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.

Multitude Monday (one day late)

holy experience

The list continues, due to labor day and driving back from San Diego no chance to blog on Monday!

11. Happy reunions with old friends.

12. A few days off! Gazing at the ocean once more, hearing and feeling it’s magic!

13. Calls from home (glad you’re home safe, and we are all okay)

14. Sometimes I forget God, but He never forgets me 🙂

15. Being able to clean house…..dust bunnies beware!

16. There is always another good book to start.

17. Thankful for every little thing, my Mom taught me that!

18. Pets that curl up beside you!

19. Hugs from little arms

20. Good food, had alot of that in San Diego.

Soft answers….and best friends.


Last night I met “my snippy self” again. She comes out every now and then. I was minding my own business getting my hair done when she made her appearance. My best friend was in the next chair waiting for her turn. We were having a “hair party” both getting beautified and I was so glad to be getting a trim. Everything was going along just fine until my friend kindly and helpfully said, “Are you sure that length is right?” You see, I had been complaining about it earlier, how I just couldn’t do anything with it and I couldn’t see my earrings because my hair was hiding it….blah, blah, blah. In an instant, out of my mouth came a very snippy retort. I don’t know where it came from, I wasn’t irritated, I was in a good mood, but there it was. Old snippy me right out there. I said rather tersely, “we talked about this earlier, she knows what she’s doing.”

A gentle (soft) answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1

In my mind and to my ears, it didn’t sound bad at all, but to her ears it sounded very harsh and unkind. I believe her because I know my friend. How could something sound so different in my own head, so much so that I was surprised by it when she brought it up later. She was wounded by it. She was reaching out in helpfulness, and was rebuffed.

Words said the wrong way can be just as painful as an insult, and I missed an opportunity to respond with kindness, and a soft answer….

What I didn’t know was that earlier that day she had been wounded by someone else she had been trying to help. It was uncalled for and she didn’t deserve that one either….My best friend is one of most kind, helpful people I know. She is one of those who never fails to get aside her own needs to give time and attention to someone else.

She really didn’t deserve that.

My mind wandered back many years to when we first met. She had just moved to my hometown and started working in my company. We were both wounded souls back then. She had cut herself off from some negative people and places, to start a hopeful new life. Escaping the dark looking for the light. She just had been through a terrible accident and was still recovering from months of painful therapy. I had just lost my husband, had my whole world turned upside down. We were sitting side by side much like at the hair place. She innocently asked what I was thinking. I replied, “If it pertains to you, I will let you know.” Wow, what a (fill in the blank)! I don’t really know why she ever talked to me again. But she did.

We have laughed about that so many times since…..

She didn’t know God back then, although she had heard of Him. I knew Him but really wasn’t living for Him…so many conversations about God we had, so many prayers, tears and laughter shared.

That was about 21 years ago…..in many ways we are not the same people we were then. God has brought us both through so much in our separate journeys, but thankfully we have been able to walk the path together. So many things we have shared over the years….joys and sorrows. Her baptism to new life and running over a carpet on the way home, dragging it down the freeway. Jesus did have the wheel that night! (Nobody was hurt and we got off the freeway safely, one smouldering carpet later.) We have stood in the shadow the shadow of death…. planning a funeral for a stillborn niece (hers.) Seeing my sister-in-law valiantly fight a cancer who had the last say on this earth but not the next. She is with God waiting for the rest of us, as are so many others. Many other exits from this world to the next. Many prayers said together for our families…..so many needs. And now with parents getting older, we share grief over what the future holds for them and us….her Mom suffering mid-stage Alzheimer’s. Nobody prepares you for that.

But still we have kept our best-friendship intact…snippiness and all.

I look back over the years and reflect on all that God has brought us through, and I marvel. Sometimes snippiness happens, and sometimes the best intentions go sour. But this has given me pause to thank God for such a wonderful friend and what a blessing she is to everyone, and me. Thank you Elaine for 21 years of “best friendship!”

Call your best friend today and tell her (or him) how much they mean to you…..

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (And it is not snippy) 1 Cor. 13:1-7

Enough will never be enough…..


Wish I had written this….

We thirst for something far greater than this world can satisfy. So we are always disappointed. Always. But disappointment is itself a gift. Disappointment drives our search for life. We go from one false promise to another, gobbling up things and people in great gulps only to find them go tasteless too soon. And that is the secret of contentment.

