One more time around the mountain...

      This week has been one of those that I thought I would want to wipe off the calendar. A wonderfully, uplifting Sunday turned into a nightmare as unsubstantiated rumors went flying through the church. It was like the old song says, "It only takes a spark to get a fire going!" And what a fire it was! I was shocked at how easily people turned from supporters to name-callers, from "We are with you" to  we're outta here!

      In the midst of the hurt feelings and tears, God showed up with His comfort, peace, and understanding. He gently reminded me that Christ's disciples were loving on Him in the upper room and running full speed away from Him just a few hours later, and He was Totally innocent, where I'm sure Dan and I are not! Then He led me to a powerful book which I had received some 15 years ago by an amazing woman named Fuschia Pickett. (yep, that's her real name!) I remember her as the speaker at a Women of Excellence retreat. She was tiny, and so frail she had to be helped up to the podium. But once she got there - BAM...she was so anointed and powerful. Her big voice boomed out of that little body with clarity and strength that was both shocking and incredible. No one moved or stirred the entire hour she spoke. So I grabbed her book and started reading.
      One of the first things that struck me was her statement that before God works His power in a church, He shakes it fiercely.  I'm not belittling those who may have left, because their reason for leaving our church may just be that they were in the wrong place. She also  said not to be surprised that churches would shrink before the final revival. God is getting His army ready and those with divided or shaky loyalties have to go. And it's my job to put aside all offense, walk in total forgiveness, and let them go.
      The second thing that just jumped off the page was the explanation she gave of revival and harvest. Most Christians link the two but they are different. The church has to experience revival, reawakening of the Spirit and Life of God in its midst, before it is ready to deal with the harvest which God intends to bring in. Whoa! You see, so much of the church believes that we're just here hanging on until that day when Christ will rush in to save us from annihilation by whisking us out "like a thief in the night". The church is standing sleepily on a hilltop in a wedding gown, getting weaker and weaker as the enemy's onslaught gets stronger. The longer Christ is retained in heaven, the more Christians will fall until a tiny remnant will be left for Him to rapture. Judgment will come and the enemy will be banished, but that's later on after they've enjoyed the victory of having stolen God's creation from Him - if only for a season.
     All the while, God wants us to dig in, put on our fatigues, and sharpen our Swords. He sees the battle, and our victory, and wants us to rise up in defiance against the enemy - not cower in fear. So this is our preparation time, our cave experience, that cements our loyalty, sharpens our defenses, and turns us from a quivering collection of recruits to a mighty fighting force that the world and the enemy will take note of. He's coming back for a spotless bride, not a church on life support!
    What about our trials and battles? Just like His revelations to the nation of Israel, Every trial is purposed by God to show us a new facet or dimension of His character, a new lesson we need to learn. Nothing is an accident or a mistake. Romans 8:28 says ALL, not some.  We have to trust Him, take a step back, & ask God to reveal what He's trying to teach us so that we don't have to keep going around the same mountain again & again!
    All the while we have to be sharpening our skill at using the weapons He has given us. Prayer is preeminent, knowledge of God's Word is essential, praise and worship are our focus, and total submission is the goal. Priorities have to change, allegiances have to be unshakable, emotions have to be put aside, and perspectives have to be adjusted. It takes discipline, courage, & endurance!
      So, we are all at a crossroads and it's our choice as to whether we're going to put on God's armor or go back to sleep...I know what my decision is! Do you?

"The Benefits outweigh the hassles!"

     The month of May contains lots of birthdays in our family, one being my own. A friend and I were talking about the whole aging thing and the problems associated with it - one specifically being the ever-increasing pace at which those stubborn gray hairs need covering up.  At times, I think about just letting it all go and becoming the gray haired Grammy that I am inside...and if my hair would turn out to be beautiful silver like Mom's was instead of "gun-barrel blah" I might consider it seriously but the look of the roots isn't promising!
     So wouldn't you know that my Bible devotional reading today was called "Gray Hair". (Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor?) The verses are Psalm 71:18-19  ^"Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare Your power to the next generation, Your mighty acts to all who are to come. For Your righteousness, God, reaches to the skies, & You have done great things. Who is like you, God? " The writer is facing the fact that if God allows us to live an abundance of years, gray happens. In our culture that strives to look young and pacifies us with "60 is the new 40", we've lost the blessing to be found in aging but its there!

