"You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy..." (Psalm 16:11).

Much may be said about the effect of the presence of God upon the path of life, but recently this is what I have to say about it.  Step aside and let God show the way.  Too often we let fear, loneliness, anger, the past, burdensome expectations and the like show the way.  We start stepping up and in and everywhere.  We step up to protect, in to intervene, over to the future to forecast it, into the past to solve it, and into the present to engage it.  In all our stepping, we step everywhere but aside, until a certain reality steps onto our path and stops our next step.  The reality is that God is already there.

Certainly I am not alone in requiring this reminder, but it is marvelously given to me when I need it.  When unsure of which way is what, I imagine my steps have most resembled those of a scared rabbit zigzagging her way down the path.  It happened not so long ago.  I had reason to fear, reason to protect and intervene.  Rightly I stepped up and in, here and there until this reality, stronger than my stride, stopped my sturdy-shoed feet and relief followed on the heel.

When we cry out, “Where do I turn next?” and “Where does it end?” God crosses the path we are on and shows us the path He is on.  It is where He is.  It is affected by fullness of joy.  It is the path of life.

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

“…how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:11).

Jesus had been talking to His disciples about asking and receiving…even asking with hungry persistence.  “Ask, seek, and knock,” He says, “for fish, eggs and loaves of bread.”  I am certain that we all know something of this.  Haven’t we all asked of God, at times, with the persistence of someone starving for bread?  I have, and may I say, I hope that you have too?  It is the way the children of God come to understand the Father’s “how much more” type of giving to those who ask Him.

As our hunger deepens, so does our asking.  If you have had to wait to receive that good thing for which you have asked, then you know this.  I wonder if, when the waiting is long, God is letting our hunger build until what we have asked for is no longer enough, until our hunger exceeds it.  The progression of our hunger goes something like this: we ask, we wait, we grow impatient, we may manipulate (even just a wee bit!), which can become confusing, but will become, for those still asking, a hunger big enough to be satisfied with much more than the good “fish, eggs and bread”  for which we have asked.  How much more?  As much more as to begin to satisfy one of our hungriest questions: “Why?”  As much more as our heavenly Father gives…and He gives the Holy Spirit who distributes to us every good thing planned by the Father and purchased by the Son, and who satisfies us as centrally and practically as bread, fish and eggs.  

Take in everything He gives and your hunger will be satisfied.

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

“…a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head” (Mark 14:3).

I discovered that I have an alabaster flask!  You have one too.  You can’t see it, but if you could it would be shaped like your heart.  It is designed to hold what is most costly, most pure, most fragrant—priceless—and to be altogether broken and spilt over Jesus.

In Mary’s time, an alabaster flask filled with fragrant oil would be treasured by a bride for one purpose—that some day she would break it open and empty it out on the feet of the one asking for her in marriage.  It was a way of saying, “Yes.” 

Jesus has asked for you.  Say, “Yes” with all your heart.  Take your alabaster flask and never mind those who would put a price on it, as they did on Mary’s.  They do not understand pricelessness.  Break your flask open and anoint Him with all that is in you and all that you have.  It may look like a waste to some, but not to the Bridegroom.  He is filled with joy to overflowing when His Bride says “Yes,” knowing that what is priceless only keeps its value if it is purely given. 

Bride of Christ, your alabaster flask is filled with priceless oil, the essence of the Spirit.  Pour out on Him what He has put in you; nothing more, nothing less.  Not a drop will be wasted or undervalued.

By: Carolyn Roehrig

"Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ...separated to the gospel of God" (Romans 1:1).

Identifying himself as a bondservant of Jesus Christ, Paul introduces the very love of God which has had its way in his heart.  It goes like this:

While a servant says, "I serve my Master," the bondservant says, "I love my Master."  A servant serves the allotted time and then is free to go, but the bondservant stays by the Master's side.  

Though the servant chooses to leave through the door, the bondservant chooses to be marked upon it.  The one who plainly says, "I love; I will not leave,” is separated; pierced through the ear by the master's awl.  Exodus 21:6 tells us, “…his master shall bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever."

Has the Master affected your heart?  Then you can no more call yourself a servant than leave your Master’s household.  Has He marked your ear for His voice alone?  Then, bondservant, you have found more freedom than the freed servant will ever find.

At my Master’s door I stand;

I see the awl in His hand.

Claim my heart and pierce my ear

To love, serve, listen and hear.

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

“Sit here while I pray” (Mark 19:32).

