Encouragement

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

The Miracle after the Silence……

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Luke 1:26-28

Four hundred years God has been silent……no new prophets echoing through the Temple Courts…..no help for Israel, only continual oppression from powerful nations around them. It must have seemed like the silence was mocking all their hopes for the future. How many years they had prayed, and waited for God to answer. A sign, any little flicker of hope, anything to grasp on to. And still, they heard nothing. But they read the words, they clung to belief. They held out. They held on.  A whisper of hope was all they had, and yet it was enough.

Then one day things started to happen…….Zechariah going into the temple one way, and coming out unable to speak, stunned at what he heard, saw. “Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth,” Luke 1:11-14

He came out of the temple not able to speak, since he doubted what the Angel had said…….I wonder, in our modern reality-TV laden, overstimulated society……if Gabriel appeared would anyone notice? Would we even be able to hear him?
When you consider all these miraculous events………A virgin bearing God’s Son, a baby born filled with the Holy Spirit at birth (John), Zechariah struck dumb and they able to speak on the day of John’s birth…..is it any less of a miracle that we believe all these things and others don’t? That is what I pondered and it greatly humbled me this morning.
Mary said yes……and it cost her, Elizabeth and Zechariah said yes and it cost them, Jesus said yes and it cost Him. John the Baptist said yes, and it cost him.Yet they were also greatly rewarded. What an unspeakable gift……to be entrusted with this most precious gift, this knowledge, this truth. God’s own Spirit! The message to Mary from Gabriel is to us too, if we believe what Jesus said and have accepted Him into our lives. “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 
He is with us!……..We have this hope……the wait is over. He has come! Whatever you are going through, I pray that today you find strength and hope in this gift that God has so freely given us. Rejoice with me today in this good news which shall be for all people! Pray, and be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you…..so many need Him today.

Halleluiah Anyhow!

What I would like to be doing right now…….
What I am doing? Working. But I found a little space of time to pray, and ask for special grace for today.
 I didn’t want to get up early, I wanted to stay home. I was craving a couple extra hours sleep. Last night I lost a big chunk of my tooth and also a big chuck of the bonus I just got……I watched it sprout wings and fly away. I called to get sympathy from my Mom and she laughed when I told her. But that is why I love her. She always looks at the bright side, “At least you have the money to pay for it,” she said, “and a dentist you like.” Okay Mom…..you are right.
I am thankful that I do have the money…..and the tooth (or what is left of it) does not hurt. It would be a very long weekend if it did. Then I went down to use the ATM and it was broke, so I had to get a co-worker to cover me so I could run to the bank. I was irritated at that…..but then I prayed, “Thank you God, that I have a job where I have the freedom to do this.”
Halleluiah anyhow!
As I crossed the parking lot to the car, a bit peeved because I was having issues at work that needed dealing with. I heard the birds singing……I also heard my Mom’s voice saying, “Lori, the birds are singing for you.” She knows I love birds. Then I got emotional……I know that someday I won’t be able to hear her voice. I will have to wait for Heaven…..I wanted to cry.
I got my money, and I figured that since I was out, and that it was a beautiful day, and the sun was shining……and all my co-workers are at work just like me and would also rather be home. I bought three dozen Krispy Kremes to take back. Because I have been fortunate to have been taught, to have learned along the way that if you do something for others, you will be blessed.
So I do feel better now. Everyone loved the donuts. I still have the work issues to deal with, but I have a job. And many people who love me.
And my tooth that needs fixing doesn’t hurt.
And in light of eternity, all these things that I call problems are really small.
There is much to be thankful for…….
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 2 Corinthians 4:17
God is good and He is still on the throne!
Halleluiah anyhow….

Further reflections on blogging….

“Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” 1 Timothy 4:16

Ever since I started blogging I noticed a strange phenomenon when I am away from a computer. I really miss blogging! I am starting to say things like, “I need to blog about that!” Then when I take my laptop with me I start to look around for places with free WIFI. I have always kept journals and captured my thoughts, so this part wasn’t foreign to me at all. I have always enjoyed observing people, being part of the fringe as opposed to the center of the circle and writing what I see. That wasn’t what surprised me.

