Month: January 2018

We Are Known

Posted on by Wendy
The Creator of the universe knows us by name.

Since I work in the front office of an elementary school, one of my morning duties is to write tardy slips for the kiddos who arrive late. Sometimes there is no one at all who didn’t make it on time and sometimes the line stretches out to the door. There are some children that we see only once or twice over an entire year and there are some we see weekly.

We get to know those frequent tardies so well, that we don’t even ask their names or teacher’s names anymore. There was a little boy last year who was one of those frequent fliers. He was in the office once or twice a week. He was in kindergarten and this year he’s moved up to first grade.

I haven’t seen him much at all this year.

Yesterday, the tardy bell rang and I din’t see anyone coming in late. I sat down at my desk and got to work on my to-do list. A few minutes later, that little boy from last year, came walking into the office on my side of the counter.

I asked him in a stern voice with a smile if he was just getting there. He told me he was finishing breakfast. I asked him what took him so long and he launched into a long story. When I got out a tardy slip, I asked him his name, because it was one of those crazy mornings, and it had simply slipped my mind.

He told me his first name and I immediately remembered his last. But, his next words stayed with me all day. He asked me in an annoyed tone: “Why don’t you know my name?”

It was a fair question. I’d written it a dozen times. I did know his name; I had just momentarily forgotten it. I laughed and told him I was old and doing the best I could. He laughed at that and he headed off to class.

I thought about that little guy all day with a chuckle. I thought about how he boldly asked me why I didn’t know his name.

It made me think about and give thanks for our God who does always know our names, our God who never forgets us, who never gets overwhelmed, who never get old and never changes.

The Bible tells us, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalm 138:13-14

In Luke 12:7, Jesus tells us the very hairs on our heads are numbered. That doesn’t point to a far away or distant God. That points to an active and involved God.

Yesterday, a little boy reminded me of how blessed we are to be known and loved by our Creator. Perhaps you needed reminding too!

Have an awesome day!

Wendy

Storm Reactions

Posted on by Wendy
God does some of His beast work in bad weather.

It rained all day here on Sunday. As I sat in my church worship service the rain steadily came down. It never let up. While our sermon was not about rain or storms, the incessant rain reminded me that God does some of His best work in bad weather.

We all know the story of the disciples in the boat in the storm. Quite a few of them were actually fishermen and fishermen don’t panic very easily over weather.

I remember one time as a child, being out in the ocean with my family, with my daddy at the wheel and a storm came up in the Gulf of Mexico. There were whitecaps all around us and thunder loudly crashing. I remember worrying that I might bounce out of the boat, but Daddy was a Navy man. He wasn’t concerned at all. He lead us safely back to the dock.

So, when professional fishermen were terrified in a storm, it must have been bad. Yet, Jesus was asleep. He wasn’t the least bit worried. He knew they would not sink because He had them. But, when they called on Him, He had compassion for them and He calmed the storm with three words. “Quiet! Be still!” Mark 4:39

Over a thousand years later in 1735, John Wesley was on a ship bound for America as a missionary. A horrible storm struck. A group of Moravian missionaries were in the middle of a worship service, the main sail was split in half and ocean water poured over the decks of the ship. The other passengers were screaming and in full panic.

But, the Moravians kept singing and praising God, even their children. Their faith left such and impression on Wesley that he visited one of their services a couple of years later and found his heart, “strangely warmed.”

He took that spark and along with his brother Charles, started the Methodist church.

God does some of His best work in the storms. Not only does He use them to grow our faith and trust in Him, but if we allow Him, like the Moravians, He can use our faith reactions in the storms to plant seeds and grow faith in others.

As our pastor pointed out yesterday, God is never surprised. He knows where we are going and He holds us in His hands, so we have a choice in how we will react to the storms. We can choose to panic like the disciples did or to have faith like the Moravians. Our choice can have far-reaching repercussions.

A rainy Sunday reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Choosing Love Over Anxiety

Posted on by Wendy
“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” Psalm 56:3

A couple of days ago when one of my coworkers arrived at work, I asked her how her evening went. We always chitchat in the mornings and we are both typically positive people.

