A Charlie Brown Christmas House

A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance,
But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
Proverbs 15:13

All the days of the afflicted are evil,
But he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast. Proverbs 15:15

A merry heart does good, like medicine,
But a broken spirit dries the bones.
Proverbs 17:22

It is about the fifth day in a row of gloomy rainy skies and today, being the great decorator that I am (not), decide to try to make the house festive for the holidays. It only ends up reminding me of a Charlie Brown house, bringing back memories of other holidays that were not so cheerful.

Ahh, Christmas. The time for baking, shopping, and celebrating. Except how do you do that when the world has lost its mind? Christmas, in spite of the lights and goodies, can be a down time for many people. False expectations of a "perfect" holiday can push those who struggle nearly off the edge. Every year, it seems to me that Christmas seems a desperate time, with people trying to buy happiness somehow through the "perfect" gift.
But somehow, there is always a letdown.

I am already sounding very Charlie Brownish.

I have a video recording of the Charlie Brown Christmas and tonight might be the perfect night to watch it. You see, I can relate to old Charlie.
I never got things naturally, and was the last one picked for the team in gym class so many years ago. I know what it feels like to be bullied and made fun of. I realize that other people have the fancy homes and beautiful decorating schemes, but that will never be my destiny.

Christmas has a sore way of reminding me that there are loved ones who are missed in my life, that there are some loops that never seem to close. I cannot help but be reminded of these things as I make my way to the attic to pull out the dusty Christmas decorations yet again.

But in spite of all this, the fact that my house is not ready for Better Homes and Gardens, that there are people who I would love to hear from but won't, that the messiness of life will not magically disappear over the holiday, still today I can rejoice.

Just like Linus told Charlie, the good news of these darkest days of the year is that a Savior came down to be a part of the mess that is this world. He took all the messes people made of their lives and bore the agony for them on the wood of the tree at Calvary. In doing so, He redeemed us from a hopeless eternity and gave us heaven to look forward to. He laid aside His Deity and put on humanity so that He could call someone like me His friend.

And so, I say, in spite of my Charlie Brown house here on this earth, I can anticipate a heavenly mansion with Him in eternity. One of these days, it will really be.

What Christmas is Really All About

Luke 2:1 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife,fn who was with child. 6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn,
8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
​
14 ​​“Glory to God in the highest,
​​And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

Even we who feel like Charlie Brown can rejoice about that!

My Endless Thanksgiving Portion

"Still,
our eyes
failed us,
watching
vainly
for our
help;
In our
watching
we watched
For a nation
that could
not save
us."

Lamentations 4:17

I read these words this morning, as if it were for the first time. The words resonated within my spirit, for I feel that I am also like Jeremiah, watching his beloved nation falling from the Lord's favor and into judgment.

I used to think I would always be safe in America. I read about all the terrible things that happened in World Wars I and II and inwardly breathed a sigh of relief at least to know that warfare had not come to our own shores, even if, sadly, we lost hundreds of thousands of brave men and women across the seas. The security I felt is no more. Each day seems to get crazier, with some of the headlines we see. The America I was proud of is really not the same America anymore.

I have had freedom and plenty for all of my years, yet deep within our nation I sense we are lacking the one thing we need to keep our country together: the fear of God. The fear of God is lost to the church and society in general. I do not fear God or thank Him nearly enough for all His blessings to me. Having so much at my disposal has caused me to be careless in my attitude towards God. I am not running for my life (yet) nor have I been imprisoned. But we see the signs all around us. Our freedoms are being whittled away. Just like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, I sit in front of the computer or TV and do not take full advantage of the opportunity that freedom has afforded me.

And yet God still longs to be gracious to someone like me. Where else do I have to go but to Him? I try to find happiness like the rest of the world seems to be striving after, but every single day there is a longing for something more meaningful that keeps tugging at my heart. I am probably way past the halfway mark of my life. I do not know when my time of opportunity to get to know God on this side of eternity could suddenly end.

Carpe diem. Seize the day, the very moment I am in right now, I try to remind myself. For the same writer of the above verse, Jeremiah, in the same book tells us a most gracious promise. Right in the middle of his bitter complaint, Jeremiah remembers something that will turn his eyes off his situation and back onto the Only Helper, the Lord Jesus Himself.

"Remember my affliction and roaming,
The wormwood and the gall.
My soul still remembers
And sinks within me.
This I recall to mind,
Therefore I have hope.

Through the Lord's mercies
we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
'The LORD is my portion,'
says my soul,
Therefore I hope in Him!"

Jeremiah 3: 19-24

Tomorrow, I can truly be thankful not only for a plateful of food but for His portion given to me as a free and unmerited gift. He will ever remain faithful, no matter whatever dark clouds we see looming on the horizon. And our life is but a moment on the line of eternity.

