? It’s not a barren, bare, or otherwise unplanted field that’s sitting out there in its bare dirt clumps.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It’s fertile ground left uncultivated.
It’s letting something lay that’s working well, producing well, growing well, and flourishing.
It’s releasing all ownership to any of its produce and letting anyone come and take of it freely.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It’s something you and I are entirely control of. God commands it, yes. And, like anything else, it’s up to us to do it.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
And the long version of the story (including how I came to take all of this VERY literally)? That’s too much to fit here. You can read the full-length post on my blog:
JaneJohnson.com

Went sent our baby girl off to kindergarten this morning, alongside her big 1st and 3rd-grade brothers. But, as many of you know with this youngest baby milestone, it’s not just sending her off. It’s tying up the bow on toddlerhood and the years of baby-raising and little ones and three hours of sleep and fighting for every nap.

We’ve potty-trained, paci-weaned, ditched car seats for boosters, and learned to swim. It’s been nearly nine years of not knowing what the heck I’m doing alongside middle-of-the-night research, gut instinct following, endless desperate prayer for wisdom, and peeling clinging arms off of my neck because I know they are braver than they think they are.

That baby girl? She was the clingiest of all. All of preschool was marked by tearful drop-offs and swift exits. And this morning, in a brand new school with no one she knew, she showed me just how much she grew in the last year. She walked right into her classroom, sat in her chair, gave me a smile, and began to color.
I, as you might expect, cried the moment I climbed into my empty car. I expected that. I didn’t expect to see my tiny little fluff of a bird fly today. To see her so big. So confident. So fearless. So beautiful. But she puffed her chest and spread her wings the way that I always knew she could, and in her own little perfect, kindergartener timing.

If you need me, I’ll be basking in the silence of my clean home until further notice (or, at least, until 2:45 pickup).

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Open post by jane_johnson with ID 18317700514242998

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