Passing it down

“Give ear, O my people, to my law: Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come, The praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.” – Psalm 78:1-4

I started a new project this week. My daughter had picked out some material over the summer and I have started to make it into a quilt. I really enjoy sewing. I love taking parts and pieces of things and turning it into something useful, something to be enjoyed.

My grandma taught me to sew. She was the one that stood over me saying, “Take that seam out, girl. You didn’t do it right.” She was also the one that said, “Looks good. See what happens when you do it the way I told you to.” I know, sounds a bit passive aggressive but if you could have seen her eyes when she was saying it, you would have seen all the love and pride that I saw. She was feisty, silly and loving all wrapped up in tough, honest and hard working.

I remember her telling me of how she came to know Jesus. You see, sewing wasn’t just a time to get things done. It was a time for stories of her life and lessons that she wanted me to learn. It was the times that she told me about my mom and how she would place her under the shadow of the wagon when she was picking cotton to help with the family. It was the times that she told me about all the food she would cook for the family in the big, gigantic skillet that I now have. It was the time that she told me, in her own way, about how God had always provided for her even when she had no idea how to get through the hard time in her life. It is was where she taught me the importance of a job well done. You don’t skimp on things that you lovingly make for someone else.

She may not have said God or spoke directly of His faithfulness. But she showed me Him in her life in the way that made sense to her. She saw His hand at work in providing for her family through her massive garden. She showed me His provision in her plethora of scraps that she used to make warm quilts for cold winter days. She showed me His love in making fried pies and cookies for anyone who might walk through the door.

What I want you to see here is that sometimes we tell the next generation about God through what we do and how we do it. We show them that love is displayed differently in different people. We sing the praises of God in our language and in our actions. We also show our praise for Him in His correction and direction when we choose to follow Him instead of forging our own path. We display His wonderful works in providing for those around us.

Making a quilt for my daughter brings me joy. It allows me to pass along a skill that was passed along to my mom which was given to her by my grandma – who knows how far back that skill goes. It is kinda like that with the love for God that my family has – It has been passed along for several generations, and I don’t plan on it stopping with me.

Word of the Year

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; And uphold me with thy free spirit.” – Psalm 51:10,12

Happy 2022 everyone! It has been a bit of a hectic start to my year, yet here I am. I have transitioned from palm trees and flip flops in January to evergreens and snow boots. Yet, through the journey, God has been good!

Back in late November or early December, one of the men in my Sunday school class told us about his “word for the year”. His word for last year was surrender. Well, that sent me down a study hole that I am still working through right now. Surrender is such a deep and challenging concept that maybe one day I will write out a devotional on it.

But for now, let’s talk about a word for the year. Here’s the concept – first, pray and ask God what He wants your word for the year to be. This word will be one to focus your study life, your prayer life and your every day life on. So, don’t be hasty in choosing it. Think about it. Pray about it. Look at what you feel God wants to accomplish through you this upcoming year.

Now, I know, it’s like January 6. You’re probably thinking that it is too late to create a goal or resolution. Nope. No it is not. It is never too late to start doing something to allow God to grow and change you. You don’t need the start of a new calendar to make those changes. You need a willing and obedient heart.

I’m sure you are wondering what my word for the year will be. Well, I believe God has laid on my heart Renovation. Now, I’m not 100% sure where that is going. I have lots of studying to do on that subject. I’m sure you will hear about it in the future.

For now, I am challenging you to discover your word for the year. Please, send me a message and let me know what it is. Maybe I will write a blog on your word. I won’t share any personal details if you reach out to me. However, I believe that by sharing this with someone, you have an accountability partner. And we all need those to keep us in line.

So, get to it! Start praying and searching now for your word of the year.

Sabbath moments

“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, And to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, And thy faithfulness every night” Psalm 92:1,2

This weekend, I had the opportunity to go and visit with my kids at college. We were sitting at dinner on Saturday night and they began talking about their Main Event messages. Now let me explain. They attend the Baptist Student Fellowship on their campus. Tuesday nights is Main Event night. It is a time where they all get together for a service.

This particular service that they were talking about was about having a Sabbath Day of rest. Now, this day of rest doesn’t have to be on Sunday. It can be any day of the week. It needs to be a time where you rest from your activities that consume your day and you just have time to be with Jesus for a while. And physically rest.

To two college students neck deep in papers and tests and over shadowed by activities in all the organizations they are a part of, this sounded like a pipe dream. A whole day to do nothing but rest is outside of their scope of reality.

And if I was going to guess it is outside of yours and mine reality as well.

So, let’s take a moment and see if we can break this down into tolerable chunks that we can digest. What if I, because I can only speak for myself, what if I were to take my time in the morning more serious? What if I were to focus my attention, my thoughts, my actions on spending QUALITY time with God instead of checking Him off the list of things to do today? What if, instead of a Sabbath Day, I took Sabbath moments?

