How Much I Don't Know!

The longer I live and the older I get, the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know!

 

 Over the course of my lifetime, I've had opportunity to hear many, many stories from countless people I have met on the journey.  We all have a story to tell.  We have all seen difficult times, times that have stretched us in ways that we thought we would break, times that we have thought we wouldn't live through.  We've all experienced tremendous pain, hurt and disappointments with life.  But we've all experienced tremendous joy, restoration and exultations, too!

 

Every time I think I finally have something figured out, God changes the game plan and I realize I don't have a clue!  And what's even more disconcerting is that God is not at all impressed by my opinions!

 

I carry a very faded piece of pink paper in my Bible.  It's been there for so long, I can't remember when I first put it there.  It says this -

 

"My soul preached to me and said,

'Do not be delighted because of praise,

and do not be distressed because of blame.'

Ere my soul counselled me, I doubted

the worth of my work.

Now I realize that the trees blossom

in spring and bear fruit in summer

without seeking praise; and they

drop their leaves in autumn and become

naked in winter without fearing blame."

 

I have many times sought out this piece of paper and read it to myself.  I have also shared it with many over the years.  I've shared it with mothers who have wondered where they went wrong in raising their children.  I've shared it with mothers who have passed judgment on others' parenting skills.

 

Who are we to take the blame?

Who are we to take the praise?

 

Neither is the right position to take.

If we blame ourselves, we are walking in pride, thinking we should have been able to do better. 
If we praise ourselves, we are walking in pride, thinking we alone did this good thing.

 

The nature of the beast, at least this beast, is to try to figure everything out, wrap it in a very attractive looking package and then set it on the shelf to admire it, thinking we have done a great thing!

 

But, I don't and never will have The Final Word on anything!! 

Yes, God speaks to me and He speaks to you, too.  God speaks through His Word, through people, through nature, through circumstances of life, but just because we've gone through something and experienced God speaking to us in that doesn't mean that that should become the word God speaks to others!!  Whenever we think we have "cornered the market" on God, we are in T-R-O-U-B-L-E!!!

 

Only God has The Final Word! 
He alone is all-knowing, all-seeing and worthy of all praise!

Reminds me of the words to a song by Michael Card -
"You and me we use so very many clumsy words
The noise of what we often say is not worth being heard
When the Father's Wisdom wanted to communicate His love
He spoke it in one final perfect Word.
He spoke the Incarnation and then so was born the Son
His final word was Jesus.  He needed no other one!"

 

Have you ever said something that others thought was very profound?  What was your reaction when they told you they thought it was profound?  Did you pat yourself on the back, thinking how smart and wise you were? 
Or have you ever said something so horrible you wished instantly that you could take back the words?  Did you kick yourself in the pants, thinking you were no good and so ungodly in your speech?

 

Both reactions call for repentance!

 

"Thus says the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that you build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?  For all those things has mine hand made, and all those things have been, says the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word."

Isaiah 66:1, 2

 

Who am I to think that I have anything to offer to the Lord that He has not made?!?!

All is grace!

 

So, where am I going with all this?

 

I am called simply to lean hard, depend and rely heavily upon the Lord!

He is the giver of all wisdom.

He is the giver of all grace.
And I am called to point others in that direction, too.

 

And when it's all said and done, we all stand only by His grace alone!

 

"He has shown thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"

Micah 6:8

 

The more I know, the more I realize how much I don't know!! 
And I can't pretend to have the answer for anything! 
Only God does!

"You Are God Alone!"

 

Be Kind, Please!

The dictionary meaning of the word kind/kindness is:

- of a friendly, generous, or warm-hearted nature
- showing sympathy or understanding; charitable
- humane; considerate
- forbearing; tolerant
- generous; liberal
- agreeable; beneficial

The Greek word in Scripture for kindness also means grace, (to be) gracious; (to possess) excellence in character.

Scripture tells us that kindness is one of the fruits of the Spirit:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."

Galatians 5:22

But I have to tell you, people, I don't see much kindness in our world these days, from either non-Christians or Christians.

Scripture does warn us through these words of Jesus:

"Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,"

Matthew 24:12

And I think we can all agree we've seen an increase of wickedness in our world.

A well-known Christian author has a blog that I follow on a regular basis.  Recently she posted a comment that mentioned a famous actor giving thanks to God when he won the Oscar.  As I started reading the comments under her post, I was absolutely astounded by what I read!  Venom being spewed in the name of the Lord!  True, I have no way of knowing if any or all of these people commenting were Christians, but a lot of them did identify themselves that way.  I was horrified at the way they were trashing this author's comment and comments made by others.  There was no kindness being shown and it broke my heart.