Surfer Bethany Hamilton was temporarily unable to enter the ocean.  She lost an arm to a shark.  Sitting on the shore with her father, she looked at the sun setting on the horizon and saw nothing but unanswered questions.  She asked him, “What is God doing?” and “What do I do now?”  To his answer, “You do what’s next,” she asked, “How do I know what’s next?”  Her father answered as our Father answers, “Watch and pray.”

I imagine the disciples asked similar questions as they looked into the waning light at Gethsemane, not really understanding what Jesus was doing.  And what about you and me?  Are these not questions we ask in our personal “Gethsemanes”?  They are further-than-we-can-see, deeper-than-we-can-dive questions, and when God’s answers don’t seem to fit, it’s because they don’t—yet.  His “watch and pray” answer is bigger than our questions and can be for us as it was for the disciples, more than we can do.  When we don’t understand what God is doing, don’t know what to do next and can’t see far enough to know what is next, He knows; “Sit here, yes, right here in Gethsemane, while I pray,”

When we can’t watch and pray, He takes care of it.  When it’s time to get up and go with Him, His “watch and pray” answer begins to fit and we see something of what he means.  Bethany Hamilton said that He means for her to be able to reach with one arm more people for Jesus than she ever could have with two.  I really like this answer.  It reminds me of the One who reached, with both hands nailed to the cross, more people than He could have had He taken the nails out. 

Jesus suffered Gethsemane to overcome our Gethsemane sufferings.   Have you been sitting there long enough?  Then it’s time to get up and go with Jesus, know something of what He means and see His answers fit.

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

“…you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends” (Luke 15:29).

The story is of two sons and their father.  One son wastes his inheritance in prodigal living, the other faithfully serves his father; one is destitute, the other owns everything; one receives special treatment and rejoices, the other receives what he deems unfair treatment and balks, saying, “I have been working your fields for years, bringing increase to your household, and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.  You are not giving me what you are giving this other son of yours.”

Have we not heard it?  Give what is good for one child, and the other’s sense of fairness will rebel until it is rightly trained.  How so to train?  Most often it is done by way of reminder of the righteous justice of God.  The righteous justice of God rejoices to bring near a once far off son and to say to the other, “You are always with me.”  Like the father in this story reminded his sons, we may remind our children that their sonship has nothing to do with what they have done or have not done, but everything to do with what the Father has done, nothing to do with what they feel they have earned or deserved, but everything to do with what they have received from the Father.  Remind them of the Father’s joy to restore and reconcile His children to Himself and brothers to each other. Remind them of the “All-that-is-Mine-is-Yours” inheritance title.  Whether our children approach us in contrition or contention, remind them of the Father’s heart and of their place in it.  Don’t let them forget it.  Train them in the righteous justice of God and they will be liberated, fit to make merry and feast and be happy and dance according to the Father’s delight.

There is a celebration in the Father’s house.  Do you hear the music?  Do you see the banquet table?  Do you see the Father dance?  Come home from afar; come in from the field; come all the way in!  Come!

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

"...let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross..." (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Burned into a wooden plaque which hangs above our entryway mirror is one of my son’s personal proverbs, "Look beyond that which you can see."  The eyes of faith are needed to see beyond the world directly in front of us, and to endure.  We are all in the world, in a race of some sort, but the yonder look belongs to those not of the world.  Endurance to run is needed in the world, but we who are not of the world need not muster it, only receive it.  It is given through Jesus who has established our faith and owns it. 

Endurance lags when we confuse the imminent, the urgent, the weights of the race with the race itself.  We loose heart in the race when we look at the burdens and not at Jesus.  Look at Jesus; remember the joy and the cross set before Him, and so receive endurance.  We are the joy for whom He endured the cross; it was for you and me!  And He is the joy for whom we run the race.  “Selah” this for a moment!

The race is set before us, but so is Jesus.  Let’s not run as if He wasn’t.   

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

"I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest..." (Job. 3:26).

When trouble is afoot, questions follow on the heel.  Job queried well: "Why? What have I done?  Have I sinned?  How long?  Oh, that the Almighty would answer me!"  

Who has not asked these questions and made these requests?  Have you noticed how God often does not give specific answers to our respective questions? It is not that the questions we ask are too small, but perhaps the answers we seek, are.  The thing is, we question wildly when inching our way through the wilderness on a footpath, but often where we want His reasons, He wants our restoration. 

God knows wilderness questions know not tame answers.  To the heart, rent and questioning, He will give nothing less than all-of-life answers to our real-life questions.  Is it tidy?  No.  Defined, faithful, dependable, even cultivated and careful?  Yes, by Love.  Shall we be more like Christ at trail’s end?  Then we shall start realizing how much He loves us.  Isaiah Fifty-three trailheads for many.