A Sabbath moment. A moment in my day, or moments in my day, where I rested in Jesus. What if instead of hurrying through my Bible study in the morning I just sat there for a moment? Doing nothing. Just listening. Just absorbing. Just appreciating, for a moment, the beauty of the sun lighting up the sky or my dog sleeping on the couch. Just breathing in and out the fresh air that God has provided for me this morning. Focusing, for a moment, on His lovingkindness that consumes me at that moment. What if….

And what if at night, before I drift off to sleep, I review my day and thank Him for His faithfulness throughout the day? What if I took a moment to say thank you and to remember all the ways in which I saw His hand at work in my life? What if I took that Sabbath moment right before I went to sleep to remember how abundant His blessings were in my experiences of Him that day? What if…

We live a life of chaos and busyness and hurryness and time crunching and deadlines that we need to take more Sabbath moments. Maybe you need to take one right now. Maybe lunchtime. Maybe while the baby is sleeping. Maybe you need the day. Maybe 10 minutes will do. Whatever the case, take more Sabbath moments. Take more time to rest in Jesus. Take more time to praise Him for all He is and all He does in your life. Take the time. Trust me, it is time well spent.

Another leg of the journey

Psalm 28:7 – “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped:Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.”

It was May 1, 2019 the last time I took to the computer to write my blog. The journey with God is never boring, I’ll say that for sure and for certain. My life has taken some new paths in this year. Some have been fun and exciting and some have been challenging and frustrating.

Yet, here we are. My son has finished his freshman year in college and my daughter will graduate from high school in 18 days. After that, she will be following her brother to college in August. The empty nest is clearly in sight. I’m not quite sure how to feel about that.

The world, in general, has changed so much. My work has made me look at things differently and caused me to dig deep to examine how I really feel. And you know what, I am tired of fear. I am tired of everyone being afraid all the time. I am tired of getting that sideways look whenever I sneeze or cough in public. I am tired of people not thinking for themselves.

I know, in the deepest part of my soul, God is in control. I know that I know that I know that He knows exactly what vehicle I am taking out of this old world. And I’m done being scared of it. Ok, that’s all I’m going to say about that for now.

I have had several people ask me lately if I was ever going to start writing again. I have been rolling it around in my mind for some time. And I have been coming up with every excuse in the book of why I don’t have time. But this is part of my song. This is part of my gift to Him.

Last night, I was teaching my Wednesday night kids about the effect that we can have on people by living our lives for Jesus. I don’t think we fully appreciate how much our words of encouragement, our positive attitude and our unfading joy can have on the world. All most people see is darkness. They see fear and uncertainty and vulnerability and it petrifies their ability to move forward. They need to see our Light. They need to see our confidence and firm foundation and our Shield. They need to see us moving forward with Jesus.

Too often, I’m afraid, they see us acting just like them. Why is that? Why do we keep Jesus hidden away? Why do we keep Him in the church building?

I want my Light to be seen. I want my song to be heard. I want my joy and confidence to be seen. And I want all of that to show them Jesus. It’s not about me. It’s not about making me popular. It is about bringing them the opportunity to have what I have – joy in the Lord.

So, let’s give it a go, again, shall we? Let’s see where God takes this next leg of the journey….

Balm for my soul

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭122:1‬ ‭KJV – “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.”

Yesterday was a tough day for me. I was tired from traveling all weekend. I had lots of work to do. But also, yesterday was the one year anniversary of the home-going of my grandpa. It was also the day that we had a funeral at our church for a local family whose 2 year old daughter drowned last week. My heart was super heavy.

Yet, we had Ladies’ Meeting last night. I brought a lesson on Hannah. We shared some laughs while getting God’s work done. It was good.

As I was sitting there listening to the wrap up of the meeting, my heart was just overwhelmed at God’s love toward me. He knew that I was tired. In fact, we were all tired. The majority of the ladies there had served at the church all day long trying to provide a meal for the huge amount of people who attended the funeral. God knew that we were all spend – physically and emotionally. Yet, He brought us all together to give balm to our souls.

Some people have the misconception that church is boring and doesn’t do anything but tell you all the ways that you are wrong. Well, that’s not true. Church is a “called out body of believers”. Church is a place where your additional family abides. Church is a place to be lifted up and encouraged. It is a place to share your burdens with others and receive comfort in knowing that someone is praying with you and for you. Church is a place to develop eternal relationships – with God and His people. And sometimes, church is the place where God brings us to remind us where we have gone wrong but at the same time to provide us with the opportunity to make things right.

You see, I have found that when I am obedient to His Word and attend a service of some sort whenever it is offered, I am blessed in one way or another. Even when things are tough or down-cast or joyful or bewildering, I am brought closer to Him when I am with His people in our local New Testament church. And that makes me want to say – “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.”