Traveling the roads these days has become somewhat of a competitive sport!!  People gliding through stop signs, going through red lights and it seems no one wants to let anyone in from a side street; heaven forbid you should lose your place in line!!  There is no kindness shown to one another on our daily commutes!

Everybody's rushing to be first in line and even in the supermarket, there's a jostling with the carts to be first at the register.  There is no kindness shown to the mother with the cranky kids or the elderly shuffling with their carts.  We're mostly disgusted because they get in our way.

What has happened to us that we have lost all measure of courtesy in our fight to get ahead?  This "Me first" generation has lost the ability to be kind; to show consideration and tolerance (I'm not talking political tolerance here) to another; to be friendly and show understanding - to the mother whose kids are crying as she's trying to get her business done at the post office; to the older gentlemen who is limping as he makes his way across the parking lot to get to his car; to the person in the car waiting to get "into the race" while dozens of cars just keep whizzing by, yet when it's our turn, we want the courtesy, don't we?

And I won't even begin to delve into the unkindnesses we spew with our mouths.  That's a topic for another day.  Does it take more effort to be kind with our words?  It certainly makes a difference in our own hearts!

Scripture admonishes us to "love one another."  In fact, Jesus, himself, said:

"A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another."

John 13:34

And to be kind to one another:

Ephesians 4:32 tells us:

"And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you."

Another place:

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." 

Colossians 3:12 (NIV)

I just witnessed something outside my window that truly blessed my heart.  We have received over 18" of snow since yesterday morning and my grandchildren were outside in the backyard playing. 

One of my grandsons was shoveling my walkway (without me asking) and another was helping him (well, mostly, he was jumping in the snow!). A few minutes later, I saw another grandson (I have 3) gently tie a scarf around the face of his younger sister. I left the room to grab my camera hoping to snap some pictures of them and the newly fallen snow. When I went back to the window, what I saw blessed my grandmother's heart so deeply. 

My 8-yr old granddaughter had apparently stepped in some very deep snow and it filled her boot.  Outside on the deck, I saw my 12-yr old grandson holding her on his lap, dumping out the snow and then trying to put the boot back on her foot.  When it wouldn't go back on, he stood up, carrying her, attempting to put her down on the walkway where she could stomp her boot back on! 

What a special act of kindness that was and how it blessed me!

That's what I'm talking about!

Unfortunately, I was so awed by what I saw that I forgot to take a picture!!

Jesus is our example:

"...after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared." 

Titus 3:4

All grace we have received from the hand of the Father and that has been and continues to be, freely given.  Can we not also freely give grace to another?

Kindness expressed toward one another is simply God's love and grace expressed. 

Don't we want to be on the receiving end of that, too? 

What we sow, we reap. 

How blessed it feels to receive kindness from others. 

How blessed it is to extend kindness to others.

Kindness grows the soul. 

It grows our capacity to hold more of God as we continually pour out. 

In just very small, every day ordinary opportunities, we can show the kindness of God. 

We can be the gift to someone for that day.

Join me in my endeavor to do that!



Are You Jesus?

I can't take credit for the following.  It was sent to me via eMail a long time ago.  It's really powerful and makes you think - could you be mistaken for Jesus?  I wish that we all could!

 

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago.  They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner.  In their rush through the airport, with tickets and briefcases in hand, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples.  Apples flew everywhere.  Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding.  All but one.

 

He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned.  He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight.  Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.  He was glad he did.

 

The 16-year-old girl was totally blind!  She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one to care for her plight.

 

The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display.  As he did this, he noticed that many of them had becomwe battered and bruised, these he set aside in another basket.

 

When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did.  Are you okay?"  She nodded through her tears.  He continued on, "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly."  As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister...."  He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes.  She continued, "Are you Jesus?"

 

He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered.  Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his sould:  "Are you Jesus?"

 

Do people mistake you for Jesus?  That's our destiny, is it not?  To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace.

 

If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would.  Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church.  It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day.

 

You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall.  He stopped what He was doing and picked you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.

 

Let us live like we are worth the price He paid.

This makes me think, too, how many times we are so task-focused that we miss the opportunity to be kind because we don't even see the people we pass in our rush to finish our task!  We are in a hurry to get where we need to go, to cross off the next thing on our to-do list.  In our hurry to get to the next thing, we miss life!

What if Jesus had been too busy to heal the Centurion's servant? 
What if He had been in too much of a hurry to realize that virtue had left His garment? 
What if He had been in such a hurry that He didn't have time to minister to Martha and Mary? 
Can you think of one place in the Bible where it says that Jesus hurried?

