Iron Rose Sister Ministries

Written by Jennifer Percell, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in St. Joseph, MO

The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy. (Ps. 65:8, NIV)

Good Morning Sisters! Yes, it is morning, the morning of joy. Every day that we wake up and have opportunity to praise the great God of heaven is a new morning of joy.

Several months ago, these statements would have only brought pain to my heart. My heart was wrapped in a great cloud of darkness. Not only were we isolated in a frightening pandemic, my beloved older sister was suffering a terrible illness, I had many concerns for my children, and I was suffering a difficult illness myself. There seemed to be little hope to brighten any morning.

My prayers were quite desperate in those months. Since I am bound by human perspective, I could see little chance of change in any of the situations that were weighing me down. My desperate pleas were that God would bring some change to seemingly unchangeable circumstances. Those prayers did little to comfort me though, because I could not see the possibilities. I knew God's vision was so much greater than mine, but since I could not see resolutions, my heart refused to hope.

As I write today, we are still in the midst of a frightening pandemic. My sister's illness has progressed to a terrible condition, my illness remains undiagnosed and quite painful, and I still feel great concern for my children and grandchildren. In the midst of all of this I struggle to describe my joy. The deep rivers of unquenchable joy that have overtaken me feed my hungry soul in a way I have not known in my 61 years of this hard life.

The way that God reached His great strong hands into my very being and reshaped my heart was more effective and perfect than any surgery that may attempt to heal my body. I laugh out loud at my weak perspective that believed change was not possible. Can anyone look at 2020 and feel that life does not change? The changes wrought by experiencing great upheaval seem to us to be very negative. If I could recount to you the answered prayers God gave to me through the last months, you would see—you could not help but see—His great hand on every single moment of my days. You would see, as I have seen, that when life is most hopeless is when our vision can finally clear, and the incredible, indescribable love of the God of heaven will shine in brilliant technicolor rainbows.

As you cry your tears and sob with fear, please open your eyes and see Him. See Him reaching into your heart, making tender, gentle adjustments to your perspective. I wish I could describe how it works. If I could, I would not need Him so much. Step out of your darkness and allow the warmth of His light to nurture you. My sisters, the morning is so very, very beautiful.

Read from His word right now, read how the Potter works in Jeremiah 18:4, and Isaiah 29:16 and 64:8.

Read Lamentations 3:1-59 and sing new songs of everlasting joy. How is your morning going?

Written by Meagan Adams, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in McRae, AR

One of my favorite Christmas songs is It Came Upon the Midnight Clear by Edmund H. Sears. If you sing more than the first verse you realize that it’s not exactly the cheeriest holiday song. There is a poignancy to it, but also a call to something better. In the second stanza, Sears describes a scene where the angels are still singing their song of “Peace on the earth, good will to men from heaven’s all gracious king” but it goes largely unheard as it competes with the earth’s “Babel sounds.” In many ways, 2020 was a year of “Babel sounds” – confusion, conflict, uncertainty. It felt like all progress stopped and we all just ran around with no agreement on how to get anything done. Mankind’s perceived invincibility to accomplish anything it wanted was quickly derailed by a virus.

The third and fourth stanzas of Sears’s poem are the least-often sung. In years past, I focused on the third stanza:

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing.

This verse reminds me that there is a different reality than the world that I see. I wake up to my phone’s alarm and the first thing I see are news notifications of all that is going wrong in this world. It’s easy to get discouraged by it and to be frustrated that after all God went through to try to show us the way of peace and harmony, the world as a whole won’t listen. But that is not all there is. The angels continue to sing God’s love song – His message outlasts the futile and destructive behaviors of mankind.

This year, however, the fourth verse spoke to me:

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! For glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing,
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!

In the past, this seemed only to apply to the oppressed people of the world, and I know that I am among the privileged. I haven’t had to experience ongoing, overwhelming injustice and hardship. Still, if anything describes the 2020 experience, words like “crushing,” “toil,” and “weary” seem to be apt descriptors. The force of the coronavirus-world weighs down on my shoulders, life seems an uphill climb, and my steps are slow and painful (both literally & figuratively!). Hmm, seems like somebody else needs to listen to God’s song, to reframe my view of reality. I need to heed the call to take a break from weariness, to rest in God’s presence, and to let God’s music fill me. I need to listen to the angels sing.

Written by Débora Rodrigo, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Spain

The past year was full of changes and challenges. Of that, there is no doubt. Much has been said about what 2020 will be remembered for. But here we are facing a promising new year that gives us some hope, although we well know that this year, like any other, will bring its own challenges.

Changes, challenges, and unforeseen events all are parts of life that have their moments, as do times of tranquility and happiness. Many things happened in our lives last year, and many others will continue this year, but all things, as Paul promises us in Romans 8:28, contribute to the good of those who love God. We can be sure that during 2020, God was working in us, refining and redefining us according to His will.