I’m back

Yes, it has been a while. And I’m sorry. I could give you a million excuses as to why I haven’t been writing, but let’s just say that I let life get in the way. I think we have all been there and done that. We let this and that get in the way of what we know that God would have us to do.

So…

Let me fill you in on what has been going on during my hiatus.

To begin with, we just got back from a cruise to Alaska. Oh. My. Goodness. Start saving now and do it. I promise, you won’t regret it. I didn’t see the wildlife I would like to have seen (that just means I need to go again) but the scenery was out of this world amazing. Which brings me to my verse for today –

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭61:2‬ ‭KJV – “From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”

‬‬For me, this verse 100% describes how I felt the entire time we were gone. And believe you me, I saw so many rocks that was higher than I.

I remember hiking on a trail near Mt. Rainier and saying to my husband, “Wouldn’t it be so cool if the rocks cried out right now?” I remember seeing a whale surface and flap his magnificent tail and think, “Wow, I am fearfully and wonderfully made indeed!” I remember riding down a mountain on a bike near Skagway Alaska on Independence Day and singing in my heart “America the Beautiful”. I remember walking on a rainforest path in Ketchikan Alaska and just being totally blown away at the beauty in destruction.

I’m telling you, this trip really made me see over and over again how magnificent and creative our Creator really is.

I’ll leave you today with this – my heart was so overwhelmed with gratitude to our Lord and Savior on this trip. I am blessed beyond belief and spoiled beyond imagination. I can’t begin to appropriately describe how big everything is that I saw. But in everything, I saw the handiwork of my God. I saw His love, His compassion, His attention to detail, His creativity and His desire to show Himself to us in everything around us.

Picture taken from the White Pass Railroad tour in Skagway Alaska.

Going to the water

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭32:8-9‬ ‭KJV- “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.”‬‬

You know, learning is a choice. You can’t make a child learn something. Sometime, somewhere in that little brain of theirs, they have to decide that they want to learn something before they can actually learn it. I can remember helping my kids learn their memory verses for school. (They have always gone to a Christian school.) There were times when I thought they were just going to have to take a poor grade on it because they just couldn’t get it into their little heads. But alas, somehow, they would recall it. They would remember all that we had gone over and the little tips and cues that I had used to help them remember what they were trying to learn. It was definitely a process.

Many people have pets. They work and work to teach them to do tricks or not go to the bathroom on the floor or roll over. They want them to be able to accomplish something on command. Some are successful. Some…..not so much. 

The old adage “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink” sometimes stands out loud and clear for some of us. We see it in the lives of the people around us and, sometimes, we see it in our own life. 

How many times do God attempt to teach us a lesson and over and over again we fail? I don’t know about you, but I can look into my own life and see that over and over and over again. I sometimes feel like I am the horse and God keeps leading me to this beautiful, cool, abundant stream and I am just standing there like, “nope, not gonna happen.” It makes you shake your head when you see people like that. And then, when you realize that person is you….it makes you shake your head again. 

God has left a stream of abundance somewhere around you – the Bible. He has preserved His Word for all these years just so that you would have this instruction, this comfort, this Life giving opportunity. It is not hard to get your hands on, at least in America it’s not. You can get it on your phone or in book form. So many options. Yet, there are still people that will hold this glorious opportunity in their hands and look at like “nope, not gonna happen”. 

And from time to time, I am one of those people. 

So I want to encourage you today to see value, see worth, see the need for the Word of God in your life. He is leading you to this amazing opportunity to get to know Him better, to make your life more meaningful, to encourage you to keep going. Don’t just stand there and look at like “nope, not gonna happen”. Get in there and make it happen. Let Him do what He does best – making you the best version of you that there could possibly be. 

Still waters

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭23:1-2‬ ‭KJV‬‬ – “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.”
I have not been walking beside still waters lately. Oh, nothing has been terribly wrong. I have just been so busy that still waters seems to be a distant memory. 

Last weekend, we went to the beach. The place where we were at had some pretty energetic waves. My nephew and son took quite a face full of sand a few times while boogie boarding. Yet, as I walked along the beach, doing what I love to do – hunt for cool shells, I heard a jingling sound. When I looked, that jingling sound came from the amount of shells that the waves were dropping in this one particular location. They were congregating at this one spot but the waves were so rough that you couldn’t get in there to see what was being left behind. Trust me, I know. I would attempt to get to them and the wave would crash bringing with it pieces of coral and broken shells that rammed into my feet and legs. It was not pleasant, let me tell you.

