Keep Doing Good

31 Jul

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 If you have read here for any amount of time you will know that I am a morning person and a goal in life is to  wake up before my children and have my breakfast and quiet time. This summer I have slept in until 6 AM most days…I realize, it could be worse.

Yesterday, I rose before my husband  got back from the gym. Before the kids were up, I had already prepared the coffee, and poured a cup. Yes, I know man doesn’t live on coffee alone, but it helps! As I was saying, I had prepared a cup of coffee, but that was as far as I had gotten. Each time I sat down to eat, then to read my Bible, one of my three children would arise asking for a drink, more breakfast, a t.v. show, and on it went.

As I kissed Ron goodbye (he had already returned and prepared for his day),  and as I started to shut the door behind him, two more requests sounded. He looked at me in sympathy and told me he would be praying for our day.

Wife, mother, grandmother, can you nod your head emphatically?

Some might say I haven’t developed a sense of independence in our children. Well that may be, but they are all 5 years of age and under. The truth of the matter is, children require attention at no fault of their own.

We played, read, and I vaccummed the whole house and it was only 10:30 AM. After I took the trash outside and breathed the fresh air of a beautiful day, I decided to take the kids to the pool. I had toyed with the idea all morning and just wasn’t sure I had it in me.

We loaded up our supplies and made way to the community pool with noodles, swimmies, and towels in hand.

Maybe 10 minutes into the experience a snack request was made, then a bathroom break, followed by more snack requests, juice box requests, and then multiple potty breaks ensued.

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In short we had a great time. The kids all practiced their swimming and played and giggled with me and each other. Then it was time to go.

Everyone was changed and in their proper seats in the double stroller when one of the boys said, “I have to potty.”

Four simple words, but oh the stress that encompassed me. That was enough for me to declare, “I need a break!”

Are you there dear one? Are you in need of a break? A time-out, away, a respite?

It is never just one stress that pushes us to the point where fists are clenched and sighs are heavy. It is the combination of multiple stresses unaddressed, absent in prayer, and pushed beneath the surface. I know, I am there, I have been there, and in all likelihood I will visit this place again.

Thankfully, God’s Word does not remain silent on the topic of fatigue, in Galatians 6:9, Paul instructs the saints:

Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Dear reader-friend, whatever good you need to keep doing, do it. In due season you will reap if you do not give up. Let the words of Christ as penned through Paul encourage us and admonish us today. God is not slow in fulfilling His promises for He makes everything beautiful in His time. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

Keep doing good, as I purpose to do the same,

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Here I Am to Worship

22 Jul

To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God. ~William Temple

As a little girl, I attended church and Sunday School in the deep south. Each Sunday I donned a smocked dress, tights and leather shoes, topped off with a large matching hair-bow. Today my daughter wears many of  the dresses my mother spent countless hours smocking and ironing  those many years ago. She plays with the little white patent leather purse which in years past held my tithes, offerings, and chap-stick each Sunday.

Maturity has seen a change in apparel along with a change in my heart as I prepare for service…that is, at least when I purpose to poise my heart for worship.

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Addressing a few questions concerning what worship is and why it is important may help us poise our hearts for the most meaningful God-centered worship.

First, worship is a right and exalted view of God and a humbled, dependent view of man on God.

Secondly, worship is important because it opens the door to true intimacy with Christ and clarity of mission we would otherwise live without. Worship does not consist merely of singing. We can worship in various, if not all art forms, in addition to all the work that our hands set to do. Worship is a posture of praise and thanksgiving within our hearts and minds and as expressed through our lives.

The endeavor does not determine the significance of praise, rather it is the hidden thoughts and intents of our hearts. We can sing without love, but it is a clashing symbol or a gong. (1 Corinthians 13) Consider David.  God loved David no less when he worshiped Him on a lonely mountainside filled only with dumb sheep and the sound of his own harp than when David sat enthroned in his palace splendor and declared among God’s people:

“Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And now, Sovereign LORD, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving your servant a lasting dynasty! Do you deal with everyone this way, O Sovereign LORD?“What more can I say to you? You know what your servant is really like, Sovereign LORD. Because of your promise and according to your will, you have done all these great things and have made them known to your servant. “How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you! (2 Samuel 7:18-22)

Did you notice David’s humbled view of himself and his exalted view of God? This from the man who was labeled by God to be a man after His own heart. Perhaps David was a man after God’s own heart due to his right understanding of the righteousness of God and the praise that flowed from his heart.

