Celebrating Life

Today, on what would have been my Dad's 60th birthday, the Lord has given us a beautiful opportunity to celebrate life... My Dad's life AND this precious new life He is knitting together. Ryan and I gratefully and joyfully announce:

Baby Brannan is due May 28, 2015!

To God be the glory, great things He has done!

((Psalm 139:13-14))

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

  

Blessed Assurance {Romans 8 Retreat}

This past weekend a handful of us from our old Bible study group headed to Bluefield, WV to see our beloved Abbey. A couple of months ago we each received a beautiful invitation in the mail to attend a weekend retreat at her new home to study Romans 8. The entire weekend was a treat... right down to the pumpkin scones, homemade meals, endless laughs and parting gifts (a Scripture print of Romans 8:39!!).

Our first session was Friday night, the next two sessions were on Saturday, and our final session was Sunday morning. Abbey walked us through each section of Romans 8, declaring our blessed assurance in Christ at every turn. Paul's message in this chapter is about our sanctification and eternal security. He begins the chapter with joyous news: there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. He ends the chapter with even better news: nothing can separate us from the love of God. Both so assuring in a world that desperately competes to steal our assurance.

We talked a lot over the weekend about the things that rob our hearts of assurance. Fear of the unknown, sickness, death, lies from Satan-- were just a few. In verse 18, Paul puts some perspective on our earthly fears when he says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."

Paul is ASSURING us that our God is bigger than the troubles of this world, the hardships we face, and the suffering we endure. What's more, He uses suffering to make us more like Him and to point us toward our true home. We were not meant to bear the brokenness of sin. We were not made for this world.

But we aren't home yet. So in the meantime, God graciously gives us hope that He will be who He says He will be and He will do what He says He will do. Praise be to our God who gives us hope "as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul" and who is at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. 

To quote Abbey, "The scope of our hope is broader than the scope of our problem." God shows us through Paul and Jesus himself that our suffering is not just worth it, but nothing even compares to it in the end! 

Sinclair Ferguson reiterates this by saying, "The suffering we go through is divine preparation for glory. The very thing that seems to stand in the way of glory is the instrument God uses to bring us to glory." 

Paul and the apostles rejoiced when they suffered because it made them more like Christ. Abbey encouraged us this weekend to look at our situation through a Genesis 50:20 lens... "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good." Though sometimes we may not see God’s plan through cancer, ISIS or heartbreak this side of heaven; we can most assuredly trust that He uses all things for His glory and our good.

As Paul wraps up chapter 8, he tells us with confidence that neither our fears nor our suffering can separate us from the love of God. He asks what can stand against us, "Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?" (8:35). He then answers his question in verse 37 with a resounding "no."

NOTHING AND NO ONE can separate you from Christ.

THAT is blessed assurance. 

The Secret for the Seasons

August is here and that means one thing: we are inching our way towards fall! As per usual, we've had a busy and exciting summer discipling and bonding with our students. We've done all sorts of awesome things like: Journey camp, VBX, paint wars, a slumber party at our house with my 9th and 10th grade Sunday school girls, lake day with the high schoolers, island camping trip with the middle schoolers (this would be the one event I did not attend this summer because, well, CAMPING), day trip to Charleston, Ryan's weekly Bible study, my Bible study, and on top of all that… Ryan’s full-time seminary workload!

Nevertheless, Ryan has done a wonderful job balancing his many roles this summer and continues to amaze me as he leads and serves in so many different ways. We are both worn.slap.out but so grateful, honored, and humbled that THIS is the life and mission field God has called us to. We've got a back to school party coming up next week and that will round out summer 2014. Which brings me back to my first statement: fall is almost here. Which means summer WILL NOT last forever. (Insert praise hands emoji here.)

God, in His sovereignty, planned the calendar and seasons in perfect fashion. Just like the weather, His people change and come in and out of seasons of life. God has us in this particular season on purpose, for a purpose and knows just how much summer, fall, winter and spring we need. We cannot will ourselves into a different season (weather or otherwise) no matter how hard we try. But we CAN glorify Him today, exactly where He has us, and trust that the Creator of the universe is weaving our current season {of grieving, waiting, rejoicing or whatever it may be for you} into the beautiful tapestry of our lives. 

