Month: October 2018

Laying the Burdens Down

Posted on by Wendy
Sometimes the unnecessary burdens we carry around, can really pile up.

We have just finished a contest at work, where we count and record our daily steps. We are in teams of four and the winning team will be announced today. I can’t even begin to explain how grateful I am that it’s over. I was not pressured in any way, to participate, but for some reason, I joined a team at the last minute.

I don’t own a pedometer or one of those watches that track every move you make, so I downloaded an app on my phone to record my steps. Looks like there really is an app for everything.

I learned early on, that I wasn’t making nearly as many steps as many of the other people in the contest and worst of all, I usually had the lowest number on my team and so, I made sure, I carried my phone with me all of the time. If I got up to make a copy, I took the phone. If I delivered something to a classroom, I took the phone. If I went to the bathroom, I took the phone. When I got home in the afternoon and did laundry, I carried the phone up and down the stairs and I lamented if it needed to be charged, because I couldn’t count my steps.

I was completely aware that the contest was just for fun and my teammates never once, said anything about my few steps, but I put the pressure on myself.

When Monday morning arrived and I realized that I could put my phone on my desk for the day and leave it there, I felt a rush of sweet freedom. For the next couple of days, I truly felt like I had laid a burden down and while I chuckled at myself at the absurdity of my feelings of newfound freedom, it got me to thinking about what else I might need to lay down.

What other unnecessary burdens am I currently carrying that might be weighing down my soul? We can carry things like unresolved anger or pain, or guilt and shame over past mistakes, or the illusion that we can control the world around us. We can even carry things like constant, nagging worry over things we have no control over.

Like that pesky cell phone I couldn’t put down, we can carry those things every step of the way, everyday, in the morning, in the evening, at home, at work, never putting them down.

But, Jesus calls us to a different path. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Jesus calls us to lay down our baggage and trust Him. We don’t need it and we can truly be free once we do. A contest reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Defeating Darkness

Posted on by Wendy
The way to defeat darkness, is with light.

As I sit typing out this post, I find myself wanting to shut off all media. There was a horrible shooting at a Pittsburgh Synagogue over the weekend, that left eleven people dead. Killing people in their house of worship is almost unfathomable, except that it’s not. In Sutherland Springs, Texas, in 2017, twenty-six people were killed during a worship service. In 2015, nine were killed in a church in Charleston, South Carolina, during their worship service.

As I ponder these horrible events, it makes no difference to my heavy heart, that one assembly was Jewish; one was predominately white and one was predominately African American. These were all people who worship my Judeo-Christian God, Jehovah, Yahweh, El Shaddai I Am, Father, Abba. He has many names.

Not surprisingly, the politicians seemed to waste no time in spinning the most recent tragedy to their benefit.

There’s so much division in our country right now over politics. The television ads have gotten so bad, that I’m tempted to watch Nextflix until after the election. Quite frankly, I’m tired of hearing all of the negativity that the candidates are engaged in tearing each other down and the amount of money they are spending to do it, makes me sick to my stomach. Shame on all of them for the frivolous use of funds.

It seems to me, that the attack that we need to be most concerned about at the moment, is the one occurring to God’s people. It’s really not about blue or red. It’s about hate and both blue and red have plenty of that to sling around.

As much as I want to withdraw from it all, I believe as a child of God, that I am called to counter it. The only way to defeat darkness is with light and so I’m writing to remind my readers and myself, that there’s clearly a spiritual battle going one here that’s much deeper than anything we can humanly see or understand.

That’s the only way to explain the hate that seems to be spewing forth from every direction. Hate does not come from God. Darkness does not come from God. The Bible tells us that: “God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5

The Bible reminds us that there have always been ongoing spiritual battles and we should put on the Armor of God to shield ourselves. Ephesians 6:10-18 It also assures us that in the end, no matter how lost everything seems, God wins.

There is no possibility of a loss, or even a tie, of this we can be absolutely certain.

Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too. Please join me in praying for the victims in Pittsburgh and for the future of our country.

Prayer is the most powerful and effective weapon we have.

Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂

Friendship Blessings

Posted on by Wendy
True friendship with deep roots, is one of God’s greatest gifts.

Last weekend I attended my 30th high school reunion. I had a wonderful time reminiscing with old friends. It was a small school and so we all knew each other. Two other former classmates and I, spent the weekend at one of my high school bestie’s houses and it was just like old times.

