To Be Called Children of God Archives - Seeking God with Jaime Wiebel

Anchored In The Cross

Jaime Wiebel — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 07:28:00 +0000

Over the past few days I have been having “one of
those days”. I woke up and just didn’t feel quite like myself. No matter what I
was trying I just couldn’t shake the feeling. I wanted to cry, I felt so
frustrated.

Anyone ever have those kind of days?

Of course, I am not alone in my feelings but that is
exactly how I felt, alone. I felt like everything was coming down on me at
once.

My head kept filling with the lies that I wasn’t
good enough, mom enough, smart enough, tall enough, skinny enough, outgoing
enough, enough of a friend, just purely not enough.

I kept reminding myself that God’s promises are
bigger than I am and I just kept clinging to all that I know. I was crying out
to Him, a couple of times literally, for a rescue from these feelings.

I know when I feel alone, I am promised from God
that He will never leave me nor forsake me. I felt, however, like I was
reaching out and grabbing at nothing.

I asked God why I was feeling alone and told Him I
knew this was not true and knew He was by my side.

I began to pray for God to rescue me from these
feelings and I was sure that He would. I continued to however, perpetuate these
thoughts. They began to pull me down like a heavy weight.

Sometimes the assurance doesn’t come so quickly or
as easily as we would like. Sometimes we get caught up in the whirlwind of our
emotions and they begin to take over.

The fact is,

I can
choose to be anchored to these lies…

I can continue
to sink into a downward spiral until I am in over my head…

I can
choose to drown in my self-doubt…

Or…

I can choose to be anchored to the cross.

At the cross, I receive the grace and mercy of a
loving Father. At the cross, I receive the promises Christ has given to his
children. At the cross, I receive the rest I need for my weary soul to be strengthened
for the next step in my journey.

Hebrews 6:19 says: We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It
enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain

The hope in the salvation of cross is real. It is
what we can stand firm on when our hearts and our heads begin to get weary and
all of life comes pouring in on us.

This hope is more than I hope it doesn’t rain
tomorrow or I hope the grocery store is having a sale on strawberries.

This hope is grounded in something sure, certain and
secure. This hope is standing firm in the Salvation of Christ and being able to
approach His throne with confidence.

Psalm 62:5-7 Yes, my
soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my
salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor
depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

This Psalm is a beautiful reminder or our Great and
Mighty Lord in the midst of our weariness. In the middle of life’s
complications we can be assured that our hope comes from God alone.

I am not my feelings today. I am not the
circumstances that surround me. My anchor is set outside my rocking ship.

I can pour out my heart to God and there I will
find shelter. I can expect Him to be a solid ground to rest my feet upon.

He is my
rock, my fortress, my refuge, my defense, my salvation,
my honor depend on Him alone. With
God, I will not be shaken.

Does anyone need that reminder today like I do?

Does anyone have a weary heart or head that could
use a little rest and assurance?

Jesus says in John 15:26
says: I will send you the Advocate
– the Spirit of Truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all
about me.

I often times have songs in my head, but only a
couple of lines and I sing them all day. Yesterday, I asked God for help.
Today, I had this song play over in my head, “Holy Spirit, You are welcome here. Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere.” This beautiful song is by Francesca Battistelli.

God has sent help, the Advocate, the Spirit of Truth,
the Holy Spirit. If you have accepted Christ, He has come to intercede on your
behalf.

He will give you a renewed strength. He will comfort you, encourage you,
and give you counsel in those times when life hurls all it has in your direction.
He
will testify to the truth that Christ took it all at the cross. He will testify
to the truth of God’s promises for His children.

What or Whom will you choose to be anchored to today?

Read last weeks post, Expecting the Unexpected

The post Anchored In The Cross appeared first on Seeking God with Jaime Wiebel.

The Carpenter’s Daughter

Jaime Wiebel — Sun, 21 Jun 2015 06:27:00 +0000

For the LORD is good. His unfailing
love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.
Psalm 100:5

As long as I
can remember, my father has been the hardest working man I have known.

