Author: Karen Foster

I'd like to say I've changed, but after decades of living, I still have the same four passions. My relationship with Jesus, spending time with family, attending live theater, and writing devotions & first-person stories about a loving, faithful God who reveals Himself in our every day circumstances.

God’s Word Isn’t a Buffet

IMG_4770My feral cat waits for her breakfast. Depending on the “brand and flavor” of cat food that I serve, she sometimes sniffs the bowl of food and walks away. This morning, the finicky eater snubbed her food. I had to laugh….

Saturday night, I attended a Mystery Dinner Theater that included a dinner buffet. Like my cat, I walked beside the buffet table sniffing the food, to pick and choose what I like to eat.

Salivating, I held my plate to the server, “Yes, please!”

Wrinkling my nose, I shook my head, “No thank you.”

Do I have the same attitude towards the Bible?

Do I pick the verses I want to read, choose the promises I want to hear?

Do I hunger for more of God’s Word when I like what I’m reading. And snub the morsels that tell me to repent, love my enemy, obey?

GOD’S WORD ISN’T A BUFFET.

I’m not suppose to pick and choose the verses I want to believe and obey.

In Psalm 119, there are 176 verses; lots to pick and choose from depending on my spiritual appetite.

Some passages I devour:

“My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word” (vs. 28).

“May your unfailing love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise” (vs. 41).

“Turn to me and have mercy on me, as you always do to those who love your name” (vs. 132).

“Defend my cause and redeem me; preserve my life according to your promise” (vs.154).

Other passages I balk:

“Turn my heart toward your statues and not toward selfish gain” (vs.36).

“You are my portion, O Lord; I have promised to obey your words” (vs.57).

“Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long” (vs.97).

“Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws” (vs.164).

It’s easier to digest what the Lord does for me than think about my responsibility to trust and obey.

But if the following verse is true….

“YOUR WORD IS A LAMP TO MY FEET AND A LIGHT FOR MY PATH” (vs.105).

I can’t afford to be finicky. I must read God’s Word, hold out both hands willing to receive everything He puts on my plates, “Yes, please!”

Knowing His Truth is good for me.

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth” (Psalm 119:103).

Like it or Not, Can I Rejoice?

Who knew when I wrote this blog back in February that I’d be speaking at a women’s conference this month on the topic “Finding Rest in the Middle of Wrestling Life.”

Isn’t it just like the Lord to remind me of this blog considering for the past three weeks I’ve had poor health, AND fractured my big toe so I’m limping along in life.

So like it or not, here is the message on rest that speaks to my current circumstances the same way it did earlier this year…

For almost three weeks, I’ve been home bound with ill health, and I’m still not up to par.

I miss the days I woke up ready to rumble. And went to bed feeling as though I’d been productive.

I tell myself: “It’s okay. Use this time to rest. Read the Bible. Pray.

But my mental energy is sapped; lethargy takes over. Spiritual disciplines are minimal, I’m just going through the motions.

Are you there Lord? How much longer?

I’m weary of resting; waiting for good health and LIFE to resume.

An inner voice whispers, “This IS life.”

So like it or not,

“This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)

God knows my circumstances. He allowed it.

Can I rejoice and be glad in it?

Not happy about ill health, but rejoicing that God is with me even in this season of ill health and lethargy?

Can I rejoice without whining?

Knowing that Nothing is Wasted.

Because when I come before God, fully submitted and willing to learn…He teaches me.”

So what has He taught me?

That when I’m healthy, I am more prone to live independent of God and be self sufficient. But when I’m unable to do anything in my own strength: Not housework, not ministering to others, not even meditating on God’s Word … I’m forced to REST in God’s strength and grace.

At the end of myself, I’m forced to let go of expectations …. those things I think will make me happy such as good health and productivity.

And REST in the knowledge that every circumstance is an opportunity to be made in the image of Christ and bring Him praise.

By keeping my eyes on Jesus, the lifter of my head,

I’m able to REST and REJOICE even in this……

Rest in the Lord is a “Bear” Necessity

Autumn is here, and my mind travels back in time to another October in the year, B.C. (before children), when my husband and I first moved to California. One weekend, we visited Yosemite National Park.

Being young and spontaneous, we didn’t make campsite reservations. So we had to pitch our two-man pup tent outside the park in the National Forest.

There was nothing around us, but trees, dirt, and critters that went BOO in the night.

Bears rule in Yosemite. And there was no lack of signs warnings us: DON’T FEED THE BEARS. DON’T LEAVE FOOD IN YOUR TENT. DON’T LEAVE BACKPACKS UNATTENDED.

Imagine my fright when I’m lying in my sleeping bag, and I hear noise: something rustling in the bushes, footsteps that sounded like Tyrannosaurus Rex, and heavy breathing that wasn’t coming from my husband who was sound asleep.

The only thing between me and the noise was a tent wall…a thin piece of nylon material held up by plastic, collapsible poles. Trust me, if a bear wanted to harm us, he didn’t have to claw his way through the zippered door panel. He could have sat on our tent and smothered us to death.

 Frantic, I woke my husband. “There’s a bear outside the tent.”