In order to practice the kindness that Jesus would have us practice, we need to be able to see the opportunity first. 

Let us walk slower with eyes wide open!

 

He Is Always Enough!

I'm trying to lose a few pounds before I head to Florida in three weeks. 

Been there, done that!! 

So far, my strategy is not working. 

This morning as I was getting ready to pour my cereal into the bowl, I remembered how I had lost weight originally several years ago.  Back in 2004, I decided I was not going on one more diet.  So, my plan was to eat whatever I wanted to, just eat a lot less of it at one time.  I lost 75 lbs doing that!!  I would check the label of whatever I was eating and just eat what their "suggested serving size" was.

 So I had one of those "Duh!" moments this morning - Do what you know works! 

As I was measuring out 1 cup of cereal, 1 cup of almond milk and 1/2 banana, I was thinking - why do I always feel the need to "stuff" myself.  What am I afraid of? 

As I followed this thought through, it occurred to me that I fear "emptiness."  Heaven forbid that my stomach should be empty before I have a chance to fill it again!

Basically, I fear - we fear - because we don't think or we don't believe God is enough!

We fear because we don't know God in any given situation.  We've never "met" Him at this place before.  We don't believe He is enough or we have not yet experienced Him as enough in this particular situation.  I overeat at one meal because I don't know if I'll be able to eat at all for the next meal so I want to make sure I have enough - afraid of being empty!!

 

We fear, too, that we don't have the capacity to bear this storm - to hold up to the pain of it or we simply don't want to feel the pain of it!

 

I remember shortly after Phil died - maybe a week or so - I got a glimpse, just a glimpse of what my life would now be.  I stamped my foot and declared out loud "I am not doing this!  I am NOT doing this!"  Then I looked around the empty room, shrugged my shoulders and said, "Duh!  You don't have a choice.  You ARE doing this!" 

Seriously, I did have this conversation - I thought - with myself, but I realized later I was actually engaged in this conversation with God.  And He showed me, as time passed, that I could do this the easy way or the hard way, the choice was mine, but I WAS indeed doing this.  I chose His way.

 

You see, I think as I got a glimpse of the future, I also felt the fear. 

Fear of the unknown - how would I live the rest of my life without Phil? 
How would I be able to stand up against the debilitating pain of this loss?
Would I get through this?
What if I started to cry and I couldn't stop?
What if the pain was too much for me to bear?
Would I have enough money to live on? 
Would I be able to stay in my house? 
What kind of life would I have now with him gone? 
Who would take care of me? 
So, so many questions that didn't have answers.

What I really feared was that I didn't have the capacity to endure the pain and come out of it okay.  What I really feared was that God wouldn't be enough to see me through.

 

Isn't that what we really fear when faced with something we've never faced before?

 

My husband left me after 23 years of marriage?

My child has cancer and the prognosis is not good?

My daughter is pregnant out of wedlock.

My son is strung out on drugs and goes from one high to another.

My marriage is so difficult; I just don't know how I can go on if my husband doesn't respond. 

My son just told us he is a homosexual.

My father is sick and needs my constant care.  I have a life to live.

My daughter is living a very promiscuous lifestyle.  She wasn't raised that way.

My spouse died after 52 years of marriage.

These scenarios and far worse face many of us every single day of our lives. 

And our fear is - God, can you get me through this? 
God, will you be enough? 
God, will I even know how to find you in the midst of this?
God, will I make it?

And while I would never make light of any of these trials, I truly do KNOW and BELIEVE that God is enough for all of them!!

 

Many times God miraculously delivers us from our trials, but so many more times He does not.  Why?  Why?  Why? 

The question we ask is always - Why; why does a good God not do anything when He could so easily? 

 

I do not have the answer to that question because I am not God, but again,
I do KNOW and I TRUST that because He knows the end from the beginning, He walks us THROUGH and redeems every single time! 

God never wastes anything!

We rob ourselves and we rob God when all we ask is Why?

We rob ourselves of experiencing God's faithfulness in the midst of our situation and we rob God of blessing us in ways we could never imagine!

Sometimes I wonder if God has some Why questions of His own?

Why don't you trust me?
Why don't you seek me?
Why don't you ask me?
Why don't you let me?
Why don't you believe me?
Why don't you love me?

We miss the opportunity to grow in His grace and strength and character when all we ask is Why.
We miss seeing His hand move mightily on our behalf.
We miss the joy of walking intimately with Him through it.
We miss the ultimate blessing of coming to know Him in greater ways than we ever have.

