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In a T-shirt

October 3, 2012 by juliebcosgrove

I went to a Toastmasters club meeting last night. It is a brand new club and I am one of the mentors, so these folk are already near and dear to my heart.  One speech was given by a man who said his message was on his T-shirt. It showed one man stretching his arm as far as he could over a brick wall to touch the hand of another crouched below on the ground.  It said ,”The only time a brother looks down on another is to help lift him up.”

I saw that T-shirt and I saw God. It reminded me of that famous Sistine Chapel painting by Michaelangelo with God stretching out to touch Adam, who is barely lifting up his hand in response.

As brothers and sisters in Christ, what was on that T-shirt should be our motto. God reached down for us to lift us up when His Son stretched out His arms on the cross for our sins. God knew we could never, because of our fallen nature, reach up to Him on our own merit and through our own efforts.  All we have to do is grab on. Simple, but not always easy. But once we do, and He carries us over that brick wall, we can then be in the position to help others do the same.

There are times when circumstances has weighed down our brothers and sisters so deeply that they do not feel they can get back up. That is when we must be Christ’s hands and show His love. It may be in the gift of money, a smile and hug, a physical helping hand to do a chore, give them a ride or be their advocate. Maybe it is just providing a shoulder on which they can cry.

Perhaps they will refuse our out-stretched hand, and God’s love. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t offer. If they will not let us lift them up over the wall in their life, then we are called to lift them up in prayer. After all, God is the ultimate wall-crasher.

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In the Rain

October 1, 2012 by juliebcosgrove

A friend and I were hitting the thrift stores in search of clothes. She needed white shirts for her new job, and I needed more professional wear.  After four years of freelance writing in sweats and PJs at home for a living, my wardrobe was pretty bare. Since they are low-paying, part-time jobs, (hey, but in this economy both are pure gifts from God) neither of us could afford mega bucks on our attire.

Of course the day we both had off was a rainy one (another gift from God on the parched north Texas land that had been seared by 100 plus temps most of the summer). All day a soft, steady downpour peltered the city. At the last store, we had to park at the back of the lot. As we dashed, huddled under umbrellas, the wind picked up. The rain pour intensified.

We saw a family up ahead.  The mother and little girl were crammed together under an umbrella. The mother’s arm was around the child as her other hand held the umbrella’s pole. The child studderstepped to match her mom’s footsteps. The mom would slow down, then start walking quickly again.  Behind them was the father, holding the tip of the umbrella’s canopy with both hands so it would not flip upward. He was getting soaked, but with undaunted care, he maneuvered the umbrella’s spread with their steps so his two loved ones stayed as dry as possible.

courtesy of faithshare.com

Is that not what our Heavenly Father does for us? His love and grace covers us, like an umbrella against   the downpours of life. His Spirit acts as our guide, but also hovers, just like that dad, making sure we stay protected. Like the daughter underneath, if we keep matching our steps with His, we will stay dry. If we do get a bit damp, it is better than what would have happened if we were on our own. Besides, that family was heading into a store to buy dry, clean clothes. How much more awaits us at our final destination if we follow God’s directives?

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In the Unseen

September 27, 2012 by juliebcosgrove

I was in a scene from an old black and white movie, or so it seemed. The kind where you are walking in a thick mist by the sea docks. All you can hear is the sound of your own footsteps on the planks and the methodical wail of the fog horn somewhere in the distance. The grayish, moist fingers stretch to envelop everything around you. Do you move on through the thick soup carefully placing one foot in front of the other as you tap to make sure the path is solid? Do you stand still and hope this opaque veil will lift, or wait for God to grab your hand and lead you through it? Lord, give me a signal, a flash of a torch up ahead to let me know if I am going in the right direction.

I choose to trust – a purposeful act of believing that He is here watching over me. Yet at the same time somehow, because He is not temporal as I am,  My Lord is also outside the fog handling whatever it is I am not yet privileged to detect with my faith eyes.  Perhaps, I must re-train my eyes to see only Him, and not what I having been choosing to see.

