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Posts Tagged ‘Where did you find God today’

Watch, Wait for It

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on September 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;
 my soul waits for the Lord
    more than watchmen for the morning,
    more than watchmen for the morning. Psalm 130:5-6 (ESV)

Simon and Garfunkel sang about darkness being their friend. It is true that in the middle of the night, there can be a special stillness that can bring peace. But for many, darkness is far from friendly, especially if their emotions hover in a dark place.

The psalmist relates to those who feel uneasy sitting in the darkness. He compares their waiting on God to act on their behalf to a watchman on a lookout tower peering into the blackness. He holds short, quick breaths to stay alert, hoping he doesn’t detect an enemy stealthily sneaking toward the gated community he is in charge of protecting. Come on morning… come on light. Illuminate the landscape so I can see all is well.

And so the watchman waits… so do the many crouched on their beds as tears drip down their cheeks. Or children who cringe at every creaky sound in the house, or the caregiver who is not sure he or she can watch their loved one suffer one more night. The parent waiting for their child to come home, fearing the worst.

Perhaps you are there right now. In the dark. Wait…

Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength… Isaiah said that. Believe it. Cling to it.

Lips whisper a prayer, “Shine, Jesus, shine on me–the way the dawn brightens the sky. Let me feel the warmth of Your love on my face and shoulders as Your loving strength penetrates every inch of my body. You will let the sun rise every morning, so I know You will lighten my darkness…”

No wonder many start their day praising the Lord. After all, the dawn does finally come, and with it, the promise that God is there and He cares. He was right there in the darkness all along.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

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Bloom

Posted in Christian, tagged , , , , on September 18, 2024| Leave a Comment »

My favorite bush is the purple sage, so against all odds I ordered one online–and a week later, even after being misdirected to New Jersey instead of North Texas, the little guy arrived alive and well. Then one day, as I locked my door to head for work, I noticed tiny green buds at the end of each branch.

As I drove home from work later that day, I noticed every purple sage bush I passed by was in bloom. Imagine my joy when I got to my apartment to see mine in full color as well. Hurray. Well done little plant!

Now, how did every sage bush in my city know to bloom on the same day? Perhaps you can conjure up a scientific reason, but for me, that wouldn’t negate the fact that it had to be a God thing.

There is a lesson in that for us, don’t you think? No sage bush would fold its branches and say, “Nope. I refuse to do it. Can’t make me. I will do things my way.” Nature responds in the way it was created to respond.

The familiar phrase, “Bloom where you are planted” is credited to Saint Francis de Sales. He lived almost five hundred years ago. He is one of my favorite writers. His wisdom is so pure, untarnished, and simple. No matter where we are in life, God can still use us to His glory to bring beauty, joy, empathy, or relief into someone’s life.

Here is another saying of his I love:

What if we chose to respond the way Saint Francis de Sale describes? That no matter what happens, rain or shine, cold or hot, day or night, we could still bloom with a beautiful peace, witnessing to the belief that our Father in Heaven is there and He cares?

Maybe that is why I love purple sages. They remind me of that fact, often just when I need it.

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Shelled

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , , on June 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I saw this posted on Facebook- there was no acknowledgment so I apologize to whoever captured this for not attributing it to you.

But I found it so very profound. Some people just cannot let go of their past, even if it was not great. They wear their pain as a shield to keep them from ever making a similar mistake or allowing hurt back into their lives. And yet, it burdens their journey in life and keeps them from growing.

Jesus told the crowds, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Why do we insist on carrying our burdens? Why do we allow them to identify us and shape our futures? Anger, hurt and bitterness only shackles us. True peace can only come when we “let go and let God”, as the well-quoted phrase of the 1990’s states.

Shake off your past and walk freely into a future where you can grow as a human being by growing closer and more dependent on our LORD. Our pasts don’;t have to make us chicken!

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Hazard Lights

Posted in Devotional, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , on June 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »

A friend of mine relayed her scary story of driving two hours home from her son’s house out in the country through a torrential rainstorm. Even with her windshield wipers on full blast, she had a hard time seeing the road ahead. She prayed as her hands kept a death grip on the steering wheel. She didn’t want to pull off because she couldn’t see if there was a flat shoulder or a bar ditch. Besides, she feared someone might slam into her.

Then, through the sheets of rain, my friend saw two small flashing red lights. She followed those and as she got closer she noticed it was an 18-wheeler with its hazard lights blinking. It traveled at a cautious speed in the righthand lane, a speed she felt comfortable going even though other vehicles whipped by her at highway speeds.

Photo by Valeriia Miller on Pexels.com

She followed that large truck until the rain stopped and the sun peered through the clouds, just a short distance from her hometown. When she pulled into her driveway, she slumped across the steering wheel almost out of breath. “I made it. Thank you, Lord for sending me that truck.”

