Category Archives: Refined by the Word

Because with me, there is almost always a P.S. <3

January 27, 2020Musings of a blonde brain, Refined by the Word, Take Him at His Wordlaura

We had a full weekend. One of those where I was gone from home most of Saturday and Sunday both.

Which means I have a full page of things I want to accomplish today and I also want to move slowly because I am a bit tuckered…and that is my excuse for a late posting time today!

I know last week I posted a two part thought gleaned from the last chapters of Exodus, but as my family will tell you…there is almost always an addendum or P.S. or one more thing comment in conversations with me.

So today I am sharing one final thought (for now) on Exodus because this morning I moved right on in to Leviticus. Woot!

Going back to Exodus 30, we read about the blending of both the Anointing Oil and the Sacred Incense that would be used in the Tabernacle and on the priests.

A specific recipe was given for both of these and clear instructions about how they were to be used and applied, but there is also a warning attached to these concoctions.

In verses 31-33 and 37-38, God commands that no one make a copy of these two blends for personal or other use.

I am sharing the verses so we can be clear about His wording:

For the oil:

Tell the Israelites: This will be [My] holy anointing oil throughout your generation. It must not be used for ordinary anointing on a person’s body, and you must not make anything like it using its formula. It is holy and it must be holy to you. Anyone who blends something like it or puts some of it on an unauthorized person must be cut off from his people.
Exodus 30: 31-33 CSB with my capitalization added.

For the incense:

As for the incense you are to making, you must not take any for yourselves using its formula. It is to be regarded by you as holy – belonging to the LORD. Anyone who makes something like it to smell its fragrance must be cut off from his people.
Exodus 30: 37-38 CSB

I can spend some time meditating on the various aspects of God being holy and set apart and not like us that this passage spells out, but I also have to recognize the unchanging nature of humanity and how very much we can relate to this ancient people and how relevant God’s Word remains in addressing humanity.

We understand this so well, you and I.

I will just use myself in some examples and if you can’t relate to any of these I pray God will show you today how you are really a lot like me and the Israelites and all the sons and daughters of mankind.

I hug a friend at church and immediately ask what perfume she is wearing. I love it and I think about it and I either go purchase it or ask for it as a gift.

I walk past the coffee shop as they are grinding beans or the bakery as the fresh loaves come out of the oven and I go in and buy the drink…or the food.

My friend knits a sweet baby blanket or hat and I want to make one.

Someone posts a picture of a graphic t-shirt under a flannel top and I am googling Amazon because I have the flannel shirt, but I need the rest of the look.

God knows us.

We want what we want when we want it.

The incense and anointing oil for the purpose of honoring Him were going to be good.

Very good.

Good to senses…good for the body…and just out of reach.

Sound familiar?

As I add a small smear of an oil called Blue Tansy to my night cream before bed, I inhale it deeply. There is something about the scent of it that I just love.

Imagine if God told me that He had set that particular oil aside for only His Holy use and asked me to refrain from using it to help ease my dry areas and plump my sad little wrinkles?

I would have a bit of a challenge wouldn’t I?

I would have to intentionally choose to forego something I love just because God asked me to set it apart for Himself.

And what if the whole reason He was doing this wasn’t because He is selfish and wants all the good stuff for Himself, but rather…He is the best stuff and He is so far above me that I have no idea how wonderful He is and He wants me to want Him more than the shiny things of this world.

Interesting to think about, isn’t it?

Bless you today as you ponder what God might be revealing to you about Himself and about us in His Word <3

Exodus Part 2…Just like asking for a snack <3

January 24, 2020Encouragement, Refined by the Word, Take Him at His Wordlaura

I am reading through Exodus this week and I mean deep in Exodus. The past few days have been the details of the sacrifices and the Ten Commandments and then the plans and directions and patterns for the Tabernacle.