And, I believe, there are other questions we miss that we need to ask also and then wait for God to unfold His answers.

We need to ask -

What - do you want me to learn from this, God?
Where - in the midst of this, can I find you?
When -  can I see your face?
Who - needs to see your grace working in me?
How - do I glorify you in the midst?

Through the pain and loss of my husband's death, I have found a greater depth in God than I ever had.  I have found a joy I never knew and purpose beyond my wildest dreams!
I have found the greatest provision - God Himself!!

God felt my pain, understood my pain, and walked with me through my pain.
 

"If I'd never had a problem, I wouldn't know that He could solve them.  I wouldn't know what faith in God could do."
(words to song, Through It All)
 

It seems we feel our main purpose in life is to always be happy. 
 

I deserve happiness! 

I deserve this beautiful, brand new car! 

I deserve the huge house on the hill!
I deserve to be healed; I've certainly prayed enough! 

I deserve that wonderful vacation in the Bahamas!  After all, haven't I worked hard to earn it! 

I deserve to have my children healthy, happy and secure. 

I deserve a good husband/wife who will make me happy and if they don't, well, I'll just ditch this marriage and find my true soul mate, because I deserve to be happy!

We have bought this lie - lock, stock and barrel - and will settle for nothing less.  And when we aren't happy or things aren't going our way, we point first to God and blame Him.  "See, all this talk of God and religion and it doesn't work!"   Doesn't work??  Since when does God work for us??

 

What if God said - I didn't send my Son to earth to die on a cross for your sins so you could be happy!  My goal is to make you holy!!

Not getting our own way breaks us!
Not having our dreams fulfilled breaks us!
Not finding that pot at the end of the rainbow breaks us!

All these things drive us to seek answers to ALL the questions.  And I know of only one who has ALL the answers.  Won't you give Him your questions today and your fear that He is not enough?

"O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusts in him."
Psalm 34:8

 

The Path to Wholeness

It starts at birth; rather before birth.

"Before you were knit in your mother's womb, I knew you."

Psalm 139

 

He chose our parents, our birth place, our ethnic background, the color of our hair and eyes, the substance of our personality. These and everything else that makes up who we are. He chose where we were to live, who our friends would be, who we would marry.

 

Nothing, NOTHING happens to us by chance.

He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. As He knows our beginning, so, too, He knows our end. And He wants to be involved in all that is in the middle! But the mystery of all this is our free will. As sovereign as He is, we have our free will to make our own choices.

How did you get to be who you are today?
What choices did you make along the way that led to where you are right now in your life?
Do you KNOW who you are?
Do you KNOW who He is?

My whole life I have desired wholeness, to be a whole person; someone at peace with myself. It was that very desire that led me to the Lord at 25 years of age. As I have struggled through trials and circumstances and the painful death of my husband after 33 years of marriage, I have repeatedly gone back to the Lord for His healing to bring me to wholeness. I believe what the Bible says regarding Kingdom Living for the here and now and believe that is a promise to us as we pursue a God who desires our wholeness.

"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
 I Thessalonians 5:23

Throughout my life, I have met so many women who have been beaten down by life's circumstances and have not known their worth in God. As a result, they allow themselves to be abused and neglected by others. I believe so much of the promiscuity we see in our world today is a result of women not knowing or believing their worth before a heavenly Father that so cherishes them.

God has done so much in my life - healing me from the inside out. He has delivered me from rejection and taught me how to respect myself as a person and as a creation and daughter of the Most High God. I began a journey many years ago to know who I am in Christ and I'm still walking that journey today. Who I am has evolved as life's circumstances and situations have helped, with God's constant hand in mine, to shape who I am today. As I continue to lean on Him and trust Him in all situations, He has been so faithful to develop His character in me. It has been a process not without a lot of pain, but one well worth the investment.

As I seek to know Him more, He continually seeks to bring me to wholeness in Him.
As He assures me continually of my worth in Him, I realize I am worthy because I am His creation, as are all of us.  Ever heard the old saying, "God doesn't make junk"?  Well, He doesn't!

"And God saw every thing that he has made, and behold, it was very good."
Genesis 1:31

The path to wholeness is different for each of us, but every path leads us directly to Him, for in Him alone do we find our identity, our significance, our security and our worth.

Won't you set out on that path today?  Or perhaps you are on that path?  If you are, don't get discouraged.  He is leading and guiding you always.  Seek Him, bring all your cares and situations and lay them at His feet.  Trust Him there!

Seek Him first and He will do incredible things in your heart and life!