In my late teens and early twenties, I got really good at wishing and planning for the next season of my life. Never truly content with wherever I was at the time and always yearning for something just out of my reach. It was hard to understand at the time, but at 4 months shy of 28, I can look back with better spiritual vision and clearly see that the Lord was teaching me to be solely dependent on Him during those years.  

This summer, the Lord has reminded me all over again that there is something new to be learned in every season. He has all but written in the sky for me a very wise reminder from the apostle Paul: 

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  (Philippians 4:11-12)

Next to Jesus, Paul is my favorite Bible figure. This man experienced nearly every form of persecution possible, yet the words of his mouth and the meditation of his heart from a prison cell in Rome was: I have learned to be content.  

Paul seemingly mastered this concept as we see him write the same thing again in his pastoral epistle to Timothy, whom he mentored, saying “godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1 Timothy 6:6) Paul didn’t need anything else. He didn’t know what his future held but he knew Who held his future… and he was content with that. The same is true for us. We may not know what is next to come, but we know Who will meet us there and THAT IS ENOUGH. 

The harder we chase after contentment in desires that are NOT of God (status, attention, affirmation, possessions, money, selfish motives, our own fleshly desires), the more discontent we will become. Ultimately, His sovereign grace aligns our heart’s desires with His and we find He is always what we are searching for anyway. 

So what do we do when we feel like our life is perpetually summer? Abide with Him. Be faithful in little so we can be faithful in much. All the while, the Vinedresser strengthens and prunes us so that, “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15:2) Pruning in this season means abundant fruit in the next. But not until we are attached to (and content with) the Vine.


Like the apostle Paul, we continually learn the “secret” to life is being content in Jesus alone-- not Jesus+something else. When we find our satisfaction in Christ, our love for Him deepens and blossoms as winter turns into spring and spring turns into summer... 

...Fall will come right on time, when He finds we are ready for it.

From our Charleston trip on Tuesday

((Isaiah 58:11))

“And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”

Ordination

After many months of preparing, an interview with a hand-selected ordination council, and a beautiful ordination service last night at our church... Ryan is now officially Reverend Ryan Brannan! We are grateful that our families and our dear friends from church could be a part of the service and that many of his mentors in the faith could play a role in his ordination council. Some of which helped to spiritually shape him during his teen years and others which he still meets with regularly. It was a special, wonderful evening but Ryan will be the first to say: it was not about him. 

Last night was about Jesus. It was about the redeeming work the Lord alone has done in Ryan's life. It was about the passions God has rooted in him to lead spiritually as a husband, to minister to students, their families and to seek out the lost and share with them the Good News of Jesus Christ. It was about God's grace that has covered him through the peaks and the valleys and the grace that has restored him in every way to be the man God has ordained him to be.

I am so proud of my sweet husband and his commitment to God's call on his life. His enthusiasm for the Gospel and his willingness to go above and beyond inspires me on a daily basis. He blesses me with his constant thoughtfulness, encouragement, and attentiveness. The joy he has in his heart overflows into his life... and it is a contagious gift. 

I knew in the 9th grade that I would marry Ryan, but I never knew how God would bless our lives the way He has and would give us the opportunity to minister together as husband and wife. He is so faithful. Thank you, God, for this man, my husband. And thank you, Ryan, for loving Jesus more than you love me. 

Rev. Ryan Brannan. The love of my life.

((2 Corinthians 5:17-21))

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

It is so sweet to me that the Lord chose the first full week in our new home to be Holy Week. What a clear reminder to keep our eyes fixed on the Main Thing and to remind us that a house and all the pretty things that fill it are just that: things.

