This little light of mine

But God’s walls surround us August 31, 2023

Isaiah 26:1, 3, 8, 12, 19 We are surrounded by the walls of our salvation. … You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! … Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart’s desire is to glorify your name. … Lord, you will grant us peace; all we have accomplished is really from you. … For your life-giving light will fall on your people like dew.

I woke up at 4:00 to the rhythms of my husband snoring beside me and my son snoring in the next tent over. My heart filled with thankfulness for these two men, for who they are, for the richness and depth and beauty of what each of them contributes to those around them.

On this early Saturday morning at Raccoon Creek State Park, almost a week ago now, the day before our 46^th anniversary, my mind wandered over God’s faithfulness to us, so amazing. Our marriage had every reason to fail, and honestly, but for David’s stubbornness and God’s grace, it would have. Our life together was off the charts traumatic and stressful for so many years that I came close to an emotional breakdown—long before I was diagnosed with PTSD after Karis’s death. Dave went through periods of depression. The kind where I might open the door to his office to ask him a question and find him lying on the floor in the dark staring blindly at the ceiling.

But God …

Friday evening our family had sat around the campfire singing silly songs, telling stories, even reciting “Jabberwocky.” We had joined our daughter Rachel singing “This Little Light of Mine,” which she had taught three-year-old Liliana to sing when she felt afraid of the dark. Valerie quickly followed with the Portuguese, “Minha pequena luz, vou deixar brilhar …”—so appropriate, because when Val was a teenager, her friends called her “Pequeno raio de luz”—little ray of light.

Here’s the thing: I could so easily have spoiled this precious time together. Not because I got distracted and the sausage hobo meals I had labored over with the “help” of Caleb and Talita—supper for ten of us—burnt to a crisp in the coals of Rachel’s fire. But because of my reaction to this fiasco.

Can you relate?

Everyone else took it in stride and ate more watermelon and s’mores made with Brian’s ginormous marshmallows. Caleb, Talita, and Liliana shrieked with laughter as Uncle Dan chased them around our tents. Baby Juliana blessed us with her marvelous smile and her enthusiasm for crawling not just in the grass but in the dirt.

I was so disappointed though that internally, all kinds of buttons were pushed—the perfectionist button, the “how could you” button, the “you are such a—” button, even the “could this be an early sign of Alzheimer’s” button. I was tempted to make my camp cooking failure an issue for the whole family. To make it about me.

Please tell me I’m not the only one to experience this temptation!

But God let me see instead the family laughing, talking, sharing what we did have to eat, even Cesar finding a consumable bite or two in the cinders of my burnt offering. The light of their smiles, each one of them, shone into the darkness of my heart and chased the shadows away.

This little light of mine … Minha pequena luz … surrounded me like a wall as Rachel and Valerie sang in the glow of the campfire Friday evening. I felt its protection still as I eased through the door of our tent into the dewy grass at the first lightening of the sky the next morning. As we hiked through the lovely woods and the kids swam in the lake. Even as we broke down our camp and said our goodbyes. And as Dave said “Happy anniversary” to me early Sunday.

Borrowing Isaiah’s words, Lord, you have granted us peace; all we have accomplished—even our emotional healing and growth—is really from you. My heart’s desire is to glorify your name.

This is our God

But God will remove the cloud of doom

Isaiah 25:7-9 God will remove the cloud of doom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. … In that day the people will proclaim, “This is our God! We trusted in him, and he saved us! Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings.”

Psalm 68:5 Father to the fatherless, defender of widows—this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.

Revelation 21:4 God himself will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.

To my surprise, when I walked into church yesterday, Josh was singing “Rock of Ages”! It had nothing to do with my last post–except for me. Josh chose the song based on Isaiah 51:1 and Matthew 16:18. You can listen to Kevin’s challenging sermon on those passages here. You might need to give Wes a day or two to post it.

But I felt chills. I don’t remember hearing that hymn sung in our church. It seemed God was saying back to me, “Remember what you just posted? You, Debbie, too easily forget the Rock who can hide you.”

On my mind was the strong sense that God wanted me to write something very difficult into Book 3, Facing the Faeries 1906, something I will weep over, in my emotional attachment to my characters. And for which I fear criticism and negative pushback. I need to write it this week–my personal little “cloud of doom.”

