Pick-Me-Up: All We Need

by Lynn, posted in Pick-Me-Up

At Rest in the Light_9x12Oil_Lynn Abbott for Cabell Gallery_final edit

© 2018 Lynn Abbott

Despite the miraculous release of God’s people from Egyptian slavery, the enemy offered a variety of seemingly sensible arguments and diversions in Israel’s path.

And they unfortunately listened to his soothing deceit whenever they encountered huge obstacles.

Of course, when we face overwhelming difficulties or suffering, Satan offers no genuine comfort.  Instead, he offers inadequate tools or substitutes for God’s presence and guidance.  And such detours inevitably end in tedious wandering…

Like most of us, the Israelites should have known better.  But the enemy often disguises himself as an angel of light…and in the dark, the charming yet empty voice initially appears friendly.

At Rest in the Light_9x12Oil_Lynn Abbott for Cabell Gallery_final editThrough Moses, Yahweh had led His people to the borders of the Promised Land.  And God’s grace offered an incredible homeland.

The Israeli spies confirmed it.  The men returned not only with a glowing report of all the wealth they found there, but also a sampling of the bounty.

Even so, the majority of the spies supported an unequivocal retreat.   Ten spies warned that ‘the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large…’

They also spoke of giants, (Numbers 13:32).  In fact, they recommended turning back from God’s plan.  They advocated the seemingly safe tedium of desert nomadic life.

Their concerns probably sounded reasonable; although the Promised Land was all that God had said, the ten believed it to be too risky a venture.

You remember the rest of the story.  That’s right. Fear reigned that day and the people balked.

I’ve unfortunately been there, too. Sometimes, it’s easier to embrace the diversion–to exchange certain peril for a detour suggested by our well-disguised enemy.

Mañana sounds so reasonable an alternative.  And I put off the journey I fear.

At Rest in the Light_9x12Oil_Lynn Abbott for Cabell Gallery_final editAs a result, I wander aimlessly in the empty desert rather than venture into the unknown, albeit Promised Land.

But God gives great grace.  Although His people sojourned in the wilderness for many years,  He continued to provide for their daily needs.  And they found…

streams in the desert;  manna in the wilderness.

And then, God ultimately led the people back to the Promised Land.

Yes, our gracious God is always true to His Word; He never breaks His promises to us. He does not cut His children off from His covenant.

Indeed, He is faithful even when we are faith-less, (2 Timothy 2:13).

“If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself,” ~2 Timothy 2:13

“Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who revere Him.  For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust,” ~Psalm 103:13-14

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence,” ~2 Peter 1:2-3

77 thoughts on “Pick-Me-Up: All We Need”

  1. I read somewhere that the greatest fear the Christians have is that after all is said and done, Jesus will fail them. That they will discover Jesus is less than He promised to be. I want to add my voice to the choir of those who have tested of the goodness and power of God to declare that God is God! From beginning to the end, there is no place for argument! God is not a man that He should lie! He is totally worthy of our trust and sacrifice of praise! Glory to the Lamb upon the Throne!

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    1. Yup… I’ve been battling “fear” a little this past week, and so, this post was definitely a “preaching to myself” post. 😉 I am very glad that God is merciful and gracious! ❤ and hugs to you, dear Valerie!

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      2. You are absolutely right, Valerie. Just moving out in faith with some art ventures…a risk and a little scary. But God has been leading me, and so, despite being “Little Much-Afraid,” I must climb. 😉 Thank you for your kind and encouraging words!! ❤ ❤

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  6. “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself,” … such a sad (but true) scripture.

    Thank You Lord that You are ALWAYS Faithful. X

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  7. It’s so true, Lynn. We so often avoid the difficult path or put our head in the sand. He promises the strength for the day and we need to trust him to carry us through. Thank you for sharing.

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  10. Beautiful words and artwork, as always! I should comment more to let you know how much encouragement, inspiration, and peace I find in your words and in your art. Colton Dixon’s song was beautiful and cathartic. The world keeps pushing God away and the more we have to or choose to live in it, the more difficult it is for us to stay in step with Him. It is always reassuring to hear words to remind us how close and faithful He truly is throughout our life’s journey. He is always there, we are the ones who get out of step and move away and when we move back, he welcomes us with open arms as the loving Father that He always has been, is and will be. Thank you, sweet friend, for sharing these life lessons and your beautiful artwork.

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    1. Aww, thank you, dearest Vicki! Your kind words, encouragement and friendship mean the world to me! No worries about commenting… I know you are extremely busy as well. You’ve been producing a lot of new work recently and I know how difficult it is to write comments with paint all over your hands 😉 Thank you for sharing your profound thoughts here! Yes, I’m so grateful that the great God and King of all allows us to call Him “Abba!” What amazing grace is that! And you, my wonderful friend, are truly an encourager…and your blog and art are inspiring! Love and hugs to you!

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    1. Hello, dear Shae! Yes, isn’t that the way… change is difficult for us even when we know it is a good thing! About the painting…to be honest, I don’t recall. I painted this one about 3-4 years ago. My “Revue” and “Pick-Me-Up” posts are generally excerpts from older posts and paintings. But I’m a pretty fast painter as painters go. I paint at least one painting per week… and ideally, I aim for two. I painted two this past week. But of course, I often go back later and do a little “revising.” Hope that answers your question… Thanks for taking interest! That means the world to me! You’re an awesome friend!! ❤ ❤

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  14. Hey Lynn…..love the new look and picture up top on your blog. Been itching to change mine too, however not very savvy at it. So need to do in small steps! Thanks for this post Song by Colton Dixon is one of my favorites!!