As my friend told me this story, God whispered, “Always follow.”

Often times in our lives, storms come unexpectedly. We have no sense of direction. Our own attempts prove futile. We don’t know how we are going to navigate our way.

But Jesus is our hazard light. He shines just enough into our lives to catch our attention and show us the way. Our job is to stay close and follow. Let Him take the lead. Don’t worry about what others are doing. Let Him set the pace. Don’t veer off or stop. Keep going.

A few idioms come to mind. Slow and steady wins the race. Only fools rush in.

What is written in the Psalms:
Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me. (Psalm119:133)

And then what Paul said in his second letter to Timothy:
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (4:7)

If you are in a storm right now and it is difficult to see what lies ahead, look for Jesus’s light to guide you. Keep following it until the sun breaks through. Then, like my friend, and Paul, you can say you made it because you kept the faith. Praise God for His guidance.

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Steady, now

Posted in Biblical, Devotional, tagged , , , , , on July 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »

One of my friends repairs and then resells discarded furniture. She found a “Parlor table” that she loved but it wobbled. She purchased it anyway and took it home. She tried squirting wood putty into the place where the top screwed into the pedestal base. It still wobbled. Next, she inserted stints on either side to see if that would hold the tabletop in place. Nope. Finally, taking it to a professional woodworker who inserted two “L” shaped steel braces did the trick.

Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash

Sometimes in life, our stance can get a bit wobbly, too. Not totally out of control but definitely off-kilter. A call from the doctor saying our lab results were not normal. Our car breaks down and the repairman says repairs will run about a thousand dollars The police phone in the middle of the night to say our child has been arrested for drunk driving. Our employer informs us that we are the victims of downsizing.

We can try to handle it ourselves. We can become anxious and toss and turn. Or escape reality through sugar highs, carb binging, drugs, or alcohol, but perhaps we need more — we need bracing. And that’s okay. Moses did, too.

The Hebrews were attacked unawares. As long as Moses held his hands high they were winning the battle, but when he became tired, his legs became unsteady and his arms drooped. The enemy suddenly had the advantage.


When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. Exodus 17:12

God could have supernaturally strengthened Moses’ arms. Instead, He allowed Moses to weaken so his family and friends had the opportunity to come to his rescue. Faith in action. But it was more than simply helping their tribes win. They saw what happened while Moses raised his hands, and they knew this was a divine intervention. They acted in faith and allowed God to use them.

Do we act in faith? When something comes suddenly upon us to off-center our world and after battling it on our own we grow tired and wobbly, do we seek to be braced by God? Do we lean on Him?

He may brace us in many ways – He may send faithful family and friends to pray for us and assist us. He may send an unexpected check in the mail, which happened to me when my car needed Megabucks service a few weeks ago. Perhaps seeking out a Christian counselor is the best solution.

God never allows tragedy or trials to come our way without a reason. He will be there if we call upon Him for divine intervention. And it may be in a way we had not anticipated. One thing is certain, there is always a lesson to be learned. For Moses, and perhaps for us, it is that we need God. We can’t walk this world alone, much less be His advocate, on our own strength.

So, steady on.

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Harden Hearts

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 2, 2023| 2 Comments »

The Bible makes several references to people hardening their hearts against believing in God’s ability to influence their lives. According to the Book of Exodus, Pharoah hardened his heart against the Israelite slaves. Eventually, after he ignored the five warnings, God left him to the consequences of his actions. Jesus asked his disciples if their hearts were hardened to His teachings. The psalms plead that we should not harden our hearts to God’s voice.

But did you know that hardening your heart, or as some folks say, having a cold heart, is more than just being stubborn or unwilling to listen? Negativity can actually affect us physically. In the HEALTHY HEART BOOK,  BY MORAG THOW, KERI GRAHAM & CHOI LEE, they state that science is learning how our attitudes can either thwart or enhance our bodies’ ability to heal.

“In years gone by, medicine focused on physical health only, but now scientists know that emotions, thoughts, and feelings affect how well the body functions. A positive mental attitude is now accepted as important in recovering from any health problem and living a healthy life… Therefore, for the health of your heart and for your general health, try to stop negative feelings from becoming overwhelming and regularly make time for the things that help you to relax.”*

They explain that feelings of anger, sadness, or frustration are normal, but if we do not deal with them and move on, our physical hearts can suffer.

So, I think we need to develop a holy CPR for our hearts-

C – confess. Knowing we have done wrong and not admitting it can cause stress. The longer we choose not to deal with it, the more it will eat at our conscience, eventually to the point that we either blame God for making us feel this way or we shut off our emotions to keep from feeling this way. Regular confession to God and to others humbles us. But it also opens our hearts to accept forgiveness and start fresh.

