Harder Family

Harder Family

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Walking

Micah 6:8 "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

Deuteronomy 10:12 "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to Him, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.."

The two verses above come to my mind when I think about walking with the Lord. When you start to understand how Holy of a God we serve, you can't help but realize how insignificant we are apart from Him. It is amazing to see what a great work He did in drawing us to Himself and saving us from our sins. What results from all this knowledge is a reverent fear of who He is and a desire to walk in obedience to Him. How can you choose anything else when you truly understand what He did for you on the cross? God created us for His glory and He desires an intimate relationship with us. We are to love and serve Him with everything that is in us. God doesn't want a half-hearted life, He wants all of us! The girls and I were discussing this very thing during morning devotions. We were reviewing attributes of God. The attribute of God being jealous (El Kana) came up. Sophia reminded her sisters that God is jealous for our attention. He wants all of us, just like He wanted all of His people in the Old Testament. He didn't want them "following" Him while worshiping idols. The same is true for us today. Although we may not worship the idols of the Old Testament, many of us do have idols in our lives. Anything that takes our eyes away from God, even good things, are idols. We are to walk humbly with our God and give Him what He deserves...everything!! 

This morning I was reading out of "Behold Your God". I was reading about the church of Laodicea. This church had become lukewarm, neither hot or cold. God said that He would spit them out of His mouth. He said that they had become rich and prosperous and they said they didn't need anything. How much are we like that in America? We give lip service to the Lord, but our hearts are really far from Him as we pursue riches on this earth. Although we don't want to admit it, we have become like the church of Laodicea. We feel like we don't really need anything else, God is just an accessory or someone to go to when we are in need. The later part of Revelation is beautiful. Even though they had walked away and had their eyes drawn away from Him, He beckons them and says that He will give them true riches, He will clothe them from their nakedness, and He will put salve on their blind eyes. Revelation 3:19-20 then says, "Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me." 

God is calling each of us to examine our lives and repent. That is one thing that God has been working on in my life the past year. He has been humbling me and showing me ways that I have taken my eyes off of Him, how I put things above Him, and how I have not seen sin in my life for what it is...sin. But God is so rich in mercy and grace. He continually is patient with me and pursues and love me. It is humbling to think about all that He has done for me and how He graciously loves me. I love how God has worked on my heart so much this past year. Songs I used to sing halfheartedly, are now rich with meaning. God is still working on me, but it is amazing to reflect and see how much God has changed me. Some of my favorite songs right now are "My Heart is Yours", "White Flag", "Lord I Need You", "Behold Our God", "O Great God", and "Names of God". The theme of most of those songs are the person of God and surrendering all to Him. 

May God continue to help me run this race with perseverance, looking to Him, the one who endured the cross for my sin. Hebrews 12:1-3 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted."

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Update on Wayne:

So the theme of walking came up above because of Wayne's progress in the walking department. We are 10 days post-op, the amount of time the doctors told us it would probably take for Wayne to start to talk and move his right side. Instead, day 10 was a huge day for Wayne. He has been released from the use of his wheelchair. He can now maneuver around with just his God given legs and feet! His physical therapist decided that Wayne should have that release given when they gave him an agility test and Wayne scored 29 out of 30! The average score for men his age in normal health is 27 out of 30! He is doing exceptional. 

Wayne was also given an occupational test today. He scored 36 out of 36!! He keeps blowing the expectations and goals of his therapists. His speech is getting better, but he still has some work to go in that area. God is so good!! I'm thankful for Pete Oakley visiting Wayne every day during his lunch break. He then calls to give me an update on how Wayne is doing. That is very helpful since I'm unable to go see Wayne every day.

It is hard to believe how much progress Wayne has made in this short time. God is truly our Jehovah Rapha (our healer). I just rest in who He is and His great plan that is unfolding every day. When I start to fret about the next steps (chemo/radiation), I just remember how far God has taken him these past 10 days. He is faithful and will take care of everything in His time.

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