What did surprise me was that my blogging has actually become part of my devotional time. It has increased my prayer time too, because  from the first I wanted this blog to be a lot about Him and not much about me. I figured that would be the only way to keep my big ego out of the way! I always pray about what to post and in the seeking and asking, I come away feeling closer to Him myself. Sometimes He surprises me and gives an answer right away! Sometimes it takes longer. Sometimes I get no message at all. On those days either I don’t post or I post something someone else has written. Sometimes it is good to take a rest even from something you enjoy. To go thought gathering……

Always, God is teaching me through this blog. It is humbling, so humbling. I see all the other blogs out there and sometimes I almost want to quit, thinking it’s already been said by better people, better writers…..and they have said it more creatively, more skillfully.With more wisdom. But then God nudges me and I hear Him say, “You have something to say because I created only one you, and only you can say it just this particular way.” Really, He is telling all of us that. So I smile, and realize there is always room for one more blog. Just like there is always room for one more good book. More words to praise Him with.

I am so thankful for this place. It is my own little corner belonging to God and to me, and to all of you!

In the trenches of life

Tlaquepaque Chapel, Sedona Arizona
“But let all who take refuge in You be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread Your protection over them, that those who love your name my rejoice in You.” Psalm 5:11
This morning wasn’t a calm prayer time for me……I was restless, I was worried. I was wondering why circumstances seem so hard for people who are just trying to do the right things. Why does it seem that certain people sail through life with little difficulty? If they need something done they just pay to have someone do it, with money no object they are unscathed by the things that bog the rest of us down. They don’t have to mess with details, they don’t lose sleep over what is not getting done because someone else is doing it…..or not. Either way, they live above the fray unaffected.  
So this prayer is for the rest of us here in the trenches of life. The ones who look around and realize they are standing alone, with no backup in sight. The ones who get robbed themselves because they are caring for others. The ones with anxious prayers like David, who was not a stranger to adversity.
He lost sleep, he was anxious, fearful, distressed and tired. But He also knew his God. He knew that his God was big enough to handle anything. He also knew that God was a refuge where he could always find shelter.
As I was reading, but mostly worrying this morning. I read these lines…..the ones that God highlighted for me, the ones where my finger stopped moving across the page.
“In the morning O Lord you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation.”
I pray, but so many times I don’t wait in expectation, I try to figure things out my own way. I don’t wait in expectation to see what God will do, I don’t even give Him the chance. I believe that is what He wanted me to see this morning. I marvel at the faith of David, a man after God’s own heart. He knew how to wait the right way. 
I love how David poured out his heart to the Lord. I can always find comfort in the Psalms because I know that I can find everything there that mirrors exactly what I am feeling at any given moment!
“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” Mark 9:24
Jesus with children, Sedona Art Studio


Desert Prayers……

“O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1

From my prayer journal: The heat has returned, it was fooling us before. We got a few days of cool breezes and thought the relentless stifling breath of heat was over. Should have known better, still, it is cooler in the mornings and evenings and for that I am grateful. Relief is coming soon.

It seems God has taken away my mourning doves. I haven’t heard them for a few weeks as I usually do during morning prayer. This morning all I heard was the warm wind in the chimes and the gunning engines of a few speeding cars on their way to the freeway. Not very conducive to silent prayer and meditation……but then I heard the Spirit ask my heart…..Is it the birds you come out to hear or My voice? Then I thought: maybe He sent the doves away for a purpose. Maybe He sent them away to teach me that life, like prayer, is sometimes as dry as toast. It can’t always be cool breezes, comfort, and cooing doves.

“Yes, Lord, I get it……You got me again.” Once again I learn the lesson, Jesus plus nothing. I settled into prayer with a new purpose. I drew Him into everything I was hearing, and not hearing. Every neighborhood sound represented something God wanted me to hear. I was warm, and uncomfortable, I heard speeding cars, the wind was drying out my plants, and it was okay. It became very okay.