As I have reflected on Holy Week, the Lord has brought the faithfulness of Jesus to my mind several times. I often listen to Sinclair Ferguson's sermons online and searched through the archives this week to prepare my mind and heart for Easter. With Jesus in the Upper Room is a great one and explains Jesus' last meal with His disciples and tells of His unconditional love for them... until the very end of his life (John 13:1). The final hours of Jesus' life are so tragic, but so symbolic of His sinless, faithful life. I am amazed at His steadfastness until the bitter end. 

Jesus makes His triumphal entry into the city on Palm Sunday, eats the Last Supper with His disciples on Maundy Thursday, is crucified on Good Friday, and is resurrected to life on Easter Sunday. An empty tomb. The promise of all promises fulfilled. Our hope and eternity secured. It's a marvelous thing. The whole story of the Bible points to this scene. Old Testament believers prophesied of this moment and longed for this Savior, Jesus, who died and rose again.

This is the Savior, who on Thursday evening, the day before He knew He was going to die, "earnestly desired" to share the Passover meal with His disciples. He had eagerly anticipated eating with them to celebrate the great things God had done for His people. 

Jesus foretold His death and betrayal and was awaiting unjust suffering at the time of this meal. But He was JOYFUL to be with his friends nonetheless. At the table, Jesus has a unique consciousness that the betrayer is present at the supper (Luke 22:21). He had washed the very feet of Judas Iscariot, His friend, and then Judas left the room to betray him.

Jesus then foretells Peter's betrayal. What is happening here? Can you imagine your closest friends turning their back on you EVER much less all within the same hour?? But Jesus, in His perfect holiness, did not get angry with them or beg them to be loyal. He extended grace to each of them. And then He went to the Garden to pray. He was in such agony anticipating His death that He was sweating blood. And even still, He remained in close communion with His Father and prayed.

Betrayed by His disciples, forsaken by His Father, treated as a criminal, crucified by the men He came to save. Yet faithful still.   

Each of these things are powerful in their own right, but when you look at them in light of Jesus' final hours on Earth, it is simply astounding. Jesus knew what Good Friday held for Him and He chose to remain faithful, joyful, prayerful until He surrendered His spirit and proclaimed, "It is finished." (John 19:30)

We will never be able to comprehend what Jesus experienced in those last days and hours of His life. But we CAN follow His example. And, by His grace, we can remain faithful, joyful, and prayerful imitators of Christ no matter what awaits us in this life. 

Happy Easter!

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

:::

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Homeowners!

We closed on our home Tuesday, April 8th and could not be more excited or more grateful!! After (nearly) 3 years in a one bedroom apartment, we are thrilled to now be in our very own HOME! While we will not miss living in such tight quarters or hearing everyone and everything around us; I am thankful for our time at CIU, the memories we made, and for the countless ways it grew us as a couple. 

Over the last few years, God has answered many specific prayers about our future. We prayed that He would show us where Ryan could serve in student ministry full time. God was faithful to answer. We prayed that He would provide a way (in every sense of the word) for Ryan to finish his degree and attend seminary. God was faithful to answer. We prayed that He would guide us specifically to the house and community He wanted us to live in. He opened and closed many doors over the last couple of years... but was faithful to answer. 

When we got the green light to start looking, we knew in our minds exactly what we were searching for. We fell in love with this house instantly and prayed that God would be very clear to show us if this was the one for us. We put our best offer in on March 2. We decided we would walk away if they were not able to accept it. As God would have it, on 2:22 p.m. that day, we were signing papers to finalize the deal for this house. Ryan and I looked at the time on my phone and then at each other- stunned. I cannot make this stuff up. The Lord is so kind and once again, so faithful to answer our prayers.

This house is *perfect* for us-- it is more than what we need and everything that we wanted. It gives us space to host our family, friends and students, room to (Lord willing) one day grow our family, a back patio for Ryan to grill, sidewalks for me to run, a fenced backyard for Finley, and will be used as the gift it is- to minister to other people. I look forward to the many memories we will make in this home and for the things God will do while we are here. I pray we will use every square inch for the praise of His glory. 

