Author Archives: Pam Teschner

Are we going to be ok?

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A video circulating out there captures haunting images of this “pivotal historical moment we just went stumbling past.” A worried post shows on screen: “Are we going to be ok?”

Global humanity is reeling and reaching to each other through glass barriers, computer screens and phones. Desperate people are despairing. People are dying alone. Where is God in all this? Has He distanced Himself as well?

Yesterday morning, I read this in a devotional from Henri Nouwen:

“God has not withdrawn himself. He sent his Son to share our human condition and the Son sent us his Spirit to lead us into the intimacy of his divine life. It is in the midst of the chaotic suffering of humanity that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Love, makes himself visible. But can we recognize his presence?”[1]

God makes Himself visible in the chaotic suffering of humanity. See Him in sacrificial kindness. See Him in breaking hearts and in tears rolling down masked faces. See Him in the exhaustion of a nurse. Know Him in the pain of separation. No one has felt it like He has felt it.

This is what God says to us today…read it like you’ve never seen it before…

Fear not for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned.;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the Lord, your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior…
Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you…
Do not be afraid, for I am with you.
Isaiah 43:1-5

Path of Hope. Photo by Pam Teschner

He stands beside you and with you and carries you when you pass through great suffering because you are dear to Him. He loves you beyond your capacity to understand, and He will lead you into the intimacy of His divine life.

I keep thinking of C.S. Lewis’ words through Aslan, “Courage, dear heart.”

[1] Nouwen, Henri J. M. (2017) You Are the Beloved: Daily Meditations for Spiritual Living. New York, New York: Convergent Books.

Incredible

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In this new world order of social distancing and isolation there is One who is closer than my skin and in the air I breathe. In the pandemic panic and anxiety, it’s easy to let this unshakeable Truth slip from our sanitized grasp. God is still on the throne. Christ is still the head over every power and authority, and He’s got this.

For quite some time, I’ve been pondering an incredible phrase from Ephesians 3:19 “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” This phrase paints a picture of being filled to the brim, liberally supplied and lacking nothing. What a contrast with the current world of exhausted and scant supplies and empty shelves. But nothing has changed with God. The Spirit that is in me still fills and floods me with the life and power of God Himself so I lack nothing. Absolutely incredible.

Above all else, what God desires and I so desperately need this day is unceasing, intimate, holy communion with the Father and the Son. This is what I was created for, what Jesus died to restore, and what the Spirit makes true in my experience every moment of today…to the brim.

The fullness of God isn’t dispensed when I’ve prayed enough or have been spiritual enough, but all the fullness of God is available to me all the time, every moment of every day just as I am where I am. It is His power at work in my yielded trusting heart. This transcends incredible. Oh, the incredible greatness of God’s power available to us who trust Him for it!

One last incredible thought: We who have this same Spirit in us are connected and forever bound by His love and power. The Holy Spirit is the connective tissue between us and between our heart and the great heart of God. What precious gifts He has given for such a time as this.

2020 Prayer

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Have you given much thought recently to what Jesus prays for you? I hadn’t, but a few days ago it struck me that He was praying for me. So, I asked Him, “Lord, what is your prayer for me this year?” I listened and waited and, in time, I heard.

I belong to a “pack” of 10 women. We have ministered together and lead worship at many events over the last couple of decades. We know each other all too well and have prayed each other through the ups and downs of life. With 10 of us, that translates into a lot of prayers!

When we were rehearsing weekly, we would always spend time in prayer. When it was someone’s birthday, it was our tradition to eat sweets then pray only for the birthday girl. I can’t tell you what it does to your heart when you hear nine people each talk to God specifically about you and for you. It’s surprisingly hard to sit still and let people love you in that way. It often moved the birthday girl to tears.

Right now, Jesus is lifting throne-room prayers for you. He knows you all too well and has fervently prayed you through the ups and downs of life. His continual thoughts toward you outnumber the grains of sand in all the deserts and seas, and He daily bears your burdens. So great is His care for you!

Imagine listening in on those prayers. It would move us to tears. I believe we can know, at least in part, what He’s praying, but we need to be in the throne room to hear. So, step into the Most Holy Place by His blood and set yourself before Him in stillness and quiet surrender. Lean into Him who is leaning into you so full of tender love, and let Him love you. Ask what’s on His heart for you this year, and ask for ears to hear it. He wants you to know. Ask and it shall be given.

Jesus waits for those who will take time to listen and open themselves to the inconceivable…who will sink into Him in quiet surrender and be swept up into the impossible.

Open your mouth

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I asked God for a verse this morning, something from His heart to mine, and He gave me this:

Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. Psalm 81:10b

When my boys were little guys, I would bring a spoon of deliciousness to their mouths and say, “Open wide.” Sometimes they would open like little birds, and sometimes they would stubbornly hold their lips together in silent refusal. So, I tried the old airplane hangar trick with special effect sounds and all. Sometimes it worked, but often they stuck to their stubborn refusal.

