My blog

Category: Faith

  • Speech Impediment

    Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” Exo 4:10 NKJV

    This verse spoke to my heart because I too am not eloquent when speaking from a podium or the like. I need time to ponder my words becoming more and more careful of my speech the older I get. It’s the reason God gave us two ears and only one mouth. To listen better and then speak.

    But in Moses’ case, he had a speech impediment and the task God had given him seemed impossible to do. And yet, God knew Moses would succeed because God orchestrated the situation and Moses’ steps. I find comfort because Moses had failings. He killed an Egyptian which thrust him out of the society that had been his life and yet, God had a plan despite his human condition.

    The movie “The Ten Commandments” with Charlton Heston doesn’t depict Moses as having had the speech impediment but the actor portrayed Moses’ humbleness well. While the movie follows the book of Exodus, there is poetic license and scenes which are not Biblical. It might be fun to watch the movie and follow along in the Bible to see where the movie is in error. If for no other reason than to prove what is the truth and what isn’t.

  • Rainbows!

    I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. Gen 9:13 NKJV

    Rainbows are a sign of God’s promise to never again flood the earth. They remind us of His faithfulness and one of my favorite things. I always look for them on a rainy and sunny day and ask God to show me His rainbow. I look for it and there it is. Then I thank Him for His revelation and promise.

    I’ve had the privilege of seeing double rainbows on more occasions than I can count. Sometimes they are beautiful and bright with defined colors and sometimes they are pastel and watery. It doesn’t matter which, I’m always amazed at God’s faithfulness.

    Years ago I worked in a large firm in California. I remember looking out the window of that four-story building where a rainbow splashed against the sky.  A few young girls sat at their desks and we discussed rainbows and their significance.  The astonished look on their faces told me they didn’t know rainbows were biblical, or that they were God’s promise to us.

    What are your recollections of rainbows?

     

  • A Grateful Heart

        Give_Thanks_candles

          Russet, gold, and tangerine leaves blowing off trees in the crisp fall air mark the month of November along with my favorite holiday.  Thanksgiving. 

         Over the years, this holiday, wedged between two other holidays, is skipped in favor of the hustle bustle of the next holiday a month later.   I don’t want to talk about that holiday in this post other than to say it means a great deal to our family as the basis of our faith.

         Thanksgiving, an American holiday, is my favorite because it’s the least commercialized of the three that hit the end of the year.  Well, except for the grocery stores who provide all the wonderful food that grace so many tables.   Turkeys, whether frozen or fresh, appear in shopping carts along with stuffing, various types of potatoes and vegetables, not to mention pumpkin for that wonderful pumpkin pie. Family members transform these ingredients into a delightful meal for families.

         As I reflect on the reason for Thanksgiving, wonderful memories of Thanksgiving, float through my head. Traditions had been forged over the years.  My mom’s elegant table setting where we sat and shared what we were thankful for during the year to playing team board games with laughter and competitiveness after the big dinner. This Thanksgiving lasted for many years while our kids were in High School and College. Then the kids married, had children of their own and moved to other parts of the United States.  And while we don’t gather and spend the actual Thanksgiving Day together, we call one another.   

         After floundering for several years, my husband and I have forged a new tradition of spending our Thanksgiving with our niece’s family because she’s the closest to where we live.  It’s a pleasant holiday spent with forty to fifty people, most of them relatives of my niece’s husband.  It’s a smorgasbord of southern-style foods.  Everyone contributes to the meal, and they set up an impromptu football game.  And while it’s a four-hour drive to get there, we always have a good time. 

         I hope and pray your Thanksgiving is blessed with family and friends like ours. We look forward to this special holiday every year. 

     

    Be Thankful

  • When God shows up…

    My husband and I are part of a group of couples who pray for the needs of our church.  We get together with the Pastor on Wednesday evenings to pray for one another, the church body, the community, and the world.  We’ve been part of this prayer ministry almost from the first time we attended this church when we moved to North Carolina three years ago.

