10 Words

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Last week a string of words grabbed me and embedded themselves in my mind. They’re found in II Corinthians 13:5. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you? There’s a tone of imploring in those 10 words.

Pam, do you not realize that I, Myself, am in you?

I know this. I lived most of my life knowing this. I’ve talked about it, and I’ve pondered it with wonder. I catch breathtaking glimpses of it, but it’s beyond comprehension and so easily slips through my brain cells. Then one day, God puts it in front of me again and takes me a little further.

How much do I really grasp that Christ Jesus Himself is alive in me? How much do I apprehend of His life and power? How deeply do I comprehend and experience the nearness of His Presence? He walks in the inner garden of my soul and wants me to join Him in conversation and in relationship in every moment and every movement.

O my soul, know this well, know this deeply, know this every moment of every day that Christ Jesus is alive in me!

He is in me as I go about my day. He is in me as I eat and drink, as I run, as I create, as I care for my grandchildren, as I drive the freeway, as I shop and wait in lines, as I surf the internet, as I clean my house and mow my lawn. There is nothing in my day in which He is not a part of and fully present.

I do not realize deeply enough the ramifications of the core truth that Christ Jesus is in me. In great love for my soul, Christ joins Himself to me and puts Himself in me to move me into a place of blessing that I have not yet known.  To move me into that blessed place of unbroken union with Him who gave all to become all in all in me. To move me to a deeper place of self death, absolute dependence upon Him and absolute trust in Him. He puts Himself in me to draw me closer to Himself and to do and be more in me than I could ever imagine.

God, keep reminding me and taking me further.

What have I got in my pocket?

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Since March, God has pressed me again and again with two inextricably linked powerful words. In these last three months, He has driven them deeper into my soul.

When Bilbo, the Hobbit, slipped his hand into his pocket in a dark place he said, “What have I got in my pocket?”, and his hand closed around a ring of power. I also carry a symbol of power in my pocket – this little empty shell.

I found it washed up on the central Oregon coast, and, in the last couple months, I’ve been carrying it in my pocket. When I slip my hand into my pocket throughout the day, I’m reminded of two powerful words: humility and faith.

When the shell was emptied of its fleshy self, the sea rushed in to fill and overflow it. As long as it was filled with itself, it couldn’t be filled with the sea. Likewise, I can’t be full of the life of God if I’m full of myself. When I’m emptied of my fleshy self and yielded to Him in unreserved surrender, He rushes in to fill and overflow me with all of the fullness of His own life and power. Fully emptied. Fully filled.

Humility is emptying. It’s reverent submission to the One who redeemed me and it says, not I but Christ. Not my will, not my rights, not even my abilities but Christ and Him alone. Humility is my heart deeply convicted of its sinfulness, utter lack and complete dependence upon Christ to be all in all in me.

Faith is filling. It’s the thrilling inrush of the abundant fullness of the life of God and the exceeding greatness of His power. Faith knows and rejoices with absolute assurance that Christ lives in me. That He works every moment of every day to make me all that He has designed me to be, to equip me with every good thing to do His will and to keep me abiding in the realness of His presence. This is His joy and delight.

These two powerful words are true only in tandem. Faith without humility is self-centered and self-reliant. Humility without faith is self-deprecating and hopeless. The two together unleash the power and life of God to do immeasurably more that all I can ask or imagine. Humbly trusting with unreserved surrender and unflinching faith is utterly transforming, deepening the sweet union of my heart with the heart of God and renewing it afresh every day.

Humility and faith together say, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Please take a moment to read Amy Carmichael’s poem, The Shell, which so beautifully and succinctly describes the life of humility and faith.

In the Company of God

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And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown”. And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way”.
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.

Years ago, I taped a poster with this excerpt from Minnie Haskins’ poem, “God Knows,” to my refrigerator. It was a lifeline during a difficult season when the path ahead of me was shrouded in darkness. Standing at the gate of 2022 and staring into the unknown, it’s again a reminder of the extended hand of God and His unwavering presence.

Our Lord walks with us as literally as He walked with the disciples. Every day, He extends His scarred hand and says, “Follow Me.” Sometimes the path ahead looks scary and the unknown is unnerving. It takes courage to trust His love in the darkness, but there is nothing surer than the wounded hand of God. He will never withdraw His hand and will never turn away. He will not walk us into a tree or over a precipice. He goes before us to prepare the way, beside us to support and strengthen and behind us to protect us from the past.