     In Bible times, gray hair was a badge of honor. It denoted a reason to show respect and a person to whom you could go to find wisdom. As God honors our lives with years, He also adds the power of perspective and the ability to look back at His faithfulness through it all. We can recall God's goodness and see more of His purposes as they have unfolded. 

     Does perfection come with gray hair? I wish... but unfortunately no. Sin still plagues us and tries to get us to fall into its trap. Doubts and worries creep in to steal our peace. Loneliness can push us into isolation or offense. The evidence of this is found in the many "cantankerous" old folks living in bitterness and regret. No, mounting years by themselves don't guarantee freedom from these things, but as Christians we can escape the bitterness of heart that so often occurs. We know that God is always our answer. We have experienced the various storms of life and come through them successfully. The waves that used to threaten to sink us, that seemed so insurmountable, are not so scary now and often become ripples that we gently float over. 

     So God allows us to live year after year not only for our benefit but for others. The second half of today's verses are a plea that God would allow us to use our lives as witnesses to pass on what we have learned. We become His "Exhibit A" as our lives show His steadfast love and amazing mercy. We can share the wonder of His salvation, first with our families and then with the others He brings to us. We can tell others about His marvelous works, His miracles, & our blessings. We can pass on the lessons we've learned as we wrestled with Him in prayer or sought His sweet forgiveness after our failures. We can say "Been there, done that...and God helped me make it through it all!" 2 Cor. 1:3-4

     So while I'm not quite ready to abandon the color aisle, I hope that I am always a testimony of God's faithfulness, declaring to the next generations all that God has done in and for me, and that I can be an encourager, a mentor, to those coming along behind me! That will be a blessing that even the hassles of "the new 40" can't diminish!

  

2 Little "C" words

Clutter and compromise...two little C words that can play games with your head and cause chaos in your heart.
     The man who used to live next door was a hoarder - truly. He had so much Junk that there was no floor space where you could actually see floor. There was at least 4 feet of trash in every room, including bathrooms and kitchen. It overflowed into both front and back yard. When the city sued him to clean it up he refused, saying it was all valuable to him and therefore he didn't have to. And to tell the truth, some of it was valuable. He had beautiful antique dishes in the midst of 500 plastic salt and pepper shakers. Recordings of historical speeches within stacks of hard rock albums. A true antique dealer would have had field day!
     When his guardians finally made him move, and they needed to clean out the house, they had a $10 a box garage sale for 4 solid weeks and still took at least 10 commercial dumpster loads out of there. To find the treasures you had to watch out for rats, and even a resident raccoon. It wasn't pretty!
      So what does this have to do with Christianity? Well, in so many ways we are like my neighbor...
We go off into the world and begin to fill our lives with things - all kinds of things that are good and bad. We compromise on what to keep and what to get rid of. We gather "activities" which look good at first but are really junk.We collect habits, thinking we're in control and can get rid of them whenever we choose to, but we never do. We refuse to let go of past hurts and failures. We hold on dearly to our rights to be angry or hurt. We clutter up our schedules with things of little or no value while the priceless treasure get buried under tons of misplaced priorities.
     The insidious thing is that hoarders start so innocently. One thing here, one thing there. Broken things come in with the idea that it will be fixed later. Something else comes in because it has sentimental value but is no longer usable or needed.  Things pile up in our lives but instead of cleaning up we just move over until we're inundated with the worthless, broken and rotting "treasures" of the world. The good things of God get buried - our gifts, talents, abilities, even our ministries and time. We become slaves to the unimportant until there's no room left for Kingdom business or the treasures of heaven, both in this world and eternity!
     It's time...time to reevaluate priorities and get rid of things that clutter our days with no value or purpose. Time to look at activities and habits, keeping the good and discarding the bad. Time to sort through our lives for hurts and failures that we need to let go of, and bring in things that are lovely, pleasing, and beautiful. Time to clean up and de-clutter so that God can bless our lives with His purposes, His plans, & His promises.
     It won't happen in a day, or a week, or maybe even a year, but if we keep working at it little by little we will see change...and that will encourage us to keep at it.  Galatians 6:9

Mommy & me...

This coming Sunday is Mother's Day. I have been thinking a lot about my mom this week. Although everyone says we looked just alike, we were different in so many ways. She was quick with a response, and I'm a "muller". She was practical and efficient. I'm ready to throw off practicality at the first twinge of emotion. Her words were right to the point, whether shaping you up, encouraging you, or giving you advice. My words are almost always tentative and soft, with my best efforts at not ruffling feathers or hurting your feelings.  She was a "head person" and I am a "heart person".