He gave us His love that we may love Him.  We may love those we’d rather not only because we have His love.  We may forgive only because we have His forgiveness.  We may have peace only because we have His peace.  While reasons seldom are given in the wilderness, restoration is for aye and always for those on the spoor of love, forgiveness and peace in the wilds. 

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

“For You, Lord, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands” (Psalm 92:4).

The works of God reflect who He is.  When we triumph in His works, we declare His lovingkindness and faithfulness.  From beginning to end God is loving, kind and faithful; and from morning to evening it is good to declare it as so.  Declare God’s lovingkindness and faithfulness and you will be found to declare every good thing He has established and to triumph in it.  Nevermind when you and I have been loving, kind and faithful or done anything good, on this it is good to be mute; but regarding God, it is good to declare.  It is good to declare in the morning.  It is good in the evening.  It is good every hour in between.  It is good because it is the language of triumph!

The triumph has to do with God’s great works.  May nothing but the works of God’s hands elicit from us such declarations, and may no small nuisance or large trial expropriate what triumph is yours and mine.  We may triumph that God has planted us in Him to flourish, and  through the works of His hands, we shall.  We may triumph that when we grow old we shall still bear fruit, be fresh and flourish, for God's work is so.  We may triumph over instability, for the hand of God has made us like a palm tree that weathers hurricanes.  We may triumph over timidity and weariness, for God has made us like the majestic and durable cedars of Lebanon.  His lovingkindness and faithfulness establish what we cannot.  His works are all the reason we need to give thanks and sing praises to His name and declare His lovingkindness and faithfulness all the day long.  It is so good!

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

"So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory" (Psalm 63:2).

Pilgrim feet have oft trod,

Stumbling through desert sod.

Hid the way, by thorns driven;

Hedged the path by light of heaven.

God's pilgrim, soul and flesh,

Seek Him in His wilderness.

It's His, and here sanctity wild

Is refuge for the pilgrim child

Whose heart leaps and trembles to see

God in awesome majesty.

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

“When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth” (II Samuel 23:3-4).

Who is like this over me?  Christ, certainly.  Who wants to be like this over others?  I, for one.  How?  By rehearsing in my heart what truth is scripted across the sky every morning.  What is that?  The Light following darkness often stained crimson; the rising Son; the deep heights of God’s love; the cloudless expanse of eternity; the new life; the bright hope after rain; new mercies every morning.

These are truths so familiar to us that we feel them, but we must speak them in our hearts throughout the night hours and seasons.  Those who know the script by heart have rehearsed it by moon glow and star shine, the only light given in darkened times.  Those who know Truth have neither by darkness nor rain been overcome, but they have been overcome by light, mercy and hope.  They are those who see God’s bright touch upon every drop of rain.  Should they look down, they see the living color of God’s glory reflecting in the puddles; should they look up, they see the full spectrum of God’s inscrutable light, prisms arching over them, a promise.  They are overcome by God’s righteous rule, and come over others with it.

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

“Arise, let us go from here. I am the true vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser” (John 14:31-15:1).

Jesus had just told His disciples of many amazing comings and goings: “My Father and I will come; the Holy Spirit will come; I am going away and coming back to you; these things I have told you are coming; the ruler of this world is coming; let us go.”  It was enough to trouble the disciples, and I imagine, enough to cause them relief when they heard abide-in-the-vine language.

Though inexperienced with fruit-bearing vines, the flowering vines covering the front of my house remind me daily of my true home.  My true home is in the True Vine, and here I abide, a branch.  If through all the cosmic comings and goings in heaven and on earth the True Vine trembles nary a twig, then here I gladly abide and trust the abilities of the Vinedresser.

It is something wonderful to be a branch in this vine. The branches of this vine draw life from Christ.  They bend low not beneath the weight of the world, but (how beautiful!) beneath the weight of His love and peace.  Just a branch?  Yes, just a blessed branch!

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

"Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it" (Genesis 28:16).

The story goes that Jacob was travelling to Padan Aram to marry one of Laban’s daughters.  More than a day’s journey, we are told that when the sun had set Jacob decided to find a place to lie down to sleep.  He pulled up a rock to lay his head upon, stretched himself out on the ground and, I imagine, mentioned the purpose of his trip in his prayers that night.