Similarly, in Isaiah 6,  Isaiah’s commission comes after he saw the Lord and beheld his glory. His worship of God preceded his obedience to the call of God. Once we see clearly who God is, we realize the absolute imperative of taking the gospel to our neighbor’s, coworkers, and around the globe. 

So the question becomes, how can we worship God individually so that we fuel greater worship of God corporately?  The answer lies in preparing our hearts for worship all week and the hours before corporate worship.

Below are some bullet points which are taken from chapter eleven of the wonderful book, Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster.

Daily Preparation for Worship:

  • Learn to practice the presence of God daily. Pray without ceasing. ( 1 Thessalonians 5:17)
  • Have many different experiences of worship: Bible reading, prayers of thanksgiving, meditation on the goodness of God, singing praises, or praising God through various postures of sitting, kneeling, or lying prostrate before God.
  • Have a willingness to be gathered in the power of the Lord for the good of “we” not “me.”
  • Cultivate Holy Dependency: you are utterly and completely dependent upon God for anything significant to happen.
  • Absorb distractions with gratitude. They may be a message from the Lord.

  • Offer a sacrifice of worship. You may not “feel” like worshiping but go anyway.

On Sunday:

  • Arrive to service 10 minutes early.
  • Quiet your mind.
  • Pray for the pastor and worship leader.
  • Pray for others who arrive looking burdened.

If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not been worship. To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change. To worship is to change.  (Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, p. 173)

Try to practice the discipline of worship this week. As we do, we will find that our communion with God increases and “the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” (H. Lemmel)

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Space to Breathe

12 Jul

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It is amazing what you can learn about your house while playing hide-and-seek.

Recently, during one particular game, an unusual warning spilled from my lips when I discovered my family hiding in the hall closet, “Be careful,” I said. “There is no telling what will fall out on you!”

The contents of the hall closet have changed over the last 11 years of our family’s occupancy. First, it held all the memorabilia that we conveniently kept in long-term storage for my father-in-law. Then, I moved Christmas decorations and other décor items into the space. Now, it is used for luggage, cleaning supplies, baby clothes…not to mention extra candles, griddle, and photo collections. Whew, just listing the contents is giving me organizational hives!

Back to the game of hide-and-seek.

It was my turn to search again when I noticed my bathroom counter was overflowing with multiple family members’ items. I am an “everything has a place and everything in its place” kind of woman. But that day, to look at my counter, you would have ascertained I am a “wherever an object lands there it is” kind of woman.

Read the rest over at iBelieve. Click here.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Out of the Darkness

19 Jun

When the water surrounded me, I was no longer afraid. Hours earlier I feared for my very life, but now all that had changed. As the darkness encompassed me, I felt the hands that guided my plunge. Then, I rose to a new life and continued to feel the pull of the guiding hands lifting me out of the depth which I would never have escaped on my own.

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I was a simple guard. I followed orders, gave commands, and made sure people did what they were told. However, even for rule-abiding officers there are forces beyond our control…especially an earthquake.

I knew the two new inmates were different. In all my years of service, I had never seen two men beaten and accused singing praises with the fervor of those two. It seemed as if nothing that I could say or do would deter them from their mission. It was as if they knew something I didn’t. It was as though they counted their lives as nothing compared to the knowledge of knowing and doing the will of their Master, Jesus.

That night as I went to sleep, the other inmates were listening as the two men continually sang praises and prayed to their God.

In the midst of a fitful night’s sleep, a rumbling and crumbling of the cell awoke me. When I went out to see about the prisoners, I was horrified by the sight that awaited me. The doors were all unlocked, open in fact, and all of the prisoner’s bonds were unfastened.

I quickly drew my sword. Surely a swift death would be better from my own hand than the stones of an angry mob. That is when I heard his voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” (Acts 16:28)

Could it really be? The shackled had become the willingly subdued? The prison break scenario every inmate had wished for and yet they all stayed?

