CHRISTMAS NOSTALGIA

The older I get the earlier Christmas seems to appear every year and the more sentimental I become about Christmas past. My memories during the holidays are often whisked away to a time reminiscent of those cherished in old Norman Rockwell paintings when life was more simple and carefree.  I don’t have to look back too far however, to find some of the most precious memories of my life. It was the Christmas of 2002 and readers please beware, I cannot tell this story without shedding a few tears.

That Christmas was not extra special because of all the Christmas decorations, beautiful lavish gifts or gathering together with beloved family and friends.  In fact, that specific year we had no Christmas tree or any decorations at all.  We had no extravagant gifts and we were many, many hours away from any family or friends, however, the year 2002 will go down in history as one of the most precious Christmas memories of all time for me.

It all began when my husband lost his job and then felt called to be the Pastor of a small church in the foothills of the Ozarks in a small town in northern Arkansas.  Our house in Iowa hadn’t sold yet but to provide for our family my husband moved ahead of us to begin pastoring in August of 2002.  My husband had just had surgery for his broken hip at the beginning of December and was still on crutches. Because of working on packing up our home in Iowa to move, it was just before Christmas that I and our four small children were finally able to join him in the south. We moved into a small rental home with very little money, no furniture and not much food as we were waiting until New Year’s to receive our moving truck and most of our belongings from Iowa. 

We truly saw this as a time of faith building for our young family as we sought to use every need as an opportunity to pray with our children and ask God for His provision. Christmas was just days away and my husband and I knew we could not afford presents for our kids or be able to buy the food to have the kind of nice Christmas meal that we were all accustomed to.  We prayed and asked God for food for our Christmas meal and wood for our woodstove to keep us warm.

We watched in amazement and praised God as He faithfully answered our requests one at a time. We woke up one morning to piles and piles of wood for our stove that someone had anonymously dropped off and neatly stacked outside our door.  Sweet church members brought us some food and a little money, but knowing how much ham and turkey cost along with all of the "fixins" (an Arkansas term we learned well), the money we scrapped together still came up short for our special Christmas meal.

We kept praying with the kids and knew God would provide as He had always done before, but this time He chose to meet our needs in a very unexpected way.  On Christmas Eve, our children who were 11, 7, 5 and 3 years old all received Walmart gift cards from some family members back up North. We were especially happy and thankful for this because we had no Christmas gifts for them. Without us knowing, our oldest son took charge and gathered his two young sisters to begin scouring the grocery ads we had received in the mail.  They each picked out which food they especially wanted for Christmas dinner and Josiah got busy cutting out the coupons and making a grocery list.  Josiah, Elizabeth, Abigail and Andrew finally brought the list and coupons to show me what they had all decided on but I didn’t have the heart to tell him we would not have enough money to buy all of the food.  Our oldest son Josiah assured us that we did in fact have enough money because the kids had all agreed to use their Christmas gift cards to buy our special Christmas dinner. As I saw the genuine selfless expression of love from our kids, I was simply overcome with emotion.

To hear that our children would rather give their gift money to us to buy food instead of buying toys for themselves was overwhelming. What a blessing from God to have kids who were willing to sacrifice for the good of our whole family. They truly recognized that God was indeed providing money for our food through their own gifts they had received.  I sobbed as I thanked the children for their kind act of selflessness. We had fervently prayed and God had faithfully answered through such unexpected means. We had one of the nicest Christmas dinners ever that year served on a plastic patio table we brought in from outside.  Although we were away from all of our extended family and our familiar surroundings with no Christmas décor at all, God blessed us with so much more that year than we could have ever dreamed.

The most beautiful blessings of the Christmas of 2002 were those intangible gifts we received such as being reminded that God loves us more than we can ever comprehend and will answer our prayers in ways we could never dream of.  It was also so precious to realize that we did not need all of that “Christmas” stuff to truly enjoy the genuine meaning of Christmas anyway.   We could never have experienced this kind of Christmas if we had remained in the comfortable setting of our former life in Iowa.  God was showing us a special glimpse of His goodness through meeting our most basic needs.

On a much grander scale, that Christmas we grasped the concept that even though we didn’t have earthly gifts to give each other, were most thankful for the amazing gift that God had given to us.  He sent His only Son Jesus to save us all from our sin.  Jesus left heaven to be born on earth as a baby and willingly gave up His life, dying on the cross so we could have eternal life. All we have to do is believe in Him and confess our sins to be forgiven eternally.  I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all our unrighteousness.”

