Christian living

Love Mercy

Love Mercy, by Lisa and Ty Samson

Going from a life of plenty in Suburban America to a life of “serving others.” This is a book I recommend whole-heartedly. Lisa Samson has always been one of my favorite fictional authors, but this true story is one that you won’t soon forget. It chronicles she and her daughter Ty’s experiences in Swaziland, the AIDs capital of the world.

They are not prepared for what they see. Expecting to minister to others, they soon figure out that “the others” will be ministering to them….

How do we in America handle the poverty all around us? We don’t have to go as far as Africa to find it. I can go about 2 blocks away and I can see its effects. Is just being thankful for what we have enough? Is sending a check to World Vision enough? This is what I asked myself this morning when I was reading from Isaiah…..

The kind of fast God wants……”Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.” Isaiah 58:7,10

Lord, help me to not close my eyes and my heart to people you might send my way to help. Help me see those opportunities as gifts. May I not be so blinded by my love of safety and security that I no longer see the world outside that You died to save. I have built walls to keep the dirty, troubling, smelly world out, Lord. Help those walls not be so unyielding, Lord. That is the best I can do for now.

Lord, I so love your Word, but at times I find it troubling. Help me to be open to what it speaks to my heart, Father. Amen

Blessings in disguise


The mourning doves accompanied my prayer time this morning as I crept out early, first cup in hand. Some people might think it irreverent for prayer posture, jostling my cup out there. They might think I should put first things first and wait for my caffeine jolt, but I think He enjoys that I want to share it with Him.

I prayed at the beginning of this sabbatical away from work, this unbelievable blessing I have, 60 days with pay….what other job does that? I prayed that I would be a blessing, that I didn’t want it to be all about me having time off to do whatever I wanted to do. I wanted to lift the time to Him to see what He would do.

Sometimes He gives the opportunity almost as soon as the prayer is breathed into the air. Be careful what you pray for! Dear friend’s Dad went into the hospital so I have been driving her Mom who has Alzheimer’s from our home to the hospital and back to her home. She has been staying here at night since she can’t stay alone.

As is so often the case in this life, things happen that are just not “just.” My friend has never been treated very well by her folks though she has always been the one to care for them. She is a natural caretaker and does what is right regardless. Preferential treatment brother who has caused them nothing but grief and heartache is, as usual, nowhere to be found.

So I was happy to help her bear this tremendous load. She is already taking care of two households so it is the least I can do. Yet I know it pained her to allow me to do it. I guess I will have to let her in on my prayer…..

As Christ-followers we make the choice to pick up our cross each day regardless, knowing He will be our strength. There is humor in every situation, and as my friend and I have discussed many times, Alzheimer’s can sometimes be a blessing, if you can call it that, in disguise. The disease tends to wash away all old hurts and wounds until there is nothing left but the caring. The looking after from day to day, much like caring for a small child.

I can’t imagine what must go on in her mind. Her Mom, once an excellent nurse who passed out meds everyday, now can’t remember to take her own. Once meticulous about her appearance, she forgets to shower for days at a time, her once perfectly coiffed hair is now disheveled, though to her credit she laughs when she looks in the mirror and realizes she needs to do something with it. It is hard to watch such a metamorphosis, heartbreaking really. Hard to watch when eyes go blank and she says she understands and you know she doesn’t.

I see the pain in friends eyes. It’s always harder when they are your parents, I think. Emotionally anyway. But today I am asking God to help me see her Mom as a young girl with hopes and dreams. She made one very important decision in her life and that was to have my friend when everyone advised her to have an abortion, since she had cancer when she was pregnant. I think of how many lives would not have been blessed, saved really if she had not been born.

“Thank you God, for helping me to serve in this small way. You know I am one who clings to my own free time. You know everything about me and still love me patiently step by step. Help me to learn the lessons you want me to learn. I love You for loving them too God, and for allowing us to keep our sense of humor in trying times and help me see others with Your eyes. In Jesus name, Amen”

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Romans 12:9-12

What can I give?


And looking upon them Jesus said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

Shortly before Jesus makes his triumphal entry into Jerusalem he is approached by a rich young ruler and is asked, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” Jesus always seems to upset the apple cart wherever he goes by turning traditional customs and beliefs upside down. In ancient Jewish culture, someone who is rich is considered blessed by God. So when Jesus replied with, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Matthew 19:21; the disciples were perplexed and astonished.

Then Peter said, and I love him for this, he probably said what all of them were probably thinking……”We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” Matthew 19:27 This was an honest question, they had sacrificed livelihoods and families to follow Jesus. In other words, “What’s in it for me?” You never had to wonder where you stood with Peter, he just came right out with it! I think Jesus loved him for it.

Jesus didn’t admonish him, he actually then told them what their reward would be. He also mercifully left out the part about everything they would suffer.

Maybe he wanted to give them a picture of hope, something tangible that they could grab onto, knowing all the events that were soon to follow in Jerusalem. He knew they really didn’t have a clue of the awful events ahead….I can imagine that this made His heart very tender toward them.

