A Place At The Table

He sets a place for me at His banqueting table.
Right in front of my enemy.

She buys a new chair for her house.
So there is a place for me to sit with them.

We circle and I tell them it's okay to say "no thanks."
But they all nod their heads.

They share their hearts with me.
And hold mine like a baby bird.

This circle of friends makes me laugh.
And gives me wings.


So I don't have to run anymore,

Bernadette

When You're Just Desperate

I closed the cabin door and started to cry.

Lifting my voice to the loft.

Maybe I thought You couldn't hear me?

I knelt down on the hard wood.

My forehead touching the floor.

Your Name filling the space all around me.

Filling my mouth, heart and soul.

I cried Jeremiah 33:3 over and over again.

"Call to Me, and I will answer you, and tell you great and unsearchable things that you do not know."

Because I want to know.

I want to know You.

And I don't want to let You go unless You bless me.

Bless me, Lord.


Bless ME,

Bernadette

Half Time

If the Lord tarries and does not call me home.
I am at the halfway mark.
Forty-five years under the roll over my belt.
And pushing for the finish line.

As I run, I imagine the great cloud of witnesses.
And what they might say to me at a refueling station.
Words of encouragement.
To you.  To us.  To the team…

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.  And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.  For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.  Hebrews, Chapter 12


Half Time

All your eggs must absolutely go into the Jesus basket.

And if you are going to show moderation in your Christian walk?

Show it like Jesus did.

With both hands nailed to a piece of wood.


And if nobody understands you anymore?

Well…at least you're in good company.

Because eleven of the twelve were martyred for His Name.

They were Believers.


Live "all in" for Christ's sake.

Pray for grace to go to the grave with His Name on your lips.

Live your love for Jesus out loud.

In a world that's not that into Him.


Believers, Bring it in,

Bernadette

Eye For An Eye

I have one life.

The way I live out my days will set the course for how I live out my life.

How then, shall I live?

I think I ought nought give more than what Jesus gave.

He gave His life.

For mine.

I will give my life.

To Him.


Go ahead.

Call me crazy.


Bernadette

The Watchman's Wife

She keeps her phone by her bed at night when The Shoulders travels to Peru.
The same way I keep mine by my bed at night when The Watchman travels to Nevada.

The best place for us to talk is on our knees.
But we'll take the red chairs, the brown couch, and even the gross orange love seat.

I guess you could say our friendship has got some color now.
And not just in our matching rosy cheeks.

Are we on coffee this week or not?
And what are we practicing right now?

I tell her that I can't speak.
She says oh yes you can.

She has and holds my children's hearts.
I carry hers around in my mind, laboring for them in prayer.

She lifts me up to the Light of the Truth.
I can see better that way.

We hold hands and squeeze knees at church and…
Sometimes I have to pinch myself.

Because the Lord has been good to me.
Giving me a sister and a friend.

The Watchman's Wife.



Bernadette

Living Water

Lord, get me to the deep.

Get me to the well.

Where I can get well.

Take Your dipper made of stars.

And pour Living Water down my throat.

Let Your Name drip from my lips.

"Jesus."

And let me see You smile the sun.

Bringing warmth to my skin.

Thawing the frozen winter of this heart.

As I draw again from Your cup.

Drinking heaven.

Dripping Your Name.

"Jesus."


So thirsty,

Bernadette

Winter 2014

Some days are just particularly off, and mine starts out that way.  It's been a long winter, and I hear that Billings has broken its all time record for snow.  Doesn't my skin know it?  Doesn't my heart?  I wake up needing to touch God's face in the face of all that is cold.  I grab my camera and head out to chase the living God.    I know I will find Him.  He tells me as much.

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."  Jeremiah 28:13

 
Even so, when I stop to take a snap shot of the broken ice on the road, I get a living response from Him that I wasn't expecting.  I see my life in the broken ice, and my heart bears witness; something beautiful here.  I look up and out into the unknown, knowing that Jesus sees me, and that He is making beauty out of the broken fragments of my life.  

I look to my left, and am speechless.  A broken widow.  A shattered, dirty window pane that is framed.  God frames me in Himself.  He holds all the torn, filthy pieces inside Himself, and I am secure in a Savior Who washes me whiter than all this snow.  He holds me.  Together.  Beautiful.

And when my life feels stretched thin, and I am pricked by inadequacy, insecurity and fear?  He makes all things beautiful.  He sees.  He knows.

"The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.  He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing."  Zephania 3:17

A burden shared is a burden divided.  A few good friends can help you stand strong in the storm while you wait for spring.  For flowers.  For sun on your skin.  For the truth that the deepest of winters can't stop spring from coming.  It can't keep new life from springing up out of the dead.  And bless the Lord for my dear friends:  I am not the lone tree anymore.  I am not alone.  I stand with friends whose arms reach out to worship this Jesus even in the depths of killing cold.  We stand together in joyful hope, waiting for something bigger to come.  And He is, friends: Jesus is coming again soon.

"He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am coming soon.'  Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus."  Revelation 22:20

Winter loses her icy grip on my heart, and I am warmed by Him.  The God of the elements is the God of me.

Amen.  Come Lord Jesus,

Bernadette