Is that a faint glimmer of the Light of the World through the mist up ahead, beckoning? I ease towards it with renewed hope. I am on the right path after all.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen
is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. . . For we walk by faith, not be sight. 2 Corinthians 4:18, 5:7

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In My Smart Phone

September 25, 2012 by juliebcosgrove

I have an app on my smart phone that pops up a Bible verse every morning. It amazes me how often it is “where I find God” because the verse, probably chosen months ago, seems to be His personal whisper that day.

A few days ago, when I was in Kleenex-twisting-between-my-fingers prayer about my finances and if I am really to make my living writing for Him, this popped up –

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will  counsel you with my eyes upon you.” Psalm 32:8

I had to grab more Kleenex.

Now, after an amazing directional time at the ACFW conference,  my head is still spinning with answers. Like so many brass rings on a merry-go-round, I am not sure which to reach out and try to grab, and in doing so, should I drop what I have in my hand already? And am I meant to grab it now, or wait for a few more rotations on this ride?

So, of course He spoke to me again –

Better is the end of a thing than the beginning, and the patient spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Ecclesiastes 7:8

Yes, Sir.

 

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In the Basement- Everywhere

September 23, 2012 by juliebcosgrove

For the past three days I have been in the belly of a hotel attending the American Christian Fiction Writers annual conference. I was a newbie–a first timer. If my wide-eyed face didn’t scream it, my brown ribbon did. 680 fiction writers, agents, editors and mentors wandered the halls chatting and laughing, or packed the meeting rooms, or clustered in prayer groups.

We invaded the entire basement level, so our Emcee, Brandilyn Collins, warned us that when we’d go above back into the world of the normals in the lobby and room floors, to not discuss how Mary and Robert can find love if he is imprisoned or what is the best non-detectable poison to use to kill off Bill, or should you maybe let him live.

In this netherworld, there was no jealousies, only love and support. There was no competition, only tears of joy and applause when someone landed a contract or and agent. Our goal, all 680 plus of us was the same — to spread the Love of Christ to readers. It may be by suspense, romance, historical or Amish, by men or women, to kids or young adults, but the focus remained the same.

As for me it was a prayerful, directive nad confirming time. God blessed me fully with affirmations that several people had been following my devos which I have been writing for several years on Christian Women Today or The Christian Woman. Some editors and agents,as well as other authors,  liked the premiss to my new novel, Hush in the Storm.

But more than any of that, I felt overwhelmed with grace. I could sense His arm around my should and the whispers in my ear that I was His child and doing His will.  My faith-trust bar was raised to a renewed level.

Dearest eternal Father,  may I carry in my heart this experience when doubts begin to seep into the walls of my mind and  jabs of angst produce temporary  spiritual amnesia. You stated through David in Psalm 111:4 that You have “caused your works to be remembered.”  May I continue to daily seek Your presence and find you, so I may tell others where to look in their lives. Through Your Son, our Savior, in His name for His Sake, I carry on. Amen.

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Spitting Image?

September 19, 2012 by juliebcosgrove

A friend of mine in Toastmasters brought her husband to last night’s meeting. Her son has been in our club for quite sometime. It was uncanny to hear the similar voice and observe the same mannerisms in the father as I was used to observing in the son. Though they do not look at all alike, if I closed my eyes I could picture her son there instead.  As we talked after the meeting and I looked into her husband’s eyes, I saw her son’s expressions.

Paul tells the Colossians to take off their old, worldly character and “…put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.” (3:10 NLT). Jesus reflected His Father in everything He thought, did and said.  As a believer, I am a child of the same Living God and am to put on the same image. I am to reflect my Father as well.

Though I have never seen my Heavenly Father face to face, I doubt if we look alike on the outside. But, as I grow in Him, may I look more and more like Him in the mannerisms I emulate, in the words that come forth from my mouth, and in my thoughts. Like Amy Grant sang, I want, when people look at me, to say she has her Father’s eyes.

Today, the uncanny resemblance of a father to his son reminded me of how much like my Heavenly Father and His Son I should strive to be. I want people to look into my eyes and see Him, and unmistakably know I am His.

