All in Faith/Trust
Day after day, week after week, year after year I went to the nursing home to visit my mother. We couldn’t carry on a conversation, because the affect of dementia left her unable to speak. For years, she was unable to walk; and eventually, she was unable to move anything except her head. Some days I knew Mother was “there.” I knew she understood me and wanted to respond, but her illness prevented communication.
Eighty-Nine days.
Days that my 94-year old father was isolated in his assisted living apartment due to COVID-19 restrictions.
We planned to drive 900 miles in late June to see Dad, but he called me and explained, “You should cancel your trip. You won’t be allowed to visit me, except by phone through my window.”
As I started writing this week, I mentioned that I wanted to wait to tell my story. I wanted to wait until I could write the ending. I wanted the story to have the ending that I believe was coming, the ending I was hoping for. I trust that God is going to do great things in the life of my daughter. I trust that He is working all things out. But again I am faced with the truth that the story that I would write for her may not be His story.
The fall progressed. I had begun weaving her future story in my mind as we waited for the spring track and field season. She was going to have the comeback of the year. The stuff you see in movies. We were ready and waiting to see this play out.
It was a bitter disappointment. My daughter had worked hard and felt like she’d demonstrated necessary skills to advance to the higher-level orchestra. But instead, she saw her closest musician-buddies move ahead, leaving her further back than before.
By the end of May the Covid threat was lessening, so when aunt ‘Chelle called to recruit blueberry pickers, grandson #3 and I jumped at the chance. It was a gorgeous day. Didn’t matter that we had to drive twenty minutes. Didn’t matter that they had to take our temperature. We were free, our masks were off, and the blueberries were plentiful. Armed with the secret to efficiency—attach your pail to your belt so you can use both hands—we found a row to ourselves.
Paul was on a roll: Mark my words! (5:2), you foolish Galatians! (3:1). They were in Christ by faith; so are we. They were set free by Christ for freedom (5:1); so are we. They were called to be free (5:13), as are we. High time we, along with those Galatians, put our own personal exclamation marks on Paul’s words.
Ladies, I have to admit—it’s the being free in this world of ours with its expectations that gets tricky. And way back then, a mere fifteen or so years from the cross, Paul’s friends in Galatia were being burdened by the rule-making of the religious zealots. Considering that God’s concept of freedom in Eden with its one rule had spiraled down to the 613 Torah plus multi oral laws by Jesus’ time, it was not surprising. Faith was too easy. Let’s add a little circumcision here, some dietary restrictions there, a few of the old feast days. Then you will be saved for sure.
Ladies, to be free it is imperative we grasp the very essence of our gift of freedom from the Father who called you by the grace of Christ (Galatians 1:6).
I enjoy sunsets from a pink chair in the shade of an ancient Pine. I prop my feet up on rusty barbed wire that runs straight through that tree. A deep gash spans ten feet up the side of this warrior Pine—damage from a lightning strike. Even though the wound is deep, bark has grown over it allowing the tree to survive. Nevertheless, I sense the tree’s groaning from the wound and the wires. Paul sensed this also when he wrote that creation will one day be set free from the bondage of corruption. Until then, all creation is “groaning together with labor pains” (Romans 8:22 CSV).
Jeremiah, the prophet, only recorded two prayers in his book of prophecy. I especially enjoyed studying the occasion for one of those two prayers. God had asked him to do something that appeared incredibly illogical. Jeremiah obeyed, then wrote down his prayer. He began with a reminder to himself that the God who made the heavens and the earth could, obviously, do anything. Jeremiah then stated his question to God, “The Babylonians are outside the walls of Jerusalem and about to destroy everything and take us captive. Why, then, did you have me purchase this piece of property with silver near Jerusalem and record the transaction on a sealed scroll with witnesses?”
I’ve begun a different type of journey-through-the-Bible. I’m studying each of the 222 prayers. Imagine, of all the prayers spoken through the ages, God selected these specific ones to record. I’m focusing on the types of things people prayed for and how God responded. It’s a rich and rewarding pilgrimage.ho
As a young wife and mother, I thought I had the perfect blueprint for our family. My intention was to have two children. No more. Within a few years we had two wonderful little boys. When I learned that I was expecting baby number three, I was extremely upset.
Many “several years ago” when I had a hard body and long hair, I did some mountain climbing and rock climbing. During those times, I heard many climbers making pleas and promises to God such as: “Help me, Jesus! Lord, if you just get me off this mountain, I promise I will never do this again.” Sometimes during climbing the fear level on a Richter scale of 1 to 10 can be a 25.
My girls and I were visiting with my parents, who live out in the country surrounded by beautiful rolling hills. There is great joy when sitting on their front porch gazing out over the green luscious pasture and beautiful blue pond. It is such a peaceful environment.
Paul and Silas were in bondage; they seemed to be in a hopeless situation. However stone-cold walls were not going to keep them from worshipping the Lord. They knew that there was power in the name of Jesus. God not only shook the very ground they were standing on but also broke the chains that held them in defeat.
In this verse we learn about a household who stood up against peer pressure over taking sides of who to follow. The early church in Corinth was becoming divided over whose teachings they should follow. They no longer looked at Christ as the Almighty leader, but one among many.
God had a plan and a message for Nineveh. He wanted Jonah to be the one who delivered the message to the wicked nation. Jonah, however, did not want to be involved in God’s plan, so he ran away. He thought he could escape from his calling by going in the opposite direction from Nineveh. God desired Nineveh to repent from their evil ways and nothing Jonah did could waver His plan.
Have you had one of those days when the moment your feet hit the floor in the morning it is go...go...go?
One particular morning I was awakened to the cries of my children and husband, “Mom, I am hungry!”, “Mom, can I take a shower”, and “Honey, what is your agenda for today?”
When I was a child, there was a “Mr. Men” and “Little Miss” book series written by Roger Hargreaves. The characters in the stories had dominant personality traits that either caused them problems or showed another character how to engage in the positive quality. Everyone learned something through the moral lesson of story.