Shutterstock: Undrey

I took my dilemma to a prayer team. They understood that my challenge is to trust—to trust that God sets prisoners free and gives them joy—even the characters in this book to whom I am inordinately attached. Even me. This is what he does. God reminded me of my “year verse”: Be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while (1 Peter 1:6).

As you and I head into the challenges of this new week, let’s take a few minutes to reaffirm our trust in the Lord, and rejoice! Here are three artists to help us, each inspired by Isaiah’s words, “This is our God”:

Chris Tomlin

Phil Wickham

Hillsong

Still watching

But God is the Rock who can hide you

Isaiah 17:10, 18:4, 19:20-25, 24:5, 16 You have turned from the God who can save you. You have forgotten the Rock who can hide you. … For the Lord has told me this: “I will watch quietly from my dwelling place” … The earth suffers for the sins of its people, for they have twisted God’s instructions, violated his laws, and broken his everlasting covenant. My heart is heavy with grief. Deceit still prevails, and treachery is everywhere.

I love this story:

Our family hiked in the Grand Canyon. Dave and Dan (11) had gone on ahead, more ambitious than I was with our three girls, 6, 8, and 10. Suddenly torrential rain poured down on us and the trail became slippery. Should we keep going down or head back up? Not knowing how long this might last, we turned around. Struggling to keep our balance, sliding back as often as we managed progress forward and of course soaked through, we rounded a bend and saw other hikers huddled under a rock overhang. They squeezed together to make room for us. Exhausted and shivering, I watched the grandeur of the tsunami pummeling the valley before us, vaguely aware that one family, with three teenagers, spoke French. Karis focused all her attention on trying to understand what they were saying.

When the storm eased, the mother of the French family, without attempting conversation, took Karis’s and Rachel’s hands and started with them up the trail. This stranger’s kindness freed me to give all my strength to helping little Valerie manage the slick climb. All I knew to say when we reached the top was “Merci. Merci beaucoup.”

Back home in Brazil, Karis started teaching herself French, an interest she pursued through college (adding Spanish and Arabic as well to her Portuguese and English). She was thrilled in high school to be able to visit France, the homeland of that lovingly remembered family.

A cleft in a rock during a storm yielded so much more than just shelter!

As I read Isaiah 17-24 it seemed eerily like today’s news. Syria. Israel. Ethiopia. Egypt. Iraq. Turkey. Jordan. Arabia. Palestine. These places, says Isaiah, are “watched quietly by the Lord” in the hope they will turn to him, away from their greed and selfishness and violence, and be spared anguish and destruction. God’s heart, broken by their betrayal of his covenant of love, is on full display. He longs to be known and for the people to follow his ways of peace and justice.

2,750 years later, we’re no different, are we? God still gives us freedom to decide. He invites us to know and follow him, instead of independently following our own way, suffering the consequences of our foolish choices. He still “watches quietly,” deeply desiring to bless us, wherever we live, whatever language we speak and whatever culture has formed us.

One day, Isaiah 24:14-16 promises:

All who are left will shout and sing for joy.

Those in the west praise the Lord’s majesty.

In eastern lands give glory to the Lord.

In the lands beyond the sea, praise the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

We hear songs of praise from the ends of the earth,

songs that give glory to the Righteous One!

My song of praise TODAY echoes back through the centuries to gladden God’s heart. I want to remember the place of refuge he offers me in stormy moments. Don’t you? We can hide our souls under the shelter of the Rock of ages as thunder crashes around us.

Here’s a bonus: The Story Behind “Rock of Ages”:

As the young minister traveled through the rugged country near England’s Cheddar Gorge, the clouds burst and torrential sheets of rain pummeled the earth. The weary traveler was able to find shelter standing under a rocky overhang. There, protected from the buffeting wind and rain, Augustus Toplady conceived one of the most popular hymns ever written, “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.”

In March 1776 Toplady published the hymn as part of an article in The Gospel Magazine, which he edited. He wrote that just as England could never pay her national debt, so man could never by his own merits satisfy the justice of God. In the middle of the article, he burst into song, printing for the first time the hymn “Rock of Ages”, which so ably describes Christ, the Rock of Ages, as the remedy for all our sin.