It makes me wonder, what would I give up for Him? There is much talk in church about what we “get” for our faith today and what God will do for us, what He will give us if we do “A” and “B” but not much talk about what we can give, what we can do for Him.

Lord, help me to ask not what I can get, but what can I give to You today. I can only do this with Your strength. Give me a heart of humility and a desire to serve You. I ask all this in Jesus name, Amen

Confession


A few years back the Pastor of the church I was attending was giving a message on confession. In the sanctuary strategically placed were four huge wooden crosses. I didn’t pay them much attention figuring that they must be part of the set for the upcoming Easter celebration. At one point during the sermon we were told that if we had anything that we needed to confess to God, anything at all, we should write it down on a small piece of paper. “By the cross,” he said, “you will find a hammer, just nail your confession to the cross and leave it with Jesus.” People started going forward with their scraps of paper. At first there was some tentative tapping from the first few. A little ping here, a gentle tap there. As it went on though, the tapping turned into what sounded more like angry pounding. It began to sound like a construction site as the hammer blows echoed off the walls!

It was there that my very strange sense of humor betrayed me and I let out a muffled giggle. I was instantly elbowed. I couldn’t help it. I was positive I was going to hear an electric drill fire up next. Maybe it was nervous laughter. After the service I found out that some people were extremely moved to tears as they heard the pounding of the nails and were relieved of their burden. The next Sunday the crosses were still there, the confessions plastered all over them. I suppressed a morbid urge to go up and read them. Is it because I want to know that others struggle with the same things I struggle with?

With all church practices, we need to go to the Bible to get our rules about Christian conduct, for that is our “rule book” per se. So I did. I came up with 53 references in the New Testament and 51 references in the Old Testament, right off the bat.

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” James 5:16

So according to Scripture and all the references I found, it would seem that God cares a great deal about confession, both confession to Him and one another. What is it about confession that is SO difficult? We try to stuff it down and it just gets bigger, like a self inflatable mattress in our soul. We think maybe we will ignore it. It takes on a life of it’s own and begins to affect everything else in our lives.

It used to be a common practice to stand in front of the entire church body and confess. Could we even imagine that happening now?

Satan knows that confession makes us free and he will try to do everything he can to keep us from unloading our burdens. He whispers all kinds of scary scenarios to us to keep us from being free. He wants us to think we can fight the battle alone in isolation. Confession is the beginning of restoration, and there are times we need to confess to God, and there are times we need to confess to one another. There is tremendous power in it!

I confess with tears today:

Forgive me Lord for lying.
I tossed out what I thought was a
harmless lie, but I know that no lie
is truly harmless, it hurts You and it
hurts me and the one I lied to.

When I told that man that I would look
at his petition at the library “on the way
out” I knew that I had no intention of
stopping. Why didn’t I just say I was
not interested?

Forgive me also Lord for wondering why
certain individuals are still on the
earth.

Who made me God? What makes me think that
my days are any more important than theirs?
You number all of our days, Lord. You hold
them all in Your hand. If they are still
living, breathing, then there must be a
reason, for it is by Your great mercy
that we all still live.

Their time is no less precious than mine.

Help my heart be open to see and address
needs of others in my path….

In Jesus name, Amen

Ezekiel 11:19 “And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh….

But would we notice?


The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness —
on them light has shined.
Isaiah 9:2

I sometimes wonder if it happened all over again, would we stop long enough to notice, or try to explain it away? Sometimes I wonder about myself, as I start my day, get up, check things off “my agenda.”

But really God it is Your day, You have redeemed all my days and each one is a precious gift. I confess that I am sometimes too caught up in my plan that I ignore Your whisperings in my heart. Forgive me, Lord. Help me to slow down and have better Spiritual hearing. Help me to remember that my days belong to You.

“Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 139:16


2 Corinthians 12:9 (New International Version)
9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

I posted a prayer to go with this verse and lo and behold, I hit a key stroke and POOF! It was gone…..So God will have to go with Me here and I will have to rest in Him alone. So the words remain in my heart and God knows how I feel…..

He remains my strength when I feel ill-equipped….

A Kinder World


Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:12-14

I feel as if I have discovered a treasure, on another blog I came across the writings of J.R. Miller. I tried to backtrack and find it so I could thank them but in all my online wanderings yesterday I lost track of where I was. He writes about something I have been working on in myself lately, being less critical and more kind. He uses the word “forbearance.” He has this to say:

“If we resent every apparent injustice, demand the righting of every little wrong, and insist upon chafing, and uttering our feelings at every infinitesimal grievance, and if all the other parties in the circle claim the same privilege–what miserable beings we shall all be, and how wretched life will become! But there is a more excellent way. The Spirit of Christian love inculcated in the New Testament will, if permitted to reign in each heart and life, produce fellowship without a jar or break.” And I love what he says about how “Christ puts a veil over our faults.”

A popular Christian author/speaker once challenged herself to not say one negative thing for a day. I can’t recall who it was, but she ended up being silent for the better part of the day.