Certainly, he logically prepared to overnight.  With the commonest of sense, he found a suitable place, as natural as the ground and as ordinary as a rock, to sleep on.  There he became unmistakably aware of the presence of the Lord and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”

This brings to mind others whose stories speak the same theme from places as normal as a wedding feast, on old well and a boat in stormy weather. Once they knew where the wine came from, the servants at the wedding at Cana could well have said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”  After speaking with Jesus at the well, the Samaritan woman essentially said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”  After hearing Jesus say, “It is I,” as He approached the boat in the storm, the disciples too would have said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 

It seems to me that while water has never been changed into wine in my kitchen, some of the best meals have come from near-empty cupboards.  Is the Lord not involved in this?  And what of those daily places where Jesus reminds me to drink from Him?  And what of the storms which buffet my boat?  I would rather not be in a storm in the dark and four miles from shore, but the Word, “It is I,” assures. 

Most of our daily preparations, decisions and doings are as automatic as the setting sun and as normal as dirt, yet in these earthy places, heaven is at hand.    At day’s end we can lie down and say, "Surely the Lord was with me in all these places, and I did not always know it." 

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

“…but also if you say to this mountain, ’Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will done” (Matthew 21:18-22).

A hungry Jesus had just withered with a word a fig tree with no figs.  I don’t know why, except, perhaps, to bring graphic imagery to mind when we think about prayer and fruit that nourishes His body.  When the disciples saw it, healthy one day withered the next, they marveled, “How did it wither away so soon?”  Then Jesus said to them, “If you have faith, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.” 

I have wondered about “this mountain.”  Where did the mountain come in?  Weren’t they talking about a fig tree?  Perhaps Jesus is referring to the fig tree He just withered.  A fig tree is very large, but even larger is what this dead, figless tree stands for.  It stands for everything fruitless in our lives that must be put to death.  Scripture says, “Put to death uncleanness, immortality, evil desires, covetousness, idolatry, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language and lying.”  These are mountainous!  They are put to death no other way than by Christ saying, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.”  If we share Christ’s hunger for fruitfulness, then we will have appetite to ask Him to wither what is fruitless in our lives, no matter how flourishing it looks.  We have His word that He will, so let’s not marvel when He does.  Immediately pray its removal, to be cast into the sea, before it becomes an object of sentiment. 

As sometimes happens when I meditate on God’s Word, I dreamed it.  I saw no fruit behind a flourish of large green leaves.  In the dream I knew they represented selfishness.  “Wither it, Lord!  Wither it!” I woke praying.  Now, “Remove this mountain and cast it into the sea.”

Christ’s divine power gives all that pertains to life and godliness.  If these things are yours and abound, then you will be neither barren nor unfruitful.  When Christ weaves His fingers though the foliage of your life, does He discover figs?  Is the body of Christ being nourished by the fruit of your life?  Has the fruit become so ripe, full and sweet that it simply falls into His hand?  He will feed it to His body.

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

“I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Marvelous words, these, addressing not a long and faithful follower who would endure crucifixion for the sake of His righteousness, but a last minute confessor enduring crucifixion for the sake of his sin.  Christ, Who speaks not condemnation but redemption to death-bound but confessing criminals like us, is the same Who always lives to make intercession for us.  And Christ’s prayers are never refused.  They are the core and creed, sum and substance of our Christian life.  His prayers carry the weight of truth and run deception through, smack down the middle.  Christ intersects our sin with His grace, our shame with His glory, hopelessness with His promises, legalistic living with freedom in Him, the fear of man with the fear of God, condemnation with redemption, death with life.

Is there anything more credible than when Christ says “I tell you the truth?”  Is there any life larger  than the “today with Me in paradise” life? Christ intersects today with His kingdom and, praise God, we are influenced by His intercessory prayers!  We can rejoice saying, “Oh, but I agree with Your prayers for me!”

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

“’I had it in my heart to build…and made preparations to build it. But God said….’” (I Chronicles 28: 2-3).

David had it in his heart to build the temple.  He made preparations for it and, by the hand of God upon his own, the blueprint was architected, the work assigned and the materials weighed for all the articles used in every kind of service in the temple.  He was the chief facilitator of the work.  He gathered, gave, prepared and prayed, but he was not to build.  God chose Solomon his son to build, and clearly David wondered if Solomon knew God, if he would serve Him with a loyal heart and a willing mind, with courage and strength.  As Israel’s king, David led the leaders and requisitely shared his conviction with the king to be, then released all to God in prayer. 

Do you have it in your heart to build something for God?  Is it in your heart to gather the resources and to give over and above from your own special treasure for it?  Is it in your heart to release just as joyfully as you accepted the plan God gave you for the work into the hand of another to do?  And what if, like David, your days came to an end before seeing the completion of what was in your heart to build for God?  If you have a heart like David’s, then it’s in your heart and it’s okay.