I ordered the torches lit and light flooded the beaten bodies. They were each there. Such men of unceasing integrity and zeal, I had only one request, “Tell me, what must I do to be saved?” I must know the God who can free men’s souls from the confines of bodily chains yet subdue them to go against their own will and live in obedience unto death.

“Believe on Christ Jesus and you will be saved. You and your household.” Believe on Jesus, of Nazareth? It would take a dead man rising to new life for the changes that I witnessed in these two professing Christ-followers.

The two men came to my house, and I cleaned and bandaged their wounds as they spoke simply, but persuasively, of the divine plot of God to rescue man from sin and eternal damnation by the blood of Jesus. They spoke of the resurrected Savior, and of his appearance to one of them on his journey to Damascus. When they had finished talking we wasted no time. My whole family was baptized just as Jesus had instructed the disciples.

When Paul’s strong arms guided me out of the water I knew that my life would never be the same again. It was Paul and Silas’ voice I had heard  in the darkness and it was out of that darkness Jesus spoke grace upon my life.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV)

*This is a retelling of Acts 16:25-34. Artistic liberties were used to recreate the account of the Philippian jailer and Paul and Silas.

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A Changing Perspective

22 May

A Changing Perspective

Sitting next to Ron on the kiddie playground at the mall, Emily walks over and says,”This playground is smaller.” Ron explains that she is growing bigger, taller, and that what once seemed big looks smaller.

Her perspective is changing as she grows in wisdom and stature.

This changing perspective is a familiar friend to her mama. For instance, the high school halls that once looked so foreboding to an elementary child became navigable as a teen and now seems nearly claustrophobic to a graduate of 14 years.

The inescapable rocks in a box I was told to memorize in middle school have never been so cool to study as they are post-Grand Canyon visit.

I am learning that parenting produces an evolving perspective. Numerous adults have warned me, “These are the easy years when your children are young and you know where they are and what they are doing.”  These same parents fussed and fretted over sleep patterns, eating habits, manners, and mishaps the same as Ron and I when their children were little. However, time has changed their perspective to realize that the trusting and letting go portion of parenthood proves more trying than the building of independence and wisdom.

Noah and his family surely experienced a changing perspective as the ark they labored on day after day reached completion. He walked with the Spirit and worked until the flood. As he and his family labored I propose they thought, “This ark is huge! Certainly there will be ample space for every creature and our family.” But as the earth ripped in two and the waters overcame their boundaries, the once larger than life ark felt more like a pebble tossed into the ocean.

Time and novel circumstances change our perspective. As the changes come, do I respond in thanksgiving? Do I embrace or resent the change? Am I looking for the rainbow in the clouds?

My patterns of thinking constantly need a change in perspective. I frequently, if not daily, remind myself to be thankful for the present, for that which is in-front of me, and which I already possess. It takes a Romans 12:1-2 renewing of the mind to look at reality with a righteous gratitude and not a rotten attitude of envy or jealousy coupled with discontent and nostalgia.

What about you? Do you need a fresh perspective? Do you need a renewing of the mind’s eye? An evaluation of present gratitude?  If so, join me in praying:

Sovereign Lord,

You are the maker of heaven and earth. Your thoughts are higher than our thoughts and your ways higher than ours. You do not see as man sees; you look at the heart. Lord, give me eyes to see, ears that hear, and a faith that believes.  Please search me now and know my inner thoughts. Reveal to me the areas of my life and present circumstances that need a fresh Spirit-filled perspective. Help me to be grateful for what Your hand has allowed this day and for the fruit that my current obedience and labor has been rewarded with. Help me not to compare my lot in life with others, but to glory in Your gracious salvation and Your divine plan. Help me to be obedient and grateful with every step Lord, every step, every thought, every deed. And when I fail, for failure is certain, help me to repent and renew my strength to run again in obedience and steadfastness.

In Jesus Name I Pray,

Amen

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Enter Here…With Eyes Wide Open

3 May

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And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. (Mark 1:34-35)

Following Jesus’ time in prayer, the disciples told him, “Everyone is looking for you.”  And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” (Mark 1:37-38)

Jesus designated time alone in prayer and as a result, it could be conjectured, that Jesus’ vision for his day’s work or even so much as his life’s purpose was sharpened and redefined.