I pray that as you may be rushing around in the hustle and bustle of this Christmas season, you will take the time to reflect on some of your own special nostalgic Christmas memories. You may not have that picturesque setting of a Norman Rockwell painting come to mind but I guarantee there are years of hidden treasures of blessings you may have even forgotten about that clearly shine bright with the goodness of God.  May you especially recognize the most Awesome gift of all this Christmas and join me in worshipping the One who was born and died so that we can truly live.  God bless you and Merry Christmas.

I JUST CANNOT DO IT!

Do you ever look at your circumstances in life and wonder how much more you can take?  Are there times when you’re totally convinced if one more stressful situation was placed on your spiritual plate that you’d surely roll up into fetal position in the corner and have a permanent unrecoverable meltdown?  Whether your everyday life circumstances are just plain hard or you’ve been enduring some kind of hardships, do you find yourself frequently muttering under your breath, “I just cannot do this!” or “I can’t handle this anymore!”

I have been right there with you and there have been days recently when I curled up on the couch, covered my head and cried and laughed and cried some more.  I’m sure my family will remember those emotional outbursts well, but hopefully they learned something through my unnecessary displays of despair.   When we cry out in anger or anguish proclaiming that we just can’t do it anymore, we are definitely right. That’s when God breathes a sigh of relief since He sees that we are finally getting on the right track!  Cracking under the stress of extreme trials has shown me that no matter how hard I try, I will never be able to handle anything without the strength of God Himself.  And even though you think you might be wonder woman, I am here to unequivocally proclaim to you that You cannot do anything in your own strength and supernatural power is only a prayer away.

I certainly have been guilty of believing the lie that I can handle everything in my own strength.  In recent months, our family has gone through the refiner’s fire and just when we think we see the light at the end of the tunnel, the fire just seems to get hotter.  When it looked like one situation was being resolved, at times it would get worse or another trial would just take its place.  Sometimes the intensity of the flames nearly made me want to give up, shrivel up and burn up.  My strength was small because I thought I could endure all of these trials in my own and that’s where I was so wrong.  The Bible says that “If we faint in the day of adversity, our strength is small.” Proverbs 24:10

Of course, God knew all along that I had been mostly relying on myself and on rare occasion would call out to Him in desperation only when I had reached the end of my rope.  I thought I could handle it all on my own so God allowed me to stay in the heat longer. My Father wanted me to grasp the concept that His strength is made perfect in my weakness and I didn’t have to be stressed out and overwhelmed by all the pressures I was facing.  Our God wants us to remember what He told us in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” not our own version which says, “I can do all things in my own strength and will call on God when I get tired.”

When we refuse to rely on God as our refuge and strength and choose to try to handle things on our own because we think we can do a better job, our Father must sometimes keep us in the flame a little longer until we surrender our will to His.  I think I’ve finally gotten to the point where I try to learn what God wants me to learn in a trial as soon as possible so that I can move on to the next lesson, but I still sometimes flunk the test.  Our constant prayer must be, “Jesus, please help me not have to repeat the same lessons over and over!  Help me to ask for your strength and grasp the truths you have for me to learn and not believe the lie that I have the power to do things on my own.”

-Maybe you have endured a long exhausting custody battle where officials do not seem to care about the safety of precious little children. 

-Maybe you have kids that would rather go their own way and follow the destructive road than to follow Christ to the abundant life. 

-Maybe you’ve been deeply betrayed by someone you thought cared about you.

- Maybe you paid some professionals tens of thousands of dollars and they cheated you and took off with all of your money without doing the work they agreed to do. 

-Maybe someone blatantly lied to you or about you in order to gain something from you. 

-Maybe you thought someone was your true friend but they left you just when you were hurting.

-Maybe you have experienced several car repairs over and over and you’re not sure how much more money you will be able to dish out.

Whatever the small "cross" we are called to carry, God is patiently waiting for us to give up the crazy notion that we are in control and that we can handle life on our own. Our loving Father never intended for us to endure trials in our own human frailty, He designed us to depend on His supernatural power to see us through the fire. God loves us and is constantly at work arranging each piece of the puzzle of our life to create a masterpiece through our trials and He wants us to testify of the power of His strength at work in us.  