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Where I Didn’t Find Him

September 18, 2012 by juliebcosgrove

I met a friend for lunch to discuss churchwomen business. She is the current president and I am to follow on her heels next year. For the first time in a long time, it was actually a cool day in north Texas. Therefore, we sat on the front patio of the restaurant. It is a popular lunch spot, so if you love to people watch, this is the perfect place.

I imagine close to a hundred people passed by in the time we were there. Students from the university down the road wandered in, as did the medical staff from the hospitals and clinics up the road. So did business people in their suits, ties or heels. Sprinkled in between were retired couples, tourists, moms on a rare lunch out, and workers with their names on their uniform shirts or badges.

What surprised me the most was the countenance on most of their faces. On a cool day after a good rain that was so needed at the end of a summer of 100 plus temperatures, you’d think people would be uplifted, walk with a spring in their step, feel rejuvenated. But most wore a scowl or straight face.  Many seemed bent over with the weight of the world on their backs. A few, who had arranged to meet, smiled at each other, and then fell into mutual silence. Couples walked together in a marital patterned, robot-like pace.  The only ones who broke the drudgery lunch time routine with laughter were three women taking indulgent deserts in boxes back to work

I thought of how our Father in Heaven must see us – all His children running around like irritated ants. How it must break His heart to have so many pass up His freely given love and choose the world view instead.  It made me realize how far from God our daily lives have drifted , even here in America where we are supposed to be one nation under Him.

Heavenly Lord, use this wonderful thing called cyberspace to draw your children back to You. Let them realize they are not alone and to seek You each day. Help them to see You are right there, waiting.  You came down in the form of Jesus, Your Son, to draw us to You.  Through His sacrifice, we can have direct access to You with each and every breath we take.  Help us to be more and more in touch with your Holy Spirit in us and to see evidence of Your presence in our daily walk. We pray this through Christ and in His name. Amen.

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The Bird Can be the Word

September 17, 2012 by juliebcosgrove

God speaks to us in so many ways – often through nature. A friend of mine who is an avid and highly knowledgeable birder, as well as a deep Christian woman, has a blog – GodGirlGail. Today she discussed the a Frigatebird who bullies other birds to get their food instead of working for its own. Sort of like the kid who steals the lunch money. You can read about it here:  http://godgirlgail.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/744/.

Today, God showed me a lesson through her description of the Frigatebird. Being bullied viciously for years and years as a child for being overweight and smart, I can relate. Whatever self-esteem I had would be snatched away every time I walked into school. They told me I would never be pretty, and that I was a nerd who would never be popular. I married a man who would bully me and did so for thirty plus years. It was the behavior I expected, so I guess I sought it out. Now that I am a widow, I had become my own bully.  No one was around to tell me the negative things I had heard all my life, so I began the mantra in the mirror.

In reading Gail’s description of the Frigatebird,  I imagined myself as one of the birds that Frigate bullied everyday. Easy target. After a while, if I was that little bird, when I’d see the Frigate soaring in my direction, I would have dropped my food to avoid the conflict. Even if I saw no bully coming, I’d drop it – just in case, then tell myself it was not really meant to be mine.

I know Scripture states that through God we are made worthy. David Crowder sings that God makes everything glorious so what does that make me? As a teenager, “God doesn’t make junk” was the bumper sticker saying of the day.  Yet, somehow, I had convinced myself that I had taken the goodness and junked it myself, so it really worth holding onto anyway. In essence, by believing my own negative bullying, I had.

Leave it to a bully bird, whose antics were written about by a friend, to show me Truth.  What God has given me as far as talent is worthy of holding onto.  Bully bird, in the name of Jesus, I say go away.  I am grasping what God has graced me and not letting go anymore.

If you are dealing with negativity in your life, whether the voices are from within or coming from others, don’t give into it. Don’t let bullying snatch away what God has given to you. You are worthy to hang onto His grace and use your talents to His glory.

