Worship - Ellen Chauvin | Soaked & Sprouting

The Great Christmas Pillow Debate

December 19, 2024 by Ellen 2 Comments

The debate (or disagreement) began several years ago. It’s because of all my Christmas pillows. I have six or seven (depending on your point of view) scattered around the house (I’ve cut back this year!). One pillow stays out all year. I say it technically ISN’T a Christmas pillow. My husband disagrees.

The pillow in question? Why, it’s the one that says “Joy to the world.”

I can hear you now: “Ellen, that is a pillow to celebrate Christ’s birth, Christmas.”

No. No, it isn’t.

English minister Issac Watts wrote this hymn based on Psalm 98. It was not written as a Christmas carol, as the lyrics don’t reflect Jesus’ virgin birth, but His second coming.

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;

Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare him room,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns;

Let men their songs employ;

While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains

Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

He rules the world with truth and grace,

And makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness,

And wonders of His love,

And wonders, wonders, of His love.

What if our joy is not for the holiday food, gifts, or sparkling lights this Christmas? What if we focus our joy on The Bread of Life, The Greatest Gift, and The Light of the World? Jesus.

And what if, as my pastor’s wife recently challenged, we have a singular focus on this one thing: Jesus is returning soon! As exiles waiting for Jesus, we can set our minds on things above. We do this by pondering how heaven and nature will sing joyfully at His coming! We focus on Jesus’ return by being in awe of the wonders of His love. We focus on Jesus’ return by ensuring our hearts prepare Him room.

Our King is coming soon to take us home to Him. Joy!

And yes, leave your Joy to the World pillow out all year!

Until He returns,

Want to know more about rejoicing as an exile? Grab a copy of my book, Longing to Belong-Filling the Longings of Our Hearts with the Hope of Home.

Is Your Quiet Time…Quiet?

September 19, 2024 by Ellen 18 Comments

“You’re quiet. Are you mad at me?”

“I haven’t heard from you today. Is everything ok?”

“No one is saying anything. I wonder if I should peek. Maybe I’m the only one with my head still bowed.”

It’s funny how silences bother us. At a home prayer meeting recently, our pastor advised us that there may be times when no one prays. Don’t be uncomfortable in those silent times, he said. Hmm, I’ll try.

At home, my husband sits with the iPad and doesn’t say a word for half an hour. Or my friend hasn’t called or e-mailed for a day or two. I wonder if I’ve done something wrong. I wonder if they’re mad at me. I need words of affirmation to know everything is a-o-k.

More often than I care to admit, it’s the same with me and my time with God. I don’t feel like I’ve heard from Him. I rarely get that special “Rhema” word. He’s silent, and I wonder if He hears me at all. I wonder if everything is ok.

Do you have those times?

A well respected, Godly woman in our church explain God’s silences as His trust of us. She referred to this devotion by Oswald Chambers (http://utmost.org/god’s-silence—-then-what/). What? God trusts us? Really? What does that mean?

Perhaps when we have those dry spells (the ones where we don’t have the feeling of actually hearing God and getting that all important word from Him), maybe He DOES trust us. Perhaps He sees that we are automatically walking in His will – it has become ingrained in us. Like children growing up, who can be left alone in their room to play, He sees that we are maturing. We don’t have to be spoon fed and hand led as much.

He does still speaks to us. But maybe we don’t need to be as concerned with the long silences. Yes, it’s still ok to ask Him for a word, to let Him know we depend on Him and not ourselves. As we grow, perhaps He trusts us more. Trust is a confidence placed in someone who is faithful and reliable. The more faithful we are to Him, the more He trusts us.

In His silence, we will learn to walk by faith and not by sight. More confident, if you will, that we are walking closely with Him in intimacy. We will discover anew that He is reliable. We may even strain just a bit harder to hear Him. And in that expectant listening, we find that He has been there all along.

His silence is allowing me to get to the place where I can say “I love Him, even though I haven’t seen Him. And even when I don’t see Him, I believe in Him and trust that He is there. I am filled with a glorious joy (1 Peter 1:8).”

I know my husband intimately. I KNOW sometimes what his answer to a question will be, or his reaction to a situation. I KNOW some things I choose to do won’t make him happy, and other things I do will delight him. John doesn’t verbally give me his opinion on every situation, but he doesn’t have to. He trusts me to do the right thing.

This concept of God trusting us is the same principle. Trust is earned. God trusts us when He knows we are reliable.

“But not with my servant Moses. Of all my house, he is the one I trust.” Numbers 12:7

I want to be a person God trusts. How about you?

Grace be with you,