We must remember that no matter what the circumstances of our life are, that there is nothing we cannot endure when we are depending on His strength instead of our own.   I assure you as my family has experienced the strength of the Lord standing with us during our trials, it is much easier and more joyful to trust in God instead of ourselves.  May you also echo the words found in 2 Timothy 4:17 during those times when you may be tempted to rely on your own strength.

TRUST HIS HEART

Have you ever prayed and prayed for something day after day and wondered why God doesn't seem to be answering?  If what we've been crying out to God for is exactly His will then what is the hold up?  Doesn't Matthew 21:22 tell us, "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive"?  Although we may have faith that God is powerful enough to bring about resolution to our seemingly impossible situation, it sometimes seems as if God's timing is off or maybe He has just forgotten about our prayers?  His schedule just doesn't match up with our agenda.

The days, weeks, months and even years may have passed since we first bowed our trembling knees before the throne of grace and petitioned for God's perfect and holy will in our heartbreaking situation.  Why, oh why does it sometimes seem like it's taking an eternity for God to grant us our simple request? After all, our Father could make all of our pain disappear in seconds with His spoken word so why doesn't He get busy and do so? 

I've been begging my heavenly infinitely wise Father for a resolution for our trial for more than 5 years now.  My heart has continually resided in agony as the pit in my stomach comes and goes like the wind.  I could be perfectly fine one minute and then a wave of grief overtakes my spirit and brings me to tears. There was a time when I cried myself to sleep every night.  In the darkness my tears would soak my pillow as I begged God to change our situation. The process of giving my fears over to God and proceeding to take control once again was a vicious cycle that simply needed to cease.


Over the years the excruciating pain in my gut has lessened slightly and sleep is no longer a problem.  Has God finally answered my cry and put an end to my heart wrenching pain?  My humble answer for those who ask is a soft, "Not completely." What has changed is not my circumstances, for I have finally learned to meditate on the promises of my faithful Father in  I Peter 5:7, which says, "Casting ALL your cares on Him for He cares for you." The constant despair that once plagued me has been replaced with hope and peace.  My God really does care for me and loves me more than I could ever imagine. He also loves those for whom I've been earnestly and fervently praying far more than I would ever be able to.

Because I am a child of the King who possesses only limited knowledge of the entire picture and in my pride I've been elevating myself above my sovereign Savior in believing that I know more than He does.  I couldn't possibly see any good that was resulting from this heartbreak until one day recently when God gave me some extra spiritual insight I had not seen before.

No, God has not miraculously resolved our situation and answered all of my prayers completely.  No, He has not spoken to me in a dream and revealed exactly when it is that He plans on bringing the entire resolution. The peace in my heart returned when I finally realized that sometimes God doesn't change things overnight, there are instances when our answers come in a gradual form. It is crucial for us to be aware of and thankful for those little blessings of answered prayer, even when stretched out over several years. After all, God has a purpose for every single little thing that He allows into our lives.

I have simply come to the realization that God is God and I must trust Him and His plans. "...Who works all things according to the counsel of His own will." (Ephesians 1:11) Although He loves and cares for my broken heart, He must weave together carefully every intricate detail of each situation in His own perfect time to accomplish and He "works all things together for our good and His glorify." (Romans 8:28) During this process of fitting every piece of the puzzle together exactly where it belongs to complete His purposes, our Father desires to receive ultimate praise and honor from All He has done.

Each person involved in this trial must learn exactly what God has planned for us to learn or our trial won't ever be over. So what could our loving Savior possibly desire for us to gain as we continue to wait on our prayers to be answered? He desires for us to experience His awesome attributes and come to the place where we surrender our selfish will and impatient timing to His sovereign will and ways. God tells us in Isaiah 55:8-9, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts."

Sometimes we can't see God's complete plan, so we must learn to Trust His heart. We cannot ever trust in someone else's heart or even our own heart because it our heart is wicked and will lie to us and mislead us. Jeremiah warns us of trusting our own heart in Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?" 

I am sharing with you the touching lyrics to one of my favorite songs. The truths of these words have comforted me and reminded me of the importance of placing my trust in my sovereign Savior even when I don't understand His ways.

 Trust His Heart

All things work for our good
Though sometimes we can't
See how they could
Struggles that break our hearts in two
Sometimes blind us to the truth

Our Father knows what's best for us
His ways are not our own
So when your pathway grows dim
And you just can't see Him,
Remember you're never alone

God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don't understand
When don't see His plan
When you can't trace His hand
Trust His Heart

He sees the master plan
He holds the future in His hand,
So don't live as those who have no hope,
All our hope is found in Him.