The LORD will guide you always….
Isaiah 58:11

“You will not go astray in the company of God. Like Enoch, walk with God, and you cannot miss your road. You will have infallible wisdom to direct you, unchangeable love to comfort you, and eternal power to defend you. ‘The Lord’ – mark the word – ‘the Lord will guide you continually.”[1]

There is no place safer and no darkness lighter, than in the company of Jehovah. Grasp His hand, trod gladly into the night and all will be well.

I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Psalm 16:8

[1] Spurgeon, Charles. (2003). Morning and Evening. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

Star Namer

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There’s a mysterious wonder that touches my soul in this season of gentle star light. My heart soars into the unfathomable mystery of the virgin birth and the inexplicable choice of the Sovereign God to make Himself nothing. The Star Namer became human to save a world writhing in the darkness of sin and bring us into His marvelous light. My stymied mind makes futile attempts to puzzle it out, but it’s absolutely mind boggling. God wove His own flesh and blood and bone together in Mary’s womb. The Eternal One was wholly dependent on the life that flowed through her vessels.

The incarnate infant Christ slept in a manger under the star of Bethlehem and under the watchful eye of His Father and multitudes of angels. What wonderous mysterious love is this?

May the wonder of Christmas capture your heart afresh.

Midge

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A couple of months ago I met a sweet miniature donkey named Midge, and I felt compelled to paint a watercolor of her. Midge’s best friend (and owner) is a friend of mine, and I wanted to give her a painting of Midge. And so, the adventure began.

As I progressed from photoshoot to sketches and then to painting, I felt a mysterious inner prompting moving me ahead. As time went on, I realized that the Midge project was becoming bigger than I expected – bigger in terms of the number of sketches and paintings and big in its impact on my journey as an artist and on my friend. The impact is beginning to ripple out to other friends of Midge.

God has used Midge to lead me to a new place of freedom and confidence in His gift and show me His purposes in it. I have had a narrow view of what I considered my ministry, and it didn’t include art. Things began to change a couple of years ago when a dear friend from the desert helped me see that I was “putting God in a box.” Well, Midge has been helping me take the lid off the box. Thanks, Midge.

God has given each of us a gift fitted to our own personality and wiring. Each uniquely expresses some facet of His infinite goodness and limitless beauty. His Spirit is the mysterious inner force that compels and empowers us in its expression and leads us to those He wants to touch through it.

He is blessed when we embrace the gift and sink into the rhythm and flow of the Spirit’s prompting in its expression. He then turns the blessing back on us and onto others. Freedom breaks upon the gift like the rising golden sun when we follow that prompting to serve one another in love. Who knows what He will do with it or how far the ripples will spread? God is so good.

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us new in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago (Ephesians 2:10).

Click here to view the watercolors and read more of Midge’s story: https://pamteschner.com/gallery/

Jump!

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Little girl toes curled over the concrete edge of the swimming pool, knees and body bent into a crouch, arms stretched to the max, splayed fingers reached for the outstretched hands of her swimming teacher, legs quivered, heart pounded, unsure, afraid. Her teacher said, “Jump!” She so badly wanted to jump but the water was scary. “Jump!” Wanting, stretching, reaching, scared. “Jump!” Then she sprang into the arms of her teacher. It was a terrifying and exhilarating splashing spluttering moment! Her family erupted into applause.

There are important lessons of faith that can be learned at the local swimming pool when taking your grandkids to their swimming lessons. I watched another little girl jump with joyful reckless abandon. My grandson leaped a bit nervously but trusted his teacher’s catching arms. I’m like him when it comes to leaps of faith. Nervous, a bit worried, but trusting the Teacher.

Sometimes God brings us to a risky edge and asks us to jump. It’s scary and everything in us screams caution, but the jump is never into the unknown. It’s known to Him, and He is present in it waiting for our faith to spring into action. With every jump, something in us changes and grows as we fall into His faithfulness.

God keeps bringing me to places of risk. My toes curl over the edge, stretching out nervously, quivering, wanting, reaching, scared. Every time I trust Him and jump, something in me is deeply changed by His faithfulness. I want to get to the place of reckless joyful abandonment, but I’m not quite there yet.

When God calls you to something outlandish, “Be reckless immediately – totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything – by casting your all upon Him. You do not know when His voice will come to you, but whenever the realization of God comes…be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him.”[1]

From the water, Jesus called out to Peter, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Jump!

[1] Chambers, Oswald. (1992). My Utmost for His Highest. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.