Riverside International Church Ladies Ministry, July Letter

Hello Ladies,

I pray that these thoughts will in some way minister to your heart.

Each morning, I would wake to see the fog lying low in the valley. The trees, fields, and river below were captured in it’s cloud of white and completely disappeared into its beauty. I would watch from above, taking in the majesty of the sight. I readied myself for my morning run and ran down the street to enter its presence. The surreal landscape changed by the cloud that hung overhead. The quiet faintly disturbed by the soft strike of my shoe on the blacktopped trail and the consistent pattern of my breath in the cool morning air.

I loved my time in the fog. What looked so dense from above, was translucent within. The birds would sing, sometimes a deer would dart out. The air was cool compared to that above, back at our house.

Do you have a favorite place where you feel close to God? When we lived in Iowa and I was running every day, I loved the days when I would wake to the beauty of the fog below. It always reminded me of Isaiah’s vision of the Lord, one of my favorite passages of the Bible.

Isaiah 6: 1-4   1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 

2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly.

3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

Can you see. it? The layer of fog filling the valley was my vision of God’s train filling his temple. As I entered into his presence my heart would want to sing out the old hymn,

Holy, holy, holy

Lord, God Almighty

Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee

Holy, holy, holy

Merciful and mighty

God in three persons blessed Trinity

Holy, holy, holy

Though the darkness hide Thee

Though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see

Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee

Perfect in power, in love, and purity

Holy, holy, holy

Lord, God Almighty

All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth and sky and sea

Holy, holy, holy

Merciful and mighty

God in three persons blessed Trinity

Songwriters: John B. Dykes / Reginald Heber / George S. Schuler

What happens when we lose sight, when we seem to be living through a drought? There is no moisture to establish the fog, no water to foster our vision of his presence. What happens when we feel far from his presence, unable to see the “vision” of God? We look out upon dry land and our soul feels parched for his presence. How do I find God when the cloud of his presence is a fog so thick that one can not seem to find Him in its midst? God’s Word tells us that David also struggled with times of feeling like God was distant.

Psalm 42: 1 “As a deer panteth for the water so my soul panteth after thee,” is actually written in a time of struggle, a time of “soul” drought. A time when David’s soul was “cast down.” And yet what did he do? Read Psalm 42 and see that the rest of the chapter is addressing his search for an aching soul. David reminded himself of when he was praising God with an earnest and upright heart. Several times in this chapter David asked himself, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Yet, each time he responded: “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”

Blessed be the Lord God Almighty. May we be awestruck before you as David, as Isaiah, and as Moses was when he saw the burning bush.

Exod. 3:2  And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.

3: Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.

4: So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

5: Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”

6: Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

What a remarkable comparison between reactions! Isaiah responds to God’s presence, Isaiah 6:5:, So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.”

Awestruck – Aware of their place, their human frailty standing before God.   Holy, holy, holy, Lord GodAlmighty. Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee…

Thank you Father God for allowing us to see a bit of heaven on earth. Thank you that your creation points us to you. Thank you that if we open our eyes, you are there before us, loving us, comforting us, showing us your very presence. Thank you for the flowers that bloom, the babies who laugh (and cry), the children who grow, the glimpses of your creativity in the design of your diverse animal kingdom, the snow on the peaks of mountains, the fog below my home. Father, thank you for your Word that points us to you, to your Son, to your glory and grace. May we look upon your creation each day and be awestruck by you. May we read your Word and be brought into your presence. May we sit/run/walk in stillness before you, listening to your Word, allowing it to penetrate and change our hearts. Oh Father, may we be in awe of you, recognizing that you are God. Dear Lord Jesus, help us each to find a sanctuary where we see and feel your presence. May we see your train fill the temple as we see the fog in the valleys below. May our eyes lift to You, “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6b

If you are in a season of drought, may you see him in the small things of life. Let us pray for one another, that we will feel His holy presence and give him the glory He is due.

Blessings,

Linda Moehring

Greetings Riverside Ladies,

My name is Linda Moehring and I am a teacher at Greater Lisbon Christian Academy in Ramada, Portugal. My husband and I took early retirement 4 years ago, sold our home, placed our belongings into storage, and moved to the Lisbon area to teach at GLCA, where we felt that the Lord and directed us. We have since been teaching at GLCA during all or part of the last few school years. We have 3 grown children at home in the US who are all married. We have 11 grandchildren and another to be born just before we return to Lisbon in early September. Our immediate families reside in 3 states, Illinois, Wisconsin, and New Mexico. Chuck’s sister and her husband and his 98 year old mother live in the state of Oregon. Needless to say, when we return home for our summers we spend most of our time traveling to see our families.

I have been asked to be a part of the email message ministry and I am pleased to share with you what the Lord laid on my heart earlier this spring, and still has me pondering.

Reading and studying Beth Moore’s, Whispers of Hope: 10 Weeks of Devotional Prayer, I ran across a verse that totally stopped me in my tracks. 1 Thessalonians 5: 23-24. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will surely do it.

I stopped and read it again. 1 Thessalonians 5: 23-24. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless a the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Clunk………Screech……..Halt.

I suddenly was stopped in my tracks. How many times have I read through God’s Word and not really really consider what each of the words meant? I stopped and thought, I think I know what spirit is, I know what body is, but what is meant by soul and how can my soul be kept blameless? This had me totally stumped. I started a concordance search and looked up many verses including Deuteronomy 5:5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  Two of the 3 ways to love God were different in this verse, obviously meaning that we can’t interchange them with any of the above.

Now I was really in a quandary. God gives us a command to love him with all of our soul and I was struggling with what that means.

This one word took me on a quest to better understand what God’s Word means in the use of “soul.” After the concordance search, I next studied Charles Ryrie’s, Basic Theology and was almost as confused after my study as I was when I began. So I thought that I would take this question to the staff. This worked out perfect as I had staff devotions the following week at GLCA. During staff devotions I threw out my question and my quest and asked the staff to help me with defining “body”, “soul”, and “spirit”. As with myself, body was easy, spirit was a bit more difficult and sure enough, “soul”, as a whole, had the group somewhat at a loss for how to define it.

Ah, the elusive “soul.” We all have one, but how many of us can actually define it and how it differs from spirit and body?

I am going to regress here for a moment to let you in on a battle that I have struggled with in order to write this message. I had a computer with a non-working keyboard. When this was finally taken care of (not easy with our constant travel) I have since come down with a very powerful sinus and throat infection which is leaving me wanting to sleep non-stop. This of course doesn’t work very well for someone with a writing deadline. As I was laying in bed, desiring to get this message out to you, God provided a small whisper.

Love me… love me… love me. Is it possible that it doesn’t matter right now, this very moment that I still can’t define soul? What God wants is my undivided love. Is he speaking to me somewhat like he spoke to Peter in John 21: 15-17. Or is he speaking to my desire to love him more, addressing a deep frustration that I have wrestled with throughout this past year.

Oh Lord, may we be like King David who loved you in such a way that your word tells us that there are none that love you like he loved you. Acts 13:22 “And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.”

Oh Father, may I pant for You, for your Holy Spirit. Be alive and awake in me. May I be like David and know that I need you as much as I need water, as much as I need air. Psalm 42. Father, I emerge into your waves, into your streams that crash over me.  Your billows and waves overwhelm me, but Father God, you give me a song for my heart. You give me words to praise you, to provide a prayer to the living God.

May we all be willing to follow the paths of learning that God places in front of us. May we be willing to search His Word to know his ways. Join me as together we look for new perspectives that aren’t what we previously thought. “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Psalm  119:105. May we never be complacent.

Blessings,

Linda Moehring