We see the present clearly
But He sees the first and last
And like a tapestry He's weaving you and me,
To someday be just like Him

We must come to the realization that God's ultimate goal in suffering through our trials is for His children to trust His heart and become more like Jesus Christ.
-He knows exactly what to allow into our lives to accomplish His purposes in us.
-He knows exactly how long we must endure those difficulties to accomplish those purposes.
-He knows exactly when and how to calm the tumultuous storms in our lives.
-He desires for us to trust His heart until every detail has been finished in our hearts.
-He makes it possible to possess the peace that only He can give during our pain.  


We cannot allow ourselves to be paralyzed by our pain.  We must simply "Let Go" of our trial and leave it in the hands of the only One who can change our situation.  I do not understand but God does.  I do not know what the future holds, but God does.  I am not in control, but God is and I trust Him.  Are you willing to let go of the pain that at times disables you and learn what God is trying to teach you in the midst of your heartache?  Are you ready to be comforted by peace when you finally stop waiting for change and place your trust in God's heart?  When we don't see His plan, when we don't understand, when we can't trace His hand, TRUST His heart.

WHAT KIND OF CHOCOLATE ARE YOU?

This year marked the 27^th Valentine’s Day Richard and I have celebrated together.  It’s tradition for my wonderful husband to spoil our daughters and me with the most amazing homemade gourmet chocolate.  We discovered this quaint little chocolate factory on a road trip one time and decided it would be fun to stop and check the place out.  To our excitement, we were allowed to indulge ourselves in a sample feast full of various splendid types of specialized chocolates but it was hard to narrow down my favorite.

We learned that day that there are basically two major types of chocolate, sweet and tender milk chocolate and a darker, more bitter chocolate.  The correlation between the two types of chocolate

and the condition of our spiritual heart seemed to jump out at me.  I pray as you read my post today that you can determine what kind of chocolate your heart resembles.  Is your heart soft and sweet or hard and bitter?

I’m not trying to knock those who enjoy dark bitter chocolate, but spiritually speaking bitterness is not enjoyable at all.  I know personally how destructive the consequences of unforgiveness can be.  For decades I suffered greatly and was trapped and tormented with the heavy chains of bitterness wrapped tightly around my neck.   

What exactly is bitterness and what does God say about it?  Bitterness doesn’t occur only when we choose not to forgive our offenders, we can become bitter toward God when we refuse to accept what He has chosen to allow in our lives.   As Hebrews 12:15 states, bitterness is “resisting God’s grace” in our lives because we do not trust in His sovereign purposes in allowing hurts and offenses to happen.  We question if God has our best interests at heart and refuse to see things from His eternal perspective.

God commands us to “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you" (Ephesians 4:31,32).  If we are controlled by bitterness, anger and hatred we will not be showing the genuine love, kindness, compassion and forgiveness of Christ to others.  So how do we rid ourselves of these horrible sins?  It’s only made possible because of the example of Jesus.

 I Peter 2:21-23 “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us and example, that you should follow His steps:  Who committed NO sin… they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly"   We must not retaliate but forgive, fully entrusting our situation to God who is the judge.(Romans 2:19) He will always work the situation we are going through together for His glory and our good.  We can be assured that God will do a far better job humbling our offender than we ever could.

Although Jesus was sinless and innocent of any crime, he was scourged, mocked, bruised, spit on and beaten beyond recognition on the road to Calvary. We will never experience that kind of suffering in our lifetime.  Christ chose to hang on the cross to suffer and die in the place of the very people who hated Him and prayed, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”Luke 23:34.  Christ knew that those people were blinded by their sin.  He died to offer salvation freely to those who humble themselves and ask forgiveness of their sin. Jesus willingly endured the pain of Calvary to offer His offenders the free gift of eternal life.  No matter what, we must follow Jesus’ example to forgive and love our accusers as He did.

What are the consequences of allowing bitterness into our hearts?

--1) God will not forgive us for our sin. Matt. 6:14-15 “…For if you do not forgive others of their sins, your heavenly Father will not forgive you of your sins.”

--2) God won't hear our prayers. Ps. 66:18“If I regard iniquity in my heart, God will not hear me.”

--3) Our conscience will condemn us with guilt until we confess our sin of bitterness.  (Romans 2:15)   “Who show the work of God’s law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness…their thoughts accusing or excusing them.”   God’s law is written in our hearts, guilt comes when we do not forgive even though we know we should.