Augustus Toplady died of consumption [tuberculosis] at the age of 38. As he neared the end Toplady proclaimed, “My heart beats every day stronger and stronger for glory. Sickness is no affliction, pain no cause, death itself no dissolution…My prayers are now all converted into praise.”

For the Nations, by Claire Kornfield, Dallas, Texas

But God will rule with mercy and truth

Isaiah 15:5, 7, 8, 16:2-5 My heart weeps for Moab … their cries of distress can be heard. … The people grab their possessions and carry them … A cry of distress echoes through the land from one end to the other. … The women of Moab are left like homeless birds. “Help us,” they cry. … Let our refugees stay among you. Hide them from our enemies until the terror is past. When oppression and destruction have ended … then God will rule with mercy and truth. He will always do what is just and eager to do what is right.

Congratulations to Spain for playing the “beautiful game” so beautifully!

Since Isaiah continues the theme of refugees, I want to tell you about For the Nations, https://ftnro.org/ “Refugee Care that Changes Lives,” in Dallas, Texas. Our niece Claire Kornfield works fulltime with For the Nations teaching refugee children. Here’s what Claire says:

The nations are coming to us as refugees and God’s hand is at work in this. It is now shockingly easy to share the Gospel with people from cultures where Jesus is little known.

To understand this ministry, it is helpful to know what a refugee is. Refugees are people who were in grave danger in their home country. These dangers often arise because of race, religion, or politics. They flee from their home country and generally end up in refugee camps in a second country where they apply for refugee status with the United Nations. These camps can be very unsafe themselves. They usually remain in the camps for a minimum of a year and a half, but some have been known to be trapped there for 20 years. Some refugees are eventually, after much vetting, invited by the United States to come and live here as permanent, legal residents. This process of getting to the United States is very long and painful.

And it is just the beginning. Once they arrive here, they usually do not speak English. They also may not know how to read, drive, use a washing machine, go to the doctor, find a job, etc. They are given about three months of housing by the government (which they must pay back) and after that, need to provide for themselves.

This is very overwhelming and does not even touch on the traumas they have likely also endured. But it is exactly at this overwhelming and terrible moment that the people of God have the opportunity to be His hands and feet and welcome the sojourner.

At For the Nations: Refugee Outreach we do this by focusing on education, family services, and sharing the Gospel. For education, we offer English and GED classes for adults and accompanying preschool/childcare for their little ones. This helps the adults get jobs and prepares their young children for kindergarten. We also offer homework help for older children after school. And in the summer (my favorite time of year), we run a program that is something like a cross between summer school and vacation Bible school for about eight weeks.

Family services include: helping them find a job, get a car, learn to drive, understand what to do with speeding tickets, learn how the bus system works, learn how to get medical help, etc. At times family services involve helping protect refugees from those who would exploit them, such as teaching them their rights and helping them with wrongful evictions.

We try to include sharing the Gospel in all of our programs. As I’ve already said, this is surprisingly easy. The founder of For the Nations began by simply tutoring children after school at their apartment complex. She asked their parents if she could also tell the children about Jesus and they readily agreed. We have a time for a Bible lesson in our adult and children’s classes. Additionally, we have Bible studies for seekers or those who are already believers.

I really believe that refugees in this country are an example where “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” We have large wait-lists for our English classes and homework help program because we do not have enough staff or volunteers. These are missed opportunities of people who would willingly come and let us tell them about Jesus, but who we have to turn away; there are many such missed opportunities across this country.

Staff like me raise support like missionaries. We are able to do this missional work because churches and individuals partner with us in serving and sharing the Gospel. There are now many refugees in this country and what I want to say most is, “Seize the opportunity!” Maybe you can volunteer, tutor, teach, or befriend. And if you can’t, maybe you can support someone who does. I serve in Dallas and, personally, would be grateful for prayer or financial support (This link can be used for financial support: https://ftnro.org/claire/). However, it may be equally or more important to find or create services for refugees to support in your own city.

Where we live

First, a Luciene update: She’s going home!! From Pittsburgh to Brazil TODAY (well, arriving tomorrow–it’s a long trip).

