Prayer = Christmas wish list?

Is our prayer life sometimes like a Christmas wish list?   Sometimes I find myself praying, “Lord, I’d like this, and please do this……”     Yesterday, I asked a dear and Godly person to pray for a situation in my life, and she said (I’ll never forget this), “You can pray and ask God, but you won’t have peace until you choose to surrender to God’s will for whatever He has in store for your life“.   Hmmm, not the typical response you get when you ask someone to pray for you, but it really got me thinking.  Do I trust God to provide what’s best for me?

Then I remembered, the The Lord’s Prayer, how does He teach us to pray?   “Our Father who art in Heaven….. Thy will be done”.   Proverbs 19:21, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails”.   So, today it is my desire that as I pray, to ask for God’s will to be done in my life, and truly know that whatever He has planned for me, will be for my good.

My stubborn will at last has yielded
I would be thine and thine alone
And this prayer my lips are bringing
Lord, let in me thy will be done

CHORUS
Sweet will of God, unfold me closer
Til I am wholely lost in thee
Sweet will of God, still fold me closer
Til I am wholely lost in thee

How do we impact our world for Christ?

I was in line at the store this morning waiting to check out (another lady was behind me waiting too), when a cashier beside us opened her lane.  All of a sudden another lady with a full cart, swerved right in front of us and started unloading.   She had to have seen that we were standing there waiting!  The other lady and myself  looked at each other like, “I can’t believe she just did that!”   To top it off the lady that rushed ahead of us was on her cell phone and we overheard her ask the person she was talking with, “Oh, did you get your Bible reading done?”   You can’t be serious….. she’s a Christian?   And this is how she treats others?!?

On Sunday, Pastor Terry had a wonderful message from the story of Daniel in the lions den, titled, “A Life of Positive Impact”!   His points were:

Three ways Daniel shows us how to impact our world -
(1) Through our character
(2) Through our consistency
(3) Through our courage 

As a stay-at-home Mom, I sometimes feel that I don’t have much of an impact for Jesus in the world, but this week I’ve been thinking of the ways that I can be a testimony.  It may be when I’m at the store, letting a young mother with a fussy baby go ahead of me in the check out lane.  It may mean that I’m more consistent in my quiet time with God, so that when He wants to use me, I’m available.  Or it may just be having the courage to obey God, with whatever He asks of me.

Rest assured, whether we realize it or not, people are watching our lives!   In what way am I impacting others for Christ today?

 PS  If you’d like to hear Pastor Terry’s message, log onto www.sermons.northwestchapel.org

Softly and Tenderly

The morning radio program from Joni and Friends encouraged me so much today!  I wanted to share part of it with you, and I hope that it encourages you as well……

“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, Jesus, let us hold fast our profession of faith.  For we do not have a High Priest that has not been touched with infirmities, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin, so let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.   Heb 4:14-16

“That’s me.  That’s what I want.  That’s where I need to be… coming to Jesus.  When sleep doesn’t arrive or when pain does not lighten, when my quadriplegia becomes a weight, or my paralysis feels overwhelming, I must not try to escape, bury my head or plow through it just to get out of it quick, just to get over it.  Rather, may I come to Jesus, may I wait on the Lord, for He’s the one who pours out grace at our faintest call.”   

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me.

See on the portals He’s waiting and watching, He’s watching for you and for me

Come home, come home; Ye who are weary come home.

Earnestly, tenderly Jesus is calling, calling O sinner come home.

 

“I tell you, friend, this is something I really need to remember when I am hit with a trial… come home to Jesus.  So often I waste trials.  Sometimes a particular misery hits me and my first thought is just to “get through it… just plow through it and help me get to the other side,” with no thought as to coming to Jesus, just come softly and tenderly to Jesus.  Finding out what He wants to show me or teach me about Himself, or where He wants to take me, or what He wants me to learn through it.  It’s a tragedy to suffer and not realize God’s full purpose in it.   God bless you, friends.  Jesus is waiting softly and tenderly.”    (from Joni and Friends)

Blessed Assurance

On Sunday morning at our church, we sang one of the most well known hymns of all time, “Blessed Assurance”.   This beautiful hymn was written in 1873 (100 years before I was born), by blind hymn writer, Fanny J. Crosby.  