The people of God faced many changes and challenges, and were still going through them after their exile in Babylon and the subsequent rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, led by Nehemiah. God's people had been refined and redefined during times of great difficulty. After returning to Jerusalem, the changes would continue, and they would have to continue facing challenges; but a new stage was beginning. Led by the priest Ezra, the people decided to meet as one in the square and keep silent while Ezra read the Book of the law. The people listened carefully and worshiped God (Neh. 8:1-6).

Changes and challenges may continue in our lives, but as we grappled with them over the past months, we have been refined and redefined and we must continue to walk and move forward with every step we take. It is time to stop, reflect, and check that we have our roots well ingrained, and redefine our steps to ensure we walk in the direction God would have us go.

Written by Tiffany Jacox, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister in Bellevue, NE

Well, here we are...2021! Are you leaping for joy and full of new hope or cautiously peering into the New Year? 2020 was full of turbulence, of that we can all agree. It is customary to take time at the end of a year to look back and reflect on what transpired throughout that year. I urge you, if you haven’t already, to take a few moments to do so. Take inventory of the things you witnessed, the things you experienced, your relationship with Jesus, the choices you made and ask yourself how those things changed you.

You see, we are shaped by thousands of little things each day. Little acts, small choices, big decisions, they all have consequences and our experiences help shape the person of whom we will become. If we rely on ourselves or on the voices of the world, we may not be refined the way we should be or would like to be. In your time of reflection over the past year, and preparation for the year ahead, remember who you should be talking to and from where we should seek advice.

We should be spending time in the Word of God and speaking to Him in prayer daily, asking Him for wisdom. Proverbs 3:5 (NIV) reminds us to, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.” We will grow and change through our experiences and God will strengthen us through the trials. “Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will also help you, I will also uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isa. 41:10, NASB).

We can look forward with joy and anticipation to this New Year with a new opportunity to be not only refined but redefined. God uses our experiences to refine us and we are redefined in Jesus. If you are a Christian you have already been made new. If you aren’t a Christian yet, don’t wait! Get to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the new life only He can give. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17, KJV). The old has passed away and new things have come; we have been redefined!

As we make our New Years’ Resolutions or plans for the upcoming year, remember to keep God in the center of our planning. “Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it” (Ps. 37:5, AMP). We must not dwell on the past or things of this world, they are temporary. We need to keep our focus clear and straight ahead. “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Col 3:2, NKJV). Allow God to be at the center of all you do and He will guide the way, “The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps” (Prov. 16:9, NASB).

God has given us a sweet fellowship in Iron Rose Sister Ministries and a way to be refined, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” (Prov. 27:17, NIV). No more looking behind, only looking ahead, together, as refined and redefined women of God!

Written by Michelle J. Goff

Isaiah 48 begins with the LORD’s reminder to Israel of all He has done in the past and how He has fulfilled His prophecies of old. Israel had become blind to all God had done. They were deaf to the LORD’s admonitions. And they were lame, attempting to walk in ways that God had not led them, especially in the following of idols.

Since none of that applies to us and I am never sarcastic (ha!), I will get straight to the point of how this particular chapter of Isaiah has taken on a very practical meaning for me, particularly verse 10.

Isaiah 48:1-8 is the rebuke.
Unfaithfulness to God and stubbornness characterize the description of Israel. Their worship of physical idols, cast from silver, was deplorable to God. Carved images were no match for the Sovereign LORD! Check out verse 5 (ESV):
I declared them to you from of old,
before they came to pass I announced them to you,
lest you should say, ‘My idol did them,
my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’

Whew, it’s a good thing I haven’t carved any images lately! But how has my own unfaithfulness and stubbornness been revealed? Throughout 2020, maybe we clung to our well-planned calendars and our decorated planners. We might have thrown up our hands when we felt overwhelmed, stomped our feet in defiance of one more restriction placed on our freedoms, or lashed out in frustration when we lost control of what we were barely holding onto in the first place.

One of my idols was a measuring stick the size of an 11th commandment that I was expected to meet all expectations (stated or perceived), be whatever anyone needed in support, and bear the weight of responsibility for things that were never mine to bear. Gulp. Okay, I admit it. We do each have our idols…

But the LORD, the I AM, who is right there with us always, is not finished with the chapter.
Isaiah 48:9-11 is the grace.

God has had reason to be angry with me and my dysfunctional relationship with idols, but the middle section of this chapter is a tremendous demonstration of His love, grace, and patience, as a teacher and refiner.

“For my name's sake I defer my anger;
for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
that I may not cut you off.
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another. (Is. 48:9-11, ESV)

The imagery in Malachi 3 has always come to mind when I think of a refiner and purifier of silver. I see God sitting by the fire waiting to see when all of my impurities have been burned away. A painful and lengthy process, it has given me hope when I feel like life is going up in flames. It is an illustration I have called to mind this year in light of my health struggles and a medical sabbatical.