 

The Ordinariness of Days

Yesterday morning, after 4 days spent at home in my pjs fighting a cold virus, I got ready and headed out to go to work.  Still not feeling up to par, I was dressed in 3 layers of clothing plus a scarf, coat, boots and heavy gloves.  (I steadfastly refuse to wear a hat, no matter what the temperature!)  I trudged down my long walkway toward my garage to get into my cold car.  I backed out of the garage and hit the remote control device in my car to put down the garage door. 

 

Nothing happened! 

 

Hit it again, still nothing happened! 

 

Took off my gloves, hit it again, nothing happened! 

 

With a very deep sigh, I unbuckled my seat belt, put my car in park, got out of the car and carefully made my way through the snow and ice and approached the security pad outside my garage door.  I put in the security code; nothing happened. 

 

 

 Tried again, nothing happened. 

 

So then, I walked/slid through my garage, hit the button by the side door and FINALLY, the door went down!!  (Everyone/everything is rebelling against this cold winter it seems!) 

 

I went out the side door of the garage, struggling to walk/slide around the van parked in the driveway and made it back to my car intact, grumbling all the way.  Got back in the car, buckled up, turned the car around and finally headed to work, already tired before the day even started!!

 

 

As I drove down the street, the Holy Spirit began speaking very softly to me and I found myself repenting and praying all the way to work!!

 

"Donna, isn't this day, too, a gift from a God who loves you?"

  

 

Life sometimes seems unbearably tiresome! 

It can feel like I'm constantly pushing against a 500-lb weight! 

 

Do you ever have those days?

Days when it's hard to find something to be thankful for?

Days when it seems everything you do or try to do is meant with resistance?

 

I want to be thankful at all times.

 I want to be aware of God's presence in ALL things.

 I want to respond to adversity with the right spirit.

I want to stop complaining, but sometimes it just seems so hard.

 

I think we all struggle with the day to day "stuff" of our lives.  We're all just wanting the Lord to be a part of it - and He is - we just need to be more aware of that, and that's my daily struggle, too.  Just finding Him in all the ordinary small stuff of my day. 

 

 

I'm learning to look for Him in all situations. 

Still striving to learn to be thankful in all things.

 

Learning to not let the ordinariness of the days beat me down and cause me to forget that I have a God that's on my side.  That I have a Savior who walks through all of these ordinary moments with me.

 

I struggle to change my attitude when I sometimes want to hold onto the grumpiness because somehow that seems to make me feel better.  Huh????

 

"Oh, I need thee, Oh, I need thee, every hour I need thee

Oh, bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee"

 

As I drove to work yesterday morning and began to repent and thank God for all the things I could think of that happened to come to mind, I felt an attitude change in my heart.  By the time I arrived at work, I did feel better.  Really, I did!  My heart felt a little lighter as I reminded myself that

 

"God is always good and I am always loved!"

 

 

Please take that thought with you into your day. 

May God lighten your heart today!

 

Winter may still be outside your door, but "spring" can blossom anew in our hearts as our thoughts turn toward Him.

 

Today truly is a gift and I don't want to waste it grumbling.  I don't want to miss Him in the small stuff.  I don't want to be smothered and beat down and living like I don't have a God who loves me.

 

May I see, really see Him in ALL things.  Lord, cause me to be aware of you!

 

"For with thee is the fountain of life:  in thy light shall we see light."

Psalm 36:9

 

 

 

 

He's Crazy About You!

Today I want to remind you -

 

God loves you!

 

If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it.

If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it.

He sends you flowers every spring, and a sunrise every morning.

Whenever you want to talk, He'll listen.

He could live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart.

What about the Christmas gift He sent you in Bethlehem;

not to mention that Friday at Calvary.

Face it, He's crazy about you!

 

His Word says He delights in you!

 

"He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me."

Psalm 18:19

 

 

Because He loves you,

 

"For he satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness."

"He makes the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still."

Psalm 107:9, 29

 

"He restores my soul..."

Psam 23:3a

 

"He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defense; I shall not be moved."

Psalm 62:6

 

"...(He) daily loads us with benefits..."

Psalm 68:19b

 

"How precious also are your thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!"

Psalm 139:17

 

"...for he has said, I will never leave thee, no forsake thee."

Hebrews 13:5c

 

His love for you knows no bounds; is not swayed by the opinions of others.  His love has no beginning and it has no end.  He knew you before you were formed in your mother's womb and has made provision for you since the beginning of time!

 

 

He is always good and you are always loved!!

 

I just wanted to remind you of that today!!