Hi Friends! First… I’ve been sharing videos for Psalms: Sing to the Savior to paid subscribers this summer and I’m sharing the audio version of the teaching on these newsletters as well! Displayed above is a teaching on Psalms of Lament, specifically Psalm 13. I pray this teaching may be a help and a comfort to someone! Here’s an outline if this helps you to follow along…
Main Point: Laments are prayers in pain that lead us to trust the God of Salvation.
Pour out your heart. (Psalm 13:1-2)
Ask Boldly. (Psalm 13:3-4)
Trust the God of Salvation. (Psalm 13:5-6)
In the rest of the letter you’ll find…
A letter to the girls on John 1:43-39 & family update.
A photo update from Roanoke!
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
John 1:43-49
Dear Lee Girls,
This move from Charlottesville to Roanoke has been our smoothest yet, but it has still felt pretty challenging at times. Abigail, for somewhat comical yet precious reasons, has shed many tears over missing Wegmans — the other grocery stores here just do not measure up in her eyes. Elsie has really missed her Sunday school class from our church in Charlottesville. And every time Charis gets her hands on a loose piece of paper, she is making a card for one of her sweet school friends. We spent a year preparing to move to Roanoke and we did a lot of praying and processing about that change, but some treasures just cannot be replaced.
We are grateful for our transition here, and overall, we love Roanoke. However, I’ve moved enough times to know that it will take some more time for this to feel like home. But I can hold grief in one hand and hope in the other hand, because I know that God has the kindness and intentionality to carry us to that place. When we’ve moved in the past, God has helped our family by showing us that He sees our needs and is ready to meet and exceed them wherever we are. I have countless stories of Him doing this for me and for our family. When we need to be moved from doubt to rest and trust, God often shows us that He sees and knows us in order to comfort us and carry us through.
In this passage in John 1, Nathaniel is in a place of questioning and doubt. But Jesus “sees” Nathaniel, and it moves him from doubt to belief. When I first studied these verses I couldn’t stop thinking about how relatable they were. In my own life, it has often felt like Jesus has bent down extra low and close to help me move from one place of trust to another. I think this is what he did for Nathaniel.
Nathaniel heard about Jesus from Philip. Philip said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (John 1:46) God’s people had been watching and waiting for this Savior, and He was here- but many missed people missed Him. Nazareth was a small town and it wasn’t as fancy as people expected the Savior’s hometown to be. So Nathaniel doubted. Surely he wanted the Savior to be here, but he just couldn’t bring himself to believe Jesus was the one. So Philip told him to “come and see” for himself.
As Philip walked toward Jesus, Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward Him and showed him that He saw and knew him. He said, “Behold. A true Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” (John 1:47). In saying this, Jesus praised Nathaniel’s truthfulness and honesty. Nathaniel questioned: “How do you know me?” Nathaniel was surprised! Jesus had shown that he truly knew Nathaniel. Even though Nathaniel hadn’t seen Jesus before, Jesus had described him as a best friend would. (Doesn’t it feel good when you realize somebody has been paying attention to the things you love and the things you don’t love, that they just know you?) This must have been how Nathaniel felt. He realized he was known. And then, Jesus showed him He knew and saw him even more. He said, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Now, we don’t know the details of Nathaniel’s time under the fig tree, but it seems like when Jesus said this, Nathaniel knew that Jesus was able to see and know him in a way that only God can see and know people. A scholar named Leon Morris explains, “It seems probable that Nathaniel had had some outstanding experience of communion with God in the privacy of his own home, and it was this to which Jesus refers” (27). Maybe Nathaniel had prayed to God under the fig tree, and Jesus was saying, ‘I heard you when you were praying to me under the fig tree!’ Nathaniel responded with belief: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel!” In his response to being seen and known, Nathaniel used the highest and most wonderful words he could think of to worship Jesus.
Jesus bent down low and loved Nathaniel in the precise way he needed to be loved, and it carried him through to trust and belief. If you stay around God’s people long enough, you will realize that everybody that knows Jesus has a story of Jesus showing them that He knows and loves them. This is why I love this passage so much. It’s such a beautiful picture of what God does for us. He doesn’t have to love us this way, but He chooses to love us and see us so closely.
This kind of “seeing” is something we have witnessed every time we’ve moved. Sometimes it happens through providence—ordinary kind ways God works through people and systems. Sometimes it happens through profound answers to prayer that help us understand, like Nathaniel, that God indeed knows His people with a supernatural sight. We have already seen God’s kind providence these first two weeks we’ve been in Roanoke. We visited a church and we were enveloped with the warmest welcome. This same church has a women’s summer Bible study (when you are part of a medical family that moves during summers— those summer ministries are very important). After church on Sunday, a sweet and intentional new friend arranged a playdate for the next day where you made fast friends with 2 lovely girls around your age. There is also a ministry for medical wives in Roanoke that we actually haven’t had access to since our time in Charleston — but when we were in medical school, it was a lifeline for me, and I’m so glad to see that there is a glimpse of that community here. I could go on and on, but overall, it’s clear that in the midst of doubt and uncertainty, God sees us. He will carry us from one place of trust to another. Even when we can’t see what He’s doing or when the waves of grief wash over us, I promise you that we can trust His heart. Let’s keep moving toward him, stumbling as we may, to “come and see” Him, and He will see us and know us the whole way. I’m so deeply grateful I get to see Him and be seen by Him with you.
Warmly,
Mom
I’ll leave you with some photos — we are grateful to live in a beautiful place that offers a lot of joy in this transition!
One delightful surprise about Roanoke is that we see so many rabbits all of the time!
Until next time, friends :)
Angela Lee
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