• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Stephanie J Thompson

exploring sacred connections with God and each otherr

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Mental Health Resources
  • Speaking

Thursday Thoughts: Embracing God's Mercies

June 26, 2017 by Stephanie Leave a Comment

Tweet
Share
Share
Pin


Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23
Doctors appointments,  tracking meds, giving attention to all your children, teacher meetings, frustrating hours of homework, facing emotional outbursts, plus the regular routines of the day…,  Oh, those days sometimes seem unbearable.  It takes every ounce of energy to move forward with every detail of the day.  There are seasons in our lives when these days, which beat to no rhythm in particular, seem to continue day after day.  For some, it’s a matter of weeks.  For others- months or even years.  During this season, how easy it can be to be vulnerable to our own sinful choices: snapping at another family member, impatience with medical staff,  not giving your best to your spouse…
Yet, in the midst of the challenges, we are offered the compassions of our merciful God. This was the hope clung to by the writer of Lamentations.  He writes these words as he is in the midst of a life of despair, exhaustion and fear.  At the beginning of each day, when the alarm goes off and the uncertainty of a new day greets you, the Lord has already bestowed you with the mercies to get through another day.  Receive them. Receive them and let them transform you.
What is the rhythm of your life like right now?  Erratic?  Steady?
How do you feel knowing that you are granted God’s mercies everyday?
Dear Lord, 
We receive the promise given to us in your Word.  We claim your compassions.  The same compassions offered to those who have struggled before us. You know our struggles, our physical and emotional abilities and our temptations.  We thank you for your unending mercies and grace which intersect the rhythm of our lives.  .

Tweet
Share
Share
Pin

Filed Under: Sacred Connections

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

When my first child was born 20 plus years ago, I envisioned taking just a few years off from my role as Pastor of Youth and Family. While that didn’t exactly unfold as expected, God used my gifts and skills in other ways. Read More…

Member of Redbud Writers Guild

Follow me!

Follow me!
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Never Miss a Post

Top Posts

  • Helping Your Kids Define Success on Their Own Terms
    Helping Your Kids Define Success on Their Own Terms
  • Thirteen Years Flew by in a Blink But God Was Aware of it All
    Thirteen Years Flew by in a Blink But God Was Aware of it All

s2thomp

Instagram post 17913282691674085 Instagram post 17913282691674085
"This moment for Jesus is a far cry from the one o "This moment for Jesus is a far cry from the one on the mountain. There, he stood with his two closest friends- Peter and John. There, God’s presence was affirmed in the bright cloud which appeared overhead. There, God’s voice proclaimed publicly, ““This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”

Now, God’s presence does not appear in such a tangible form. God’s voice is silent. No public affirmation of his identity. No reminder that he is God’s beloved." Read the rest: www.stephaniejthompson.com

#goodfriday #stephaniejthompson
“Then Jesus went with them to a place called Get “Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. Then he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” Mark 14:36-39.

He arrived at this moment baring his vulnerability. The implications of his possible next steps weighed heavily upon him. All of his being: mind, body, spirit. Divine yet human. Sitting in emotions does not equal sin. Crying out to his father demonstrated trust even in this dark moment. It witnesses to the intimacy of their relationship. God can hold us in all spaces and places.

The question Jesus asks sits with us because we have all been there. As Tish Harrison Warren writes in Prayer of the Night, “We don’t get to choose our preferred crosses or resurrections.” Embracing life in the Kingdom Jesus ushered in transforms us. Like Jesus promised, it is an abundant life. But not without it’s sorrows. Because the identity of being Theotokoi (God Bearers) means laying down our lives as daily rhythms.

 So we demonstrate, by transparently living our moments, the tension of living in this place of in between. But sometimes, the reality of the tension overwhelms our senses. We cry out in our anguished humanity for the cup to pass from our hands in the midst of fear, and uncertainty about the path forward.: Illness, loss, advocating for the marginalized, death.

But we can also cling to the hope in God who hears us, holds us, and sees the redemption at work in ways we cannot. All while entering into our moments of despair with a love that knows no bounds of time, space, expectation. Jesus took the cup. And we can because he did.

#Redbud writer #gardenofgethsemane #maundythursday #trustingod #stephaniejthompson
#stopasianhate #stephaniejthompson #webelongtoeach #stopasianhate #stephaniejthompson #webelongtoeachother #
Load More... Follow on Instagram
My Tweets

Archives

Categories

  • Advent
  • Easter
  • five minute friday
  • Help! This was not in the book!
  • Sacred Connections

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 6 other subscribers

Footer

Portfolio

s2thomp

Instagram post 17913282691674085 Instagram post 17913282691674085
"This moment for Jesus is a far cry from the one o "This moment for Jesus is a far cry from the one on the mountain. There, he stood with his two closest friends- Peter and John. There, God’s presence was affirmed in the bright cloud which appeared overhead. There, God’s voice proclaimed publicly, ““This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”

Now, God’s presence does not appear in such a tangible form. God’s voice is silent. No public affirmation of his identity. No reminder that he is God’s beloved." Read the rest: www.stephaniejthompson.com

#goodfriday #stephaniejthompson
“Then Jesus went with them to a place called Get “Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. Then he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” Mark 14:36-39.

He arrived at this moment baring his vulnerability. The implications of his possible next steps weighed heavily upon him. All of his being: mind, body, spirit. Divine yet human. Sitting in emotions does not equal sin. Crying out to his father demonstrated trust even in this dark moment. It witnesses to the intimacy of their relationship. God can hold us in all spaces and places.

The question Jesus asks sits with us because we have all been there. As Tish Harrison Warren writes in Prayer of the Night, “We don’t get to choose our preferred crosses or resurrections.” Embracing life in the Kingdom Jesus ushered in transforms us. Like Jesus promised, it is an abundant life. But not without it’s sorrows. Because the identity of being Theotokoi (God Bearers) means laying down our lives as daily rhythms.

 So we demonstrate, by transparently living our moments, the tension of living in this place of in between. But sometimes, the reality of the tension overwhelms our senses. We cry out in our anguished humanity for the cup to pass from our hands in the midst of fear, and uncertainty about the path forward.: Illness, loss, advocating for the marginalized, death.

But we can also cling to the hope in God who hears us, holds us, and sees the redemption at work in ways we cannot. All while entering into our moments of despair with a love that knows no bounds of time, space, expectation. Jesus took the cup. And we can because he did.

#Redbud writer #gardenofgethsemane #maundythursday #trustingod #stephaniejthompson
#stopasianhate #stephaniejthompson #webelongtoeach #stopasianhate #stephaniejthompson #webelongtoeachother #
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Categories

  • Advent
  • Easter
  • five minute friday
  • Help! This was not in the book!
  • Sacred Connections

Copyright © 2021 · Author Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in