P – pray. There is an old saying that a life tied with prayer will not unravel. Handing our stress over to God reminds us that He is there and He cares. He is infinite, all-knowing, and all we can know is “now.” It helps us to get a better perspective on things. But it is also important to then listen for the Holy Spirit’s prompts because prayer should be a conversation.

R – read. Reading God’s Word regularly helps align our hearts, thoughts, and actions to His will. When you read through the psalms, will often see how a beginning negativity ends up in praise. You become aware in the stories and testimonies of how God worked in the lives of others and this opens your mind and heart to the assurance that He will do the same for you. Passages that never hit you before pierce you to your soul as if they were written just for you.

Doctors have discovered that people of faith live healthier lives and heal faster. Keep your heart, and your mind, and your soul healthy. Practice spiritual CPR often.

If you are angry or confused or upset, take that to God. Don’t shove it down. Ask God to turn your thoughts around to focus on Him, not the situation that is causing your blood pressure to rise and your head to toss and turn. Count your blessings. Go serve someone else so you get your mind off your problems and don’t brood.

We all need to jumpstart our attitudes now and then. Holy CPR is the key to health. Who knew?

Well, perhaps God. He made us after all.

*http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/092/40se_Main.jpg

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Clouded View

Posted in Biblical, Devotional, tagged , , , , , , on March 19, 2023| 2 Comments »

I am certain this has happened to many of you. You read a passage in Scripture you have read or heard all your life…then wham! A new thought hits you. Well, that is what happened to me, so I had to share it.

On Wednesday evenings at church, we are studying a book about the Transfiguration of Jesus on the mount as witnessed by Peter, James, and John. It is recorded in all of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9.) Moses and Elijah appear on either side of Jesus, representing the Law and the Prophets. Peter, bless his impulsive heart, wants to build a tabernacle for them.

Here is where it jumped out at me: He [Peter] was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (Matthew 17:5-6).

Did you catch that? God covered Moses and Elijah with a cloud. Now I know this reflects back to Moses on Mt Sinai. God often appears in a cloud. But as I read this verse, it was as if I heard God say, “No Peter. Don’t look at them. You are missing the point. Look to Jesus. He has come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets” (See Matthew 5:17).

It gets better … “When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.”  And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only’ (Vs 7-8).

This thought made me recall the times God has clouded my vision so I was no longer distracted by what I thought I should think or do. He made the situation so nebulous that I could not see a way out on my own. He distracted me for a reason. To help me refocus on Him and not on my circumstances. He made it to where all I could do was lift my eyes to seek Jesus. As the familiar lyrics by Helen Howarth Lemmel states, “Turn your eyes to Jesus and look full in His wondrous face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”

If you feel as if you are in a pea-soup-thick fog right now and you can’t see the outcome, hang tight. Bow your head and pray. Ask God what He is distracting you from. What lesson is He trying to show you? What character is He developing in you? Then wait. At the perfect time, Jesus will call you out of the mist and tell you to have no fear. Concentrate on Him. Let Him lead you out into the clear to see things His way–the best, all-powerful, all-knowing way.

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Footnote

Posted in Christian, Devotional, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , on December 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »

In September, after a long nine-month trek through doctors’ offices and imaging facilities, I finally found a surgeon that would “try to fix” the broken hardware in my pelvis so I could walk again without dragging my right foot with excruciating nerve pain. Trouble was, the first opening in his schedule was Nov 30th. More waiting…

Two weeks later, the ball of my right foot went numb. Okay, probably the nerve, right? But it persisted and a lump developed. I saw a podiatrist and he immediately booked me for surgery. He told me I would not be able to put any weight on that foot for two weeks. I have to admit I lost it when I got home. All my faith and strength swirled through my head and out my eyes in tears. Why??? Haven’t I been through enough during this trial?

No booming voice from heaven. No suddenly meaningful Scripture verse or lyric in a Christian song on the radio. But I felt a renewed nearness to God as if He rubbed my shoulder and whispered, I am here.

Now I know why. For eleven years I have blogged about where I found God today. I found God working out my situation in a rare vascular, and praise Him, benign tumor that threatened to cut off circulation to my toes. Let me explain…

When it came time to have the big surgery on Nov 30th, I was prepared. I knew how to offload my weight, get around with a walker, And navigate through my apartment. And, when the surgeon said all went well and I could put partial weight on my right foot, I had an amazing template … the healing scar on the ball of that foot. Still being tender, I immediately knew if I put too much weight on it.

Had it been my left foot, it would that have made my life difficult because I have had to bear most of my weight on it.

I have heard it said that hindsight is 20/20. In my case, it is. Now, I can humbly thank my Lord and ask forgiveness for not trusting Him more with my life’s circumstances.