I thank Him for my problems, for they keep me depending on Him. I thank Him for sustaining me in life every single day. Let me thank Him even for my breath. Without Him, I have nothing, but with Him I have all things. Can you join me this Thanksgiving with your own portion full? If not, you can believe on Jesus Christ today and truly have something to be grateful for tomorrow.

3 "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus..." I Timothy 2:3-5

He is Able!

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:3-5

I awoke this morning overflowing with gratitude for how God has taken a nobody (that's me) and made them a somebody, all thanks to the kindness of Another. I thank Him for opening my eyes today to the beauty of the Scriptures of Truth and all the promises He gives us, due to the work of the Second Person of the Trinity.

His promises remain ever fresh, ever new each morning. No matter how bleak our circumstances, God is wanting to help us, if only we turn to Him. I thank Him for allowing difficulties in my life, because they have impelled me to seek His face. Our enemy is constantly working, trying to blind us to the fact of God's grace and goodness. He wants us to stay in the dark. But our Heavenly Father exists only in light, and there is no darkness in Him. (I John 1:5) He is ever in the background, cheering, rooting for us helpless creatures whenever we turn away from looking to ourselves and put our confidence in Him.

Last night I gave my first book talk at our local library covering how and why I wrote the book Sure Mercies:Hope for the Suffering(published by 4RV Publishing). The day before I got so nervous, I began to cry. That night, at our ladies Bible study, our teacher reminded us of the prayers of the saints. In Revelation 5:8 we see a picture of our prayers as the Lamb of God, Jesus unwraps the scroll to loose the seals in heaven, being found the only One that was worthy to do so.

"Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."

In Revelation 8:3, we read, "Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne."

Our teacher reminded us that ALL of our prayers, past, present and future, are already in that bowl before God. Suddenly I realized that my prayers for my first book talk were in that bowl too, and that God knew exactly what my prayers would be before I even prayed them. That really lifted my soul, and as I sat at the Bible study, the Spirit brought another verse of comfort to mind from Psalm 34:5.

"They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces will never be ashamed."

That verse could almost be a life verse for me. For before I came to know of His overwhelming love and grace toward me, I was filled with shame. I was most definitely not radiant. But now, my heart burns within me, because He has put a new song in my mouth, one of praise to my God. I know that He loves us, He proved it by dying for us on the cross when we could not lift a finger to help ourselves.

"He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear
And will trust in the LORD." Psalm 40:3

That's what my book is about, even if it only scratches the surface telling the goodness of our God. God came through for each and every person I wrote about in my 40 chapters, and He comes through daily for me. I want others to know, "How great is my God!"

If you happen to be reading this and seem to be facing an insurmountable problem, I beg you today to look to the Lord, for He is able to do beyond what we could ever ask or think,

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us..." Ephesians 3:20.

He is able!!

(Sure Mercies: Hope for the Suffering is available through 4RV http://www.4rvpublishingcatalog.com/megan-vance.php They are currently running a Christmas special. It is also available through Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com )

Trusting As a Little Child

14 ​​With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him,
​​And taught Him in the path of justice?
​​Who taught Him knowledge,
​​And showed Him the way of understanding?
​
15 ​​Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,
​​And are counted as the small dust on the scales;
​​Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.

Isaiah 40: 14-15

I had a window seat on my trip home from Texas, on the leg from Atlanta to Pittsburgh. When the plane took off, the skies were clear blue, even as I heard of bad weather erupting in other parts of the country. There was no sign of it as we ascended northward out of Dixie land. It's been a while since I gazed out the window of an airplane and beheld the cities below grow smaller and smaller, the cars looking like ants speeding along on their path. Every one is so busy, going only God knows where. I was reminded of the nations being only a drop in the bucket before God who looks down on the affairs of men, all the while in perfect love and justice.

I spent a few precious days with my son and his family in the Lone Star State. Everything is so big there, including all the traffic jams. (That is one thing I appreciated driving home from the airport. Pittsburgh highways are not like Texas highways.) I was reminded there how my son's little boy is growing so fast. His little hands and feet are pudgy, and remind me of his Daddy's when he was my little boy. My eyes wanted to fill many times when I rode in the back of my son's truck with my grandson. How amazing it is to witness his pure trust in his Daddy and Mommy for everything in his young life. Little sneakers dangled out of the car seat, even as he remained clutching his toy airplanes for dear life.

Luckily my grandson was still sleeping when we left to come home early on Veteran's Day. I hastened into his nursery and blew a little kiss onto his forehead silently as not to wake him. It was easier to say goodbye that way. I didn't want to even think about how long it might take until we see them all again. My tears came later as the plane prepared for takeoff.

