Christian living

On missing prayer time…..

“Oh Lord how I have missed this time with You. I was doing other things for awhile, important and necessary things, but I have missed this coming before Your throne of Grace….this time of morning quiet. I have had snatches here and there, but it’s not the same.
I know that I can pray anywhere, at any time, but this place is special, Holy…..it is my own little hollow, a little carved out place we have made together. When we come together again, its like we were never apart; a bit like an seeing an old friend, but much better. I settle into Your rhythm of eternity and timelessness, and once again I feel small next to You, and the world gets smaller too.
I back away, realign myself to You…..Your Holiness, Your timeless Grace. I listen and hear You in the quiet. I listen and repeat what You hear day in, day out……”Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is, and is to come.”
One Holy praise for each, Father, Son, Holy Spirit
I reflect once again on Your coming. What it meant then and what it still means today. I can only bow in humble adoration as a simple shepherd did years ago by lamplight in a stable.

“My heart is not proud, O Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore.” Psalm 131

Right after I wrote this prayer in my journal, I opened the Bible to the above passage……

Where two or more are gathered……



“Again I tell you, if two of you on earth agree (harmonize) together, make a symphony together) about whatever [anything and everything] they may ask, it will come to pass and be done for them by My Father in heaven. For wherever two or three are gathered (drawn together as My followers) in (into) My name, there I AM in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:19-20
What is Advent, but God coming near? That is the great miracle that we celebrate. God comes to us in human form, but at the same time, He comes to us as Creator, Everlasting Father, Eternal and Righteous Judge. In Jesus we find every attribute of God the Father, in the form of a defenseless infant.
In every area of our lives we cry out for God to come near. We need help. We start life with optimism and enthusiasm but as we try to navigate along life’s twists and turns we sometimes lose hope. We wonder what happened. We don’t understand and we ask why. Families become strangers living in the same house. We wonder where the old feelings went and we long for those times to come back. Our lives become scattered pieces, and we don’t know how to put them back together. It seems everywhere we look we see shining examples of people with perfectly formed lives where all the pieces fit and it is discouraging. What it feels like is that God loves them more….But that is always Satan talking.
Maybe you feel like all is well in your life, great! Give Him thanks! And humbly realize that you need Him no less than when chaos reigns!

Always remember, He came because He loves you! He is the only One who can bring peace in the midst of chaos. A relationship with Christ is like standing in the center of a hurricane. While destruction and trouble whirl around us, we are safe in the calm, in the center with Him.With Christ we get that happy ending we always longed for, and no, it is not too good to be true! Advent has come, will continue to come until He comes for the last time.

The miracle of Christmas means that He is accessible, reachable, altogether approachable! Through prayer right now we draw Him close. We have hope that though circumstances in our lives may not be as we want them to be now, we believe Him when He says that one day He will set things right forever…..And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new ” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Revelation 21:5

When Christ comes near to us we realize that this is finally possible and our hearts burst with joy unspeakable. This is everything we dreamed of. When Christ comes near, we begin to understand and believe in His promise at last. We have much to celebrate not only this time of year, but all year long.
  
Before I left home, at my folk’s house in the quiet of the morning firelight we were alone, just the three of us. I grabbed both of their hands and said I wanted to pray for them. As I did so, I could not speak for a few moments. I thought of what they mean to me, have meant all their lives. I thought of all the sorrow they have been through, how strong they have always been for me, how they love me…..my voice quavered a prayer and it quavered throughout the prayer, and that’s okay. Tears were shed, and I think Jesus shed one too. Together the four of us agreed, held fast by bonds of everlasting love.
Grab the hand of someone this day and thank them for being in your life, even if it makes them uncomfortable and they give you a strange look! Pray for each other and feel Him draw close. Give each other the gift of Advent today and feel eternity come near.
Photo by ForestWander Nature Photography.

Patient in the waiting…..

James 5: Patience in Suffering……

Be patient then brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged, The Judge is standing at the door! Verses 7-9

Funny to think of a little babe in a manger as judge, but He is. Our righteous judge…..sometimes it seems that so many are getting away with so much. When I watch the news I get discouraged and think, like the Israelites of old……”How long O Lord?” I don’t know how He can sit one more minute and not come down and set things right. But I am glad He is patient, not willing any to perish. I am glad He is patient with me!