I started to be conscious of every car I heard. For in each car there was a life, a family represented there. So I started to pray for those lives, that today they would somehow, somewhere, feel God’s presence. That if they don’t know Him, that today they would run into someone who did.

I said the Lord’s prayer, and I became conscious of the beauty of other voices around the world saying the same prayer, so I prayed for unity in the church. I heard people rising in worship, I heard the hushed echo of kneelers pulled down in quiet sanctuaries, and the whispered prayers of the persecuted church. Prayers said by the bedside of the sick. One faith lifted in hope and joy that we believe in a God who hears the prayers of His people.

Does it matter what you or I pray here in our small corners of the world? Absolutely it does. The Bible says…….”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.” Who makes us righteous but Jesus? I stand today in the cloak of His righteousness, for He is the only one who is qualified to do that. Praise His name.

Thank you Lord, for answered prayer and for always bringing us new lessons. For turning our dry toast into a full coarse meal, and our deserts into springs of water that never fail…..”Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” Psalm 23:5

Join Ann and me today as we continue to offer our thanks for His gifts…….#484 prayer lessons, #485 assurance of cooler weather to come, #486 safe return home for loved ones, #487 community of believers offering up faithful prayers, #488 the innocence of children, #489 appliances that work, #490 clean water, #491 cars that run, #492 honest work and the strength to do it, #493 the ability to laugh, #494 good samaritans, #495 means to help those who have nothing….

holy experience


Reflections on blogging

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am constantly amazed at all the creative and inspiring blogs there are out there. They are as varied and diverse as the people who have created them. I have some favorites listed on my blog roll, and they all have favorites listed on theirs as well, it goes on and on. I know there are hundreds out there that I have missed…..I know they are out there! Each one represents a life, and other lives attached to it. This is a community. You could even say it is like church. The church started out as a fellowship of believers, gathering together to worship, pray for each other’s needs, and then going out into the community to serve others….Hey, sounds a bit like blogging to me!
I really love this blogging thing! I can honestly say it has enriched my faith, my life.  I pray for each follower on my blog because I know that they are not there by accident. God sent them! I realize with every face I see there are needs, heartaches, joys and sorrows. I pray that God might use me to give out the same inspiration, comfort and encouragement that they give me along the way!
So much life leaps off the pages of so many, all these thoughts, prayers going back and forth, all this building each other up is very good.  Not only that, it is Biblical……”Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11
In so doing we are opening doors, inviting others in that may never have had an invitation otherwise. And the circle is growing……”Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Acts 2:46,47
Each day they continued to meet together at home offices, at desks, steaming cups in hand, birdsong drifting through the windows, at kitchen tables, at Starbucks, Panera………breaking bread and building each other up.

Thank the hero in your life today…..

We all know them, they live in our neighborhoods, we see them in our children’s schools, we have known them throughout our lives, people who sacrificially go above and beyond the call. We marvel at how they can do the things they do, how they can sacrifice so much. We think of them as everyday heroes. Maybe you are one of them……The thing about these people that defines them so wonderfully is that they don’t think of themselves as heroes at all. They see a need, sometimes a big one, and they step in to fill it. They don’t sit and think about how it might affect them, how much they might have to sacrifice. They don’t ponder, procrastinate, wonder if God wants them to do it, they just do it.
What got me started about all this is that I was thinking of my folks neighbors. They learned that their boss was going to institutionalize their severely handicapped son and they did the unthinkable and volunteered to take him into their home……as their own son. When I am home visiting I see the bus pull up with him in it, a full grown man now. They must care for his every need. This means diapers, feeding, lifting. And yet they do it joyfully.
You never know what someone is going through at any given moment, what burdens they carry. Still they keep on. Maybe they have three jobs but they still go out of their way to help others. I bet we can count off ten people we know right now that do amazing things on a day to day basis. I know two people who take service animals to rest homes and hospitals. Imagine the smiles they are greeted with, shaking hands that reach out, remembering better days.
Let the everyday heroes in your life know that you have noticed! Smile at the woman emptying the trash cans at work, the man trimming the trees, your waitress who looks burdened. Everyday there are people rising out of bed early and instead of spending their golden years at leisure, devoting the rest of their days in service to others, standing in the gap for someone. Doing the work of God.
Maybe they don’t even know God, but they are doing His work just the same.
And think about this. Think about all the many issues that divide churches today, divide the world really. This is one thing we can all agree on. Helping one another, serving the poor, the needy, the widow, the orphans among us is right and everyone knows it.
If we could all unite on this one point, forget about the other stuff that doesn’t really matter, just do this one thing, think how the world could change. “But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless.” Titus 3:9