It is incredible to me to read the intricate instructions and to think about the craftsmanship required for the metal work, hardware, curtains, coverings and garments for the priests. There are recipes for incense and directions for embroidery along with specific gem stones to be cut, engraved and placed in filigree settings of gold. Quite honestly, it makes my head spin.

I am such a blend of learning styles I want to grab a ruler and pencil and chart out the dimensions and I have googled the colors and various items that would make up the patterns in fabric and such.

It is stretching me to visualize this nation of people, fresh from escaping slavery and in the middle of nowhere, making all of these items that would take one of us years and years to learn the art.

How on earth?

They made bricks and tended animals and were oppressed for a long time. And here they were weaving pomegranates and almond blossoms into curtains and hems.

The secret of their ability is given in Exodus 28:3 and 31: 1-11. God filled certain people with the wisdom and skills to be able to do this magnificent and highly technical work. He filled them with His Spirit to do these things.

It makes me think about how much we need God’s Spirit in us to fill us so we are equipped to do the things He has purposed us to do with excellence.

In Matthew 7:9-12 God compares asking Him for His Spirit to fill us to a child asking for food.

We know how this works.

Around 3:00 on days I watch our four grandchildren, I can guarantee you all four of them are going to ask for a snack.

Their lunch was digested long ago and they are hungry. Dinner is a long way off in their minds and so they do what kids have done since there were kids under adults feet. They lobby for something to fill their tummies before they head off to play.

When I am watching them I am careful to give them something with a little protein and not much carbs or sugar so they have energy to get them through til dinner without ruining their appetites. And I certainly wouldn’t give them something harmful.

And that is how God tells us to ask for His Spirit. The kids ask for a snack because they have a need and they know I can fill it AND they know I won’t give them a rock or a snake…or something that is bad for them.

In the same way, God hopes we realize our lack and emptiness and call out to Him for what we need.

He instructs us to acknowledge our need and to recognize He is the only one who has the resources to meet and exceed our expectations.

We are to simply ask God for His Spirit because we need it and want it…we are lacking something that is necessary for us to live and do what needs to be done…and we can trust He will give it to us and it will be good for us and will not harm us.

Why do we overcomplicate it?

Imagine what we could be doing with excellence if we would just ask God to fill us with His Spirit and make us fit to do the things He has put on our hearts to do.

Try it.

Ask earnestly for the filling of His Spirit into you.

I can’t wait to see what happens <3

Exodus musings Part 1 <3

January 23, 2020Musings of a blonde brain, Refined by the Word, Take Him at His Wordlaura

I have in mind something I want to send out tomorrow but it is churning in my brain so much, I decided to break it into two parts.

As you know if you stop by here fairly regularly, I am committed to reading through the Bible this year.

Since I know me, and I have looked at our calendar for the next few months, and reading through the bible isn’t my first “rodeo”… I am reading ahead right now because I will be facing some weeks in February and March where I might need to have some slack built in.

That being said, I am in Exodus 30-33 today and if you are reading through with me and are behind that, DO NOT…I repeat DO NOT… get discouraged or feel you are behind.

Take a breath. You are fine…carry on with your plan and just humor me with my musings for where I am currently reading.

I have some observations after having spent the last few days on Mt Sinai with Moses and in no particular order, here they are:

<3 God gives extremely detailed directions on every single aspect of design and engineering of the building of the Tabernacle.

Every time I read through this section, my head spins. I am one of those people who has multiple learning style dysfunction.

I need to see it, hear it and do it before I get it.

I am thankful to live in the age of YouTube tutorials if you get my drift.

Many times I have to pull up a knitting video as I hold my needles in exactly the same position as the hands on the screen and I hit repeat frequently until my own brain can execute the stitch. When I come to that same stitch a few rows later in the pattern…back we go to YouTube, because retention is also a problem I have.

So as I read the various directions God gives, my mind is trying to make pictures of fabric and gold rings and beaten metal laid over cherubim and then I have to step away. Because have mercy…they were refugees on the lam out in the desert!!!!

<3 Side note. I constantly want to ask God what Moses wrote the directions down on.