My first memories of this song was when I was a young girl.   Since I was the youngest of four children, when my siblings were in school,  I got the privilege of going with my Mother and a group of church ladies, to the local nursing home to sing.   As a little blond hair, brown eyed girl (and one of the few brave children to visit the nursing home), the residents often scared me, and I sadly associated this song with that place.

But Sunday when we sang this song, it had new meaning to me.   Last week we received sad news regarding a family member dealing with health issues.  The words just jumped off the screen and ministered to my soul!

Blessèd assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Refrain

This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior, all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior, all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Refrain

Perfect submission, all is at rest
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

Refrain

 

For those of you who don’t know Jesus personally, and don’t have this blessed assurance, please feel free to talk with someone who can help you.  Don’t go another day with making the most important decision of your life!    Life is too short and too precious!

The Collie, Man’s Best Friend

This afternoon, as I went to tend to a task upstairs, I asked one of my children to gather the ingredients for Baked Oatmeal, and when I came down stairs later, I would put them together and bake it.   A couple minutes later, all was too quiet.  When I looked into the kitchen, there gathered not only all the ingredients, but also my 3 darling children.   They were being so helpful……. they had decided to make the Baked Oatmeal to surprise me.   Unfortunately, the recipe didn’t get followed exactly – tsp got mixed up with Tbsp, “sugar OR honey” got translated into “sugar AND honey”.   Oh well, too late now…… we’re crunched for time, so we’ll quickly bake it.

Needless to say, I didn’t handle the situation very well (did you read my previous post on “evil thoughts and actions”?)!   Just when you think you have something conquered…. Satan throws you a curve ball!    Some wonderful advice from my Mother (after complaining about the expensive, wasted ingredients), “People are more important than things“.  Yikes!

Later Landon came to me, and read to me from his “Keys for Kids”.  It was about the Collie dog being man’s best friend.  It was describing the many attributes of a Collie dog, one of them being that they are highly sensitive.  “If they have done anything wrong, it isn’t necessary to do a lot of scolding; they just need to be shown gently what they were supposed to do, and they will understand”.  

Don’t misunderstand me, there is a time and a place for punishment.  But I’m also a firm believer that the punishment should fit the crime.   Hmmmm, maybe, just maybe, I over reacted to the messed-up oatmeal?   So instead of punishment, the kids got a gentle reminder of what can happen when we run ahead and don’t wait for instruction.   Not a new concept, after all the Bible is full of examples of people who didn’t wait for God (Abraham, Jacob, David, Moses,……), but the blessing comes when we wait for instructions, and follow them.

On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand

As I was struggling to understand the rules and rituals of other religions (and even the ones in my own life), I came across this verse in Colossians 2:23, it says, ”These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, humility, and severe bodily discipline.  But they have no effect when it comes to conquering a person’s evil thoughts and desires.”

Not that rules and discipline are wrong, they are indeed very effective, but if you’re trusting in them to save you, you’re being misled.  I Samuel 16:7 “People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at a person’s thoughts and intentions.”    It was a huge challenge to me, that although I may be going through the “motions” of being a Christian, God is the One who truly sees my heart, and if I can’t conquer my evil thoughts and desires,…. all else is “sinking sand”.   One of my favorite hymns, (and if you know me, you know there are many) is, “On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand”

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

Waiting

Once again, the Esther Bible study that I’m participating in has ministered to me.   This weeks study was on the importance of timing.  Essentially, “timing” is everything!   Our culture today is training us for impatience.  The technology in our lives is teaching us – you don’t have to wait!   We want everything to be instant!

Yet, the Psalms are filled with beautiful scriptures regarding “waiting on the Lord”.   So, patience must be an important part in our relationship with God.   Waiting does not mean to be lazy, it simply means that I’m ready to obey, when God reveals His plan to me.   But what is more exhausting than waiting?   Waiting in a doctors office with a sick child can be very tiring!!   Waiting in line at the grocery store seems like such a waste of time.