Prayer can sharpen our vision for the purpose of life, in general, and our day specifically.

I want that kind of prayer discipline. The setting aside of time and space to draw closer to His kingdom and converse with Him as face to face. In order for me to experience this type of prayer life I must purpose a few things:

  • To go to bed on time so that I can wake up on time.
  • To make preparations in advance to draw away with God to a desolate place. This could be the quiet of the dinning room before the children are awake or  the still of the earth at dawn. Either way, preparations must be made so that responsibilities are not neglected.
  • I must quiet my soul and have His word on hand to meditate on. Bringing along cards or the Bible to read aloud Scripture to  meditate on God’s truth will provide another source for the Holy Spirit to speak to me as I aim to commune with Him  in prayer.

This week our son, Joshua, has been praying aloud more with our family. The interesting thing about Joshy’s prayers is that he will pray with his eyes open as he thanks God for all that he sees, but then close his eyes as he makes his requests known to God. “Thank you God for rocking chairs, curtains, toys, this John Deer, trucks, and shirts. I pray God you give me more toys and make more shirts for Ernie because he doesn’t have anymore. In Jesus Name, Amen.”

How God must delight in the heart-felt thanksgiving of a little child!

This weekend, I want to slip away to a quite place alone and pray with eyes wide-open to all of God’s blessings before me. Then, in heart-felt petition make my requests known to God. Perhaps you will purpose and do the same?

Enjoy your weekend friends…giving thanks with eyes wide open.

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*All photographs courtesy of my friend, Hannah F. What a blessing to receive these in my e-mail inbox this week! Thank you, Hannah!

 

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The Challenge of Change

19 Apr

I am sure that you have felt it…that gentle push into the deep. The pressure to go further than you have gone before. More resistance.   A steeper incline…or a seeming free fall.

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When we are challenged to step out of the boat, into the ring, take center stage, or serve in the most humble of ways, it is all for the glory of God and the transformation of a spiritual life.

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Humans need change. We need to be pushed past our known limits so that we can achieve the unmet goals of good works that God has prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10). This looks different in every life. Likewise, the cost of change will be felt somewhat uniquely by each individual.

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Routine and familiarity breeds comfort, but trust in the midst of change breeds faith and rejoicing.

In what areas are you being asked to make changes? Step up? Step out in faith? To endure beyond what you thought was possible?

Choose joy in this:

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. (Philippians 1:6, NLT)

Take heart my friends and serve faithfully. In prayer, I will do the same.

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What I Learned at My First Youth Pastor’s Conference

17 Apr

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Sitting in the Hard Rock concert hall in Orlando, I contemplated the irony that my first youth pastor’s conference comes about eight months after our six year tenor as youth pastor and wife had officially ended. I further considered the hilarity that the “cool” students in youth groups  initially intimidate me nearly as much as the youth workers with swag!

After settling into my cushioned seat, along with my surroundings,  the people watching began. As workers and volunteers filed into the auditorium it didn’t take long for mommies and daddies carrying babies in infant backpacks to catch my attention.  I was instantly reminded:

The sacrifices and juggling youth pastors and their wives endure to meet the needs of students is one of the most unseen tasks of the ministry.

For moms partnering alongside their pastor husbands, babies bring love and logistical issues. The will, passions, and heart of the mother are oftentimes torn between the desire to be the visual, involved helpmate of her pastor husband. While loving my job and joy as a mother, I often struggled with the desire to experience all of the riches of youth ministry: trips, conferences, discipleship, after church meals and fellowships. However, the choices of: a. bring the kids and chase after them… and the youth, or b. find a sitter to pay while I enjoy ministry, were both less than ideal.

If you are in the midst of ministering to teens or are parents of teens, would you agree that at times this portion of ministry seems like the leach and daughters in Proverbs 30; always crying for more? As a youth pastor’s wife, I often felt this way. (I can say that now, although it is with great fear and trepidation even after running in a different lane of ministry for 8 months!) Youth ministry is demanding and the pace strenuous.

Please understand, I loved pouring our lives into the next generation. Our aim was to minister so that fully devoted disciples would be made to reach the nations and the generations with the gospel for the glory of Jesus Christ. However, there was an ongoing struggle, a wrestle if you will, with my flesh, our families needs, and the demands and desires to minister as God would have both of us do.

