One For the Road

My alarm went off at 4:30a.m. We pulled out of the driveway by five, heading to Miami for the second time this summer. A long, hard drive for sure. Naturally, I took a little something for the road.

In addition to traveling with my darlin' husband and my sweet son, I held a special companion in my hands. Yeah, I had a little Peace for the Journey--Elaine Olsen style. And I so needed peace on this journey.

About six hours into the trip, the air conditioner in the truck stopped working! We spent the next four hours--and, no, I'm not exaggerating about the time either--in a dealership waiting room while mechanics installed a new compressor.

And guess what I did during those four hours? That's right, sweet girl, I read Peace for the Journey.

Elaine writes about having peace in our lives wherever we are along life's hot, dusty road. Even in a dealership waiting room. Or in a hospital waiting room. We can have peace if we know Jesus Christ because He paid the price for our peace.

Elaine teaches from lessons that she learned through her own seasons of suffering and struggling. She inspires us to walk closer to our Savior than we've ever before walked. She prays for us.

Most importantly, Elaine challenges believers to reject the easy road and to walk down the path of a higher level of obedience to our loving God. She writes, "Some of the best work we will ever do with God will be fleshed out upon the sands of a heated obedience."

Elaine doesn't claim that this kind of whole-hearted obedience will be easy. The fleshing out of our obedience is never easy, but the reward of complete devotion and obedience can't be surpassed.

The reward "of a heated obedience" is peace.

Everlasting peace.

And Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace.

For He Himself is our peace (Ephesians 2:14a).

How about you? Do you need a some peace and encouragement for the road you're traveling? If you aren't already following Elaine's blog, why don't you check it out?

On my last post, I promised to give away a copy of Peace for the Journey. And the winner is mchristiangirl!

This book is definately one for the road.

Sweet dreams,

Deb

I Got What I Wanted...Didn't I?

A nice, big office! New desk and chair. I don't have to share this space with anyone else. Sounds like a tremendous improvement over sharing offices with everyone from the cookware salesman to parent volunteers. I got what I asked for, I think.

Umm, maybe not.

See, my new office isn't located at either of the two schools that I serve. Last year two other facilitators moved to off-campus offices, and I thought it would be way cool to do that. I've only been back at work four days, and have quickly discovered that this change may not be so cool at all.

Actually, I'm thinking my job is going to be more difficult because I won't have a work space at my schools.

Guess I got what I wanted. Didn't I?

Why do I keep doing this? I see what someone else has, and I want what they have. Or, I think that I know exactly what I need. Sometimes, I even tell God what will work for me.

But I want to be content with what He has already provided. I want to trust Him to meet my needs and wants and dreams according to His amazing love and grace.

For your Father knows what you need before you ask him (Matthew 6: 8b).

Don't you love this verse? Our great God knows everything about us. He knows our heart. Where we hurt. Why we hurt. He knows how to heal our pain.

He knows what we need before we ever tell Him. And He has the power to meet both our needs and wants. He is prepared to take care of us from the big things down to the smallest detail.

And this office situation? Well, I got what I thought I wanted.

But everything will work out all right.

My Father knows me better than I know me.

Now, that is way cool!

P.S. I've got a wonderful book to give away. It's Peace for the Journey by Elaine Olsen! I'll be sharing some insights from her book a little later this week. All you have to do to win is to leave a comment or shoot me an E-mail.

More Than Wishful Thinking

Last week I had hope. Last week God gave me a verse about how He delights in those who put their hope in His unfailing love (Psalm 147:10). Last week I prayed and lived with expectation that God will do all that He has promised. But this week, I'm wondering if it was nothing more than wishful thinking.

So, what's changed?

Well, some old acquaintances have reappeared: Conflict. Challenge. Comparison. Cares (of the world). Contentment (a lack of).

They've left me feeling hopeless and helpless, and I'm questioning the truth of God's word.

I mean, does this sound familiar? Have you been there?

Like God gave me this writing dream thing. I stepped out in faith to start a blog. Now, I've made plenty of mistakes--spent too much time trying to grow the blog--and in the process, I neglected some important people. People who love me, and I love them too--more than anything in the world.

I realized that some days I spent more time visiting other blogs than I spent with my loving God. And He's the reason that I write. Now, that's way wrong.

I had to make some changes.

I read my Bible before I read anything on the computer. If my darlin' husband is at home, I don't blog. If the little girls who call me Nonna are here, I don't blog.

As you can see, I haven't blogged much in the past few months. My blog isn't growing. My writing is limited to my journals.

How will I ever become a writer?

This dream seems hopeless, sweet girl, like wishing on a star.

But then I read what a guy named Paul wrote about a guy named Abraham.

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be" (Romans 4:18).

See God made a promise to Abraham. Abraham dreamed of the day when he would see the promise fulfilled. He waited and waited. Still, no promised son. Abraham's dream began to seem hopeless to him.

Just like my dream seems to me. Like maybe your dream or situation seems to you.

But look at these words: against all hope.

I love this message! When we think that there's no reason to hope--that hope is gone--we are wrong.

Sweet girl, we will always have hope.

Against all hope, we can hope.

In spite of the conflicts and challenges that we face--in spite of how we sometimes focus too much on the cares of the world--what we're going to eat, drink, and wear--and in spite of feeling an occasional lack of contentment, we still have hope.

Our hope is based on more than mere wishful thinking; our hope is a person. His name is Jesus Christ, and He loves us with an unfailing love. A love that will never, ever disappoint or disappear.

Abraham put his hope in God.

Against all hope.

May we do the same.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Ok, ok. I confess: I'm having way too much fun this summer. I spent almost two weeks in Miami with my darlin' husband. Can you guess what I did while he worked? Sweet girl, you know me so well. Yes, I went to the beach everyday! Hey, I've got a nice little tan going on, but my flower garden sure got neglected while I was away.

