Tag: kedging

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God’s Handing It to You

The Kedge Anchor
The Artist’s Right Hand,
Drawn by Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617)

The drawing of the is hand is thought to be the right hand of the artist, Hendrick Goltzius. It could also be the hand of the man Jesus healed in the synagogue – Mark 3:1-6. The only similarity in the drawing and in scripture is there is a man with a withered hand in both. A little back story to what happened to the artist Hendrick Goltzius; according to his friend and biographer Karel van Mander (1548-1606), Hendrick fell into the fire place most likely trying to break his fall with both his hands. His mother tired to nurse him back to health but his hands never healed properly and was in constant pain. Thirty years later Goltzius drew what is possibly his own right hand. He may have had rough dexterity to draw with his left hand.

Here in scripture, Mark 3;1-6, where we don’t have a back story to how this man’s hand become withered we do know that Jesus heals it. And the fact He did it on the sabbath, that’s another blog post.

And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.

2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.

3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.

4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.

5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.

6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

Mark 3:1-6 KJV

There was a word in this passage that stuck out to me; stretch. So I investigated. Strong’s Concordance G1614 – ekteinō, to stretch out, stretch forth. Made sense to me, seemed pretty straight forward. But as I continued to search I came across Acts 4:30 – “ By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus

Stretching here in Acts 4:30 -The following I found on the same page under the Thayer’s Greek Lexicon heading “ἀγκύρας, properly, to carry forward [R. V. lay out] the cable to which the anchor is fastened,(my emphasis) i. e. to cast anchor [“the idea of extending the cables runs into that of carrying out and dropping the anchors” The cable to which the anchor is fastened. Say what?!

“While You stretch out Your hand to cure and to perform signs and wonders through the authority and by the power of the name of Your holy Child andServant Jesus.” (Amplified Bible Classic Editions, emphasis mine). It hit me. Jesus invites us to reach out to Him, to stretch out our hands to Him for healing, for salvation, for a relationship with Him And that hand is “the cable to which the anchor is fastened.” Hebrew 6:19 – “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; …” (KJV). Jesus, our anchor, is at the other end of that cable.

The Kedge anchor is a real anchor (there’s a story behind the name of this blog, but that’s another blog post too) and kedging is a nautical term; “to draw (a vessel) along by hauling in on the cable of a light anchor that has been dropped at some distance from it, or (of a vessel) to be drawn in this fashion.” Do you see it? That withered hand is us, broken, sinful and in need of healing. Jesus has His hand reaching out to us. We just have to reach out and grasp hold of His hand, the Hand, the cable, that is fastened to the Anchor. Jesus is our hope, “an anchor for our soul, both sure and steadfast…”

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January 18, 2021 – Isaiah 43:18-19

The Kedge Anchor

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

Isaiah 43:18-19

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Here’s to a Blessed New Year! 2021

The Kedge Anchor

Here’s to a Blessed New Year! Funny when I started this blog a year ago, I never in a million years would have thought 2020 would have turned out as it did. I had to go back and read those words again to remind myself God is still in control. Wishing everyone a Happy New Year, well, maybe it the cynicism in me, but telling someone to be happy is like telling someone to not worry.

Happiness is a choice; so is worry. We can choose to be happy despite our feelings or our circumstances. Doesn’t mean we are doing cartwheels, but our hearts can still be thankful as hard as that may be at times. We can be thankful IN circumstances – 1 Thessalonians 5:18 because the joy of the Lord is our strength – Nehemiah 8:10 ( hmmm, that may be another blog post soon, stay tuned).

So as we enter into 2020 we can choose to advance with fear or faith, happiness or worry. And as uncertain as the future may seem, one fact remains that is certain, God still sits on the throne. He is in control. He holds our future. So what’s to fear? Fear is not from God – 1 Timothy 1:7. Will we be fearful at times? Yes! We are human and God knows this and it’s at those times He wants us to come to Him, to draw near, to toss out our kedge anchor and pull closer to Him – James 4:8-10. God is not surprised by us becoming fearful. I have tried to be “brave” in front of God. Know what? It’s exhausting. There is a quote, “When I acknowledge my fear, it loses it’s power.” (unknown). When I acknowledge my fear to my Father, it loses it’s power and I am free to live in faith. God is gracious and won’t condemn us when we become fearful – Psalm 145:8.

So instead of wishing everyone a Happy New Year, I am wishing all who read this a Blessed New Year!!

Photo by Travis Rupert on Pexels.com

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When Worry Becomes Consuming

The Kedge Anchor
Dark, still waters. Light is limited, can’t see and not moving anywhere, need direction and light. Is this you right now? Read on.

Waiting on the Lord when you need an answer from Him, or direction, or a healing can be difficult. It’s those difficult times it seems like we are walking in a wilderness, or in still waters and we need to do some kedging (see the About page). We can’t see the light, we don’t know in what direction to turn, we search for answers to the point we become consumed with the problem. We need to consume ourselves with THE problem solver. Jesus.