We celebrated a milestone while I was there, as my eldest turned thirty. It didn't seem possible that three decades have gone by since I became a mother for the first time. But life has changed a lot in the world since 1985. There were no cell phones, no internet even, and the world "seemed" a safer place. Really, has it ever been safe since Adam's fall?

When my son was tiny, I foolishly thought that if the Lord were to come back too early, I would miss out on raising my family. But now I know there is nothing else this world needs more than the Lord. It seems everyone now knows there are no real solutions for the problems of mankind. Christ alone will make things right on this planet.

Now that I am settled back on my own turf on a windy November night, I'm reminded that I am especially homesick for the coming Kingdom. I pray that even if just in the smallest of ways, I am seen as a little child also before my Savior. I hope He beholds one somewhat like my grandson, a child waiting patiently, trusting in the love of her Heavenly Father to provide all her needs until that glorious Day.

“Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3

A Heart filled with Gratitude

"Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary...
They wandered in the wilderness...; They were hungry and thirsty; Their soul fainted within them. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses."
Psalm 107: 1,2, 4-6

Did you ever think of the lyrics to the refrain in the hymn, Jesus Paid it All written by Elvina Hall? It says: "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow." Does that sound like it might just be too good to be true, that we must have to do something? No, but the gospel really is good news for people who could not save themselves in a million years no matter how many chances they were given. The enemy of our souls doesn't want us to think of Christianity as "good news" but somehow reforming ourselves and never having fun anymore.

What a lie. I don't know about you, but Jesus came to give such a peaceful rest to my soul. He wants us to have His burden, which is light and gracious, instead of trying to bear our own. I don't have to pretend anything before God. He knows I am but dust. And so, He did everything that I needed in order to have a righteous standing with God. I remember hearing it like this once: It was like I am chauffered to the most fancy restaurant (one that accomodates the stars) for an exquisite dinner. After a succulent nine course meal with delicious beverage and dessert, I start to get nervous about how much the bill is going to cost me.

But then the maitre deux comes over, just as I am wondering if I am going to go over my credit limit paying for this meal, with the most wonderful news for me. The dinner, chauffeur, the tips and all other expenses related have been completely covered by an anonymous donor. I don't have to pay a penny for it.

That is what Jesus did in providing our salvation. He did it all, there is nothing we can add but to simply say "thank you." A thankful heart knows that all that he or she has was provided without cost by Another for a very expensive price. A price that we cannot fathom. All that is left is to say thank you.

I love the Romans account, stating so clearly that salvation is without cost to whoever believes. "What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was credited for him as righteousness.' Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.' Romans 4: 1-5 (emphasis mine)

Christ justified me not when I got "good" but when I was still ungodly!`William Newell, in his commentary on Romans, has this to say about "But to him that worketh not..." "to him who 'casts his deadly doing down'; who, seeing his guilt, and his entire inability to put it away, ceases wholly from all efforts to obtain God's favor by his own doings, or self-denyings,--even by his prayers: but believeth on the God that declareth righteous the ungodly-- not the godly or the good!...If we say, God, indeed has some special cases justified notoriously, openly, evidently ungodly ones; while His general habit is to justify the godly (which is what human reason demands), then we at once deny all Scripture."
Romans Verse by Verse, by William R. Newell, p.132-33 copyright 1994, Kregel Publications

What is left then but to be thankful? Our Heavenly Father knows everything about us, and yet still loved us when we were dead in our trespasses and sins. He wanted so much to be able to fellowship with us broken people that He provided everything, so that man just needs to acknowledge the price was paid by Jesus. Again, it's just like eating freely at the fanciest restaurant and finding out your meal is covered. Your Best Friend, the one who sticks closer than a brother, paid it all for you just so He could get to know you and call you a part of His family.

Psalm 25: 1-2 "O LORD, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness."

Thank You God, for Your perfect faithfulness to me, in including me as part of Your family through faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.

My Place of Peace

"He who loves

silver will not

be satisfied with silver;

Nor he who loves

abundance,

with increase.

This also is vanity."

Ecclesiastes

5:10


Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones had it right. Without Jesus, there is no satisfaction. They are only agree with Solomon, who said everything was vanity. Even if you have lots of money, or fame, or (you fill in the blank with what you think would make you happy.)

One pastor described it as the soul's "frantic search for happiness." We think, if only I had this thing or that thing, then I would be happy. But then somehow we get that thing, and in the back of our minds the nagging question remains, "Is this all there is?"

Been there, done that, too many times. It seems the more technologically advanced we are, there's less satisfaction even though we are "connected" with the whole wide world. I know of only one place I can return to to hear that still small voice of satisfaction, and it has nothing to do with what is going on around me, only on what is going on inside me. That is, I am in communion with God. Only there does my heart rest at peace. There is nowhere else I can run on this planet to receive that grace and peace.