Isaiah 40:31 is one of my favorite scriptures, “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; they shall walk, and not faint.”   That was an “Ah-Ha” moment for me, reading this verse again….. Waiting for the Lord renews our strength, it doesn’t drain us!

Lord, give me patience, and help me remember that it is good to be still and wait for You…….

“For such a time as this”

I was reminded today of another reason to trust God.    One year ago my Dad had esophageal cancer.   It was actually this month, last year, that he had a major surgery to remove the cancer, and from then on it was a hard road.   With God’s help, and the love and support of so many people, my Dad (who is a trooper!) persevered, and taking one day at a time, was blessed with healing.   It was a tough time for all of us, and an experience that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.  

But since our family did go through that journey with my Dad, I now know what it’s like to deal with cancer.   A friend of mine said she was going to church to say a prayer today.   When I asked if everything was okay, she said, “No”.    Her Mother, who lives in Peru, was just diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and she feels like her world has been rocked!    How well I remember that feeling – waiting for the biopsy to come back.  Will it be good or bad news?

Just this week, in my Esther Bible study, I read about Esther being in the palace, “for such a time as this”.   Those words jumped out at me….. maybe, just maybe our family went through the cancer battle, so that we could be there for our dear friends, “for such a time as this”.   To have a tear in my eye as I tell her, I’ve been there, I know how you feel!  

We may not like our trials, or our burdens that we are called to carry, but if we let God, He can use them for His glory as we minister to others.   To God be all the glory!

 

My Dad and Megan at Cancer Treatment Center of America - Zion, IL

One day

This is my first post on something that some may feel is controversial, which is kind of scary, but just be reminded this blog is only my thoughts and opinions, and things that are on my heart.   So here goes….. I was watching a popular TV host (un-named) and they were discussing Iowa and their legalizing gay marriage.   They were saying how through the ages people have been discriminated against and not allowed to choose who they want to marry: different religions, different countries, different races, ect.   Their point was, isn’t it about time that marriage was about ‘love’ – we should be able to marry whom ever we choose!

This was very disturbing to me, basically due to the fact that I believe what God says in scripture regarding this subject – that it is clearly a sin! (if you’d like references, let me know)   But then again, doesn’t the Bible speak of lots of sins?   Many that I’m guilty of!

As I struggled with this, I read in Romans 14 where Paul says, “For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.  You, then, why do you judge your brothers?  Or why do you look down on your brother?   For we will all stand before God’s judgement seat.  It is written:  ‘As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’    So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” 

I guess that pretty much sums it up.  So this was the reason Christ died – for all sinners, myself included!     It reminds me of the song, “One day every tongue confess you are God, one day every knee will bow.  Still the greatest treasure remains for those who gladly choose you now”.

Lord, help me not to be judgemental.   For judgement is Yours, and one day your verdict will echo through the universe!    Help me to show Your love to others, and to stand up for what your Words says.  Amen!

My Mother

Megan and I were in the car today, and we were talking about Moms (hmmm, wonder why?).    I was telling Megan that I wanted to write some kind of tribute to my Mother, but didn’t know what to say.   “Thank you” seems so inadequate!    Megan said, why don’t you write what we were just talking about?   So here’s a little of our discussion….

 My Mother is one of the best bakers ever!   She makes the best homemade bread, and her pies are out-of-this-world yummy!   Plus she can put together a delicious meal in no time at all.   Unfortunately, she never taught me to bake/cook.   Instead she taught me something better.   She taught me to love God’s Word.   I’ve never seen anyone more excited to study the Bible than my Mother!    She taught me to let people be people – not to try and control them.   She taught me a beautiful saying that her Grandmother used to say, “In acceptance, lies peace”.    An important lesson that she taught me (by showing) was forgiveness!    There are many more – too many to list.   It makes me wonder, what am I teaching my own children?   What will they say about me someday?   Hmmm……

My Mom won’t always be with me, but I’m comforted knowing that years from now, I will turn around at unexpected moments, and in the mirror or in my daughter, I will catch a vivid glimpse of my Mother!    I love you, Mom!