So often we hear people tell us to “just give it to God”, “hand your problems to Him”, and, I like this one, “Try not to worry about it.” All given with good intent and probably for a lack of not knowing what to say. Even the Bible does tell us not to worry – Matthew 6:25 -34, but God also gives us some instruction in verse 33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness“. So when we read or hear those words, “Give it to God”, what does that look like? I believe that handing it over to God is going to vary slightly for everyone. But I do believe there are two important practices with which we can start. First, we need to pray and read God’s Word. (Those two go hand in hand) Obvious I know, but it’s how we pray; pray specifically. God knows our situation, after all He is in control and nothing surprises Him, – Hebrews 4:13, but He still waits and wants to hear from His children. So perhaps we can pray specifically for putting the right people in our paths to encourage, speak truth to us, and that our eyes and hearts are open to them. There’s a quote in a book by Ruth Chou Simons titled Gracelaced, an awesome devotional, beautifully illustrated in watercolors and photographs that takes you through the truths from God’s Word as you transition through seasons of life. There is one quote that really stood out to me. “God is more interested in your desperate need for His lamp-lit direction than your path-paving skills.” By praying and reading God’s Word, getting to know Him more, and growing closer to Him, we will begin to focus less on our current situation and more on Him and what He has to say to us. We also begin to see the light on His path, just enough for the next step. That’s all we need. Any more would overwhelm us and if we knew more than we needed, we would be relying on that knowledge and not trusting God and “His lamp-lit direction”. Besides we only have today, not yesterday, and tomorrow is history. Focus on scripture, write out a scripture verse for the day, carry it with you, memorize it, draw it, paint it, sing it, whatever is going to help you remember it. This needs to be a daily practice. And when we come out of this wilderness, hopefully we are still practicing this important step.

The second thing we can do is serve. Text a friend ask them “how can I pray for you today?” and pray for them. A handwritten note is always encouraging and who doesn’t like to get a nice surprise in the mail? Ask to serve at church, a local non-profit, look to your neighbors, ask a friend if you can babysit so they can have a date night, mow a lawn, etc. I know serving may look different in this current state of lockdown and limited mobility. But there are ways to get creative. It may be just serving your family at home. Serving others helps get our minds off ourselves and our problems.

“God is more interested in your desperate need for His lamp-lit direction than your path-paving skills.”

Ruth Chou Simons

This is not to say that worry isn’t going to creep in. If you’re like me, “ok God, not going to worry about this, this is yours to handle, Amen.” LOL right? Ten seconds later, I’m back where I started. That’s ok. We. Are. Human. And once again, God isn’t surprised. So we need to recognize our worry and hand it back over to God with a prayer of asking for forgiveness and moving forward. Pick up the verse you wrote down and read it again, this time from memory, if you can. This is also not to say we can’t do anything at all. If it’s a financial struggle, a health issue, a relationship issue, a spiritual battle, whatever it is we are trying to navigate, we can still do a part. For example, if it’s a health issue, we can research healthy ways to combat it or search for a doctor that specializes in the health issue, but what we can’t do is obsess over it. And we will, from time to time, find ourselves obsessing. That’s when we need to repent and release it back to God. Walk away from it, regain our focus. As it was said in Hope for the Future Part 2, “While it’s good to plan and prepare responsibly, it’s bad to dwell and worry about all the ways our planning could go wrong.”

So when we feel like we are wandering or sailing in uncharted waters, seeking God’s “lamp-lit direction” by “kedging” (spiritual kedging) or pulling closer to Him, seeking Him in His Word daily, we allow God to show us the light and lead us in the right direction.

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Happy New Year! 2020

The Kedge Anchor

AHOY! Welcome to the Kedge Anchor.

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Jeremiah 29:11 ” For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (NIV)

Happy New Year! WOW the year 2020. Sounds so futuristic. Then there’s all the 2020 jokes, 20/20 vision in the new year. LOL The future can be exciting. And it can be scary. Simply because we don’t know what the future holds.

But it doesn’t have to be scary. The Bible tells us “be anxious for nothing.” Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” (NIV) You can ask God anything. He already knows what’s on your mind and heart. So why ask, you may be thinking. Because he loves you, he wants to hear from you. Just like you want to hear your spouse, your parents, your friends or those you love to say “I love you.” You know it, but you want to hear it. Jesus is the same way.

Matthew 6:25-34 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (NIV) Sometimes this is easier said than done.

But when you think about it, like verse 27 says, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Worry isn’t changing anything. It’s just stealing your peace.

We can have confidence in the future. Confident that God knows all, he is omniscient. Psalm 139:1-4 “O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.” Job 28:24 ” for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.” He knows us in the past, Psalm 139:13 “For you created me my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” He knows us in the present ” Matthew 10:30 ” And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” And we shed hair constantly, don’t we? So, he knows at any given time how many hairs on our heads, even the gray ones. And he knows our future, Jeremiah 29:11 “ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD…”

“Worry is assuming responsibilities that God never intended for you to handle, …” I’m not sure where this quote originated, other than Facebook, but that’s exactly what we are doing when we worry. It’s hard NOT to worry, I’ve been there, but I have also been there in total surrender to God and HE HAS ALWAYS COME THROUGH!!! YAY!! VICTORY! WHo doesn’t want that? Sometimes things turned out totally different than how I planned, but it always turned out for the best. Sometimes I was in a holding pattern and for a reason. Usually to transform me and grow me and time for him to just do his work. Because, 1 Corinthians 2:9 “However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard and what no human mind has conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him. (NIV).

Every time a hard situation comes up, try to let go and give it to God. And fill that void of no worry with praise and prayer. Reach out to someone in need and watch those plans he has for you unfold. The future doesn’t have to be scary. Not when you know who holds it. It’s hard, I know, but trust, little by little that trust will grow and VICTORY will be yours!
Happy New Year! 

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