With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. 2 Thessalonians 1:11

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Faces

September 16, 2012 by juliebcosgrove

I spent two days with women who are in my international prayer warriors organization called Daughters of the King. We had a conference in the piny woods of east Texas at a retreat center. I did a workshop on my newest Bible study, Between the Window and the Door, and also had a vendor’s booth for my books, speaking engagements, and for items made by women rescued from human trafficking and slavery who reside in Christian safe houses throughout the world. The jewelry and accessories they make are vended through Women at Risk. (I agree to make no money off the sales of the items the women make and ship to the USA so 90% can go back to those women and the safe houses.)

In those two days, I saw my Lord in so many faces. I saw Him in eyes that stretched into laughter and sparkled with joy. I saw Him in eyes who became reddened as tears glistened in them.  I saw His love in squeals and out-stretched arms of friends who had not seen each other in a while, and in the warm smiles of those meeting for the first time. And, yesterday morning when I took the stage to give my workshop I saw Him on each of the 100 plus faces that filled the room. He was there because each one in that room, as dedicated to prayerfully serving Him as they are, knew what it was like to be in the in-between times called the journey from the valley to the mountain top. They have experienced the gap between doubting if God is really there and feeling Him so close it is as if their heads were resting on His chest and His arms wrapped around their shoulders.

Old, young, Black, White, Hispanic, never married, widowed, divorced or happily married, from the slower-paced small towns and the bustling metropolis, representing large churches and small missions – all came there because He has touched their lives with the desire to pray and serve others. In the brief weekend as we sang, prayed, worshiped, shared and ate together, the bond of faith encircled us and He was in the center.

It was a split-second glimpse of what is to come in Heaven.

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Calmed Waters

September 12, 2012 by juliebcosgrove

I found God today at the end of the day. Actually I had been surrounded by witnesses to His glory and love all day as I manned the phones for a share-athon for a local Christian radio station. Between the other volunteers, the people dropping off snacks, and the listeners who called in, the God talk filled the call center. It was like floating in a sun-drenched river on a hot Texas summer day – a soothing, refreshing time you don’t want to end.

But in the back of my mind a ripple of angst was forming. The pebble had been dropped. I had a conference this weekend and I needed to work on my workshop presentation. My week of have-to-dos was stacking up. I had been manning the share-athon for two days, had a church women’s board meeting the next day as well as two more meetings, a newsletter to get out, and 8 articles to write and post for a client’s blog sites before I left Friday morning.

As I drove to my Toastmasters’ meeting last evening, I tried to plot out enough time over the next two days to rehearse. Maybe as I drove the four hours to the conference center? Well, I could rehearse the talk but it would be kinda hard to practice the power point portion on the highway. I could stay up late or get up early . . .maybe both?

As I walked in the room, the one who was leading the meeting told me there were no speakers that night. Last-minute cancellations had been texted to him – nothing major like an illness or tragedy, just life-stuff which had gotten in the way. So I was the only speaker.  I had brought my power point equipment to do a short demonstration on how to begin your speech, a Toastmaster teaching module. Much to my regret, the newly formed group had already heard that presentation through another Toastmaster several weeks back. Oh. Now what. The ripples grew.

Then, the Holy Spirit whispered in my soul’s ear. This is a church. Practice your workshop talk here.

I asked the group and they all agreed that would be fine. In fact, one lady had read most of my Bible study Between the Window and the Door on which this workshop was based. Three weeks prior, God had told me to give her a copy because she was going through a rough in-between time in her life. Coincidence that she had brought it with her?

Another pebble dropped. Did I have the right flash drive? Then I remembered. The one on which I was to download the Toastmaster module was, for some unknown reason, malfunctioning last night. So I had dug out my workshop flash drive and loaded the module on that. Yes, God had guaranteed that I had the right flash drive.

As I spoke, the words flowed from my brain.The power point presentation went smoothly. All the slides I’d prepared worked perfectly. That sweet woman at the back who had been reading the Bible study sat smiling and nodding. She was a real encouragement to me. The others became engaged in my talk. After it was over, they gave me great feedback.

The waters calmed.  I floated in the knowledge that My Father in Heaven cares enough to orchestrate events weeks in advance which would accumulate into the perfect time for me to prepare my talk on how His grace is ever-present, even in the in-between times.

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