Category: Uncategorized

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 health problems, AND fractured my big toe so I’m limping along in life.

The message then, is the same for me now. REST, not just physically, but rest knowing God is in control. And HIS strength equips me to do the things He calls me to…..

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 as my friend Loretta says, “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 in this day the Lord has made, and be glad even in this……

So This is Love?

Flu : A fellow sits on a bed with a very high temperature. Vectorial illustration.My smile was short-lived last week.

Flu invaded my body. Out of nowhere, brutal, microscopic creatures brought me to my knees, had me cry, “Uncle!”

Three days disappeared while I slept, smothered beneath blankets. Trust me. I did NOT look like Sleeping Beauty and nobody dared wake me with a kiss.

By the fifth day, the novelty of being sick was over.  I longed to enter the sunny world outside my bedroom window, but Flu turned into Bronchitis. Life was in a holding pattern while I waited for good health.

But nothing’s wasted.

While I lay comatose watching a steady dose of classic TV Land reruns, there was a jewelry commercial that told men: “Show your love by giving her a diamond.”

I shook my feverish head.

What does a diamond have to do with LOVE?

Does a bigger diamond mean I love you MORE?

Ridiculous!

After thirty three years of marriage, I know how Husband shows love and it doesn’t come in a jewelry box.

Love is action.

Husband shows love when flu makes me look like Road Kill, and yet he brings me a cup of tea, and runs a hot bath to soak my achy body.

Husband shows love when I’m coughing up phlegm and he asks me what I need from the store even though he just worked all day.

Husband shows love when I’m worried about my family and household duties, but he says, “Rest, everything is under control.”

Husband shows love when he gives me 18 pink roses even though I can’t smell them, and I know he’s tired of being Mr. Mom.

Love is revealed in a hundred small acts of service, in sickness and health, multiplied through the years.

“Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained” C. S. Lewis    

“Love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,

It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Corinth 13:4-8)

 

Funny, that a jewelry commercial should spark my ire.

But last week, I was shown love, and it did NOT look like a diamond.

Who Can Tame the Tongue?

Picture - poisonous tongue.<br /><br /><br />fotosearch - search<br /><br /><br />stock photos,<br /><br /><br />pictures, wall<br /><br /><br />murals, images,<br /><br /><br />and photo clipartShell-shocked, I watched the battle unfold.

Someone made a casual remark. In response, another person commented with just a word…one careless word.

No offense was intended.

But instead of ricocheting off the eardrums, the thoughtless word detonated on impact like a grenade. The blast cut deep, pierced the heart, and drew blood.

Like a mad dog, the injured soul retaliated; inviting a rash of venomous words.

This wasn’t an attack from the enemy. This was friendly fire wounding its own.

“No one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.

 With it we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing.

My brethren, these things ought not to be this way” (James 3:8-10).

“Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.”

I sang those words as a child whenever I stood in the line of fire. My feeble attempt to mask the pain, pretend it didn’t hurt.

As a teenager, I gave up childish rhymes and suffered the pain; tried to forget. “You’re ugly, the teenage boy told me years ago. I doubt that he remembers, but I do.

Now I stoically remove the arrows that sting. Dodge verbal bullets as best I can. Feel my heart thump whenever I hear youth tease and taunt each other with tongues sharp as swords.

“A sharp tongue is the only edge tool that grows keener with constant use.”~ Washington Irving.

But who am I to speak?

Hasn’t my own tongue lashed others, criticized, and gossiped? Used playful sarcasm to camouflage offensive truth? Sometimes, I fool myself. Believe I’ve bridled my tongue, when in fact I spoke behind the person’s back.

“My brethren, these things ought not to be.”

What’s the problem?

MY COLD AND ROTTEN HEART Image

Jesus said, “For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart” (Matthew 12:34).

So when the tongue is out of control, I can wash my mouth with soap, or go to the Heart of the problem and …

Search my heart, confess my sin.

Read the words Jesus spoke which “are spirit and are life” (John 6:63).

Pray that “no unwholesome talk comes out of (MY) mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”(Ephesians 4:29).