Short posts continue today, I am still home visiting and doing with family, yet a few moments at Panera are treasured. It is a good thing to be part of a community where I can sit and very likely see people I have not seen in many years….there is something reassuring about that….and very early this morning I was able to pray with my Dad, who was not sleeping. He is dealing with a bad shoulder, and many worries which are always magnified at night! I was able to say a prayer with him as he came to sit by the sofa bed where I was sleeping. He came in need of prayer and I was glad I was able to return the gift of his many prayers for me over the years…….He said he had a better outlook this morning. Thank you Lord!

Once again I thank and praise Him for coming to us in our deepest needs always…..

Lord Jesus, come Yourself and dwell with us, be human as we are, and overcome what overwhelms us. Come into the midst of my evil, come close to my unfaithfulness. Share my sin, which I cannot leave. Be My brother thou Holy God. Be my brother in the kingdom of evil and suffering and death, come with me in my death, come with me in my suffering, come with me as I struggle with evil. And make me holy and pure despite my sin and death. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Thank you Lord for gathering the fractured pieces of our lives and making us whole once again…..this is what Advent is all about. Amen

Advent…..Come Lord Jesus

When once again Christmas comes and we hear the familiar carols and sing the Christmas hymns, something happens to us, and a special kind of warmth slowly encircles us. The hardest heart is softened. We recall our own childhood. We feel again how we then felt, especially if we were separated from a mother. A kind of homesickness comes over us for past times, distant places, and yes, a blessing longing for a world without violence or hardness of heart. But there is something more–a longing for the safe lodging of the everlasting Father. And that leads our thoughts to the curse of homelessness which hangs heavily over the world.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, December 2nd, 1928 Advent Sunday.

I thought it fitting to choose from these selections from “Christmas Sermons” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer since I don’t have much time to post. I stumbled across this book stuck in Dad’s overflowing bookshelf and thought, “What a neat little book!” Then I looked inside. Lo and behold it had my inscription on the front flap. “To Dad, Merry Christmas, 2005….Love, Lori” I had forgotten that it was from me! And now it has some of his notations and highlights. Those are always wonderful to find. I think of the time in the future when I will open it, and he won’t be here anymore. It is a reality that I must face, sooner rather than later, since he is now 83. At that time, painful as it will be, he will be celebrating a true Christmas for all eternity, waiting for me there. I can imagine him making me a bed by the fire as he did when I was growing up, getting it ready as he did for my little niece just last night.

That is what Christmas is truly about……because of Christmas we have a future in Heaven! That is our reality if we know Christ. Because of that we can join the angels in saying:

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:14

December 1st has always been a special time for me. It is somehow different than November 30th. A different feeling stirs in my soul, a place of quiet rests within, amidst all the bustle and flow of everything going on…..I always want to drag my foot to slow things down, make it last….pull the oar backwards to stop the flow of whitewater that threatens, waits around the bend.

It will be over all too soon……slow down and make it last. But after all, every day is Advent to us. What a blessing to have such an unspeakable Gift……”And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” 2 Corinthians 9:14,15

Count it all joy……

God always answers prayer, sometimes the answer is silence……

Ever been in silence that seems so deep it almost has a volume all it’s own? A snowfall comes to mind, or standing in the woods in the hush of morning, just before dawn. Ever been in the middle of some task, and God drops one of those quiet thoughts into your mind? It comes unbidden and settles softly in the space of whatever you happen to be doing. Like a gentle snowflake that lands on your palm or tongue…..we can either recieve it or brush it away. You know it, it is that still small voice of the Lord.

I got one of those yesterday. It started with a crumpled napkin. I saw it and got a flicker of a thought, lighter than a feather it came. “I should save that,” I thought, as I collected it off the table……You see, when you have suffered a loss, a grief that is total and unexpected, you tend to think like that every now and then, even years later. It carves out a place, leaves a mark, changes you forever. It says, hang onto that because they might not come through the door ever again. Save that coffee cup because it was what they were using, and you may never see their face again. Not in this life anyway…..It says, keep that because she or he loved that, it was his, it was hers….A husband, a wife, a best friend, a parent, a child.