Such a heart is interested not in its own ambitions but in God’s plans, in promoting God to others, in praying for and presenting loyal hearts to God, and in leaving behind an inheritance that provides for sons and daughters, households, leaders and kings to come into the presence of God.  He is building in our hearts far more than what we may have in our hearts to build for Him.

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

"Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe" (John 20:25).

He is known as Doubting Thomas, but it seems to me that Hoping Thomas is a more accurate name for this loyal and inquiring apostle of Christ.  It was Thomas who would have returned to Bethany with Jesus into near-certain death in order to be with Him; Thomas who, during the Last Supper, inquired where Jesus was speaking of going and how he could know the way, and Thomas who was eager to believe that the disciples’ report was true.  They claimed to have seen Christ resurrected and, could it be, this Christ was now standing before him? Perhaps the infamous “Unless I see, I will not believe” was less an expression of doubt and more an expression of hoping against hope.  The invitation was given to see for himself, but before he could reach out his hand he fell to the floor and answered, “My Lord and my God!” 

Revelation comes at His invitation and confirmation is given to those who purpose to see Jesus standing before them at every juncture.  He stands in the midst of our fears, confusions, disappointments and less-than-magnificent moments.  Yet, when doubt assails hope prevails in those who are as ready as Thomas to believe.  Like Thomas, the other disciples needed to see Christ’s hands and side and were glad to believe, but Thomas alone fell down and proclaimed the presence of the Lord. 

Look!  He stands before you now!  Don’t be incredulous, but purpose to see Him.  Fall down and proclaim the presence of the Lord your God even here. 

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

“But when he came out, he could not speak to them...” (Luke 1:22).

Long ago a certain priest, Zacharias, was chosen by lot to burn incense when he went into the temple.  He entered the temple, burned incense at the altar, got alone with God in prayer, and was dumbfounded.  His prayer was heard. 

It is good to get alone with God, but when God gets us alone with Himself it is on His initiative, not ours.  It is good to voice before Him the words we find that fit the soul, but God’s Word leaves us speechless.  It is good to know that God hears our prayers, but be ready to hear God.  Often what God says is more than we can make sense of.  To the divine, “I have spoken; it is so”, there is nothing more to say except, perhaps, “How?”

Inner commotions congregate gregariously at the altar until we are silenced by God’s Word.  Has He left you dumbstruck?  He is getting you absolutely alone with Himself.  Linger long.  You will emerge as Zacharias emerged, saturated and peaced. 

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

"If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water" (John 7:37-38).

Christ was soon to be crucified when he spoke these words.  Are you thirsty for eternal life? Jesus is addressing you, standing and crying out, saying, “Come to Me and drink.”  It is not a drink that profits the flesh, but the spirit, not offered at a feast, but at the cross, not poured from a pitcher, but from His side.  It is the blood of forgiveness and the water of life. 

Crucified, glorified,

The mercy of God flowed from His side. 

Poured forth, from earthen source,

Rivers of living waters course

Out of hearts who believe, out of souls who receive,

Rapid, lively, sweet, free. 

From the river of Eden, dawn of creation,

To the fountain of Christ, promised salvation,

Euphrates and Gihon!

Hiddekel and Pishon!

Praise and elation!  These currents are strong!

Praise and elation!  These names like a song!

Rapid, Lively Running Water, Bursting Forth Sweet on Heaven’s shore,

Fertile Stream, Flowing Freely for ever and ever and ever more!

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

"He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart" (Ecclesiastes 5:20).

Due occasionally is an assessment of our days, but resist the fascination of it.  The fascination is there, and it pulls hard the attachment we have to time and to what occupies.  Set not your heart upon itself.  Intrinsic to a heavy heart is a heart too oft communed with by its self-same soul.  Also, put not time in your heart.  God hasn’t.  While He has made everything beautiful in its time, eternity He has put in our hearts. Time is just the beautiful wrap around it.    

A joyful heart knows that eternity has been put in it, knows its occupation, and knows its heritage.  The task through all our myriad tasks is to rejoice and to do good in our lives.  It is our God-given task.  He means for us to be occupied with it, no excuses.  “I can’t rejoice until this or enjoy because of that” are excuses we give when we forget our heritage.

Our heritage is what God reserves for us.  It is, in part, the power to enjoy what God gives, to accept our appointed lot, and to rejoice in our labor.  It is the gift that fits the task.  Both God-given, God Himself is the correspondent defending our heritage and occupation.  When tried, we may here direct our appeal and receive the verdict of the triune God, “Joy and heart shall ne’er depart!” 

Wonderful proclamation!  It is of God!  Rejoice!   

Author: Carolyn Roehrig