Testimonies

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Shake, Rattle, and Roll (Reposted from 01/05/05)

This really is NOT a pity party. Bear with me, please! I have to backtrack here so that you understand how this situation came about and how patient the Lord has been with me. To show you how I “shake off the dust”, I’ve got to stir it up a little.

I worked really hard on Saturdays to get all my chores done so I’d be allowed to walk to church (alone) on Sunday mornings. Sometimes, on what I call “Lake Sundays”, when summertime weather in Oklahoma allowed and everyone’s chores were completed, we, Mom and nine kids, spent the day at the lake. And when we moved out onto the ranch in Texas, many miles from the nearest town, (I was 12) walking to church was out of the question.

Dinnertime was not a time for family discussion. It was time to eat. None of us ever experienced it, we just knew and didn’t try it to find out -- opening your mouth for anything except to put food in it was not tolerated. It could possibly get you knocked away from the table by my step-dad’s strong left hand. Putting your elbows on the table would get you sent to bed without dinner. You were considered “tired.” Prayers before mealtime? I’d heard of that. In other words, the only real “Christian” influence that I had growing up was my Sunday School teacher and the preacher (whose words I clung so dearly to) until I was removed even from that influence.

I have since been so blessed by mercy and grace to learn the TRUE meaning of “to dwell in the secret place of the Most High” and “to pray without ceasing.” But I struggled for the longest time with insecurities over my lack of Christian upbringing. I wanted to develop “Christian” habits, like “saying grace” before meals and kneeling at my bedside before turning in. But the fact is, I just could not remember to do so. Occasionally, I’d remember to, but those times were few and far between. And so I cried out to the Lord.

I would never dream of condemning someone for doing those things -- instilling good Christian habits into their children. But it was by grace that the Lord opened my understanding to specific scriptures and let me know that those “habits” were more important to me than they are to Him. And that’s what they are, habits, traditions, worthless words UNLESS AND UNTIL they are spoken from the heart. WE ARE NO LONGER BOUND BY THE LAWS, BUT FREE IN CHRIST JESUS. IT'S A HEART THING, NOT A LAW THING!

Don’t get me wrong, I still try to remember to do those things. And, yes, I still struggle to remember. But mostly, I do so to set an example for my own children and grandchildren and because I truly am thankful. By seeing me seeking the Lord, spending time in prayer, (on my face, even in the daytime) and thanking Him for even my meals, perhaps I am instilling those values in them. “Teach a child in the way he should go...” And I pray: “Lord, help me remember, for my sake AND theirs.”

But, when I do forget, condemnation (because I am IN Christ) no longer has its way with me. The most important lesson I can probably ever teach my children/grandchildren is that the Lord listens to your cries when those cries come from the heart. Anything else can easily become a clanging cymbal to Him, a nuisance to His ears. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not ALL His benefits... including my meals! And again, I say from the heart, “Thank You, Jehovah Jireh, provider of my food and of ALL things You so graciously lay at my ‘TABLE.’”

If you ever struggle with meeting those “Christian standards,” tell condemnation to take a hike. (The scriptures I’ve pasted below can help to do that!) Behold, all things are made new, but some of those things take time. It took time to learn old habits and it takes time to unlearn them as well. What didn’t take me long to learn, however, was that dinnertime is a time of fellowship with your family. “So, Kiddo, how was your day?”

“Great! Me? Oh, I learned that the Lord loves me despite the fact that I forget to thank Him sometimes.”

A few WORDS for condemnation:

Matthew 23:12And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. 13But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. 14Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

Matthew 23:25Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

Psalm 103:1Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 2Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; 4Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; 5Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Psalm 103:13Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. 14For HE KNOWETH OUR FRAME; HE REMEMBERETH THAT WE ARE DUST. (He knows! He knows how we are! He “knows our frame” and that we strive for perfection, but we are dust. And He is slow, slow, slow to anger with us.) 15As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. 16For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. 17But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, (Hallelujah!) AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS UNTO CHILDREN’S CHILDREN; (Now THAT’s a “habit” I don’t mind passing down to them!)

Be blessed! Shake off the dust of condemnation! Rattle the windows of heaven with praise! And ROLL ON!
© Joyce Pool

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