But, that morning was different. She had received some bad news about a family friend the night before and was concerned about his health. She had also learned that her mama had the flu, along with a few other pieces of bad news. She had been up most of the night and was frustrated.

I listened sympathetically. Who hasn’t been there?

But, then she showed me a picture of what she did when she couldn’t sleep. She made cinnamon rolls in the shape of hearts, for her daughters to have for breakfast when they awoke.

Her gesture really struck my own heart. Life was throwing punches at her left and right. She could have coped in dozens of different ways, the vast majority probably unhealthy. She could have taken something to sleep. She could have just watched television. She could have tossed and turned all night.

Yet, she chose to do something beautiful and creative in the midst of the chaos. As the storm swirled around her, she focused on her love for her children.

I thought about her gift most of the day. I thought of her decision to give to those who have been given to her rather than to singlemindedly focus and worry about what she had no control over. That takes a certain amount of faith.

The Bible tells us not to worry in many places. Christianity teaches us that God loves us and that He’s always in control. Worrying and anxiety has never solved anything. Yet, we worry. There are so many aspects of our lives that are completely out of our control and instead of recognizing that fact and releasing them to God, we worry.

It’s our attempt at gaining control and taming the chaos. It never works, but we have an enemy who would like for us to believe that it does.

There is another way.

We can choose to be thankful during the storm for all the blessings that we do have. We can live thankfully and share the love with those who are in our circle. We can hug those closest to us extra tightly. We can trust that God is in control.

We can live with wide open hearts. There will always be storms on this side of eternity. We can’t control them. We can control our reaction to them.

Some heart-shaped cinnamon rolls reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Tired of That Life

Posted on by Wendy
If you woke up today, it’s the perfect day for a new beginning.

Last week my teenage son had the flu. He spent two days on the couch. He just didn’t feel like doing much of anything, but sleeping. He even stayed in his pajamas both days. On the third day, he was feeling much better. He even put on real clothes. He was still on the couch for most of the day, but he was awake and vertical with no fever.

On the fourth day, he felt much better, but we were still out of school because of a snow day. After breakfast I asked him if he was going to settle in again on the couch. That’s where I had moved his computer and his drawing stuff earlier in the week. He looked at me and smiled and said, “No, I’m tired of that life.”

We laughed and I helped him move his stuff back upstairs to his work space. It’s a room where he picked the color. It’s a room where all of the things that inspire him are close by. It’s the space where he likes to work, create and play.

I chuckled about his comment several times during that day. I really couldn’t get it off of my mind. He had only been confined to the couch for a few days, but he wanted something different and took steps to make it happen.

I knew there was a life lesson somewhere in those words.

We are headed towards the end of January. How many of us were going to make some changes this year? Maybe it was losing weight or starting to exercise. Maybe it was eating better. Maybe it was looking for a new job. Maybe it was working on relationships or starting a new hobby. Maybe it was going to church or reading the Bible. It may have even been something like stopping drinking or getting help of some sort.

Whatever it may have been, how many of us at some time in our lives have reached the, “I’m tired of that life;” point? How often do we actually do something about it?

Thankfully, God doesn’t care what day it is on the calendar. He doesn’t care how long we have procrastinated or how many times we have failed. There’s not a day or date, that we can’t start over with Him. The Bile says: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

Those words are beautiful reminders that if we woke up this morning, it’s not too late, for a fresh start, for a new beginning, or for that first unsteady step. Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Inspirations from a Partial Thaw

Posted on by Wendy
We can choose to allow God to thaw and heal all of our hearts or only portions.

Our little town was blessed with two snow days last week. The first was exciting for most people. The snow came down throughout the early morning and when it stopped, it was play time. But, it wasn’t one of those stick around for days, snows for many of us.

In most spots, the sun melted the majority of it away by late afternoon. However, we are a rural town and we have lots of shady spots that are off of the beaten path. Those spots and roads, kept the snow wet and frozen and so when the temperatures dropped back into the low twenties, those spots froze solid making driving conditions very dangerous.