Especially my pretty petunias. Before I left, I pampered these flowers daily. After watering them each morning, I changed the hose from soaker to mist. If there were any wilted petals, I pulled them off carefully. I talked to my petunias. Just kidding! But I did admire them.

They were lovely and healthy when I left...but not so much when I returned.

There was no glorious show of purple and white blossoms, only sickly-looking plants. In order for them to become healthy again, I had to remove whatever was wilted or dead: blossoms, leaves, and stems. And sometimes, I inadvertently broke off a few healthy stems.

Poor petunias! What an awful procedure to have to endure. But if I don't take the necessary steps to help them become well again, bad things will happen. They won't grow or bloom, and they will be susceptible to enemies who will want to devour them.

Funny, how these flowers seem to try and hold on to everything. even if it is no longer any good.

I understand how the petunias may feel. See, several months ago God impressed on my heart that I need to let go. I asked Him: Let go of what, Lord?

He said that He wants me to let go of all that binds me, all that holds me captive, and all the things that I think make me look good.

Whoah! This is heavy. This is impossible. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too.

But our loving God is so good. So gentle. So gracious. He's taking me through this process just like that. Lovingly. Gently. And with grace.

As soon as I'm willing to let go, He removes the thing that is wilted or dead or unhealthy.

Is the procedure painful? Yes. But God is the Master Gardner. He knows exactly when and how and what needs to be removed.

See, my petunias can't be or do what they were created for until the letting go process is complete. They can't bloom. They can't be food for the bees. They can't produce the fragrance that's uniquely theirs.

Neither can we.

God created us to be salt and light and to do good works.

"You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven" (from Matthew 5: 13-16).

If we're going to fulfill His purpose for our lives, we have to grow. We may have to let go of a few things. Even when letting go is hard and hurts.

So, how is your garden growing?

Summer!

Thought I better let you know that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, just in case you've been wondering. So far this summer, I've spent a few days at the beach. Took two sweet, little girls to the water park.

Plus, this week is VBS at our church, and I helped with the pre-school class. Have mercy! More about that later.

And tomorrow I'm going to the Southern Christian Writers' Conference in Tuscaloosa. Should have some fun there, don't you think?

Oh, and guess what? My darlin' husband was at home with me ALL last week! Now, that's the way to get Summer started.

And I've been trying to sit some too. Yeah, sitting. Sounds crazy, I'm sure. But kinda like what David did in 2 Samuel 7:18, Then King David went in and sat before the LORD....

After David sits in God's presence for awhile, he acknowledges God's sovereignty and His goodness and His faithfulness to His promises.

So, it's not exactly my study time or my journaling time or my devotion.

It's just sitting.

Does sitting come naturally? Not for me.

Does sitting require discipline? Oh yeah.

Have I mastered this discipline? No, got a long way to go.

But listen, at least I have all summer to work on it!

Hey, I miss you, sweet girl. Hope to get a blogging schedule in place next week and will stop by to chat.

And I hope that your summer is sizzling!

When You Don't Get It

I don't get it, my seventh-grade students used to complain when I taught the parts of speech. Perplexing for sure. I mean a gazillion grammar rules that overlap, overwhelm, and often contradict each other. And you have to know all of them, right?

Not really, I told them. You just need to know one rule.

Sounds weird, but it's true.

Here's the rule: Look at how you're using the word in the sentence. How the word is used determines its part of speech.

Verb. Adverb. Adjective, or whatever.

Ok, relax. My students had to take a test on this, but you don't. Although, I know that you would ace it!

Anyway, they struggled to "get" that little grammar lesson, and I sympathized with them. Sometimes, I find it difficult to "get" the lessons that God wants me to learn.

Have you been there? Like you just want to go after something that's important to you, and it's a good thing. But God says that you've got to be still. And silent. And you've got to surrender everything to Him. And you have to keep it that way.

I don't always "get" why God does that, you know. Do you?

But I'm trying to do what I instructed my students to do: Look at how I'm using the Word.

The Bible tells us that there's a right way and a wrong way to manage God's Word.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

The right way to handle the Word is to get into it every day. Sweet girl, His Word is so good. His Word gives life. And light. Strength. Comfort. Encouragement. He offers help and hope.

However, if we're not getting into the Word, then we can't get anything out of the Word. I mean that should be pretty simple; but it isn't.

Using the Word correctly involves choices. Using the Word correctly includes forgiving ourselves when we make bad choices, and our commitment and consistency aren't exactly stellar.

There's so much that God wants to give to us through His Word.

There's so much that He wants us to give to others.

When we don't "get" what God is doing, He wants us to look at how we're using the Word.

Because we hold the words that the whole world needs to hear.

And He so wants us all to "get" it.

To "get" that He sent His only Son. Precious Son. Beloved Son. To die for us.

To "get" His amazing love.

A Mama's Prayer

I tried to think of a little something to give you on this special day. Now, that would take a big, big budget. Which I don't have. But I did come up with this idea. It's a mama's prayer that I often offer for my family.

I'd like to share it with you:

Abba, thank You for the ones that You have given to me. Thank you for choosing me me to be their mama. There's no higher calling. They are the greatest blessing that I could ever receive.

Protect them by the power of Your name--the name of Your Son, Jesus.

Protect them from the evil one.

Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.

May our family live as one just as You and the Son are One so that the world may know that You sent Jesus.

And so that the world may know that You love them even as You love the Son.

I pray in the name of Jesus. His precious name.

I based this prayer on Christ's prayer as recorded in John 17. These words calm me. They give me peace when I'm anxious and apprehensive about my family.

May they do the same for you.

Happy Mother's Day, sweet girl!