 -4) Choosing not to forgive will ruin our relationships with spouses, children, friends, family and most importantly with God.  

--5) We will be kept from accomplishing God’s plan for us to enjoy an abundant life. (John 10:10) “The thief (Satan) has only come to kill, steal and destroy, but I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly.” 

  Here are some questions to determine if the root of bitterness has taken hold in your heart: (Unforgiving people don’t usually regard themselves as bitter at all)

---Am I easily offended or hurt by others?

---Do I have a hard time forgiving people who offend me or deeply resent them?

---Do I feel sometimes like life is just not fair and at times question God for allowing circumstances into my life or in the life of my loved ones?

---Do I believe that I’ll change my offender’s behavior by not extending forgiveness?

---Do I often replay hurts over and over in my mind?

---Would I secretly enjoy seeking revenge?

---Do I believe that there’s a limit on how far I should extend forgiveness?

---Do I merely say “I forgive” from my mind instead of truly forgiving from my heart?

Does your heart better resemble sweet or bitter chocolate?  If you’ve identified some bitterness through the questions above, I beg you to seek the Lord and confess it all to Him.  Jesus’ blood is powerful enough to cover any sin imaginable.  Once our heart is transformed from bitter to sweet through confession and forgiveness, we will experience the peace, joy and blessing we’ve been searching for that only God can give.

NEVER LOOK DOWN

I would not consider myself to be totally accident prone by any means but I must admit that I’ve had some embarrassing episodes of falling down in public.  Several times I’ve managed to somehow lose my balance by twisting my ankle, tripping over the edge of a rug or by running into someone because I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. Falling in a more private setting really doesn’t bother me.  It is those public displays of embarrassment that I try to avoid at any cost such as the time I ended up on the floor with an audience of a few hundred people.

I won’t go into too many specifics here, but a few years ago I tripped and fell flat on my face in front of the entire congregation during a worship service.  This particular morning while ascending onto the platform to sing in the choir, I happen to be sporting some rather high heels.  I somehow caught one of my heels on the leg of a choir chair. In spite of all of my efforts to regain my balance, I ended up not so gracefully on the auditorium stage.  If that was not horrendous and humiliating enough, I somehow managed to knock over several choir chairs on my way down to meet the floor.  I am thankful however that I was wearing a longer skirt at the time and was able to keep a modest appearance.

Forever etched on my brain will be the priceless stares I received as a result of my unfortunate mishap.  I witnessed many concerned expressions which were somewhat comforting; however there were a handful of parishioners who were smiling and even laughing at me!   Oh if this could only have been a wretched nightmare instead of blatant reality!  I seriously contemplated crawling into the nearest dark corner where I could die.

Call me slightly dramatic, but after our choir special was finished I promptly limped as quickly as I could to exit the church building and hurried home.  My emotions went wacko as I proceeded to laugh and cry uncontrollably all afternoon under the covers in my bed.  Replaying this upsetting experience over and over in my mind in slow motion did not seem to comfort me whatsoever.

I also informed my husband that I would soon be withdrawing my church membership due to utter embarrassment.  After spending some time in much needed prayer, some semblance of my sanity slowly began to return as I confessed my pride to God.  I felt totally sorry for myself but finally resolved no longer to linger in my sin of self pity.

Suffering that kind of mortification made an indelible impression on me, BUT what I will never ever forget is the reaction of the young lady who was walking behind me when I fell down. She graciously reached out her hand and helped me back up to my feet, then carefully straightened up all of the chairs I’d knocked over.  Her warm smile and reassuring hug granted me a glimmer of hope that everything was going to be okay.  Her Christ like example served as an extension of the loving hand of God and was a reminder of how we should all be helping others who happen to stumble physically as well as those who fall spiritually.

Never once did I see that young ladies finger waiving in my face telling me I needed to be more observant of my surroundings or stop wearing high heels.  There was no implication that I was a terrible person for falling and that I deserved to suffer the consequences for my situation.  Grace, mercy and love were poured out to me and I will never forget the healing that came to my soul as a result of her simple yet compassionate response to my dreadful circumstances.

Is this the very same response that we have with other Christians that fall down spiritually around us?   Or instead do we simply choose to point our fingers in judgment and disapproving condemnation at the plight of the fallen?  It is crucial for us to remember all of the times when we ourselves have desperately needed assistance and what kind of response from others has helped us to heal spiritually.