We know the Ten Commandments were on stone tablets, but did Moses have to remember all those details and then come down and speak them to the craftsman or did God provide some kind of writing material? (Perhaps we can see why I need extra time built into my reading plan since my mind tends to ask a LOT of questions…)

And can we just stop for a minute and think about how much intelligence God gave Moses for all of this?

It’s amazing to me. Simply amazing.

And we know it is true because there were a whole lot of witnesses to the whole giving of the information and making of the Tabernacle and I doubt you could get that many people to all go along with a hoax or fake news. Things went as is written and it truly is incredibly interesting and powerful.

If you have ever even sewn a simple smock in Home Ec or learned to sew on a button, built a bird house from a kit or tried to follow any kind of pattern…I think you can appreciate the amount of skill and workmanship that went into all of this.

<3 Every time I read about the beautiful gold altar and the fine linen and deep blue garments of Aaron and his sons and then picture them splashing animal blood all over everything I have to stop and really take that image in.

Think about the labor and creativity and skill that would go into all of these objects.

These were embroidered and polished and made of the absolute best and finest of materials…out in the desert, as we mentioned…and then all of this pinnacle of human effort is sprinkled with animal blood.

And as I read that I thought of me, dressed in my Sunday best, sitting amongst my family and friends who I love so dearly also in their Sunday best, quietly and reverently praying as we pass the communion trays while a gifted and talented praise team leads us in perfect pitch with skillfully made instruments of the most sophisticated kind on a stage that someone has worked to make dramatic and well-appointed….and as we lift that little wafer off the silver plate and toss back the thimble full of grape juice we are basically saying that without the covering of the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ we don’t amount to anything more than the ash we will return to.

Our best and most beautiful and finest efforts are nothing unless they are covered by the Blood of Jesus.

So there’s my thoughts today.

You are so precious to Him.

You were worth leaving heaven for and dying for and you are covered when you receive Him as your price paid.

Bless you as you mull that over today <3

Wrapping up Genesis <3

January 13, 2020Discipline, Refined by the Word, Take Him at His Wordlaura

We are two weeks into the New Year and it is a very good time to check in with all of you who said you want to read your bible this year and see how you are doing.

If you have put it off, you only need to kick it up a notch and you will be caught up in no time. I started setting my timer for 15 minutes of reading each morning and I am able to get two extra pages in each day.

As I mentioned at the start of this year, it doesn’t hurt to read ahead for the busier weeks or the more difficult passages will come and then you are already ahead of schedule.

Several have asked what I am using as my plan and this year is a straight read-through of Genesis to Revelation.

I have enjoyed the past few days revisiting the story of Joseph since I did the Kelly Minter study “Finding God Faithful” this past summer.

Doing a study on a portion of Scripture is so helpful to put it in perspective and adding to your knowledge and understanding opens up new layers on every future reading of what had become a “familiar” passage.

One thing I noticed this time as I read about the brothers returning to their home country with plenty of grain and one brother still held in prison back in Egypt, is Jacob’s response to the news.

As the brothers share the news that Simeon is being held hostage until they return with Benjamin, they are emptying their sacks of grain and find all the money they had paid is in the bags.

Their father sees all of this and is so upset because he knows it will appear a theft in the eyes of the Egyptians. But his response is so intriguing.

“And Jacob their father said to them, ‘You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me.”
Genesis 42:36 NKJV

As a third party viewer standing back several thousand years, I see the selfishness of this statement.

Yes, there is much grief that has come on this man in the loss of a son and another son in prison, but have mercy.

No mention of Simeon’s fate for his own life. No thought for what this will mean for Benjamin to leave the safety of home and go with this band of brothers back down to Egypt to face who knows what kind of punishment for the silver it looks like they kept.

Just a woe-is-me, why does this kind of stuff happen to me response from the dad.

I can shake my head at yet another example of why Jacob is an odd pick for being one of the patriarchs of the faith until I look no farther than my own selfish self.