This was my sweet, sweet view on the first Saturday morning in our house :) My verses for Saturday from my chronological reading plan had me in 1 Samuel 12 and I thought verse 24 was so perfectly fitting: "Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you."

((Hebrews 3:4))

For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.

Refreshed by the Living Water

Holley and I were blessed to attend Shandon's women's ministry retreat in Charlotte March 7-8. My dear friend and mentor, Maria Owens, led the retreat and did a marvelous job. The theme for the weekend was "Refreshed by the Living Water." Holley and I had a wonderful time together and were amazed at how the Lord spoke so clearly to both of us.

While sharing her testimony on Friday night, Maria quoted Jeremiah 29:11-13 (our Dad's life verse). We've all shared, memorized and claimed this verse a million times before, but the second part of verse 13 jumped out at me Friday night almost as if I had never heard it before. "You will seek me and find me, WHEN YOU SEEK ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART." 

Umm... ALL my heart, huh? So I can't hang on to this little piece and work (fill in the blank) out on my own?

I was convicted in that very moment and could sense the Spirit telling me, "No, Shelley, you've got to surrender all those little things to me. Lay them down."

It was truly an "Ebenezer" moment. 

Living a surrendered life is far more satisfying and glorifying than the alternative. But because we are broken and fallen people, we sometimes turn to our own devices  and temporarily forget what we know is best, holy, true. I found myself in this boat that Friday night when this thought hit me like a tidal wave: I am not experiencing God's peace on this (fill in the blank issue) because I'm not surrendering every piece of my heart to Him. 

Sure, I've prayed about it, dwelt on it, processed it. But I haven't surrendered it.  

Of course this is not something that intentionally happens. I genuinely set out and desire to seek the Lord with my whole heart. But sometimes we get in the way of ourselves. Sometimes we are tricked into believing it's easier to hold on to certain things in an effort to fix it on our own. I trust you with this 95% of my life, God, but I can handle this 5% on my own. 

Anybody else with me on this? 

Good ole Webster defines surrender like this:

: to agree to stop fighting, hiding, resisting, etc., because you know that you will not win or succeed
: to give the control or use of (something) to someone else

I think that spells it out pretty clearly. To truly live surrendered to Jesus, the gospel... we must give Him total control and daily die to ourselves. We must daily crucify our pride, our "wants" and our self-righteous attitudes so we can be "a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful... ready for every good work." (2 Timothy 2:21) 

Could God use just 95% of me? Yes. But he deserves, is worthy of, and has commanded me to seek Him with 100% of my heart. 

I came across this quote in one of Robertson McQuilkin's books recently that sums all of this up perfectly: "Unconditional surrender and confidence in God’s trustworthiness are necessary to experience the fullness of the life we are meant to have in Christ because they are the very essence of God. Without our daily dying to self and trusting in God’s faithfulness, we are not able to experience the fullness of life God intends for us to have."  

During Saturday's retreat session, Maria walked us through some practical insights to living this refreshed, unconditionally surrendered life. Here are a few: 

1. Make a habit of daily repentance.  
"Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus..." (Acts 3:19-20)

2. Remember that God Himself is our only source and supplier of refreshment... and praise Him for that! Any other source will leave us drained and dry. Clean out your "supply closet." Get rid of the illegitimate and ineffective supplies you have used in the past and evaluate your level of refreshment in key areas of spiritual discipline (prayer, Scripture memory, Bible study, worship, giving).

3. Be deliberate and intentional about restocking your "supply closet" with the proper supplies. What are some things that fuel and renew you spiritually and physically? For me it's journaling, running, quiet time with an open Bible, my prayer list and a hot cup of coffee, one-on-one fellowship with someone dear to me. 
 

I've gone back through my notes several times and keep praying that God will continue to rid me of myself so I can surrender ALL I have for His glory. We cannot experience true refreshment or "life in abundance" (John 10:10) until we seek Him with all of our heart. Praise God that, when we do, we will always find Him. 

((Jeremiah 31:25))

"I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”