    One couple out of the four couples on the team pray for people after service on Sundays.  We never know in advance who will pray and it doesn’t matter to any of the couples because they’re usually there every Sunday.  Who prays is at the discretion of the prayer team leader and who is attending church.  We are happy to oblige when the need arises.

    This past Sunday, we knew from the previous Sunday we would be praying.  Sometimes people come to the front and sometimes they don’t.  We’d rather they did but, we know not everyone is comfortable with strangers praying for them. Others have big needs and have the courage to come forward as was the case this past Sunday.

    And God showed up.  It was the right time, the right place for the right prayer partners and the right person.  It all fit together like minute puzzle pieces.

    Scott lost his job and worried about finding another.  Upset by his job loss particularly since it was his dream job and he’d only held the position for several months, he came forward for prayer. My husband and I definitely related to this man’s worry.  Both of us have lost jobs over the years, my husband’s most recent job loss was three years ago and included a move from Virginia to North Carolina.   And my husband had to learn the lesson, the hard way,  of having his identity wrapped up in his work.

    He learned his identity is in Christ and not the position God gave him.  It was a long, tough lesson to learn.  But through it all, we trusted God.  His way is better than ours and there was a purpose to what we endured.  We couldn’t see it then.  Rarely can you see the benefit of the struggles as you’re going through them.  You only see them after you’ve come through the fire.

    Being familiar with this setback, we told several job loss related stories which included an international move.  We shared words of encouragement before we prayed for him.  Our stories and prayers encouraged him.

    We now know God had a plan for us to share our job loss moments with those who are suffering the same fate.  But more than that, we realized God showed up at that moment and put the right people in Scott’s path.

    But those who wait on the LORD
    Shall renew their strength;
    They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
    They shall run and not be weary,
    They shall walk and not faint.
    Isaiah 40: 31

  • Memorial Day

    My father served (pictured on the left) in the Navy in World War II and my husband served in the Air Force at the tail end of the Vietnam War. Friends and classmates have served.  I have always been in awe of their service and for those who served in the United States Armed Forces throughout these past 200+ years. 

    They have served and continue to serve the United States with dignity and pride.  American soldiers have served to keep our country safe but most importantly to keep Americans, you and me, safe. 

    For a time, some years ago, my husband worked for a company that had contracts with the military and we lived in Germany.  We had the distinct privilege to see first hand the military bases used by the Germans during the second world war.  Military bases that are now American military bases.

    American families resided on those bases in Germany while their spouses were deployed somewhere in the middle east. These wives and husbands raised their children until their spouses could return to them if they returned. 

    The soldiers aren’t the only ones sacrificing for our freedoms, their families do too.  Birthdays, holidays, special occasions all missed by the parent who is deployed. The children miss out.  The spouse misses out. And the soldier misses out.  All to keep our freedoms.

    While living in Germany,  we toured the German concentration camp, Dachau.  It was much smaller than the original camp.  A sculpture erected on a platform in front of the administration building in the main camp area was cast in bronze.   I couldn’t tell what it was until I reached the middle of the camp area.  I was directly in front of it and had to look at it for a minute or two to figure out what it was:  Barbed wire with skeletons at odd angles.  It depicted what had occurred there all those years ago. I stood there and cried.   

    On the opposite wall, a bronze plaque in five languages reads, Never Again.

    Dachau camp was the model for the more than 15,000 camps the Germans built in occupied countries.  To think that a camp that was originally built for 6,000 political prisoners had over 10 times that many people, including Jews, when it was liberated on April 29, 1945.   Never again.  

    It was heart-rending to see the artifacts.  While my heart ached at the loss of life in those crematoriums, I couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that United States soldiers freed prisoners in countless camps.  I am forever grateful TO them and FOR them for their sacrifice and for the sacrifice their families give on a daily basis. 

    Today, we remember ALL of them. Our prayers are with those who currently serve and those who have served. Always. 

     “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”    Joshua 1:9
    Who in your family has served and in what branch? 
     