That being said, in all the really important ways I am blessed to be like her.
*She was a true partner to Dad. She didn't always agree with him (he was a heart person too) but she never criticized him in front of anyone else. She stood by his decisions and she was always supportive, even in the hard times. She truly loved him and showed it in a lifetime of shared commitment.
*She was fiercely loyal to family and friends...yes, she could chill you with a single stare but let an "outsider" come against you and she always was there to defend you. She had close friends of 60+ years and many others that she gathered along the way. She loved them fiercely, although you wouldn't catch her saying it much!! She was content to show you by her actions instead.
*She was trustworthy. If she said she would, she would...no matter what! Whether it was inconvenient, painful, or even against her better judgement, if she committed to it she did it.
*She was generous. She supported her church, several missionaries, family and friends at times, and a few "causes" that she deemed worthy. (One of her last requests was that I make sure to let her missionaries know that she had gone on to heaven and that's why she stopped supporting them!)
*She was organized. She knew what she had, where it was, and exactly how it was to be used.
*She was thrifty. She never bought anything new to replace something she already had, even if hers was old & outdated. I once tried to throw away a 5 gallon container of syrup that had 1/4 inch left in the bottom that was crystallized and got my hand slapped! I was in my 40s at the time!

But of all the qualities that made her who she was, the one thing that I will always love most is that she loved God. Every morning she read her Bible and had her quiet time while drinking tea at the breakfast table. She served Him faithfully in choir for almost 70 years, as co-leaders of youth group when I was a kid, as Senior Center and Women's ministry help, as kitchen crew...whatever needed doing is what she did and even when she was really sick, she continued to serve until someone came along to replace her. She was a background person whose greatest embarrassments were having someone honor her. She served out of duty and out of love, and she didn't ever feel like the things she did were worthy of recognition...but they were.

I think one of the greatest accomplishments for a wife and mom are the verses in Proverbs 31 that say "Her husband praises her in the gates,... and her children rise up and bless her!"
At the end of his life, Dad still wanted her at his side, and not only her children but her many grandchildren all loved & honored her for who she was and how they loved her!
           
I still miss you, Mom, but if I can finish my course as well as you did I will consider myself blessed beyond measure!  Happy Mother's Day!!

A True BFF (best friend forever!)

       The last picture I have of Roberta is of her sitting next to Mom on the bed, drinking tea and making comments on Wheel of Fortune. Mom was in her final days of cancer and unresponsive, but Roberta just kept talking and loving on her just the same.  What a beautiful picture of true friendship. Of course a friend like that isn't made overnight. Theirs was started as young married women in a Sunday School class and was forged through childbirth, heartaches, trips and activities, hours of chats over cups of tea, and countless phone conversations. They were a rather unlikely pair - Roberta was laid back and slow-moving, while Mom was quick and decisive. Roberta loved lingering while Mom was methodical...and that made for a few minor bumps in the road, mostly due to those differences in personality, but there was never a single thought of abandoning their bond. They instinctively lived by the quote that says, "We lived in a time when if something was broken you fixed it, rather than replacing it." They were heart sisters.
       The beauty of true friendship has been expressed so eloquently through the years but I have always loved the Bible's definition...Proverbs 17:17 says "A friend loves at all times and is born, as a brother, for times of adversity." True friends are there. That's all. It doesn't matter what circumstances or situations are occurring, whether there it's a time of feasting or famine. It can be a time filled with joy and celebration or sorrow and deep anguish. The true friend doesn't moralize, judge, critique, or rationalize...a true friend knows there will be time for "many words" later. They are just there...with love, support, comfort, and maybe chocolate chip cookies! They don't always know an answer and don't try to find one. They know that hugs in silence and a loving hand to hold are sometimes the only things necessary. Reciprocation is never thought about either because both of them know in their hearts that on another day the switch will come! Life is just like that!
       The classic passage in John 15:13 really says it all..."No one has or shows greater & stronger affection than this, to lay down and give up his own life for that of his friend's."  Though you mostly hear this verse quoted in relation to the ultimate sacrifice, the million little sacrifices made in the name of friendship are a reality as well. True friends lay aside their rights, needs, wants, & desires if necessary in order to be there for a friend. Sometimes it means rearranging life for an hour, a day, or a season in order to come along side...it's not easy and can be very inconvenient, but there is nothing that's too great a burden or sacrifice because the underlying love demands nothing less.
       Both of my parents were blessed with that type of friends, and in their final days the comfort they received was irreplaceable. Roberta is now in her final stages and although the friends that would be there with her have all gone on ahead, I know that in her heart she feels their comfort because she knows they're waiting, watching, and anticipating that happy day when she will reunite with them and their circle of true friends will again be complete,... but this time they will be together for all eternity!!
      I am blessed to have my own circle of friends like that...and I hope you do too! This side of heaven, it's one of God's greatest gifts!!