It’s when we discover that enough will never be enough that we can finally stop kicking and scratching our way through life, put it all down, and let God be the point of the compass for us. Then we are ready to link arms with the rest of the human race as partners in the great enterprise of life. Then we realize not only the insufficiency of the other on whom we have put the burden of our emotional satisfaction, but of ourselves as well. Because neither we nor they are God, we can finally be gentle with one another.

From Called to Question: A Spiritual Memoir by Joan Chittister (Sheed & Ward, 2004).

“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Augustine

What is on your altar?

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1,2

What does it mean to present our bodies as “living sacrifices” to God? We discussed this yesterday in Bible Study and we all decided that sacrificing can be very painful. Especially when God asks you to part with something very near and dear to your heart. Putting ourselves on the altar is tough; our flesh cries out in rebellion. Just try fasting for a day and you will see what I mean.

In all of our lives, there are areas that God is wanting us to deal with. When you start trying to live for God certain things cry out for immediate attention. You see what God expects and you think it is impossible, but “with God all things are possible to him that believe.” (Mark 9:23) As we walk further down the path of obedience we realize that God brings different things to our attention at different times in our lives. Lovingly, patiently, He heals us, questions us, turns us toward the mirror of His word of truth, but never leaves us without resources. And the process is sometimes very painful, like hacking off a limb, but:

“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” 1 Cor. 10:13 and we have an advocate in God Himself: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin.” Hebrews 4:15

So there is hope for every possible temptation of the flesh we are confronted with! God is not surprised by any of them, and He is big enough to handle them all.

Sometimes we feel like the thing that God is asking us to place on the altar is just too much of a sacrifice, but look at what Abraham had to do…..

(Gen 22) Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. {2} Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” WOW! What was his reaction?

He didn’t argue….he didn’t ask why…he just saddled up the donkey, grabbed the wood, Isaac and went! Growing up I was taught that Isaac was a child, but further study into this made me realize that Isaac could have been a grown man! This means that Isaac had a part in this obeying too! He could have headed for the next caravan out of town, but he didn’t. Abraham had SO much faith in His God that He knew that God could raise Isaac from the dead. Nevertheless, I can’t imagine that it was a happy trek up the mountain for 3 days!

In that one act of obedience, Abraham took his belief in God so seriously that he didn’t hesitate to act. The story has a happy ending…Abraham and Isaac both walked down the mountain.

“And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. James 2:23

Maybe it seems like crawling up on that altar is the most painful thing you could ever do, but thankfully He has already been there, He knows the way, and He can get us to the other side!

September


Whispering change in the air, September carries with it
a promise, a transformation….All of nature in preparation,
the Holy collection of earth’s yield before the silence…

Fall comes, the earth winds down….
Groaning inwardly, steeling herself for silence, season of
contemplation….
When she rests from her labor.
The time for resting is near, but not yet.

First she will offer up everything she has to give, and then;
One last riot of color before complete surrender to the naked
cold of winter white.

She waits for hope of spring while you and I sip tea by the fire.

And as the earth renews so must we:
“I urge you therefore, 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. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:1,2

Multitude Monday….

holy experience

I am starting my gratitude list along with many others……

1. Knowing that I am loved by God….The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zeph.3:17

2. The gift of health, of breathing in and out without discomfort or effort, freedom to move about with no pain….what a gift! “This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.” Proverbs 3:8

3. Loved ones who smile and say “Good morning!” “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 13:34

4. Laughter….always finding something funny and sharing that with someone special. There are really some people who go through a whole day without laughter. “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22

5. Freedom to worship….Lord, I know I take it for granted sometimes, please help me to fully appreciate this wonderful gift we have in America. “Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” Psalm 100:2

6. The gift of belief….belief in Someone bigger than myself who holds it all together. “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—” John 1:12

7. Friendship….”A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24

8. Birds in the morning….they are singing and they don’t even question whether they should….singing is just what they do. Why shouldn’t we be the same? “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you;” Job 12:7

9. Nature all around us. Even sitting here at my computer I can imagine being in a quiet forest….sitting by a gurgling stream….walking on the beach, waves crashing all around. I know it is out there to enjoy! “Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:11,12

10. Two parents still alive and healthy, who answer the phone when I call…”Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.” Proverbs 17:6
Thank you to Ann Voscamp at Holy Experience for starting all this, once you start listing things, it changes how you think!

Sharing our burdens


Sometimes we carry around burdens that were never meant to be carried alone….We think we are being noble by handling it alone saying “I don’t want to burden them.” So we isolate ourselves and end up feeling more alone than ever.