Christmas is the time for gift-giving. God gave me an amazing gift even though it was wrapped in something different than I would have imagined … an unexpected surgery. A serendipity.

My gift to you is the moral of my testimony, as written long ago in Proverbs:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

Amen.

May it be your testimony as well in the year to come. Whatever life presents, you have the presence of God if you believe. He is there, and He cares. That is why He came to earth to be born in a stable.

Emanuel, God with Us.

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Re…

Posted in Christian, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , on November 9, 2022| Leave a Comment »

When you are stressed, do you hear anyone tell you to, “Just relax”? Of course.

Photo by Nathan Cowley on Pexels.com

In English class, you probably learned that the prefix “re” means to repeat. If not, you are relearning that concept now. However, like most rules in English, it sometimes doesn’t apply. Repeat, rescind, remember…these common words all start with “re” but when do we ever peat, or scind, or member? I always thought that “relax” was one of those exceptions.

But lax, according to the online dictionary is “from the late Middle English (in the sense ‘loose’).” It is when muscles slack and thus are not tense or strained. It also means to slack off, as in to lax the rules.

So when we relax, we go back to a state of “lax”, right? Which kinda implies that is supposed to be our normal state. The way we were designed to be most of the time. In fact, when David wrote in Psalm 46:10 that God tells us to “be still and know that I am God” he is saying to relax. God’s got this. He will be exalted. We don’t need to tense our muscles and get ready to fight or flight. We are to slack off. Let go of the wheel. Let Him drive.

In our modern world of constant communication and availability, how often do we learn that stress is not the norm? In fact, people are admired for how they use stress to motivate them. How they can multi-task effectively and not need much sleep. As if the busier we are the more productive and important we become.

Not always the case, and not for very long, right? Soon fatigue fog sets in and we make mistakes, run out of steam, and have to chug down another energy drink in order to perform to high standards.

Perhaps it is time we realized (does that mean to “alize” again?) that we need to relax. God created us to need rest. To return (yes, turn again) to a state of laxness. In fact, He commanded it.

 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8-10).

To make it holy is to set it aside from the ordinary. To sanctify it and give it priority. We all need to relax on a regular basis. When was the last time you took a day off…not just from your job but from all the other things you “had” to do? When did you carve out time to be still and know God? To worship with others, like your family and /or friends.

To turn off the phone, the computer, and the TV? Take a nap? Spend time with family? Take a quiet walk in nature.

Time to get lax again… it is long overdue.

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There’s A Difference

Posted in Biblical, Devotional, tagged , , , , , , on October 26, 2022| Leave a Comment »

If you have been following some of my blogs you have figured out that I am a word freak. I love words…word games, word search, the origin of words, and words backward and forward.

Two words seem to often be interchangeable … haven and heaven. But they truly are not. A haven is a refuge. It is a safe place away from danger. Many seek a haven from stress, life’s demands, or a reprieve from their jobs. The thing is, a haven is temporary, like a weekend at the spa or in a cabin by the lake in the mountains.

Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com

Heaven is something entirely different. It is permanent. Not very many return from there once they gain entrance. One man comes to mind who did, and a good portion of the Bible is a testimony to his life. But He is the exception to the rule. In fact, even Jesus told a story about the permanency of heaven. It is found in Luke’s Gospel.

In Chapter 16, there is the story of a selfish rich man who daily ignored a beggar named Lazarus (not to be confused with the man Jesus raised from the dead). When Lazarus died and went to heaven and sat near Abraham, the father of the faith, the rich man in hell asked him to reach down and touch his tongue with a drop of water. Abraham’s response is, “And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us” (vs. 26).

Whether you believe the streets in heaven are paved with gold, we will each have a mansion, sit on fluffy clouds playing harps, or spend our time in awe, bowing at the feet of our Savior and singing “holy, holy, holy” with the angels is not the point. The idea is permanency.

You see, it is all in the word. The power of one letter that totally changes the time span. (See why I love words?)

The difference between a haven and heaven is one letter… an e. And that “e” stands for eternity. All of us will die and leave this world. All of us will spend eternity somewhere else than here. The point of this story in Luke 16 is that we have a choice of where we will spend it. But choose wisely because your choice is permanent.

But the news gets better. If you seek a haven, then you can call out to heaven right now. Jesus also said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). We don’t need to dream of heaven. If we believe that Jesus is Lord and confess our sins, we have already received the passage to eternity. We can feel secure right here, today.

Jesus warned that the Christian path in this life is not an easy one, but also promised that if we lean on Him, He will bring a reprieve that doesn’t just last for a little while. It can last forever. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

A week’s retreat to a cabin in the mountains or to a beach lapped by waves across a turquoise sea may seem idyllic, but there is something much, much better within everyone’s reach. The question is, will you reach out to Him and receive a touch of heaven today?

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