And while 2020 has been that type of refiner’s fire for me, the silver, the refiner’s fire has a slightly different application from this text in Isaiah 48. Yes, we are being refined by the furnace of affliction, but it is in order that the fire reveal the true colors and the futility of the silver idols in our lives. The LORD makes a play on the imagery of the refiner’s fire that the Israelites had used to cast their silver idols to reiterate His sovereignty.

Yahweh, the I AM, the LORD God of Israel, our Heavenly Father is the one true God. Anything that we put in His place can be burned away through the furnace of affliction, if we let the Refiner do His work. Does God want us to go through that time of trial and affliction? No. But can He use it for good? Absolutely (Rom. 8:28)!

For me, the refiner’s fire of 2020 revealed some idols, burned off some impurities, and made me more malleable in order to be redefined by God. It has allowed me to accept the call that God offers throughout the rest of the chapter.

Isaiah 48:12-22 is the call to a redefined life.
Verse 17 in the NIV states,
Thus says the LORD,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the LORD your God,
who teaches you what is best for you,
who guides you in the way you should go.

Speak to us, LORD, especially the auditory learners.
Teach us LORD, some of us are visual and need to see it modeled.
Lead us LORD, the kinesthetic learners need to step it out.

No matter the specific calling the LORD is offering to redefine you, please join me in the struggle to allow Him to do His work. I often want to jump out of the fire. Some of my idols have defined me for so long, they are hard to let go of. We must let go of our previous definitions of who we were or what we were doing. We are His. Dying to self is crucial to being redefined. Thanks be to God for sending His Son who modeled this and makes it possible for us to unite with Him in the rebirth of being redefined!

If you have not been united with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection to receive a new life in Him, please contact us and we will put you in touch with someone in your area who can help you understand and accept this invitation from God.

If you are like me who accepted that invitation long ago, but has found herself in the furnace of affliction, with stubbornness like the Israelites’, or at whatever level of unfaithfulness… God offers us the grace to be redeemed, redefined, and made new in Him.

How has God walked with you through a furnace of affliction this past year? What idols has He burned off? What beauty has come out of the ashes? What good has come out of tragedy?

Written by Michelle J. Goff

I have a love/hate relationship with the expression “new normal.” I’m not sure I ever understood “old normal” either, but with a New Year and a strong desire to put many aspects of 2020 behind us, I offer this explanation and encouragement.

After a perfect storm in my gut back in 2009, I had to establish a new normal in the kitchen and make significant changes regarding my food consumption.

Friends are expecting a new baby, their first, and new normal will be in a constant state of flux for the next 18 years!

After the word “cancer” escapes the doctor’s lips, time stands still until the patient and her family can begin to process new normal.

Other friends got married in 2020 and think it was the best year ever! How about their new normal?

On the other hand, in 2020, while the world was reeling from a global pandemic, hurricanes ravaged Central America and the Gulf Coast. New normal will not be reestablished for months or years in some areas where bridges were washed out and roads need to be rebuilt.

Feelings of isolation, helplessness, anxiety, and depression have become a new normal for many who have struggled to deal with the constant blows dealt them, especially in the year 2020.

If there is one thing we can count on not to change, it is the fact that things will always change.
The more things change, the more they remain the same.

I do not know to whom we can attribute the two preceding quotes. However, they remind me of Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes.
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecc. 3:1, ESV).

Solomon follows this introduction with a list of things that there is a time for… to be born and to die, to plant and to harvest, to seek and to lose (which may happen multiple times in a day). Everyone is in a constant navigation of “new normal.”

However, the expression that sticks out to me right now is from the second part of verse 5, “A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.” My love language is not physical touch, but I am really missing the hugs and the smiling faces on Sunday mornings.

New normal for Sunday morning church gatherings may be virtual, but it has allowed me to “gather” with Christians all across the world in Bible study, prayer meetings, and Sunday church services. I kinda like that version of new normal.

When Jesus came to earth and experienced a true new normal, starting out as a helpless, vulnerable baby, His life became the hope of a true new normal in His name.

The religious leaders didn’t know what to make of this teacher that taught as one who had authority. New normal for the demons was a grim prospect. And when we get to the moment of His crucifixion, there was everything new and nothing normal about His resurrection!

Oh, what a blessing to have the hope of a new life, a new normal, in Christ! What a joy to anticipate a new normal in heaven where there will be no more night, no more sadness, no more illness…

For everything there is a season… and I am thrilled to know that Christ walks with me during the challenges of any new normal season here on earth, until we can join with Him forever in heaven!

What has your new normal looked like recently?
How have you seen Christ walk with you in your new normal?
What does the reminder of a new normal awaiting you in heaven do for you?