Loss carves a hole in you that you always seek to fill. But there is only One who can….

But here is what I realized yesterday, and not for the first time: I am thankful for what I have learned from my loss, because I cherish the people in my life more. I truly do know that it may be the last time I see them, this side of  Heaven anyway…….Grief teaches you to pay attention. To learn what makes the ones you love light up. Compliment them on big and small things……see what makes the life spring into their eyes and makes them walk a bit taller. Notice when they look down or troubled. Never hesitate to do these things, you will be so glad you did.

God can make something beautiful out of all our losses, whatever they may be, and once we have made it through we can be intruments of His comfort to others. In time we can rejoice. Hold fast to His hand and let him carry you into the daylight of His grace. I rejoice today because of all God has brought me through……It is Thanksgiving in the midst of everything! Or maybe in spite of everything.

I am filled with humble gratitude when I think of all the ways He has revealed Himself to me, I just can’t help wanting to share it…….”So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” Colossians 2:6,7

Photo of japanese maple leaf from birds and blooms dot com

The view from the top

The climber climbs for the joy of it, and because he believes the view from the top will be worth it. We climb too, knowing the Keeper of our steps holds our feet fast; though we slip He keeps us from falling headlong. Though the climb is strenuous and sometimes difficult He surprises us with joys unspeakable on the journey at every turn and infuses us with the hope of victory at the top where He waits…… 
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. Acts 17:24-27
There will be many people at malls in the coming weeks, and rushing too and fro on the freeways, working, eating, visiting, sleeping, and all the while there is a God who waits for them to look His way. He does not need us, but He wants us!
His heart aches for knowing that those who do know Him will not speak of Him often enough, though they know the wonderful truth, the wonderful story…….Lord, make Your Word sing in our hearts and make the melody so bright, so clear, so strong that we can no longer keep it in!

Ask, seek, knock…..

Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.
Corrie Ten Boom

He who hung the great lights and set all this in motion still has everything under control…….We get hung up on the hows and whys of everything, but there are some things we don’t need to know. Even if He did supply us with the specifics they would be way beyond our grasp anyway. We like to congratulate ourselves on our own intellegence, but our knowledge next to God’s is puny. We think we have everything figured out, but go outside and gaze at the harvest moon as it climbs into the sky and see if you still do……The only thing we need to know is the One who started all this. Once we know Him, the hows and whys don’t really matter anymore.

Ask……Seek…..Knock…..

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7,8

Get close to the One who breathed into you the breath of life and you will begin to live the way you were meant to all along……

Sing the song of the morning stars and be thankful this day that you are breathing air, that you get another day to live, and wake and work. Know that any problem you have can be worked out, worked through. Hope is there as long as you have breath, and there is always more than enough hope when we know the Hope-giver.

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew {their} strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; {and} they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, ‘darkness’ on the walls of his cell. C.S. Lewis

How to stay young at heart…..



Willow tree angel of the heart
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it…….Proverbs 4:23
My best friend Elaine and I recently re-connected with some dear people who were some of the first that we met when we came to Arizona years ago. Ruby sold Mary Kay and I ran out of lipstick! We had an instant connection cemented by lots of laughter. I don’t know why we lost touch, and it doesn’t really matter. Life has a way of carrying people in different directions sometimes, but I always believe that God loves to orchestrate reunions too. What a blessing it was to find that none of us had changed much, and our hearts had not changed at all! It seemed to me like the last 8-9 years had dissolved and that we were all standing in the same spot we were when last we met.
Isn’t it a blessing to have friends like that? Ron and Ruby will be the first to tell you that “old age ain’t for sissies.” They have had their share of health problems and surgeries, but they have retained the secret of youth. Laughter, their love for the Lord and each other, staying in the Word, (both are leading Bible studies), keeping up on current events, watching the Pastor’s  four children and learning new things. Most importantly they have not forgotten how to laugh at themselves! They don’t allow their own problems to consume them, but realize the importance of listening to others concerns and joys.
Their home is strewn with signs of life, children’s toys, open Bibles on the table, books with markers in them, paintings and new photos on the walls and cookies in the jar. Even though they are in their seventies and probably have many aches and pains, they dress sharp and they stay positive. They know the Source of hope! Theirs is a home full of life, a house of hope. A place where you want to take off your shoes and stay awhile. They have figured out the secret of staying young at heart. We all know youth won’t last, but our hearts can stay young forever. That is something we have control over!
Have you ever visited a home and a people that have given up? You can’t wait to get out the door!
What a blessing it is to re-connect with old friends, and what a blessing to find that all the important things have not changed; for it is the Spirit of God that draws us together. No matter what our age, background, cultural differences, the Spirit of love binds our hearts and dissolves the differences that the world wants to put between us so many times. We have become a society that seeks to separate…..Sometimes we separate ourselves, and that is never good. There is so much we can all learn from each other at every age!
Thank you God for bringing us back together with our special friends at just the right time……….and thank you for the magic of laughter, which came just as easy as it ever did to us all, even after years apart, what a blessing!
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Philippians 2:1,2