At this conference I learned very valuable ministry methods, was reminded of the global needs of God’s created world, and reviewed with speakers the true critical issues of youth ministry. But, perhaps the most valuable challenge for me specifically was the reminder to pray for youth pastor’s and specifically their wives.

Join me today in praying for the youth pastor’s wife in your church. I hope the bullet points below would be a good launch pad for your prayers.

  • Pray for God’s peace for the current pace they are running.
  • Pray for endurance and perserverance under stresses.
  • Pray that they will see the value in all tasks both the seen (ministering to and with teens and adult workers) and the unseen (ministering to their husband within the home).
  • Pray for peer friendships and women to pour into them.
  • Pray for peace when she cannot go with him on trips.
  • Pray for God to guard and guide their marriage relationship.
  • Pray for their children and the faith and Christian worldview to come to full fruition in their lives.

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Celebrate His Coming

22 Mar

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My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.  You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world– to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. (John 18:36-37)

Wonder, amazement, and awe are emotions felt when we pause to consider the coming of Christ. Jesus left his eternal domain of Heaven and took time-capsuled residence among the fallen and flailing.

The King of Kings, Creator of All, clothed in human flesh… the dust of the earth. At the Father’s will He was crushed, stripped, beaten, and pierced for my transgressions: envy, covetousness, pride, slander, anger, ungratefulness, and ungodliness to name a few.

Jesus bore a mocking crown of thorns and accepted blows and insults as a lamb slain for the final sin offering. He is the One whose sacrifice we celebrate as His people freed from our sin.

Each man who had a part in the punishment of Jesus was known to Him by name. He knew everything about them. Likewise, he knows everything about us. All that we have done or will do both for shame and for His glory and yet, even then He chose the most burdensome cross of all: to do the Father’s will and restore relationship between Holy God and wicked man.

The Redeemer came to reunify the created to the Creator. Like the Good Shepherd that goes after the one lost lamb, He came so that all the lost have freedom to choose life. Life not given at first breath, but by means of dying to ourselves. That we may be reborn to new life in Christ that can never die.

Now we may walk with our Savior.

In Isaiah 53, the prophet, Isaiah, prophesied about Jesus, the Messiah, 700 years before His birth and 733 years before His cruel death on the cross. Our God is the Master Author, Scientist, and Historian. He is the more than we could ask for or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

Bowed as branches we celebrate His triumphal entry, as was His way: riding upon a lowly donkey. May this Sunday’s celebration remind us to eagerly await the second coming of the One who, appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:11-28)

But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. (Mark 14:61-62)

Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! (Matthew 21:9)

Looking to the clouds and eagerly awaiting our Lord…

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A Walk With Our Savior

19 Mar

Almost two years ago I was confined to walking in chest level water for exercise. At the time I tried to learn as much as possible of the spiritual parallels for walking in the water.

This past Sunday evening, Ron and I were watching The Bible on the History Channel. In one scene, John the Baptist is preaching repentance and salvation, and also baptizing in the Jordan River. John’s cousin, Jesus, approaches him to be baptized (Matthew 3:12-17). The moment Jesus’ feet plodded through the water to fulfill all righteousness, it came to me:

Jesus walked through the waters of baptism before He walked on the water of ministry.

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For those who are in Christ Jesus, our conversion precedes our submersion (baptism) and our submission to the will of God begins with believers baptism.

So often people will question whether or not they are ready for baptism. When the Lord calls us to come and die to our old life, our sin nature, repentance followed by confession of His Lordship (Romans 10:9-10) leads to new life. As a new creature, our response is a life centered around the life of Christ lived in us. Walking through the baptismal waters is our first act of obedience and preaching of the gospel with our lives.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:44)

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 17:24-25)

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In baptism we follow our Savior. In so doing we preach the gospel and walk with Him.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

~In the Garden, C. Austin Miles, 1868-1946

The act of baptism does not save us but is an outward declaration of our faith in Jesus. It is a picture of our dying to self to rise in new life in Jesus Christ.

As Easter approaches let us test ourselves to see if we are in Christ Jesus. If Heaven is to be our eternal home then Christ must be the Lord of our lives.

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