Those conditions bought us a second snow day even if there wasn’t much snow left.

Personally, I couldn’t have been happier about the extra day as I was buzzing around my house cleaning and straightening and doing little chores that I never seem to have the time to do these days, when the roof over the landing to my front door, caught my eye.

One side was completely melted, not a drop of snow or ice, remained, yet the other side was still mostly covered in snow. It was clear that the sun was shining directly on one side, but its warm, thawing rays were not reaching the other.

I had a hard time looking away because the two halves were so very different.

Now, over the past few years, God has taught me a lot from roofs, from helping to remove them and replace them on mission trips, to a tree falling on my roof in all the safest places during a hurricane, so I wanted to pay close attention to what He was trying to tell me.

The answer that kept coming was, that roof is like our hearts. We have different areas and parts of them. When we decide to surrender our hearts to Jesus, there’s always lots of heart work to do. Humans are flawed and broken and we inevitably hurt each other often, whether intentionally or not.

We sometimes carry those heart injuries long after they were incurred. We sometimes carry them for a lifetime. Most of us will allow healing for some of the injuries like the side of the roof where the sun was shining. But, often we will continue to cling to the deepest hurt, anger, shame or resentment, not allowing Jesus to shine His light on those parts. So, they stay frozen and prevent us from living, loving and trusting fully.

Yet, Jesus calls us to more. He calls us to trust Him, to hand over all of our hearts and let Him shine His light and love on all of the parts. He wants to heal us completely, so we can be totally free, not just mostly free.

A partially snow covered roof reminded me that when walking with Jesus, mostly is not enough. He wants to heal all of our hearts and for us to let go of the past so we can embrace the future with Him. Perhaps you needed reminding
too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Snow Inspiration

Posted on by Wendy
Fresh snow, like grace, is brilliantly white and covers everything in its path.

On Tuesday night, we got the much hoped for phone call; there would be no school on Wednesday due to inclement weather. There was the possibility of snow coming our way, which is a big deal in Georgia. We don’t get much of the stuff and it creates a ton of excitement for us.

We also went to bed with cautious optimism. Nature often proves to be fickle where she will or won’t deposit her cold powdery gift. There have been times when it seemed that every county around us got snow and we didn’t get so much as a flake. There have been times when the forecasters promised us it was coming and they were proven wrong.

Many of us in the Peach State have adopted a believing when we see it attitude when it comes to snow.

But, Wednesday morning, we awoke to a pretty little blanket of snow on the ground and it continued to fall for a little while.

I marveled at how beautiful a thin layer of frozen water can make a landscape, but I knew it wouldn’t last for long. I bundled up and grabbed my camera and went to explore.

There had been others out ahead of me because there were already footprints and some tire tracks on the roads, but the areas that were untouched really drew my attention. I didn’t stay out long because it was bitterly cold and I just don’t do cold.

Later, when I sat down at my computer, I noticed that the light coming from the sun shining on the snow was almost blinding. My entire work area was bathed in the light.

I knew there was a Bible verse that had the phrase, “white as snow.” I Googled it. I was not disappointed.

“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18

Sure, I had read it before, but gazing out across my yard at the glowing blanket of white, gave the verse a whole new meaning. We humans can be capable of doing some pretty bad things here on planet earth, sometimes on purpose and sometimes inadvertently.

Sometimes we become the people that we want to be, but we carry past sins around on our conscience. Sometimes there’s an enemy voice that makes us question if we are really forgiven for this or that.

But, God’s Word has an answer for those doubts. “Let us settle the matter.” Yes, we are forgiven if we only ask and let me reassure you if you haven’t seen snow in a while; it is brilliantly white and it covers everything in sight.

A Georgia snow reminded me of the beauty and the reality of forgiveness. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Giving Thanks in All Circumstances

Posted on by Wendy
When we focus on God instead of our situation, His presence radiates like the sun.

Monday was a much awaited day off for me. Yes, we had just had a couple of weeks off for Christmas, but the College Football National Championship had been the week before and it had me and my family and for that matter, everyone I knew, up well past midnight, and the old gray mare, well…..