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    1. Thank you; thank you, dear Maxine! I didn’t expect that any of my regular readers would notice the changes since most of us read posts through WordPress’ Reader. I’m delight that you took the time to visit the actual blog and that you liked the changes! That means the world to me. I have wanted to change the look for a long time… I have had the same “theme” for 4 years. It feels great to have updated. But I can’t take credit for any complicated change. WordPress just automatically placed everything when I shifted to the new theme. I guess the format was similar enough to the old theme that it didn’t require any changes. 🙂 WordPress allows you to “preview” a theme before you finalize it… and that’s what I did until I found one that didn’t mix all my posts and widgets up. Hope that helps you, too! 🙂 ❤ And thank you for your thoughtful words about my post! Yes! I, too, love Colton Dixon's song. I often put it on "repeat" and listen to it as I paint. Love and huge hugs to you!

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      1. I want to change mine too, but can only do the free ones. But when I look I still like mine so far. I need my son to help me too but he is very busy right now. I know you can preview too so will have to work more on it. Yours looks great! Blessings on all your writings Lynn.

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      2. Oh, I totally understand, Maxine. I had been trying out new themes (the free ones) for several years, and then deciding to stick with what I had. I finally found this one and took the plunge. But tech stuff is so tricky…and when I’m stumped, I call in reinforcements as well. My son is a wiz! Thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement! You’re a truly lovely lady and friend! God bless you big time! ❤ ❤

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    1. Oh, thank you with ALL my heart! That is such wonderful encouragement from a truly superb writer like yourself! I’m so very glad that my writing could encourage you! I pray God puts all the pieces together for you so that you might experience incredible joy and comfort! God bless you big time!!

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      1. Oh you too. ‘m purring 🙂 with the contentment of just knowing how deeply God cares for us all, and at the extent of His love that covers all of us, in our varieties of life situations; I can never comprehend it all, and yet it draws us in, to seek more and more. Thank you for a beautiful blog and words there

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  16. Isn’t it sad that discouragement broadcasts much more loudly than faith. But the men who trusted God were rewarded for their faith. They simply had to cling to that faith for forty long years in the face of impossible odds. May I be more like the two who trusted than the ten who doubted.

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    1. Yes, it is truly tragic, isn’t it? Yet, I think it is also a comfort to know that even when others’ lack of faith impacts our lives and future, God carries and blesses us profoundly. Joshua essentially “interned” under Moses all those years. And in the end, Joshua was extremely well-prepared by Moses and ultimately by God to assume the leadership of God’s people. Pretty amazing story when I think about it. Thank you for making me think so deeply about it, dear friend! I think in this, I may have the seeds for another post. 🙂 Thank you; thank you! ❤ ❤ and huge hugs!!

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  17. Praise the Lord Jesus for being strong in all things. Lynn, I’m encouraged and thankful you openly share weakness in your stories. It’s something I do too, and I feel we need to bond together in weakness so all the more glory goes to God and we can boast in Him. 🙂

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  18. Excellent post!

    It is easy look upon the Hebrews who refused to enter the Promised Land as cowards However, as you observed, when we read the story, if we don’t learn about our fears, we have missed the point of reading it.

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  19. “But the enemy often disguises himself as an angel of light” – True and I think in the dark times when you want to believe it’s good or helpful or true then it’s easy to be swayed. A powerful and thought-provoking post..
    Happy Friday – Have a lovely weekend.
    Caz xx

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    1. You are so right, dear Caz. It does make it difficult…and in such cases we frequently end up distracted from God’s best for us. Sigh. I know that at times, that has certainly been true in my life. I hope your weekend is absolutely wonderful, Caz! You so deserve that! ❤ and hugs!

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  20. “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself,” Isn’t He just the most wonderful!

    Wonderful post, my friend, and beautiful painting. I pray you’ll have a blessed weekend. Take care.

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  22. Your Paintings above reminded me Lynn that Jesus is our Living Water and He refreshes us and restores us and yes He will never abandon us, The Lord God knows us as His own.

    As you rightfully shared Lynn, Satan does disguise himself as an Angel of Light and in the darkness of our Soul the charming yet empty voice initially appears to be friendly, yes Satan does indeed make what is evil sound really good.

    To condense here Lynn I will leave a link for you below, it’s about my time in Satan’s Playground when I was younger, it was indeed a Nightmare that at first appeared to be so good.

    Occult – https://freedomborn.wordpress.com/2013/09/23/i-was-a-white-witch/

    Christian Love Lynn Always – Anne.

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    1. Yes, Anne! So true!! I look forward to reading your post. I have read some of your history in the past, but I’m not sure I read this post that you have linked here. God has truly done a miraculous work in your life, and I know He continues to bless you! Currently, I’m praying for health and healing for you! ❤ ❤

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      1. I like so much that you uniquely incorporated a bit of Spanish into this post: ‘mañana. Here is a clip from one of the first songs I learned in span. language.
        “Andar Conmigo.” It is not predominantly religious/spiritual, but hints at a “mañana’ vibe — a wandering, and a desire for togetherness in this journey, which I think you highlight in your post 🙂 – Cheers!

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