I asked my Mom, “Did the world seem a kinder place when you were growing up?” She says, emphatically, “Yes!” I am talking about general terms here, because it is easy to romanticize the past, since we are no longer in it. But she says groups of teenagers, sometimes as many as 20 would go to the beach on a bus and nobody would even think of doing anything malicious. The boys treated the girls like gentlemen, and nobody got drunk or high. Everyone danced with everyone else, and they all looked out for each other. Wow. You could actually walk around in the middle of the night and have no fear. Kids respected not only their own parents, but the parents of their friends.

It is sometimes very hard to be kind. My friend took her Alzheimer’s afflicted mother to the store the other day. Her mom gets very sharp and unkind and leaves things she doesn’t want out of place, and argues about what she needs and doesn’t need. She has to go in the same entrance every time, otherwise she stands in the store and turns circles, lost. My friend is a master at the “soft answer” that turns away wrath, by God’s grace. It’s not easy, but it’s right.

In a world that sometimes seems very harsh, a kind act stands out and has the power to stop us in our tracks. I am now surprised when a young man holds a door for me…SORRY I miss this! I try to be nice to anyone in customer service, they have a tough job. My Mom has only two “people categories” either nice or not nice. I think there is some truth to that.

Leaving my "self" at the door

Autumn gate by Thomas Kinkade

Happy are they who throw themselves with bowed head and closed eyes into the arms of the “Father of Mercies,” and the “God of all consolation,” as St. Paul said! There is only one way to love God: to take not a single step without Him, and to follow with a brave heart wherever He leads. All those who live the Christian life, and yet would very much like to keep a little in with the world, run great risk of being among the lukewarm of whom it is said they will be “spewed out of the mouth of God.” Taken from “Devotional Classics”
Sobering words by Francois Fenelon

The Christian life for me is a constant process of moving myself out of the way, and letting God take over. Today I started to pray when I realized that I was tripped up by my own “self.” It was something I had to correct as soon as God brought it to my attention. As soon as I started thinking about how much time I would put in and how much would be acceptable to God, the battle was lost. I had made a religious “thing” out of it. It’s like this: How would you feel as a parent if you knew your child was only spending time with you because they felt they “should” but not because they wanted to. Forgive me, Lord for all those times I try to playact with You.
I paused, I reflected, I started over with a purer heart. Then my prayer time became what it was supposed to be once again. A place where I connect to the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and He connects with me. What a privelege, what a unspeakable gift!

If the Holy Spirit is our gateway to the throne of God, then prayer is certainly the pathway through that gate. Thankfully, the omnipotence of God is tempered with love and grace otherwise we would not be able to stand in His presence……

“Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16.

Get a life!


We have all heard these phrases:
“He has no life.”
“She deserves a life.”
“I have no life”
“Get a life”

The worldly mantra of life seems to be: “Do well in school so you can get the right job, so you can have enough money, so that you will never have to go without, so that you will be fullfilled and take wonderful vacations so you will never be bored; repeat cycle with kids, retire comfortably in Florida or Arizona.”

When we are born again into new life in Christ and start reading the Bible, we see that our earlier concept of life rubs up against what Christ teaches.

“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 16:25

We try to get the two to blend, but they stubbornly refuse. It’s not so much that the first concept is wrong….school, money, good jobs, success; those are all good things, but as believers we have to be open to change course when God directs. The Holy Spirit prods us to ask different questions, not what do I want, but what does God want for my life?

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Romans 12:1

Sometimes life interrupts life and does this for us. A parent becomes ill and all other siblings disappear, a grandchild needs raising and you are the only one left standing, a child drops out of school, the list goes on and on. Sometimes God gives us an unexpected call to serve, but if we are clinging so tightly to our first life we miss His voice….Sacrifice is hard, it’s not glamorous, you get dirty, sometimes you get no recognition, sometimes you are even ridiculed for your efforts. (Parenting comes to mind here)

You may feel like your life has become as predicable as punching a time-clock. You may feel defeated before the day even begins….But take heart, Jesus had something much bigger than whatever you are facing, and He did it for us! He did it so that we could know that whatever we do in this life has meaning, and an impact for all eternity!

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

And here is the miracle part…..the secret!(unlike the popular book of the same name that swept across the new age landscape awhile back) When we yield what we want and exchange it for what He wants, He brings eternity into the moment. Everything we do becomes a prayer because we can’t do it any other way; and somehow we always find the strength we need for each day.

So maybe your life doesn’t look like that “perfect” one over there, be assured, He is using your hands to make brushstrokes in His great masterpiece that will last forever.

We have a life, and it’s His!

Steadfast and Immovable

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58

This verse popped into my head during prayer time today and I always wonder what God is trying to tell me when that happens. When I think of being steadfast and immovable I think of these majestic redwoods. I heard His gentle Spirit prodding in my mind and then it went down to my heart, which sparked emotion. So many times, I am anything but. But I want to be…..

Paul is telling us in this verse that we are to be like these trees…..rooted into the rich soil of Scripture, knowing that whatever I do for the Lord is not in vain. If I am praying, seeking Him, listening for His voice, being obedient when He speaks, then I don’t have to worry if I am in His will or not.

As I dwell on these trees today my mind may be scrambled with worry over things I can’t change and things that may never happen, but let me rest in your promises Lord and know they are true.