Anyway, I was super excited about the long weekend. I did have to do fasting blood work that morning, but I was okay with that. I could just sleep until it was time to go, piece of cake.

After that one little chore, I went home and grabbed a cup of coffee and some breakfast. I was reading my devotional and giving thanks when my teenage son came downstairs and collapsed in a chair. He said he didn’t feel well. I took one look at him and I knew it was the flu.

His high fever and a visit to the urgent care clinic confirmed my diagnosis. I had to go to two pharmacies to get the prescriptions filled. I also had to make a Publix run for extra juice, soup and crackers.

There was a time in my life where the entire ordeal would have really bummed me out. My carefree, no plans day was no longer mine.

But, I have come to a point in my life and in my faith, where I really try to give thanks for all that I do have when adversity crosses my path. It’s amazing when I give thanks, how the many blessings, once hidden in my subconscious, show themselves.

I was blessed to have the day off to take him to the doctor. We were blessed to have great medical care close by. We were blessed to have no wait time and a very kind doctor we had never met before. We were blessed to have transportation to get us there. We were blessed that the second pharmacy had what the first one did not. We were blessed with insurance to cover the medications. As I continued to give thanks, I remembered that my hubby had already taken two additional days off because he had maxed out his time. He would be home to care for our son. Since it was a holiday, my son would miss less school.

As I prayed, I was increasingly sure that none of this was a coincidence. God’s timing is always perfect.

Now, no one in their right mind considers the flu a blessing. Jesus never promised a trouble free existence on this side of eternity. We live in a broken world. Pain and sickness are sometimes going to be present in our lives here on planet earth.

Yet, when we walk in faith and open our eyes, we can always see God’s presence with us. He’s always close to His children, helping us along. When we focus on ourselves or our misfortune, we often miss it. When we focus on Him, it shines as brightly as the sun.

A sick child reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too!

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Ramsey Wisdom

Posted on by Wendy
Like Ramsey, we have all been strays at some point.

My neighbor, who I’ll call Jack, recently took in a stray cat. He’s a cute little orange and white cat. I had seen him hanging out around the cul-de-sac, but he was wild. He always ran away when I tried to approach him, but Jack has a way with strays and he took him in and got him shots. He named him Ramsey.

I marvel as I look out the window and watch that previously wild cat, follow Jack faithfully to the mailbox. How is it that he can build that kind of trust?

Well, Jack and his wife, went away for the holidays and they boarded Ramsey. When they returned, they found that he had become very sick. He had fluid in his lungs and he could barely breathe. They took him to the animal hospital at UGA and learned that he had a heart defect. They kept him for a while, but they treated him and told them to keep him indoors for a week.

While I was watching the Rose Bowl, I got a frantic call from Jack; Ramsey had slipped out while the trash was being taken out and he was missing. Now, Ramsey has been known to hang out in my garage and Jack was hoping I would check and see if he was there.

I rushed out the door. It was nineteen degrees that night, unseasonably cold for us. There was no way a sick cat could make it in that cold. I didn’t see him at first, but then I got down on my hands and knees and looked under my daughter’s car. There he was, hiding.

I still had Jack on the phone. I told him that I could see him. I didn’t dare approach him because he doesn’t trust me. Jack and his wife came over immediately. He crouched down and called Ramsey and he came out from under the car. Jack scooped him up, but he didn’t hold him for too long before Ramsey was squirming to get down. They apologized for the inconvenience and took him home.

I thought about Ramsey and Jack in the days to follow. His pursuit of Ramsey reminded me of how God pursues us. He finds us as wild strays and fixes our hearts. He seeks only to love us and we like Ramsey, often squirm to get away, back out into that dangerous world that to our minds, seems free and exciting.

Sometimes like Ramsey, we do get away and like Jack, God pursues us, even when it’s unbearably cold, even when the big game is on, He calls us. If we are smart, we answer and return to the safety of His arms, just like Ramsey returned to Jack’s.

An escaped cat on a cold night, reminded me of God’s love for us. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