We are reminded in Galatians 6:1 of what to do when others fall down around us,“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.”  Why does God instruct us to handle things this way instead of looking down at others with a prideful gaze of judgment?  We go on to read in verses 2 and 3 that give us a warning from God that we must always keep at the forefront of our minds.  “Keep watch on yourself unless you too be tempted.  Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.  For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

Bearing the burdens of others means to lift them up and humbly encourage them in love when they have spiritually failed.  God is our ultimate burden bearer, but He desires to work through us to help others bear their heavy loads.  All the while we are helping the oppressed we are actually fulfilling the law of Christ.  We’re told that the same mercy that we extend to others will also be shown to us when we fall.

Many Christians get tripped up on verse 3 because of our nasty sin of pride.  We’re warned stop deceiving ourselves about our sin and keep watching and discerning our own spiritual condition, unless we too fall down. 

We begin to believe that since we haven’t fallen down recently that we are invincible and immune to stumbling.  Watch out!  Possessing this kind of arrogant attitude will most assuredly lead us to suffer another embarrassing fall.  How can we expect others to want to help us up when we've only acted in prideful judgment toward them instead of love?

We all need hugs and kind words of encouragement when we have fallen but there are also times when we do need someone else to speak the truth in love to us when we are in error.  In the spirit of humility we must be willing to make some changes in our spiritual lives so that we can become more conformed to the image of Christ.  All of us need spiritual guidance from those who have gone through the valleys we are currently facing.  We must all possess a teachable spirit and be willing to share the lessons God has taught us with others in the spirit of gentleness.  We’re all sinners and will continually need others to help us up in times of troubles. 

May each of us keep in mind the forgiveness, grace, love and mercy that God and others have granted to us.  May we also extend those same Christ like virtues to others who have fallen.  The next time we witness that someone has tripped up spiritually, may we remember to never look down on them unless we are helping them back up to their feet again.

DISTRACTED

I must admit that one of my biggest downfalls is that I have a tendency to become easily distracted.  I find myself making excuses for my inability to concentrate for very long at a task.  Even though I do have a lot on my mind at all times with kids, grandkids, homeschooling, church activities and trying to minister to others, this is definitely one of the biggest areas in which I desperately need improvement. As a result of my failure to stay completely focused at times while driving, I’ve had the pleasure of being introduced to several very nice law enforcement officers. Even though they all were quite pleasant and I haven’t been issued any tickets thankfully, I’m always embarrassed at the predicaments that could’ve been easily avoided if I’d only been more attentive. 
 

One such incident occurred several weeks ago while riding along in the car with my daughters.  My oldest daughter was still becoming familiar with driving in some of the areas of the town where we live.  Everything seemed to be going along great until I got the brilliant idea to show her a beautiful old home that I had driven by the week before.  I enjoy looking at the architecture and design of homes and especially admire landscapes and gardens.  Instead of driving all the way around the block to get to this gorgeous mansion, I thought it would be easier to take a short cut.

I had not realized before that the road in front of this home was a one way street.  She began questioning my driving instructions as she noticed the “One Way” sign, but I was so enamored with staring at the amazing gardens and grounds of this home that I was not paying attention to the signs.  I told her to go ahead and turn down the wrong way on the “One way” street!  Against her better judgment, she began to go around the corner just as a police car pulled up on the opposite side of the street.

Once I saw the police officer, my attention was immediately engaged in what was actually taking place.  We were just a few feet from hitting his nice shiny car as we rounded the corner.  I’ll never forget the angry surprised look of disapproval on his face as long as I live!  He was also making a rounding motion with his fingers but we didn’t understand what he was trying to communicate.  We then proceeded to climb up over the curb and thankfully missed colliding with him.  I then realized that we must’ve served as some sort of comic relief for him as his look of horror and anger turned to laughter and a huge friendly smile.

We stopped, rolled down the window, and informed him that we had realized our mistake and asked for forgiveness.  Thankfully he was a kind hearted forgiving sort of person.  He allowed us to back up, turn around and be on our way without a ticket or warning of which we are eternally grateful.  Always striving to find the positive aspect in these embarrassing situations, we were at least thankful that we had brightened someone’s day with laughter.