God asks me to open my heart and soul as wide as I can to receive His deliciousness. He promises to fill and flood me with the abundant richness of His own life and satisfy my deepest yearnings. My part is to simply open wide and receive it. His part is to fill me with more than I can hold.

I’m afraid there are times when I stubbornly press my lips together not trusting or believing His gift. I fall into the performance trap and think I need to do something to earn it or cause God to respond and fill me. Consider the baby birds. They do nothing but receive what’s given. God implores us to eat what is good, and let our soul delight in the abundance He so freely gives.

Andrew Murray wrote, “We have been made to be a vessel into which God can pour out His life, His beauty, His happiness, His love. We are created to be a receptacle and a reservoir of divine heavenly life and blessing, just as much as God can put into us.” [1]

He will fill you and me with exactly what we need and so much more, more than all we can ask or imagine. Just open wide and receive it.

Chew on this: Psalm 81:10, John 10:10, Ephesians 3:19-20 and Isaiah 55:2.

[1] Murray, Andrew. (1895). The Deeper Christian Life, An Aid to Its Attainment. Chicago, Illinois: Fleming H. Revell Company.

Full Face to the Sun

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In the spring and summer, I curse them and nuke them, but this week I admired their tenacity. I was running along on a cold sunny morning, turned a corner onto a patch of grass and was struck by a single happy face looking up at me. Seeing the yellow spot of joy against the frosty green, I had to smile at the dandelion’s humble courage and perseverance.

The little spot of joy seemed undaunted by its current difficult season of life. Oblivious to all the frosty reasons for dormancy, it kept its face fully set upon the glory of the sun and saw nothing else. Regardless of its circumstances, it shone as if reflecting the very orb of the sun.

I recently finished reading a book on the life of Lilias Trotter, artist and missionary to North Africa from 1888 until her death in 1928. She wrote of a day in a wood and reflected upon a “single bright spot shining as a great golden star. It was just a dandelion, and half-withered – but it was full face to the sun, and had caught into its heart all the glory it could hold… There is an ocean of grace and love and power lying all around us…and it is ready to transfigure us, as the sunshine transfigured the dandelion, and on the same condition – that we stand full face to God. Turn full your soul’s vision to Jesus, and look and look at Him, and a strange dimness will come over all that is apart from Him. For He is worthy to have all there is to be had in the heart that He has died to win.”[1] Helen Limmel was so inspired by Lilias’ challenge to “turn full your soul’s vision to Jesus, and look and look at Him,” that she wrote the hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”

He is worthy to have all there is to be had in this heart that He died to win. And He will give it all the glory it can hold if I look and look and keep looking full face at Jesus.

[1] Rockness, Miriam Huffman. (2003). A Passion for the Impossible, The Life of Lilias Trotter. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Discovery House Publishers.

The Sonoran

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A few weeks ago, God gave me an amazing gift of a weekend in the Sonoran Desert. The desert is unique in its simplicity and stillness. The sense of rest and thirstiness that permeates the arid land seeps into the lingering soul.

Sonoran Desert, Tucson, Arizona

For the past three months, God has pressed me with this one thing – to be still before Him and wait patiently for Him (Psalm 37:7). So, I have been holding my soul quietly open to God and waiting on Him. It has been both a season of relinquishment and of soul expansion. The desert is a place of both.

Its expansiveness and silent power create a sense of smallness and marvel in the heart. It gives an interesting sense of peace and freedom. When I come to realize that I’m surrounded by Someone so much greater than myself and my circumstances, it’s gives a sense of peace and freedom knowing He’s in control.

Because of its intensity, the desert is also a place where shadows are sought for relief and protection. I was told by a local desert dweller to walk in the shade (my Oregonian soul was meandering about in the full sun). Resting in the shadow of the Almighty has taken on new meaning.

Saguaros of the Sonoran, Tucson, Arizona

The iconic saguaros – the silent sentinels of the Sonoran – seem to wait in quiet expectation with arms uplifted. Interesting side note – a saguaro doesn’t start growing arms until about 75 years old. The young ones stand as an arrow pointing heavenward, while the old ones have grown more ways to do so. In desert years, I’m still young. But even if I have little buds or no arms at all yet, I’m lifting them up on the inside!

God has been gradually drawing me into arid nothingness to show me His oasis of abundant life, genuine joy and soul rest. I’m coming to realize more fully that I can do nothing, and from that place He can and will do everything. Indeed, He is everything and so my soul waits in silence for God alone. If one doesn’t enter the desert with humility, one certainly leaves with it.