A View From The Sycamore Tree: One Thing (Psalm 27)

Thursday, January 1, 2009

One Thing (Psalm 27)

As 2009 begins I really want to challenge and hopefully encourage your hearts with one question. What is the one thing you desire from the Lord this year?

This week the kids are at Phillip's parents while we take care of some much needed home improvement "stuff". I have spent 3 1/2 days painting over the battle ship gray trim in this house that we're remodelling. ( I shared with some of you that if I were to put the strokes I painted in a one inch straight line I'd be in Iowa by now!) It is a monotonous task, but it has given me the blessed privilege of meditating on God's Word all week and of praying specifically for many of my friends.

The one verse that continually keeps coming to my mind is from Psalm 27. "One thing I have asked from the Lord, this thing I shall seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to meditate in His temple."

This week I am to asking myself, "What is the one thing I desire - honestly? Is it this - "to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold His beauty and to meditate in His temple"? Is my "one thing" an eternal desire or an earthly desire?

David's "one thing" was an earnest passion to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The "one thing" he would ask of God, the thing he sought after the most was this: "to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to meditate in His temple."

I am, by nothing but the sheer grace of God, finding myself longing more and more for heaven. I am longing for and at times aching for it in the eternal reality of actually being there. I want to behold the face of my God and Savior. I want to truly worship in His presence. I long to fellowship with Him and with the saints - and all without any of the encumbrances of sin. Can we even fathom what that will be like? No sin to affect us and weigh us down! I anxiously await the true and tangible outworking of my salvation in heaven but I'm also longing for it more and more in this life - "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

This year, will you pray with me that God would so work in each of us that our "one thing" to ask of God and our "one thing" to seek would be to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of this life? This year, I am asking God to make seeking Him through the simple means of grace the one thing I seek above all else. For in this life, these are the things (the preached Word, the sacraments, prayer, and fellowship with believers) where I will "behold the beauty of the Lord."

The more we behold the beauty of the Lord, the more full we will be to serve our husbands, raise our children, be a true friend, and be the salt and light that this fallen world so desperately needs. Jesus echoes the thoughts of this one thing in Matthew 6 when He reminds us to "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you." Here again is the "one thing" we should seek!

David in all earnestness prays for constant communion with His Lord. Christ commands us to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. Is this the desire of our hearts? May God in His infinite mercy make it to be so and may we see a little more of heaven on earth in 2009! Happy New Year my friends - know that I love each of you dearly.

With one foot there and one here,
Lori

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Here We Go!

This is a blog about the goodness and grace of God, even amidst the angst of autism.

So ... how did this whole thing start?

Well, I said I'd never do this but obviously here I am. After being challenged, encouraged, goaded and double dog dared, several years ago I began to blog.

Near the end of 2008, I found myself with renewed passion for God's Word, Kingdom, and people and I was stirred, through nothing other than the simple means of grace, to a hunger and thirsting for righteousness unlike any other time in my 20+ years as a Christian.

During that period, I began typing out the things that were striking me the most in my quiet time each morning. Honestly, I started because I wanted to have a written record that I could pass along to my children one day - lettered Ebenezers reminding them of how much their Mom loves God and His Word.

While doing that I found myself so excited on certain days that I began to email my musings to some of my girl friends, hoping to encourage them even as Christ was encouraging me. Many of those gals challenged me to put these things online in a blog form so others could have access to them. That's how this site started.

Now, to shoot really straight with you, that personal "revival" of mine has pendumatically ebbed and flowed over the course of the days, months and years since 2008. For a prolonged period after that initial renewing surge I actually found myself in an utterly antithetical place. God, in His wisdom, was pleased to grant me a substantial season in the dark dungeon of "doubting castle" - those days were some of the hardest of my life post-Jesus but were providentially ordained days ultimately used for my good and for my God's glory.

"Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come" by nothing but the amazing grace of an amazing God.

I've learned that even in the midst of the darkest of days there's just something about the light of God's Word that is powerful. The Scripture has been an anchor for me in the storm surge of life. Even when my eyes have seemed to be rather veiled and my vision somewhat dimmed, there has still been a re-focusing force that has risen when I have gazed long and hard upon the Word of God. Thus, even as a saint who struggles, I continue to write of my God, my Redeemer, His promises, and His truth.

I'm not always very regular at posting here because there are many more important duties in my life right now than blog uploads - ie. being wife, mom, housekeeper, cook, taxi service, chief bottle washer, and laundry lady - along with that music thing I do as a side gig! But, as time allows I'll be cutting and pasting from Joshua and Elizabeth's future journal gift and sharing some of it with you as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

Who's Doing This?

Lori Sealy is daily amazed at the grace of God in her life. Adopted as an infant and raised in an evangelical church, she rebelled against the things of Christ during high school and considered herself an atheist. Upon entering college, the God who ordains our steps ordained that her path would cross with several students who loved Christ and loved His Word. During that first year of college, she set out to destroy the faith of these young Christians. They set out to pray for her salvation.

Knowing that "faith comes through hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ," six college students daily confronted her sin and challenged her with the truths of God's glorious Word. Their obedience in proclaiming the good news of the gospel of Christ bore fruit in August of 1988 when by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, she was adopted for the second time in her life - this time into the family of God.

Lori is now the wife of Phillip Sealy. They live in Sylva, North Carolina where Phillip has been called to plant a new church for the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) - Redeemer Church Sylva. The Sealys have two children Joshua (14) and Elizabeth (12). Lori and Joshua both live with autism.

In her spare time (what little there is) Lori masquerades as a part-time songwriter/singer and performs on a limited monthly basis. Lori's newest CD, "The Strife is Over," has recently released. Hard copies of it, along with her last release "Begone Unbelief", are available through CD Baby and Lori's own website. Digital downloads are available through iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon mp3!

Be sure to visit http://www.lorisealy.com/ to learn more!

Why the Sycamore Tree?

Zaccheus, the wee little man, wanted to see Jesus and so he climbed into the sycamore tree in order to get a good look. Lori, the wee little wife and mom, longs to see Jesus as well. I realize that the place where I will catch a true glimpse of Him is in the pages of His Word.

The Bible is my sycamore tree and I find myself longing more and more to climb up into its branches that I might see Christ more clearly. This blog is simply a record of what God is teaching me as I spend time in "the tree" of His glorious Word. If anyone reads it I'll be amazed; if anyone profits from it I'll be humbled; and if anything good is found in it Soli Deo Gloria!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

One Thing (Psalm 27)

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