We are hurting, but still we carry it around like a heavy stone, afraid to unload it. Or maybe we hang onto it because we have a bit of pride. The pride that says, “I should be able to handle this.” Maybe we strike out in little ways because we are wounded, with silence or slamming doors……we think they will ask us what is wrong, but when they do we say, “Nothing!” And so now there are two wounded people.

Finally when we just can’t carry it anymore we spill it over onto someone else, usually the one we love. In our haste and desperation to be rid of the burden we sometimes don’t go about it in the right way.

The way of love…..Can I hear an Amen on that one?

But true healing can happen when we approach with a spirit of humility. Which brings about…..healing…..restoration……love.

As it is brought out and held up to the Light together, a miracle happens…. We find out that they had their arms out ready to help all along. Burdens lift, the load is lightened.

Hope is restored. Two are brought closer together.

Jesus never asked us to bear one another’s burdens without actively seeking a helpful resolution and comfort. “Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ” Galations 6:2 But what is the law of Christ? It is love, so that everything we do must be done in the spirit and motive of love. There is good news! God has a ready supply and He shares.

For (Love) 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:7

God is Cheering for You

by Max Lucado
If your God is Mighty enough to ignite the sun, could it be that He is mighty enough to light your path?

God is for you. Not “may be,” not “has been,” not “was,” not “would be,” but “God is!” He is for you. Today. At this hour. At this minute. As you read this sentence. No need to wait in line or come back tomorrow. He is with you. He could not be closer than he is at this second. His loyalty won’t increase if you are better nor lessen if you are worse. He is for you.

God is for you. Turn to the sidelines; that’s God cheering your run. Look past the finish line; that’s God applauding your steps. Listen for him in the bleachers, shouting your name. Too tired to continue? He’ll carry you. Too discouraged to fight? He’s picking you up. God is for you.

God is for you. Had he a calendar, your birthday would be circled. If he drove a car, your name would be on his bumper. If there’s a tree in heaven, he’s carved your name in the bark. We know he has a tattoo, and we know what it says. “I have written your name on my hand,” he declares (Isa. 49:16).

From the book entitled, “Let the Journey Begin”

Confessions of a church mutt


I confess I have a speckled lineage when it comes to my church experience. Personally, I don’t believe God cares what denomination, if any, we attach ourselves to as long as it remains true to Biblical teaching. I think we can gather richness from each one, I know I have. However we dress it up or perform the ceremony what remains is God and His word. He alone knows the heart of a church.

I have been Baptist, Episcopalian for a short time, Assembly of God, Methodist through my Grandfather, and Non-denominational. From each one I carry memories with me that have enriched my faith. In each one I have experienced God’s grace. I have seen prayers answered, God’s love flowing through people. I have seen the Holy Spirit change lives and do things not humanly possible.

I remember….magical paper sacks that we received after every Christmas pageant. I remember quaking on stage, trying to remember my one line from the Bethlehem scene. I think one time I actually cried and ran off stage….but after, we received a paper sack that held the same things every year; peanuts in the shell, buried within a hershey bar, and a roll of five flavor lifesavers, and an orange. I was always scared they would run out before they got to me. A walk down the aisle to start my journey with Christ…..Seeing my Pastor in rubber waders at my Baptism, warm water swirling around my white baptism clothes, giving the confession of faith; never to be the same again. Strong biblical teaching from a pastor who loved digging into meanings of Greek and Hebrew. So many joyful hours of choir practice, where my Aunt and I sang on the Alto end.

I remember ice-cream socials on summer evenings in the Methodist church yard, all cakes made from scratch, with a man dipping ice-cream at the end of the line. The beautiful marbled sanctuary…they knew how to make a church look like a church in those days.

I remember beautiful liturgy at St. John’s Episcopal, learning when to sit and stand, knees creaking. The flip of the kneeler in the silence. People there who helped each other out after hours. I remember a spirit of love in the social hall after service when I saw Fr. Ray dancing with a child one day. The tradition of the flowering of the cross at Easter, the Sacrifice giving way to the fragance of beauty and conquered death once and for all.

I remember prayer times, tears, laughter, and meeting wonderful people who loved God. Meeting God at the altar, prayers answered, hands lifted high, tears of communion. Learning about the gifts of the Spirit….(still have my notes) All of these precious times, a bit of Heaven on earth. A foretaste of glory to come….

Church; it’s not perfect because it is made up of people. But it’s God’s church and still a place where you can find grace, forgiveness, and love.

“One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.” Psalm 27:4