I cringe when I realize how often a disruption to my day has caused me to spiral into a self-pity litany of all the ways things go wrong for poor, poor, pitiful me and I have totally missed the personal struggle of others who are facing the upheaval that has sent a ripple across my pond.

How good of God to not edit His Word by covering over the human character traits of those who were chosen to be the main threads in the tapestry of the story of Redemption.

In reading these accounts of real people with real flaws and real family drama, we can see more clearly the character of God and our great need for Him. Scripture opens my eyes to the parts of me that need to be exposed, confessed, repented of and then opened to the work of the Holy Spirit to transform me from what I was to what He can make me to be <3

A post on a post-it note…kind of <3

January 9, 2020Discipline, Encouragement, Refined by the Wordlaura

I have been gifted a lot of really nice bookmarks over the years, but typically my pages are kept for my next reading with some scrap of paper or note I have written.

I have one of my morning devotions bookmarked with a page torn off of a St. Jude’s notepad with these words written on it:

“Sat – Monday would work – she can make reservation if you would prefer – she doesn’t mind odd hours + will work to make arrangements or you can”

I also have another note, also in my handwriting but different mood with an arrow pointing to the memo above and it says:

“I have no idea what this note means”

I hang on to it in case, some day, I am asked about what time frame would work for some unknown woman’s schedule so I can let her know if we found odd or regular hours for the reservation to whatever event and then we can determine who will be making the arrangements.

Sometimes I wonder how Russ lives with me and doesn’t lose his sanity.

But on a more serious level, I have another page marker (also on a St. Jude’s notepad sheet….what would I do without all the free notepads and address labels?) in a different devotion and I read this one and pray it every morning.

On this paper I have jotted a prayer.

I don’t remember if I wrote this particular prayer, and since I haven’t given any credit to anyone as a quote, I am assuming I did…but then again…I can’t remember why I wrote the other note and if some female friend or relative is sitting by her phone waiting for me to text back with the plan for making reservations…so maybe I did read it somewhere.

If so – many thanks to whoever wrote it originally – it sounds better than what I could write so I must have gotten it somewhere.… and if you know who wrote it, let me know so I can give him/her credit…or make a reservation Saturday – Monday, even if it’s odd hours…

The words I wrote on down are:

“Prayer for us when we are hurt:
God, keep my anger from becoming meaness.
Keep my sorrow from collapsing into self-pity.
Keep my heart soft enough to keep breaking.
Keep my anger turned towards justice, not cruelty.
Remind me that all of this, every bit of it is for love.
Keep me fiercely kind. Amen”

I love that prayer even though it means a lot of surrender each and every day.

Fiercely kind is something that takes guts in this day and age.

I have always been hyper-sensitive; which is great when compassion is needed and well-received, but it means a lot of bumps and bruises when you are out there in the trenches and dealing with people who like to play rough.

It means learning how to put up healthy boundaries without building walls.

It involves a determined effort to let God heal and console when knocked down and then sucking it up and getting back in the game.

It requires an understanding that God wired me to notice things others don’t, not so I can be in the know but so I can be on my knees.

It asks me to be vulnerable enough let my heart get broken, but to never give up on making it available to help others.

It remembers the example of Christ who extended forgiveness to those who didn’t even know to ask for it.

It means feeling alone a lot, and odd, and misunderstood; so that God can work empathy into my interactions with others who seem so different from me, but are really just trying to make it through the stuff of life on planet earth

How about you?

I hope you are doing well at getting up when you are knocked down.

I hope you are developing some healthy boundaries so you can operate well in the gifts and callings God has given you.

I hope your heart is staying soft and your anger is turned to justice and that you are remembering that it is love that covers over a multitude of sin.

God’s love, on the Cross…where Christ forgave us and died for us, who didn’t deserve it one little bit…that kind of love…covers over a multitude of sins and it is available to those who have received His salvation…so that we can be….fiercely kind <3

Journey Onward

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