Hey everybody. I’m back!! I’ve decided not to let the spasms in my back, neck, arms, and shoulders keep me from talking to you here anymore. Sound good? Yeah, I’ll take it slow; but the blogosphere is calling me. Plus God and I had a little talk this morning, and I trust Him to lead the way. Sometimes obstacles look like giants obstructing our vision. But God says, “I am the way.” Next to the One who is inside us, what really is a giant anyway? God has been challenging me to keep my Jesus-lenses on. This is where we …
Missing Peace?
This morning while reading an email from a friend, the Lord distinctly dropped these words into my heart. I believe they’re also for you. “When I say ‘do not be anxious about anything,’ I mean anything. You need to cast aside regret about things you wish you had done differently. To regret something in the past is to be anxious about it. Instead, you need to commit those unnecessary burdens to Me so I can take care of them. As you pray and petition Me with thanksgiving, fully entrusting your burdens and requests to Me, I will establish peace in …
The Freedom Challenge
What do wayward children, difficult coworkers, and emotionally distant relatives have in common? The true simple answer: Each one of these needs our prayers, understanding, and kindness. (But the true simple fact is: we can’t love one of them even one iota without God’s help.) Our freedom cost Christ His life. Doesn’t it make sense that we now follow the call and bring freedom to others? That’s why I invite you to join me in taking the freedom challenge. I promise it’s better than the coca-cola challenge and the ice bucket challenge, and you’ll feel a lot warmer. To be …
Spiritual Caulking
Ooo… Ahh… We have a brand spanking new bathroom. After gutting our old one, we put in a new one with the most beautiful floor to ceiling tiles and clean white vanity. That’s probably why our hearts hit the floor this morning when our son took a shower, went downstairs, and discovered a major leak from the new bathroom above. “No!!!” Morning Surprise We opened the closet, shone a flashlight on and around the pipes behind the new tub, and everything was drenched, especially our new so-called “drywall.” How could this be, Lord? Don’t we have enough fires to put …
Don’t Go Green
Has it happened to you lately? The moment your joy meets another person’s envy? The time your happy heart collides with someone’s self-pity? A friend waxes green behind a tight-lipped smile and a reluctant shake of the head… “Must be nice…” She may even toss God into it. “Boy, I sure wish God would do that for me…” Self-pity, self-seeking, comparison-making, false-fronts. Yuck, yuck, double yuck. But who hasn’t tasted the sour-stomaching fruity effects of the flesh? So we ask God for more love! Indeed, our flesh screams in protest when we work to attain something, only to watch it …
Peace of My Mind
Like all couples, my husband and I disagree on various issues, but God in his goodness has been coaching us about keeping the peace, no matter what we believe. Peace is the oil in my day. When I feel it, it makes me a whole less squeaky. Peace Depends on Me Even if someone acts like a doofus, I can always choose inner peace, while at the same time praying and seeking outer peace with that other individual as well. [box] If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18 [/box] …
And The Lord Says…
I awaken in the middle of the night, fear-struck and wondering, “How will I finish this task when it’s so much bigger than I am?” And the Lord says, “Nothing is bigger than I AM.” Hovering close, His feathery Spirit slips truth into my worry-weighted one. In healing waves, He pours Himself, freely. So what can I do but freely receive… [box] My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9[/box] Lord, it’s a battle, this worry habit. After so many years of practice, I wonder if I’m too good at it. “Practice letting …
Poem For God-Sized Dreamers
Dream a dream. A God-sized dream. But never dream alone. Link hearts with God, your dream-Maker, in every dream-seed sown. That hope he planted in your heart to do that God-sized thing~ Keep dousing it with prayer and work, and watch your dream take wing. The path of dark and dirty soil may hide you long and low, but deep in Christ, you’re safe to trust He’ll grace you as you grow. A little here, a little there, as days and nights accrue, your heart will beat as one with His. There’s nothing you can’t do. …
Smells and Whistles
Something smelled horrible as I started the treadmill at the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center. Sweat times a thousand! Was it coming from the carpet? From the men dripping beside me? I could hardly stand it! People grimaced as they walked by. What was it? One staff member hovered nearby, sniffing. What? Had someone reported it? Alert! Bad smell in the back corner! Check it out! My imagination went faster than my running shoes ~ until the truth hit me with a gasp. No!! It couldn’t be! Ever so inconspicuously, I dropped my nose to my sleeve and inhaled. Then …
Broken Doors
“I’m tired of our latch-dysfunction,” I told my husband. Our van’s power doors took an early retirement, so we need to manually wrestle them open and closed. “It’s good for your muscles,” we tell the boys. But during Minnesota winters, the doors take turns freezing shut. Until we’re driving; that’s when they fly open! Thus, our “discussion.” Can we afford it? No. Can I afford the anxiety of these surprise door openings? No. In the middle of getting nowhere, I pled my case to God. “I feel helpless, but God’s going to make a way,” I told Dwight. “I’ve been …