Right away the Holy Spirit was convicting me of my lack of attentiveness in giving proper driving directions to my daughter.  I was wrong to allow myself to become enticed by the pretty flower gardens instead of keeping my eyes on the road ahead of us.  Spiritually speaking, this whole ordeal caused me to realize that I need to be more focused on the most important things in life and not allow myself to be so easily distracted by the temporal.  I’m often led away by my selfish desires instead of focusing on what God has me here to do.

We’re all distracted by little things every day that channel our focus to the temporal instead of the eternal.  As I think of all of these distractions I’m reminded of Jesus’ warning in John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.”  If Satan cannot kill us or destroy our lives through sin we get involved in, he will attack us by tempting us to divert our attention to things that don’t matter and steal our time.  If Satan tried his best to distract Jesus Christ from fulfilling God’s purposes for bringing salvation to the world through the cross, we had better be on guard to how he attempts to lure us away as well. 2 Cor. 2:11, “Lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.”

There are a plethora of distractions in Satan’s arsenal that He continually uses to get our eyes off accomplishing eternal things for God’s kingdom.  Maybe you yourself can relate to how I have fallen prey to some of Satan’s devices concerning distractions in my life?  Have you also involved yourselves in all of the “good” things that steal your time away each day instead of us focusing on the “best” things?  Will all the time we spend on social media, hobbies, sports, music, leisure or entertainment last for eternity? Even educational pursuits, family functions or church activities can all be things but are these all the very best ways to spend God's time? Isn’t it just like Satan to use what is “good” to keep us from doing what is “best”!

Too often we allow the Devil to continue to throw our past sin in our face.  He whispers the lie that because of our past sin we have no business doing anything for God now. God makes it clear however in I John 1:9,“If we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 

When He forgives our sin, it is forgiven as “far as the east is from the west… When Satan tries to torment us with our past sin, we need to stand firm and quote the Truth that refutes his lies and shuts him up. Our downfall comes only when we act helpless and forget about the power we have in Christ through His Word.  Our ultimate goal is to emulate Philippians 3:13, “…forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.”

Many times we’re distracted with the injustice of how others have mistreated us.  I used to be so wrapped up with my wounds that I wasted God’s valuable time choosing not to forgive offenders and was plagued with the guilt of my unconfessed sin.  I finally realized that it was Satan who sent those people to be used as pawns to hurt me and distract me from God’s plan. Our example to follow is found in God's Word, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32 When we’ve been hurt we must readily forgive as Christ forgives us, learn what God wanted us to learn in allowing those hurts and get back to the business of fulfilling His plan.

Has the Enemy kept you distracted by your past or present sin struggles? Have you been so wrapped up in the hurts of how you’ve been mistreated by others?  Are you spending your time participating in the “good” things in this life and neglect to fulfill the “best” God has for you to do?  When we reach the end of our lives will we regret all of the wasted years we spent caught up in temporal distractions?  Jesus calls us to follow Him, focus on His plan for us and accomplish the impossible for Him. These are the ONLY things that will truly last for eternity.

TROPHIES

This week my husband and I have been celebrating our 25 year Wedding Anniversary.  We've now officially spent a quarter of a century together and I am astonished at how quickly the years have flown by!  As we have been nearing this milestone in our lives I’m realizing just how monumental this occasion truly is.  For sadly in our culture, these kind of anniversary celebrations are becoming more and more obsolete.  We certainly do not deserve any accolades for our long relationship, we are simply trophies of God's grace and goodness.


Some may have thought the odds were against us having a successful marriage.  After all, we barely knew each other 3 months when Richard asked me to marry him.  I was a teenage bride and remember being adamant about waiting until I turned 19 to say our vows so I wouldn’t seem so young. 

Besides being over seven years apart in age, my husband and I are both firstborn children who possessed a strong and stubborn will and a slight determination to have our own way.  If those weren’t big enough hurdles, our first few years of marriage were filled with many trials, which have the tendency to stretch us in ways we never dreamed.

 I came down with a severe case of mononucleosis on our honeymoon and slept an average of 21 hours a day for nine long months.  Our basement apartment flooded while we were out of town and completely destroyed many of our meager earthly possessions. Richard and I were involved in an accident and suffered some long lasting injuries when a ton and a half tow truck pummeled into the back our car as we sat at a stop light. During that time, my parents were divorced after 22 years of marriage which was very difficult for me, even as an adult child. We were also extremely heartbroken to lose three babies through miscarriage, all in one year’s time.  Each one of these circumstances that our Enemy intended to tear our marriage apart, we recognized that God meant for our good.  With each trial He was working on our behalf to polish away the dull areas of sin in our hearts in an attempt to someday display us as shining trophies of His grace and goodness.