Lord, today I pray for all these heroes today, and especially on my heart are our soldiers coming home, many of them with life-changing injuries having to go through many months and years of therapy. May there be loving hands to help them, support them, love them, and visit them in their times of loneliness. May they find peace and comfort in Your Spirit, Amen.
“This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.” Titus 3:8

God wants to hear from you….

“God is not really silent, we are deaf.” St Theresa of Avila

“The whole of our faith is the belief that God loves us; I mean there isn’t anything else. Anything else we say we believe is just a way of saying that God loves us. Any proposition, any article of faith, is only an expression of faith if it is a way of saying that God loves us….Herbert McCabe, British Theologian

We need only look to the cross to see proof of that love……

We have knowledge of that love because of what He has already demonstrated. Since He loves us, we must assume that He wants to hear from us! There is one requirement that will ensure that God will always answer our prayers and Jesus demonstrated it perfectly.
That we bring our desires in line with our Father’s will. This kind of prayer can seem more like wrestling sometimes.  
More than anything, God desires an open and honest heart. I like the fact that He encourages simple prayers…..I have great comfort in the fact that I can tell Him absolutely everything, and he loves it when I use my own words…… 
“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.” Matthew 6:7

I love that God honored the humble prayer of the tax collector…..
“But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ Luke 18:13

I also love that God hears my silent prayers in those times when words fail. I just let Him read my heart with His Spirit in the quiet moments found here and there.

Resurrection in the Desert

Everyone needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike…..John Muir

September breathes new life into the desert. It is our time of resurrection. Too long hidden under the hum of unnatural air, trapped inside four walls. September finds us able to walk outside, able to take a complete breath of air that is not oppressive heat. The animals feel the joy and relief of it too, as evidenced by their morning frolics, they step a bit lighter along with us. This is a joy that only those who dare to live in this harsh environment can fully know and appreciate.

Ours is an Autumn of resurrection, new beginnings. Annuals appear, bold swatches of color that could never survive the summer, this is a fall of a different kind. No swirling leaves of red yellow or brown, now we have roses. Though I ache for those leaves that I once knew to mark my own special Advent…..I feel it in my heart just the same.

I recognize God’s hand in it and that is, after all, the miracle of Advent. I feel His birth, death and resurrection each time I step outside my door these past few mornings……It is sweet relief.  And such  thankfulness at this grace…..that I can share this message of the One behind it all.

I pray today for everyone who has yet to know you Lord. I pray that I might be a humble instrument to be used by You for that solitary purpose. Help me to be a guide, a small gateway to You;  to help them see that they only have to look aside for one moment, to stop and focus on one thing, one aspect of nature and be still in it, and see You in it.

I pray that they might see that Your thoughts are already turned toward them. All it would take is one misstep in the dance of our planets and we would be no more……that is reason enough to believe. Amen

……..since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Romans 1:19,20

Continuing to number my praises today with Ann and company……#461 the sweet breath of open windows once again…..#462 morning prayer free of heat…..#463 the sweet fellowship of other believers…..#464 a once more reasonable electric bill…..#465 the magic of fall however it comes……#466 yellow butterfly outside the window just now….#467 the anticipation of holidays and pumpkin pie…..#468 good neighbors….#469 health to enjoy all this….#470 sending prayers down the river that reaches Heaven….#471 eating outdoors again! #472 not having to water as much…….

holy experience