Amen?

Can We See the Icing on the Cake?

IMG_6106In a banquet room lit with floating candles, white Christmas lights, and sparkling silver decor, there was a small round table draped in white cloth. And on that table, there stood a one-tier wedding cake with no topper.

She made it from scratch.

 A double, eight-inch round chocolate cake covered in white fondant, trimmed in sugar pearls and pink miniature roses.

She made it from a labor of love.

“God laid it on my heart to bake your daughter a cake for her wedding. If you want it, I can drop it off…”

And so she did, while the guests were at the ceremony.

Attracting attention, receiving money and thanks, was not her intention. She was obedient and followed her heart.

There was nothing ornate about the cake table. No bling or glitter to draw one’s eye. It was upstaged by a larger two-tiered cake, surrounded by a wreath of white lights and roses, on another table.

But some guests noticed the little cake, and asked, “Why do you have two cakes?”

Each time I explained the story, my eyes became wet.

Because a woman I met once, who makes cakes in her kitchen, felt compelled to bake my daughter a cake. She called the morning of the wedding, not knowing we’d bought a cake. And still she chose to give us the cake at her own expense.

Accepting her love gift was like eating humble pie. I’d done nothing to deserve this favor.

 But then again, I’d witnessed many acts of kindness during the wedding preparations. This gift from a stranger’s hands was another example of God working through His saints. This undeserved favor, this grace, was the “icing on the cake!”

As a formality, the wedding couple cut the larger cake during the reception. There was little fanfare.

Three days later, the returning honeymoon couple sliced the sweet love gift during our Christmas feast. And while family members enjoyed dessert, I shared the story of the little wedding cake which had become symbolic of grace.

 Even now the empty cake plate makes me smile, thankful for the never-ending grace in my life.

Who can earn God’s grace, yet He chooses to pour out His grace without measure.

Who knows how many people I have offended who turn the other cheek and show me grace.

I only know, whether it’s the surety of my soul’s salvation or a one-tiered wedding cake, GRACE ABOUNDS.

Regardless of my circumstances, if I have eyes to see, I will find grace even in this…..

“May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word” (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17).

Where have you noticed God’s recent grace in your life?

Do I Only Have Eyes for You?

IMG_6091Holding hands, my daughter and her fiancé stood on the church altar, gazing into each other’s eyes. Their radiant smiles and misty eyes were contagious. As the mother of the bride, I counted the poinsettias that alternated with the tea lights to keep from sobbing with joy.

Clinging to my husband’s hand, I listened as they exchanged wedding vows and made a covenant before God “to have and to hold from this day forth, in sickness and in health…”

I watched as they each took a candle, the same ones the groom’s mother and I had lit earlier, and allowed the two flames to become one on their own candle to signify the unity of their lives.

When the pastor pronounced them “husband and wife” not only were they legally married, they entered into a new relationship that redefined them.

Suddenly, I also had new relationships, a new identity. The groom was now my son-in-law which made me a~~mother-in-love! And two separate genealogies were grafted into one family tree.

Since the wedding, my daughter legally, eagerly, changed her last name to be the same as her Beloved. As the two of them resolve to become one, and identify with each other’s needs, there has been a merging of bank accounts, power of attorney, and dreams. There’s no demand for entitlement, no fear, only love as they travel the same path, together, into tomorrow.

That love and commitment exists between my husband of 33 years and me. Can I say the same for my relationship with God?

Andrew Murray wrote, “The three Persons in the Godhead are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—each one is different from the others. God desires to reveal Himself as a person…and we are called to enter into fellowship with Him.

 God greatly desires this relationship with us, but sin has come between us and our God. Even in Christians who know God, there is often great ignorance and even indifference to this personal relationship of love to God.

People believe that at conversion their sins are forgiven, that God accepts them so that they may go to heaven. They do not realize that, even as a father and his child on earth enjoy being together, so they must have this intimate fellowship with God each day.”    

No demands, no fear.

Enjoying His presence, and resting on His deep, tender love to us even in this moment.