And I can have that grace and peace anytime, anywhere, thanks to the great sacrifice Christ made to forever declare me right in God's presence. I didn't do anything to get right with God. I received it as a totally free gift. And just as I received that gift, the only way I make progress in my Christian life is not to strive to do, but again to receive it.

It is all about receiving from Him:

Colossians 2: 6-7 "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving."

I Cor. 4:7 "For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?"

John 14: 1-4 1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

There is peace in these words that tell me simply that My shepherd will take care of me in this world where there really is no satisfaction apart from Him.

"The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want."

I will be satisfied when I see His face, not in this world or its many distractions:

"As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness;
I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness." Psalm 17:15

I determine that God will be my place of peace today and my satisfaction. When life becomes confusing, all I need do is run back to Him. For He is there, waiting for me.

Speaking of grace and peace, check out my new book Sure Mercies: Hope for the Suffering, for stories of those who have gone before, who ran their race, and took the help God gave them through His Word to live as overcomers. It is available from 4RV Publishing.com, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.com.

The Trouble that Lifts us Closer to Heaven

"As you do not know what is

the way of the wind,

Or how the bones grow in

the womb of her

who is with child,

So you do not know

the works of God

who makes everything.

Ecclesiastes 11:5

Yesterday I wrote a blog post, but felt utterly unable to post it. The post wouldn't really reflect my true thoughts, because I was a hypocrite. It was one of those days when I woke up with a migraine and the day went downhill from there. You know, one of those ice-pack on the head kind of days?

By the end of the day, though, I saw once again the futility of trying to have things my way. I sought desperately for a fresh word of encouragement from God. I found an old writing, from 1659, on the BlueLetter Bible website, called The Mute Christian under the Smarting Rod by Thomas Brooks. Yes, I'd been under a smarting rod alright! Brooks' writing was antiquated, to be sure, but even the dedication resonated with me:

"To all afflicted and distressed, dissatisfied, disquieted, and discomposed Christians throughout the world.

(Yes, those words certainly described me...)

Dear Hearts,—The choicest saints are 'born to troubles as the sparks fly upwards’, Job v. 7. 'Many are the troubles of the righteous;' if they were many, and not troubles, then, as it is in the proverb, the more the merrier; or if they were troubles and not many, then the fewer the better cheer. But God, who is infinite in wisdom and matchless in goodness, hath ordered troubles, yea, many troubles to come trooping in upon us on every side. As our mercies, so our crosses seldom come single; they usually come treading one upon the heels of another; they are like April showers, no sooner is one over but another comes. And yet, Christians, it is mercy, it is rich mercy, that every affliction is not an execution, that every correction is not a damnation. The higher the waters rise, the nearer Noah's ark was lifted up to heaven; the more thy afflictions are increased, the more thy heart shall be raised heavenward."*
*Brooks' words italicized
http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/ipb-e/epl-10/web/brooks-mute-christian-01.html

I had just written something quoting that exact verse from Job, thinking about the many sparks have flown up during the course of my life. But Brooks said the troubles follow one another like April showers, but these troubles lift us up ever closer to heaven. If only I can believe that He is in the midst of them, with me. Even though I don't deserve it.

After arguing with my husband ( I hate to admit it), I was glad to see the day come to a close. I found a few freebie downloads for my Kindle, written by the hymn writer Frances Ridley Havergal. One of them was about the hymn (to which she wrote the lyrics) Take My Life and Let it Be. Havergal encouraged me in Chapter One when she wrote that we can't even trust our own trusting ourselves to Him, but we can trust Him to do in us that which we can't do for ourselves. In other words, He alone consecrates our lives to Him, if only we are willing. Once again, the word of His grace built me up.

I awoke this morning to the thought that this was a new day, and instead of wallowing for the bad day yesterday, the promises of God were ever fresh and new. I knew I didn't deserve anything from God, so it helped me to forget expecting anyone else to act deserving either. My headache was gone, too.

Christ's death on the cross for my personal sins, His burial and resurrection reminded me that I too, have resurrection life as a totally free gift. Every day is a fresh new day to start over, no matter how many times needed, looking away from myself and unto Him. As Thomas Brooks says, the multiple trials only draw my ark closer to Heaven. One day soon, time will be no more and all the things I got so worried and worked up over will no longer matter.

Only beholding Him will matter then. For:

"As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness;
I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness." (Psalm 17:15)

I hope these words may help someone else who has an ark of difficulties reaching toward heaven. If you want to read encouragement from stories of victorious Christians from all throughout the Church Age, you may want to check out my new book Sure Mercies: Hope for the Suffering available here: http://www.4rvpublishingcatalog.com/megan-vance.php and also on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sure-Mercies-Suffering-Megan-Vance/dp/1940310334/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1444347894&sr=1-1&keywords=sure+mercies