“You will not find a soul mate in the quiet of your room. You must go to a noisy place and look in the quiet corners.” Robert Brault

My Redeemer Lives

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. Job 1:25

The reason why Job could go through everything he did and still rejoice in His God means that we can too. He was able to rejoice because we serve a God who is very much alive……He is fighting for you today.

This lesson was brought home again to me in prayer this morning. I went out, my prayer journal and Bible in hand, lit my candle, sat down ready to hear from God in the silence, except I didn’t hear silence, I heard the hum of construction. It may as well have been as loud as a set of drums. It was all I could hear.

Then I decided to write a prayer in my prayer book. This is as far as I got before my penlight went out……”I am standing in prayer for Elaine today…….” No more light. So I said the rest of the prayer for her. I felt the particular helplessness of knowing that my best friend is in a pit slugging it out with the enemy and wanting to help her out of it. The best way is prayer…..

But the hum was so distracting. I decided to go and get my head phones. I could still hear the construction hum so I put a song on. This is where God was leading me all along.

Nicole C. Mullen singing, Redeemer

The message was heard loud and clear……….

Who taught the sun where to stand in the morning?
and Who told the ocean you can only come this far?
and Who showed the moon where to hide ’til evening?
Whose words alone can catch a falling star?
 
Well I know my Redeemer lives
I know my Redeemer lives:
Let all creations testify
Let this, life within me cry
I know my Redeemer lives, yeah.

Tears came…….He has already given us the victory by raising from the grave, thank you Lord, how could I ever forget, even momentarily…..My prayer this morning was answered…..

After I heard the song, I went out and saw an impossibly bright star toward the Superstition Mountains…..”He who has named all the stars and hung them in space has the power to bring us through…..thank you Lord! I rejoice in God my savior this morning.

Rhythms of life…..

Greer, Arizona

Ah……Finally there is a chance to “feel” Fall. Crisp days and cold clear nights are something we wait for anxiously here in our part of Arizona. While most of the U.S. is dealing with their first snow storms and freezes, we are feeling like October in November. Finally I am getting in the mood for pumpkin pie and chili, and Christmas baking, and warm fires. It’s funny how even though you move away from a place, that place stays with you. I am remembering Northern California and stacking wood with my Dad and sitting on the floor cracking walnuts with my Mom, getting the worn flannel shirt out of the closet for the first time. Endless leaves in profusions of color, wet and soggy from the rain, sticking to everything they touched. Bach’s concerto number 3……which to me only and always means fall.

When I moved here I thought that maybe I would lose the rhythm of the seasons entirely. But I have been here for years, and I have noticed that a pattern of seasons all its own emerged anyway. Fall here means something a bit different than what I grew up with. It means sowing the winter rye if you have lawn, and buying flowers you can’t grow in summer…..There is a rhythm, really, to the whole universe wherever we are, we carry it with us. It’s a part of Gods grand design. There is a steadiness to dawn and dusk, summer and winter……reassurance that all will go on as it has before.

Since I started having a regular morning prayer time, I have noticed a pattern emerge within myself. It feels steady, and right…..it’s as if I am mirroring the bigger pattern that is happening all around me. It’s a way of setting things right in my own world, or rather, laying everything at God’s feet once again, my small offering of praise.


Tlaquepaque Chapel, Sedona Arizona

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8