My father
has been a self-employed carpenter for 42 years. Although there have been times
he had other people working with him, he has often worked alone.

I know every
time I have “helped him” I am amazed at how hard the work is that he does. Last summer my husband and I had our garage
reroofed and my husband took a few days off of work to help him. My husband,
who also works very hard, said, “I cannot believe how hard your dad works and
he is twenty years older.”

I remember when
I was in school and was in algebra and geometry class I would always think my
dad could do all the equations. I would show him my work and he would kind of
laugh at it. He had no idea how to do equations in a math book.

However, my
dad could build an entire house from the ground up, regularly doing equations
in his head. Measurements, fractions, shapes, angles, and more, he could do in
his sleep. He could take a blank piece of paper and draw a diagram with
everything perfectly in place for building anything. It absolutely amazed me
that he was that brilliant. For us it was the book work we could do and to him
it was real life and he could duplicate it with actual results.

My dad has
always been there for our family. He has always put our family first and loved
us endlessly.

Most people
would say dads of the seventies were different than dads today. My mom likes to
tell people they had four kids and my dad changed four diapers. Maybe not so
hands on in the diaper changing area but my parents rarely left us and had
babysitters watch us. I remember very few
occasions that we were not with them.

Family was
very important. We went everywhere together. We sat down every night for dinner
together and to this day we go to my parents and sit down for meals together.

As my dad
was growing up, his parents took them on family vacations and that was very
important to my dad. There is maybe one year growing up that I can remember not
going a family vacation. Those are very sweet memories I have of my parents and
my siblings.

We still
travel together, now it is just a larger group since all my siblings and I are
married and have kids. There have been years that friends and extended family
have even vacationed with us and we have had fantastic groups of 21 people. It
has been so much fun.

When my
husband talked to my dad about marrying me, some of his fatherly advice was to make
sure to take your family on vacation. There is nothing like escaping your daily
life and just having a great time together as a family. It is time well
treasured.

Four weeks
before I got married my father had a tear in his intestines and became toxic.
He was very ill and spent a lot of time in the hospital. While in the hospital
he got blood clots and his life was threatened again.

Every time I
would visit him in the hospital he would be working so hard walking up and down
the halls because he wanted to come home and he wanted to be able to walk me
down the aisle. I remember visiting him and he said I am trying to get strong so
I can be strong for your wedding.

My father is
strong, genuine, honest, self-sacrificing, generous, hard-working, supportive, funny, caring, and
passionate about life. We have never left his house without him walking us out and waving good-bye.

The greatest
gift my father’s love has given me is helping me know the love my Heavenly
Father. Because of my father I can understand my Heavenly Father’s unconditional
love. I can understand my Heavenly Father’s sacrificial love. I can understand
my Heavenly Father’s unending love.

When I sit down
and read my Bible and read the life of Christ, I can believe Christ would do
what it takes to keep a relationship with me. I can believe God left his
heavenly splendor to sacrifice His life so that I could gain mine.

Christ is
real to me because the love I experienced in my own father. 1 John 4:19 says: We
love because He first loved us. God chooses to love us. It is not
anything that we did or could do.

Growing up,
I was always proud to be a part of my family. Most people didn’t know my name
but they knew whose kid I was. They knew what family I belonged to because of
the love of a mother and the love of a father.

As much as
my parents have lavished love upon us there is no greater love than that of our
Heavenly Father. I have been fortunate to have a little taste of heaven because
I have amazing parents.

1 John 3:1 says, See what kind of love the Father has given to us,
that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the
world does not know us is that it did not know him.

1 John 3:1
tells us the kind of love our Father has lavished on us is one of honor. It is
beyond a love that we have ever known. Nothing could be greater than being
called children of God.

I am honored
to be the daughter of a carpenter and I am eternally grateful to be The Carpenter’s
daughter.

Please SHARE in comments below about your father. I can’t wait to hear your stories.

If you missed the posts for Father’s Day read more at A Life Like His and Men Like Him

The post The Carpenter’s Daughter appeared first on Seeking God with Jaime Wiebel.