But if I waited, if I stood there for a significant length of time watching the waves go in and out, a time would present itself, for just a short period, that I could run out there and view the plethora of shells that the ocean had left behind. I found 2 really large clam shells, a very old and small conch-type shell and many very pretty little shells. But I had to be fast. Those still waters didn’t last long.

That’s the way I feel my life has been since my last post. Nothing really exciting or earth shattering has occurred. My waves have just been energetic and and sometimes a bit rough. But when those still waters come and I’m able to be still, man, the things I find are beautiful and sweet. They are rare and beautiful treasures that I can store in my heart.

Lessons from Sunday morning

Psalms‬ ‭46:1-11‬ ‭KJV‬‬ – “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.”‭‭

This was our passage for the Sunday morning message. The preacher titled the message “Think About It”. Let me give you what I took away from the message.

The first thing I saw was the three “Selah”. Now then, what does that word mean? It means “to rest, ponder”. However, you can make an acronym out of it: S – Stop, E – Everyone, L – Listen, A – And, H – Hear. “Stop Everyone. Listen And Hear.” 

How often do we hear but not listen? I know I do it from time to time. I will hear someone speaking to me, but I am doing something else at the time and I don’t listen to them. How often do we read the Word of God and not listen to it? Ohhhh….that one hurt. I am the first in line to admit to reading dutifully but not listening dutifully. It is sad, really. I miss so much in the Word of God by simply not paying attention. I need to stop, listen and hear. 

Another thing I found in these verses is the reoccurant theme of “refuge”. 

Have you ever needed refuge? There was one time that we were at a theme park and it began to rain. No, the heavens opened up and we were caught in the midst of a deluge. We were seeking refuge from the storm. We found it under a bridge. It was kinda fun but also very humbling. We got to the point that we knew that we couldn’t handle the situation and we needed some protection.

We are bombarded out in the world with all kinds of yuck. We see it in the news, hear it on the radio, see it on the streets – yuck is everywhere. We need some place to get away, to escape. We need somewhere where the problems and issues of the world are taken away and dealt with. 

We need Jesus. He is our refuge. He is our strength. He is our strong tower. And when we decide to go to Him, He tells us to “be still”. Not my strong point. I’m always busy. Always doing something. Rarely do I give myself the opportunity to be still. But this is exactly where God wants us to be. We need to allow ourself to be still sometimes. 

Being still means that we make the choice to let Someone else handle things. We give over our perceived control to the One who is truly in control. And when we do this, we can find peace – that elusive peace we all desire. But it really isn’t elusive. It just requires us to return whatever control we thought we had to it’s original owner. It is attainable. 

Stop. Listen and hear. Seek refuge in Christ. 

Psalm 46 is one of encouragement. It is one that reminds us that stopping the chaos around us to listen to the Word of God provides more than just information. It provides peace. And if there is anything this world needs more of, it is the peace of God. 

Black Monday

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭90:12‬ ‭KJV‬‬- “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
Monday was a tough day at my house. Before we even left for school, my daughter received a text from a friend informing her that a boy she had gone to school with last year had died in a jet ski accident on Sunday night. 

At school, they had an impromptu assembly to discuss the matter and pray for the family and friends of this young boy. This really brought it home to my daughter. Someone, her age, had died – never to return. It broke her heart. And on top of it all, the incident occurred at the home of another boy she knew. He was the one that witnessed the accident. He was the one who pulled his friend from the water. She was heartbroken for this boy.

How do you console a 9th grade girl over the loss of a boy she really didn’t know? How do you guide her to something close to understanding so that she is able to process all of this? 

The things I tried to talk to her about were understanding different ways to grieve. She was getting frustrated with some people and their constant talking about the situation. She needs time to think it through and process it all. Some people have to talk it out to understand it. 

We also talked about taking each and every opportunity to share Christ with others. The saddest part of this whole situation is the fact that she isn’t sure that the young boy had accepted Jesus. She knows that she can’t make someone believe but she is learning the importance of living a life that honors Christ. 

And we talked about prayer. Sometimes prayer is the only thing that we can give to someone who is going through a tragedy. We can pray for the family. We can pray for the friend. They all need our prayers right now. My daughter said to me yesterday, “Mom, I’m just scared that he (the friend) will turn to things that aren’t good for him to cope.” Pray. That’s the most important thing we can do for him right now – pray.

I don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer on this one. I just felt the need to emphasize the importance of numbering our days. We never know if we will have 14 years or 99 years. But what we do know is that we must use each and every opportunity, every day, every moment to honor God and share the salvation message He has given us. 

And enjoy life. Live it fully. Live it wisely. Live it joyfully. Today, Wednesday, is my son’s regional final soccer game. And believe you me, I will be cheering my heart out! I will be living life as full as I can while encouraging the boys out on the field. 

Christ came to give us life and to give it to us more abundantly. But let’s not forget in the midst of living to number our days for Him.