No Shellfish Please
“Don’t be shellfish,” I tell my kids, hoping to sound light about something so heavy. Selfishness is THE battle, is it not? It is so multi-talented that it manages to hurt us, God, and others, all at the same time. [box] Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Philippians 2:3[/box] Hats off to our role model, Jesus. [box] Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave …
Missing: Jesus Keys
My Simple Request It’s amazing the things you find when you’re looking for other things. After a month and a half of phone calls and house rampages for a pair of lost keys, I wondered if I should give up and buy new ones. With two Toyota keys and remotes, however, the replacement cost could be over $500. I decided to keep looking and praying. “God, I know you know where my keys are. Can you please tell me… I know they’re safe with you, and I thank you in advance because I really think you want to bring them …
Baby, Don’t Cry
(True story by a doctor working in Central Africa. I only made a few minor punctuation, grammar, and spacing edits.) [box] Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Psalm 105:1 [/box] One night I worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward. In spite of all our efforts, she died, leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We had difficulty keeping the baby alive because we had no incubator (no electricity to run one). Nor did we have special feeding facilities. Yes, …
Ok, God, I’m Listening
Prayer with a friend stopped short when I received a call from the school secretary saying, “Justin was in an accident during gym class.” Racing for the soccer ball in a one-on-one game against time, my eleven-year old collided heads with another boy. Arriving at the nurse’s office, my son lay flopped on her bench with an icepack to the back of his head, eyes glazed. The doctor said he suffered a concussion. A CT scan showed a fracture to his temporal bone, the part of his skull behind the ear. My pastor’s words rang in my spirit, dangling with …
Prayers for the Undeserving
[box] “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34 [/box] As I have loved you. You must love one another. Quite the request, Lord. It was in your heart all along, wasn’t it? “Love my people. Do unto others. Feed my lambs.” It’s a breeze to love you, Lord, so perfect and kind. But people? Even the best pastors, leaders, teachers, people who know better… They fail. You want me to love them with complete, sacrificial love? Pray for those who hurt me? Forgive them deeply …
Can-Do Attitude
The power of positive thinking jumps to a whole new level when we add the Christ-factor. “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” Phil 4:13 When we’re in His will, He strengthens us to do everything. What could be more positive? Some say, “I know He wants us to love all people, even difficult people, and to praise him in the midst of all circumstances, even crazy family circumstances, but do you really think it’s possible to stay Christ-like, self-controlled and patient when life falls apart?” As a sensitive, easily-rattled person prone to ask this herself, …
The Big Fail
“Simon Peter followed Jesus, as did another of the disciples. That other disciple was acquainted with the high priest, so he was allowed to enter the high priest’s courtyard with Jesus. Peter had to stay outside the gate. Then the disciple who knew the high priest spoke to the woman watching at the gate, and she let Peter in. The woman asked Peter, “You’re not one of that man’s disciples, are you?” “No,” he said, “I am not.” John 18:15-17 The “other disciple” is said to be John, the one writing this gospel. John took advantage of his acquaintance with …
A Time To Die?
Leaves litter the ground, reminding me how seasons bleed, one into the next, as quick as a blink, while God waits for us to catch new vision. I kick back on the swing, crunching my feet in fresh crisps of color as I mull over memories of my dear Aunt Shirley. How strange I can’t call her anymore. As sudden as a Minnesota temperature drop, her brain aneurism leaves my own brain reeling. I crumble squeeze a bright orange leaf, blink away pictures of us splashing together at her cottage, of us wizening from sun and water, coming out smelling …
Prayer & Angels
“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 1 Peter 3:12 Stuff happens when we pray! If we could draw back the spiritual veil, our jaws would drop to see God commissioning His angels to action for us! “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” Hebrews 1:14 Satan, mad at being kicked off the angelic prayer loop, resorts to age-old schemes. Threatened by our faith-expressions, he tries to distract us from …
Secrets & Mysteries
I love talking to God in the morning when everyone’s asleep and it’s quiet, except for my husband’s snoring, (which reminds me how much I need to talk to God in the first place! <grin>) You can’t put a price tag on prayer. We get to connect with the God of the universe ~ the mysterious Father who gave us the Son who gave us the Spirit so we can connect back with the Father! “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?” Job 11:6-8 Millions of books have been written on God, …