  • Making Lemonade

    Life. When it hands you lemons, make lemonade!

    An overused cliché, but it fits the human condition. Too often lemons hinder the path to the summit. Their sour and sometimes bitter taste can keep us from using them to make a refreshing drink.  Adding a little honey or sugar makes an impact in transforming unpalatable fruit into tasty lemonade, refreshing and oh, so delicious.
    That bitter lemon of failure can squeeze the last ounce of courage a person has within their soul and robs them of the joy of experiencing the mouthwatering flavor when it hits their taste buds.
    That sour lemon of disappointment can ferment when marriages or friendships falter and fail. It can cause a need to eliminate those relationships and purge the acid of destruction in life.  But is it necessary to destroy those bonds to eliminate that sour lemon?
    So what if there are bitter and sour lemons!  Squeeze out the seeds of bitterness and disappointment and add the magic ingredients of honey and sugar.
    The magic ingredients. What are they? The sweetness of God’s love and care. It covers the bitter and sourness of life. He helps us through those bitter disappointments and failures in life. Notice I said, through, and not around. We will still have trials, we will still have trouble. But through His grace, we can get through those valleys in our lives. In the end, coming out stronger, wiser and much more able to move forward. He may or may not remove those trials. His choice. His will.

    God sees the beginning and the end. He lives outside of space and time. Thus, he sees every pitfall we will encounter or and every one we have encountered. His never-ending grace is given to us with love and care. We just need to reach out and grab it! Hold onto it with all our might.
    The refreshing drink? Life with Jesus, of course. He said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” [Matt 11:28] He gives us that restful life, that refreshing drink that we long to savor.
    Do you have inedible lemons your life? What will make those lemons into lemonade?  Seek Him. He’s the answer.  He’s always the answer.  He loves you. More than you can even imagine.

  • Life, Romance and Faith

    Life

    A blip in time that fades quickly. Too quickly. People fade in and out of our lives.  Some stay while some disappear into that frothy mist that clouds our hearts and minds never to return.  Others come and go diminishing the bonds that held them to you in the first place.  Finally, others leave us to fend for ourselves when they move on to a heavenly domain.  And yet, we are loved by those who have come and gone before us.

    We see God’s love for us in the flowers with their myriad of colors and scents.  With the multitude of the twinkling stars in the heavens.   With the soft rains that fall on dormant grasses.  With the trees that gently sway in the slight breezes, giving glory to Him as they rise toward the heavens.  With the oceans that gently roll on pristine beaches.  With the snow that blankets the hills and valleys.  God gave us the gift of nature.  It’s beautiful and it’s romantic.

    Romance…

    was and is a gift from God.  How can it not be?  All things from God are gifts.  His love for us is unconditional.  And we experience that romance and love when we find that one person who speaks to our heart.  Who fills it like no other human can.  But there’s still that singular place in our heart that God reserves for Himself, and rightfully so.
    I have a romantic heart, what can I say?  I’ve always believed in the power of love.  It can overcome any hurdle in life.  And when coupled with a dash of romance, it’s nothing short of amazing.

    It’s a note or text to your spouse telling him you love him with a funny emoji.  While you are sleeping, it’s your husband’s hand on your arm whispering a prayer for you.  Less important but not trivial, it’s a bouquet of flowers or a small gift for no reason at all.  It’s giving up that last piece of chocolate when it’s his favorite so you can have it.  It’s the deep-down knowledge that you are loved.

    Faith 

    How to describe it? It’s such an intangible word.  Christians define it as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.” (Heb 11:1) Webster’s defines it as the “unquestioning belief that does not require proof or evidence; unquestioning belief in God, religious tenets.”

    For me, the “unquestioning belief in God” epitomizes what I feel and think about Faith.  I can’t see Him but I know He’s there.  Listening to every prayer, seeing me in all my frailty and yet, He still loves me.  He still loves you.

    This blog is dedicated to all broad and narrow topics of Life, Romance, and Faith.