“He won’t bother us,” he groaned. “We don’t have food in the tent.”

“Maybe he can smell food on our clothes.”

“Don’t worry. I have an ax.”

“What if it’s someone with a gun who wants to steal our car?”

“Car thieves don’t normally roam the National Forest at midnight.” Husband yawned. “Go back to sleep.”

Maybe trusting my husband was a false sense of security, but I took my husband at his word. I closed my eyes and slept like a baby all night long.

When I woke up the next morning I was rested.

But my unshaven husband had dark bags beneath his eyes. He hadn’t slept a wink. Listening to the night noises, he’d kept a death grip on the ax, ready to defend me.

Now Husband isn’t all powerful like the Lord, but He loves me. And that night gave me a glimpse of what it means to “rest in the Lord.”

When the dark closes in on me, and fear troubles my soul, I cast my burdens onto the Lord, and rest.

 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” (John 14:27)

Is it the Real Deal?

On the first day of autumn, rain hammered my yard and temperatures cooled. It was the perfect day for making pumpkin bread.

As I gathered the ingredients, I thought of my husband walking into the house after a wearisome business trip. The smell of pumpkin spice and cinnamon will be a pleasant homecoming.   

First, I mixed the dry ingredients, and then I added a can of pumpkin puree, eggs, oil. As I poured the thick batter into the baking pan, something looked different.

It was a new recipe so I shrugged and put the pan in the oven and set the timer. Occasionally, I’d check on the pumpkin bread, but it was rising like normal. No worries.

When the buzzer went off. I placed a toothpick into the bread to test if it was done.

The batter was gooey, so I set the timer for another five minutes. Then I licked the toothpick.

Yep, definitely pumpkin, but something was missing. It wasn’t  ….. Sweet.

I checked the recipe. No wonder the batter was low. I  forgot to add a cup of sugar.

Five minutes later, I pulled the pumpkin bread from the oven.

It looked like pumpkin bread; it smelled like pumpkin bread, and when I took a bite, it tasted like ….

Something a Diabetic person would eat.

 I thought of tossing the loaf to the birds, but the more I sampled, the better it tasted. Then again, I eat burnt toast and pretend it’s good.

I won’t say anything and see if my husband notices.  

“House smells good,” my husband remarked as he entered the kitchen.

Seeing his road warrior face, I decided to bake another loaf of pumpkin bread. He deserves the best.

But after I opened the can, I noticed it was pumpkin mix instead of pumpkin puree. Are you kidding me?

I switched to Plan B and baked a pumpkin pie which I served for dessert instead of the pumpkin bread.

And then I ate half the pumpkin bread hoping to get rid of the evidence rather than admit another cooking fiasco.

The next day, I watched my husband eat a slice.

“Do you notice anything different?”

He studied the crumbs on his plate, trying to reconstruct in his mind what he’d eaten.

Before he could answer, I fessed up, “I forgot to add sugar!”

“Oh, I thought you were trying to be healthy.”

Sweet or not, we ate the pumpkin bread. The pie is gone too.

And when I told my mom the story, she said, “Sounds like another blog.”

“What’s the spiritual lesson?”

“People can profess Christ, they can go to church and pose as a Christian, but God sees the heart.”

Isn’t that the truth? God isn’t fooled. He recognizes a counterfeit. And he warns us:

“Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.” (Matthew 7:15)

What Would Jesus Do?

DSCN2544Alone, I go to a secluded area. I want to talk with the Lord. There are so many people in my life who ask for prayer, who have deep needs.

How do I pray for them? Does my perceived needs for them line up with God’s will for their lives?

I think of my own prayer requests, wisdom needed so decisions can be made.

What would Jesus do?

Those words have become a catch phrase on bracelets and T-shirts, but this truly is my desire “to do the right thing” so I pray,

What would Jesus do?

A thought stirs my heart like the wind blowing through the pine trees on the hill.

Jesus would pray.

“But He would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.” (Luke 5:16)

He made communion with God, the Father, a daily priority.

o   Before he chose the twelve men who would be his apostles,

o   Before Jesus spoke to the multitude, and afterwards,

o   Before he healed the leper and the blind man,

o   Before he was arrested,

 Jesus would pray.

American culture has programmed me to be productive rather than be still.

Consequently, my Christian walk also gets caught up in a blur of activity:

Follow Christ, serve Him, live a life that is worthy, please Him, bring Him honor.…

I forget to be still….

And do what Jesus did every day of his life on earth…PRAY!

The Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:1-4) are the words Jesus shared when the disciples asked Him to teach them to pray. John Chapter 17 also shows what Jesus prayed for when He knew His hour had come.

He prayed:

Ø  His name would be glorified, and that believers would see His glory.

Ø  God would keep believers safe from the evil one, and care for them.

Ø  Believers would be filled with His joy.

Ø  Believers would be sanctified in the truth; God’s Word is truth.

Ø  Believers would be unified so the world would know that He was sent by God who loves them even as He loves the Son.

Ø  God’s love would dwell in His people’s hearts, and He in them.

Alone in the wilderness, I know what to do.

I pray likewise knowing these are the best things I can pray for myself and others because

This is what Jesus would do.