The doctor cleared her at a checkup Tuesday to begin putting her foot on the ground, which will help a whole lot with getting into and out of airplane seats. We’re still waiting on a response from the medical center re. their petition for mercy with the incredibly high costs of her surgery and care. I’ll let you know when we find out! Thanks to those who have wanted to help!!

But God will have mercy

Isaiah 13:13, 14:1, 3, 30 “I will shake the heavens” … But the Lord will have mercy … In that wonderful day the Lord will give his people rest from sorrow and fear.

We don’t have to imagine “sorrow and fear.” We see it described and displayed in the news every day. Isaiah 13 and 14 are passages I want to skip over, just like I want to bury my head and block my ears from the atrocities and waste of life and devastation and trauma going on all over the world. I’m sure you do too.

How interesting that in the middle of destruction and despair, Isaiah chose to relate the story of Lucifer’s fall—“the shining star, son of the morning,” he who destroyed the nations of the world and made them into a wasteland, thrown down to earth from heaven (Isaiah 14:12-17). Lucifer’s actions sound all too familiar.

But God says, “I will feed the poor in my pasture; the needy will lie down in peace.” How long, Lord, until we see you do this, in Ukraine, in Afghanistan and Sudan and Ethiopia and Niger, in Venezuela and all the other places pouring refugees into the world seeking safety, sustenance, refuge, healing from trauma?

Though I wrote “How long, Lord,” people around the world and in our own country, my own city, are feeding the poor and providing safe refuge for victims of Lucifer-followers. Our church, as just one example, “adopted” two refugee families this year, partnering with “Hello Neighbor.” https://www.helloneighbor.io/ We have missionaries-in-residence, the Behrens family, working fulltime to reach out to refugee communities in Pittsburgh. Daniel Behrens preached last Sunday, inviting us to name our fears to the One who calms the storm—you can listen to his wonderful sermon here.

And because our church is located in an international neighborhood, thanks to the universities and medical center, our ESL program has a long waiting list of people wanting English classes. Dozens of people in the church contribute time to conversation, outings, hospitality, and Bible studies with those who want deeper engagement with us than just learning English. Lawyers in the church are available to help with legal issues. Children are cared for with love.

It’s all part of the working out of a vision God gave the church several years ago, of light pouring from our building to bless those around us.

So, though we still long for that “wonderful day” of complete rest from sorrow and fear, of final peace, we can meanwhile, today, align with the Lord’s work of providing refuge to oppressed people (verse 32), wherever God has placed us.

My strength and my song

But God gives victory

Isaiah 12:4 Praise his name! TELL the nations what he has done. Let them know how mighty he is!

This is one of the texts which motivated me to write Karis’s story and to begin this blog.

So, what has the Lord done for you? Remember and Tell! You can use this blog to TELL, to honor him. Send me your one-page story—or song!

Your story matters! It’s an essential part of the great weaving of a tapestry of praise through history and around the world.

Woman weaving in Sololá, Guatemala Shutterstock: Jose de Jesus Churion Del

Dr. Dan Allender, in To Be Told, says there’s also a huge benefit for our future when we remember and tell our stories: “God wants to reveal himself through your story. … As you gain a clear sense of how God has written your life so far, you will see how he is leading you … He asks you to join him in coauthoring the rest of your story.”

In Nebaj, Guatemala, where I grew up, women tell their stories through their weavings. Image by Picasa

Isaiah’s song is so beautiful, I want you to enjoy the whole thing. Notice how he weaves the past into the present and future. Because of what God has done, I praise him today and trust him for tomorrow—and when today becomes tomorrow, I will have yet more to praise him for.

I will praise you, O Lord!

“God has come to save me.

I will trust in him and not be afraid.

The Lord God is my strength and my song;

He has given me victory.”

With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation!

In that wonderful day you will sing:

“Thank the Lord! Praise his name!

Tell the nations what he has done.

Let them know how mighty he is!

Sing to the Lord, for he has done wonderful things.

Make known his praise around the world.

Let all the people of Jerusalem shout his praise with joy!

For great is the Holy One of Israel who lives among you” [Immanuel!]

(In relation to this song, see also Exodus 15, Psalm 118, John 4:14, Revelation 22:17)

Verse 3 reminds me of Brazilian Ana Paula Valadão’s beautiful song “Águas Purificadoras” (Purifying Waters). I found her singing it in English!

