August 2020 – Journey-For-Life

Turn the world upside down

Is it possible to turn the world upside down for Jesus when it seems all those around are completely against anything of God? In a society that not only allows, but seems to promote everything that goes against the gospel?

In his sermon this weekend, our pastor reminded us that the first century Christians faced exactly this same opposition, yet the church flourished. The tenets of the Christian Faith were in direct opposition to the culture at that time…

In America, a country founded in Christian values, we’ve seen a moral decline and are appalled at the cultural norms that are so widely accepted, but our society is not terribly unlike the society of the first century Christians.

Like many of you, I am watching the events in our country unfold, grieving in my heart at the moral decline, the hypocrisy that abounds, and the division I see occurring, not just between political parties, but between friends and family members.

As the country focuses on politics and its upcoming election, I am choosing to focus on the One who holds tomorrow. It’s not that I don’t have a political view or see the importance of standing up for what is right. I do. …. and I truly value those who are fighting the political battles that need to be fought..

My focus will be first and foremost on Jesus, and I will be calling on the Holy Spirit to guide and direct every step I make that my impact would be for eternity for Gods glory and not my own.

By Gods Grace, I have been found, and by His grace I will take every opportunity I can to show His grace to others, that they, too, may find the peace that passes all understanding in a world that desperately needs Jesus.

Be blessed today, my friends… I am praying for all of you!

The lids can be friends…

For some households, socks enter the dirty clothes pile and are never again seen together… lost forever in the black hole of laundry… that happens in our house…. but even more than the sock, the Tupperware lids in our kitchen live a solitary life… they may start life together, but typically once a plastic container goes through one wash cycle, they are never to be friends again…

A week or so ago, I went to Target to pick up a few items, including a 1/2 gallon water cooler for my daughter in preparation for band camp. While there, I found a French Press… oh, how I love my coffee, so I bought it.. and eagerly made my first pot of iced coffee.

The directions said to mix the coffee with water in the pitcher, put the solid lid on, and refrigerate for 12-24 hours… then take the solid lid off and install the lid with plunger, press the coffee and then serve.

The next day, I eagerly put the plunger lid on and put the solid lid into the sink for washing…. that was the last I saw it. For a few days, I waited, sure it would eventually show up… and then finally, I just made a pitcher and put it in the sink without its lid, hoping no one accidentally knocked it over.. and so far, so good. In truth, I was more than a little irritated that the lid went completely missing – I looked in all of the places I thought someone might put it. With 4 females in my household (some of them more OCD than others) it could literally be anywhere.

Every time I misplace something in my house, my mother, who lives with us, says, “why didn’t you ask me.. I knew where it was…” except that every time I ask her, she doesn’t know where it is….whatever it is… so I tried it with this, and she gave me the deer in the headlights look… a week ago… so I asked tonight, since she is the one most often in our kitchen.. if it had ever turned up.. nope. I’m not gonna lie. I was a little irritated and assumed that she lost the lid.

Truly, it’s kind of a running joke in our house… the fact that we have a pile of containers and a pile of lids… and can’t find two that actually go together.

As it happened, my youngest daughter was with us tonight when I asked about it.. she silently left the room and was gone a few minutes to return with the lid!

As luck would have it, the lids diameter is approximately the same size as her new water jug… and She saw it in the sink and thought somehow they must be connected, but couldn’t figure out how it connected. She had it in her room. lol! So, at least for now, the lid and the pitcher have been reunited! I asked her to put it in the kitchen so I could make a pot of coffee.

A little while later, my oldest daughter came into the family room and I was telling her about it, and kind of laughing. She said, “well I just saw it on the kitchen table and put it with her water cooler which I was going to take to the storage closet downstairs (now that band camp is over)… good thing you told me or it would have been gone til next summer!” 😂. Then she told me that they were trying to figure out what it was and Tiffy actually googled her water cooler and said “oh this is what it is! It goes inside to keep liquid from spilling during transit”… turns out that the lid is the exact inside diameter of the water bottle. I came dangerously close to losing the lid again… 😂

My mother… exonerated… at least until the next lid goes missing.

Eagerly awaiting my next pitcher of cold brew coffee…

Be blessed today…

The love of many

As I watch the news unfold around me, and, perhaps more importantly, watch how people respond to it, I am struck by the coldness with which I we live. In a tangled irony, we mandate life saving measures to “save the few” while allowing the majority to suffer. Yes we have forgotten our compassion and our hearts wax cold.

In Matthew 24, Jesus talks about the sin that abounds in the last days before His second coming… 24:12 says, “because sin abounds, the love of many will grow cold”

Many people have been outraged this week over the execution style killing of a five year old boy by his 25 year old neighbor, who had dined at his house just the evening before. Many have posted on social media comparison between George Floyd’s death and commented on the glaring lack of media coverage. Heart wrenching story.

