Step by Step

I am a creature of habit. I habitually drive the same way to work each day. I drop my daughter off at school and then head straight for the nearest QT for a 32 oz. iced tea with lots of ice! Because I take the same route each day I see the same businesses, the same people at the bus stop, and even some of the same cars that pass me on the road.

But there is one thing that I see every day that touches my heart and causes me to think. I see an older woman walking with a cane or a walker struggling for each painful step. She moves ever so slowly; if she moved any slower, she wouldn't be moving at all! I can tell that she has to think about each step as her brain tells her legs and feet to move. Maybe she's recovering from a stroke or an accident or a debilitating disease, but there she is every day putting one foot in front of the other moving slowly from point A to point B. She never makes it across the street before the light turns. I worry that someone won't see her still in the crosswalk and I hold my breath every time until she finally approaches the curb!

I admire this woman! I admire her perseverence and courage and her willingness to get out there and face the struggle EVERY DAY! She just doesn't give up!

Sometimes, in my spiritual walk, I feel like that woman. Each step seems slow and deliberate and I wonder if I'm getting very far at all! Satan tries his best to discourage me and keep me from making it from Point A to Point B! But praise be to God who leads me one step at a time! "If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand." (Psalm 37:23)

"God, give me the perseverence, courage and willingness necessary to get out there and face the struggle EVERY DAY! Help me to keep in step with the spirit and not give up. Thank you for this daily example and reminder to hold on to your hand and walk one step at a time."

Concentrate on God

"Beware of any work for God that causes or allows you to avoid concentrating on Him. A great number of Christian workers worship their work. The only concern of Christian workers should be their concentration on God."
Oswald Chambers

Soul Winning

I sometimes worry that I'm not doing enough to lead others to Christ. As a Children's Minister it's easy to say, "I'm planting seeds." That's true, of course, but does that exempt me from the Great Commission? Recently, I was reading Acts 8. It seems to me that this is a chapter about evangelism. The Good News was spreading. Phillip shared the gospel with the man from Ethiopia who confessed Christ and was baptized. God was adding to the church. When was the last time I shared the gospel with someone? When have I explained the scriptures more fully so that someone would come to know Christ? When did I last explain God's wonderful plan for redemption to someone lost in sin? There is a lost world out there. I tend to forget that. I bask in His mercy and grace without thought for those who don't know Him. I somehow don't think I'm alone in this! C.H.Spurgeon said, "If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for." The words to a song come to mind: "Lord, lay some soul upon my heart, and love that soul through me. And may I humbly do my part, to win that soul for thee." That is my prayer.

My Life with Jesus

"The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 'Return home and tell how much God has done for you.' So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him." Luke 8:38,39

As a young girl I was fascinated by the story found in Luke 8 about the man from whom Jesus cast out demons. I could visualize the herd of pigs going over a cliff and into the water! This seemed quite funny to me! Of course, through the years other elements of the story took on significance. It's interesting to examine the different responses to Jesus by the participants in this story: the demons, the possessed man, the pig herders, and the people of the town. From them we see fear, recognition, gratitude and belief. This passage of scripture is a powerful example of the transforming power of Jesus.

But in my most recent reading of this passage the phrase, "begged to go with him" seemed to speak to me. There are times in my life when I long to withdraw from the world and "go with him." I yearn to spend hours alone with Jesus and His word. Let me retire from life and its demands, schedules, conflicts and endless activity. Let me hole up somewhere in quiet solitude and just be with Jesus!

But God did not call me to that kind of life! At least not yet! He does not call any of us to a life of monasticism. Instead he says, "go home and tell how much God has done for you." And God has done so much for me! I'm blessed to be His child; I should be shouting that from the housetops! Each and every day God is touching my life and I need to be sharing that with others "all over town." That's the life to which Jesus calls me. For now.

Memories of Mom

My mother died one year ago today. I miss her. I know that she is in the presence of the Lord, awaiting my arrival, but I miss her presence here.