After enduring all of those trials, I was hoping for a respite from any further tribulation.  But of course, God views the situations in our lives totally different than we do and has greater purposes to accomplish in allowing them. Our Father knows that sometimes the only way for us to truly grasp the depths of His love, mercy and grace is for us to witness it in action during difficult times.  Many times I have heard God whisper to me just as He reassured the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9 , “My grace is sufficient for you, my strength is made perfect in your weakness.”

Over the years we have experienced God’s grace and goodness through a wide variety of unexpected events. Richard lost his job three times and three of our homes were flooded, teaching us that money and material possessions were not the most important thing.  We’ve suffered through the death of close friends and loved ones, have experienced serious health problems and near death situations. We’ve gone through heart wrenching challenges with one of our precious children that nearly broke our hearts in two but with each new circumstance, God was always there beside us extending His love, mercy and grace for every moment.  God’s goal for each of us is the same desire He had for allowing Job's trials.  In Job 23:10 we hear the wisdom of Job's words, "But He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold."  All the while God's will for us was to emerge from our fiery trials shining like gold and to become glowing trophies of His grace and goodness.

Some may ask how it's possible today for a marriage to not only survive but also thrive?  We certainly haven't made it 25 years because we are so special and have it all together.  We don't have a long lasting marriage because we are such wonderful people who never have conflict.  We are both messed up sinners that have struggled greatly with stubbornness, impatience, anger, selfishness, and pride over the years. Time after time, as we’ve witnessed the example of our Savior's grace, love, forgiveness and mercy toward us, we have slowly been transformed more and more into the image of Jesus Christ.  Our marriage and family are without a doubt, a huge trophy of God’s unfathomable grace and amazing goodness and nothing more.

-Because of God’s unmerited grace, we are able to possess the most important key to enjoying a successful life.  Because of Jesus Christ’s shed blood sacrifice on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin, we can enjoy abundant, successful lives no matter what circumstances we face. When Jesus is our Savior, we can go through rough waters and still experience His unsurpassing peace that the world can never provide. We can't enjoy a truly successful Christ honoring marriage and family until we receive God’s free gift of eternal life. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

-Because of God’s unfailing love toward us, we are then able to extend a Christ like love to our spouse. We see in I John 4:7, “…let us love one another, for love comes from God.” I John 3:16, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” Vs. 18 says, “…Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”  I learned long ago that romantic “feelings” of infatuation and excitement may fade as difficult times come. It's the biblical love of responsible action flowing from an unselfish heart because of our Savior’s love that makes a marriage last.  We can’t always trust feelings and emotions that come and go, but when both spouses truly love each other with the genuine love of Christ, your relationship will survive and thrive.

-Because of God’s continual forgiveness and mercy toward us, we are then able to show mercy and forgiveness when we are offended by others.  We can forbear each other’s faults daily when we humbly come to the realization that we have a few sin problems of our own.  Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” How dare we play the role of God and pick and chose what offenses we want to forgive our spouse for when we offend God daily far more than we could ever be humanly offended.  Each of us must then come to the point where we concentrate more on cleaning out our own filthy hearts instead of concentrating on how our spouse needs to change.  Pray and place your spouse’s heart into the capable hands of the One who can truly bring about lasting transformation. In the meantime our responsibility is to grant forgiveness and mercy because God gives it freely to us.

We are extremely humbled and thankful to be shining trophies of God’s goodness over the past 25 years. He has blessed us far beyond what we could ever have imagined. We're grateful for the five wonderful children and two precious grandchildren He has blessed us with.

 Through the prosperous times and the difficulties, our Father has been molding and shaping us more into the image of Jesus.  We have a long way to go, but we trust that God will continue to lovingly rub off the ugly smudges of pride and selfishness from our hearts little by little. We trust that He will allow whatever circumstances He deems best to produce results until we are sparkling trophies of His grace, love, forgiveness and mercy.

As you look back over the years, can you see how God has extended His unmerited grace, unfailing love and continual mercy and forgiveness to you during the calm as well as in the storms of your life?  May each of us regularly reflect on all of the instances where God’s goodness was revealed in spite of our circumstances.  May we testify of our Father’s goodness and become shining trophies and treasures that will give Him the glory that He alone is worthy to receive.