The Same Spirit

But God shows us what he values

Isaiah 11:1-2 Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him.

Romans 8:10-11 Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.

Colossians 2:9 For in Christ lives all the fulness of God in a human body.

When Dave and I had to cut down our once-beautiful dying tree, we asked for a stump to be left, hoping new growth would come from it. There’s no sign of this happening, and I have grieved the loss of this tree, the birds who nested there, the swing for my grandchildren that hung from its branches.

Trunk of our beautiful tree

King David’s family tree looked dead too. The last king in David’s line, Zedekiah, described as a rebellious, hard, and stubborn man (2 Chronicles 36:13), was blinded after seeing his sons slaughtered in front of him, bound in chains, and taken away to Babylon in 586 BC, where he died (2 Kings 25:5-7).

But God, in the time of his own choosing, by his Spirit created new life in the womb of a descendant of David’s family. His own Son, bearing DNA of David.

The first 39 chapter of Isaiah are not popular like the last half of the book—they seem too full of judgment and predictions of destruction. But nestled between the Assyrians and the Babylonians we find chapters 11 and 12, jewels of joy.

What strikes me as I read these lovely words again this morning is the fact that the Spirit that rested on Jesus—described in Isaiah 11:2-5—is the same Spirit who filled the apostles on Pentecost and the same Spirit poured out on us, you and me, when we open our hearts to him. Isaiah 11 tells us what this Spirit is like: wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

And the next verses describe the person (Jesus) in whom will live all of God, by his Spirit:

He will delight in obeying the Lord
He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay
He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited
The earth will shake at the force of his word (see Matthew 27:51—one of Jesus’ words on the cross was, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing”)
He will destroy wickedness (see Romans 6:6-11) and create a world where enemies will no longer harm each other
He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment (see Ephesians 6:14)
He will be a banner of salvation to all the world; nothing will be hurtful or destructive as people know the Lord
He will make a highway for his people to return to him (John 14:6)

Other sections of Isaiah add to this description, including from our last chapter, 9:6-7 “He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace …”

So, what’s my takeaway today, as I sit in awe of Jesus and the Spirit of God in him? I can’t make myself be like him. What I can do is submit to the Spirit of God and ask him to cleanse and fill me and produce in me his fruit (Isaiah 11:1), the fruit so evident in Jesus: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives (Galatians 5:24-25).

Thank you, Isaiah, for “Speaking Jesus.”

Justice. Hope.

But God is passionately committed to fairness and justice

Isaiah 10:1-2 What sorrow awaits the unjust judges and those who issue unfair laws. They deprive the poor of justice and deny the rights of the needy among my people. …The Lord, the Light of Israel, will be a fire; the Holy One will be a flame. … In that day the Lord will end the bondage of his people. He will break the yoke of slavery and lift it from their shoulders.

Isaiah 9:7 He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen! [See Matthew 1:1, 4:16, 28:18; Luke 1:32-33, 1 Corinthians 4:24-28]

Romans 8:21 With eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.

Revelation 21:4 God will wipe every tear from their eyes.

How could we endure the daily news if not for the promises of passages like these? I don’t know about you, but for me it’s so overwhelming that I can develop a “thick skin”–compassion fatigue–to protect myself from feeling all the pain.

Yet if we’re aligned with God’s passion for justice, I think each of us has a part to play. A small part, that may feel completely insignificant. But that’s not the point of our obedience to what God calls each of us individually and as congregations to allow into our hearts, our prayers, our pocketbooks, our time and energy.

What is your small part?

Lyrics of Still Will I Love You (A Song for Refugees):

Give me strength, give me hope
And I won’t suffer alone
The God who was and is to come
Break the silence with Your song
Oh, oh, oh, ohh, I can hear You singing
Oh, oh, oh, oh-ohh
Give me justice, give me peace
You are everything we need
The God who made the sky and sea
Of Your goodness, I will sing
Oh, oh, oh, ohh, I can hear You singing
Oh, oh, oh, oh-ohh, no, I won’t stop singing
Oh, oh, oh, ohh, I can hear You singing
Oh, oh, oh, oh-ohh
Still will I love, still will I love
Still will I love You more
Still will I love, still will I love
Still will I love You more