In one Facebook post, “i know this is going to be a hard one for some of y’all to grasp but no one is talking about the little boy who died because his murderer is being held accountable for his actions. wild, i know.”

My first thought in reading their post was, my, my, my, what a cold, cold heart. Though I understand the logic behind the comment, I am duly disturbed by the lack of compassion, and it drove me to my knees to pray for the hearts of people who have become so desensitized as to not be bothered by the execution style murder of a little boy in front of his siblings. Yes, perhaps his murder is being held accountable… and perhaps it had nothing to do with skin color… but to speak so callously about it as if it’s no big deal is beyond disturbing.

I can only pray for the hearts that have become so cold they fail to have compassion for anyone.

The good news is that God has promised us a new heart and a new spirit when we allow ourselves to be renewed by the transforming of our mind.

I have a cousin who suffered with heart issues when she was young… she is a wonderful Christian woman. Many years ago she shared with me that she came to faith in Christ in part because of my father, one of the few Christians in his family who made an impact for generations to come, even though he died over 40 years ago. She told me that he had given her the scripture in Ezekiel 36:26, probably due to her physical condition.. when I first read it, though, I knew it applies much deeper than physical, and speaks to the emotional condition of our hearts.

Life has a way of desensitizing us, allowing us to become cold and stubborn. We need compassion… we need understanding… that only God can give. I pray for all of the cold hearts in the world today

LORD, let my heart never lose compassion for Your creation, let love conquer a multitude of sins. Give me Your love for people and help me to see past their cold, ugly hearts and know that they need You. Help me to pray for them… help me to love and accept them. In Your Holy name I pray, amen

Emotional equilibrium

On Sunday, our pastor preached on the upcoming battle… a spiritual battle. He mentioned the battles that the devil send our way but he also mentioned that God allows someone battles in our lives in order to strengthen us.

Monday morning started like any other day … with my devotional time. During my prayer time, I felt deeply convicted to spend the day in prayer… truly in prayer… and so I messaged my boss and told him I needed to take the morning off. I grabbed a cup of coffee and my Bible and a journal and headed to my new favorite “office” in my back deck… and literally spent hours in prayer.

Oh the topics I covered… from family and friends who don’t yet know Jesus as their savior to the coronavirus and the fear sweeping our nation to the allegations of pedophilia among the elite in our country to my own hopes and fears… for hours literally on my knees in conversation with my Maker.

I felt strangely at peace yet knew He had called me specifically to pray this day.

When it was time, I headed to my studio to teach piano lessons for the evening and came home very late at night. I was unaware that the storm had already begun brewing.

I cannot share the details but will tell you that over the next three days, one calamity after another occurred in my small circle, both directly and indirectly affecting me.

I know That I belong to God and I know that He is stronger than anything I face. The battles He’s already brought me through are my reassurance that He will do it again. I have no doubt.

I read Psalm 91 on Wednesday as I reached out to my prayer warrior friends in my inner circle to ask them to pray. I know God is faithful… but dang, the battle is tough sometimes.

This morning I read the phrase “emotional equilibrium” in a post that a dear friend posted on her Facebook page. The post is a reminder from a pastor of the passage in John 10:10 which says

10 A thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so everyone would have life, and have it fully.

John 10:10 | CEV

And the reminder from the pastor was that Satans whole purpose is to rob us of joy… to take from us our peace and cause us to fear and destroy one another. but Jesus came that we might have life abundant and free of worry. The authors last sentiment was that he could see nothing better for our emotional equilibrium than to rejoice and praise Jesus like Paul and Silas did in prison.

My emotional equilibrium has been knocked off kilter. Truly. And I know that’s exactly what Satan wants. I refuse to allow him to win.

In order to balance my emotional equilibrium, I went to bed early last night, after praying and giving all of my praises and concerns to the One who created me. I rest in His power, waiting with the knowledge of his power to see how He resolved the situations before me.

I can say with confidence that He will come through, though I truly don’t know what His plan will bring.

I believe with my whole heart that God is preparing His people for battle. I know that preparation involves trials that will potentially upset my emotional equilibrium from time to time but I am resting in His promise

I am continually reminded of the time, about a year ago, that God so clearly asked me, “are you still going to trust me when it gets really bad?”

I don’t know what “really bad” means, Lord, but yes, I trust you always!

In His arms I rest, be blessed today my friends!

I hear the church bells ringing

I hear the church bells ringing,

But only in my mind

Their echoes gently singing

From another place and time