A few years ago my mother asked me how I was going to remember her. I didn't have a good answer at the time, but I thought about it a lot. One thing that I will remember most is her hands. They were gentle, compassionate, and productive. I can see her now preparing sandwiches for a tea, stitching a quilt, sewing beautiful clothes for my sister and me, and holding and rocking my younger brother when he was sick with asthma. When I called my mother's friend (our minister's wife from 45 years ago) to tell her mother had died, she told me that she still had some things that my mother had made for her and how pecious they were to her. Mother spent a lifetime caring for others. She opened her heart and her hands to those in need.



I will remember my mother's voice. She often told the story about the teacher that told her, "Wanda, just dance, don't sing." From that time on my mother was reluctant to sing when anyone could hear her, but she chose to "make melody in her heart." However, she sang to her children and I can't hear or sing the song, "When He Cometh" without thinking of my mother. And I can hear her singing it in my daughter's ear as she rocked her to sleep.



And lastly, I will remember her "momisms." "You have to suffer to be beautiful." "Beauty is as beauty does." "If you stick that lip out much farther a rooster will perch on it." (I was a pouter!) In recent years we heard some things over and over and over again, like: "Growing old isn't for sissies." "The only thing that runs anymore is my nose." "What is today?"



But the words I will remember most because of the frequency with which she quoted them are found in Proverbs 13:12 "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when it is come about, it is as a tree of life." The New Living Translation says it this way: "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life." I don't know why my mother quoted that verse so much, but I do know that in my own life I have needed the hope and the promise of it. And I thank God that mother passed it on to me.



My mother wasn't perfect: she was a flawed child of God, but my brothers and sister and I were blessed to have a "truly good woman" for a mother!



I miss you, Mom!

Ponder This

"To do even the most humbling of tasks to the glory of God takes the Almighty God Incarnate working in us. To be utterly unnoticeable requires God's spirit in us making us absolutely humanly His. The true test of a saint's life is not successfulness but faithfulness on the human level of life."

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

A Gift of Song

My daughter gave me a beautiful gift yesterday. It was not a material gift. No jewelry. No perfume. No clothing or books. This gift is more precious to me than any of those.

It was the gift of a song.

Not just any song.

I'll explain.

My daughter has been blessed with a lovely voice. To develop this gift, she has been taking voice lessons for almost a year. I am NEVER invited in to listen to her sing. Until yesterday. After her lesson she came running to the car and told me I just had to come in. I followed her into the voice studio and was informed by her teacher that I was to hear a private concert. Such a joy! I was thrilled to finally be invited into this special, almost sacred, place where my daughter spends so many happy moments doing something she loves: singing. I waited with anticipation to hear the song she has been perfecting. Her teacher played the introduction, and Jennifer began to sing.

And I began to cry. My sweet daughter did not know that I last heard this song at my father's memorial service. She did not know that it was one of his favorites. She only hoped that it might bring me joy! And it did. It's a beautiful song, and she did it beautifully in her young soprano voice. God blessed me with this song and her decision to sing it for me. It's a moment to remember when things are not going so well between this mother and her teenage daughter. And somewhere in heaven my father is smiling down on his granddaughter who gave her mother this gift of song and helped to ease her grief.

PRAYER PERFECT

Dear Lord, kind Lord! Gracious Lord!
I pray Thou wilt look on all I love tenderly today!
Weed their hearts of weariness;
Scatter ev'ry care down a wake of angel wings winnowing the air.
Dear Lord, kind Lord! Gracious Lord!
I pray Thou wilt look on all I love tenderly today.
Bring unto the sorrowing all release from pain,
let the lips of laughter overflow again,
And with all the needy o divide, I pray
This vast treasure of content that is mine today!
Dear Lord, kind Lord! Gracious Lord!
I pray Thou wilt look on all I love tenderly today!

Lyrics: James Whitcomb Riley Music: Oley Speaks