A Chance to Change It Up...

Easter is a wonderful and important time for Christians. It is the pivotal point, the change, for so many different things. When Christ came to earth and ministered in human form, He was constantly requiring people to examine what they were doing and why. He reinforced the importance of change from the traditions and status quo of men to the new way of looking at life and the change that would then occur.
Christ’s life, mission, & eventual death on the cross demanded changes:
-from dead traditions kept out of fear...to a life of spiritual service motivated by love
-from rote memorization and repetition...to heart-felt spiritual sacrifices of praise & worship
-from living under the penalty of the law...to living in the freedom of grace & restoration
-from slavery to human passions & sin...to a life of Spirit-inspired sacrifice & fruitfulness
-from ritualistic & tiresome duty...to love-inspired labor which is infused with a passion to please God
-from selfishness…to selflessness
-from spiritual death...to unending spiritual life
-from the curse & consequences of sin...to the reality of forgiveness & redemption
-from the old human nature...to new birth & new life!

Easter is the time for evaluation, examination & change. It’s time to renew or begin your Christian walk, forgetting what’s behind and pressing on to find out what God desires, and what He has equipped you to do & to be. It’s time to leave your unfulfilled dreams at the Cross and find new possibilities and the many opportunities that He has prepared just for you. It’s a fresh start, a blank slate, a new beginning. It’s resurrection power walked out in our daily lives as we release our rights in favor of embracing God’s plan in which He gives us our heart’s desires and “more than we could ask for or think of” as we walk with Him.
This Easter, make the choice, take the chance, and change it up. You will be blessed beyond your wildest dreams! It’s His Promise!

From Cheering to Jeering

"Blessed be the Name of the Lord." The crowds lining the streets of Jerusalem were shouting and cheering as Jesus passed by. They were honoring Him by throwing down their coats for Him to ride over and were waving palm branches. It was a joy-filled day of adoration and expectation...and then the bubble burst. Jesus was not the one whose mission would rid them of their Roman oppressors. He upset the temple priests by overthrowing tables, criticizing their methods and motives, & insulting them. He disappointed His disciples when He taught them about servant hood rather than rebellion. He allowed Himself to be arrested and even healed one of the enemy soldiers. He refused to answer His critics, stood as a silent sheep when accused, & even His closest friends abandoned Him. No wonder the crowds turned against Him and called for the release of a murderer instead! Jesus was definitely not the messiah the crowds had been waiting for...or was He?

God often comes into our lives in unexpected ways. We think He should do certain things, or has to be a certain way. We even have the audacity to quote verses at Him to show Him what He has to do.We put Him into the box of our own limited understanding and when He doesn't fit, we get disillusioned or disinterested. We turn away in anger or disgust, refusing to adjust our vision to His higher ways. We close our minds to the truth, holding on to our own perceptions and willful ignorance. We release the murderer in our lives, the enemy of our souls, who is determined to do all he can to destroy us but pretends to be our angel of light. He leads us down the path to destruction and we blindly follow, choosing to believe the lies rather than open our minds to God's gentle nudging and constant invitation to return & follow Him. We close our eyes to the eternal plan & reject His sovereignty, living for our own here and now! We want what we want when we want it!

Do you see it? The crowds are a picture of us, of me. We love God when He shows up when, how, and where we want. We whine, cry, complain, and get mad when He chooses to do something different. We let our short-sightedness lead us rather than following after the Good Shepherd who has the best plan, knows the pitfalls, & loves us enough that He laid down His life for us, His wayward sheep. We need to get back into His fold and allow His vision, wisdom, desires, and plan to become ours. After all, we were bought at a tremendous price - we aren't our own anymore.

This week, as Easter approaches and we think of the Lord's great sacrifice for us, examine your heart and repent of any wayward thoughts you have toward God. Reset your focus to follow Him, no matter where He leads, whether it is a predictable or unexpected path.  He will bless your life and you will be thankful that you chose to follow Him.