We laughed and picked at each other. We looked at old pictures. We retold old stories and shared new ones. Those girls were some of my closest friends way back when and we were there for each other for everything from learning to drive to breaking up with boyfriends. We have all cried on each other’s shoulder and laughed until our sides hurt.

We were always good at supporting each other all of those years ago. We haven’t seen very much of each other through the years, but we have kept in touch. Our lives have taken us in different directions to different towns.

As for me, I have a senior in high school and my nest is about to be empty. I have spent a fair amount of time in prayer about what my next chapter will be.

I was not surprised to find that God is always listening and always working.

One of my friends has a newly empty nest and she’s struggling a little with her next chapter.

One of my friends has a teenager at home and is struggling a little with, well, raising a teenager.

One of my friends, has three grown kids. Her baby is about to graduate from college. I had the privilege of spending time with her youngest child and her middle child. They were awesome, grown up and funny and I had a ball hanging out with them.

My friend has raised wonderful human beings who I would want to have as friends and neighbors. She offered two of us advice and so much encouragement about our empty nest chapter and then provided us with concrete proof in her own adult children.

The three of us were able to encourage our friend with a young teenager. Boy, those years can be tough, but they will pass. We know, because we’ve been there.

I really hated for the weekend to end, but even though I didn’t get enough sleep, I felt more refreshed than tired. On my drive home, I marveled at how God knew over 30 years ago, when He wove our friendship together, that we would come together now and support each other and laugh together once again, like when we were teenagers ourselves.

I still don’t know what the next chapter holds, but last weekend reminded me that I had no idea what the future would look like 30 years ago either and it turned out just fine. God was at work then and He’s still working. He has sent some of life’s greatest blessings to walk with us along our journey here.

They are called friends and I’m so very thankful for them. A class reunion reminded me. Perhaps you need reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Grandparent Grace

Posted on by Wendy
Perhaps some of the purest love we will ever witness is between a grandparent and a grandchild.

A few days ago, a young couple walked into the school office where I work, carrying a precious little baby. They had just arrived in town and wanted to surprise the baby’s grandmother. Well, we all got in on it. We helped them get checked in and kept watch for her. We had them step over to the side out of sight, until we asked her to come into the office.

I don’t know when I have seen such pure joy as the joy I saw on her face. She squealed with excitement as she took her grand baby in her arms and alternated between holding her close and then pulling her away so she could look at her.

There were tears in her eyes and in mine too. She then took her granddaughter to show her other babies, who happen to be second graders who she loves like they are hers.

I replayed that scene in my head over the next couple of days. I have always thought that God gives mamas a taste of His love for us through our children, but when I witness the love a grandmama has for her grandchildren, it really takes it up a notch.

It’s hard to wrap my brain around the concept that God loves us even more than we love our children and grandchildren. It’s truly more than I can fathom, yet I know it’s true and I was so grateful I got to witness that love firsthand the other day. My heart felt truly blessed.

Then yesterday, another coworker came into the office with her phone. She said she had something to show us that she had been desperate to share. On her phone, was an ultrasound picture of a tiny fetus. Her daughter was expecting and she was over the moon.

Here again, was a grandmother who was completely in love with a child who was yet to be born, a child who hasn’t even take her first breath, but is already treasured. I was once again reminded of God’s love for 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; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:13-14

There’s so much negativity in our world right now, so much anger and so much hate. We can sometimes wonder where God is. Rest assured, He’s still here. If you need proof, find a grandparent and ask them about their grandchild.

Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you did too.

Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂

Happy Monday

Posted on by Wendy

Due to a class reunion this past weekend, along with a weekend long slumber party with some of my favorite ladies on the planet, which included late hours and lots and lots of talking and laughter, I have no post today. I hope your Monday is fabulous.

Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂

Acorn Wisdom

Posted on by Wendy
Acorns can sprout if left unchecked.

I recently discovered a tiny oak tree growing in the gutters on my house. I was mortified. How could that happen? Clearly, we needed to clean our gutters, but the leaves haven’t dropped yet and we are surrounded by oak trees, so to clean them right now, would just be an exercise in futility. They will quickly refill.

There are acorns everywhere at the moment. We crunch them with our tires in the driveway and beneath our feet when we walk in the yard. They are small nuggets that don’t seem capable of much of anything, yet they are.

Under the right conditions, they can become a mighty oak tree and create wonderful shade or create all kinds of havoc, depending on your perspective.

As I pondered my gutter situation and how the sprouts seemed to have happened overnight, I had to admit that they didn’t. Those acorns had been in that gutter for a while, unseen but growing a little bigger with every passing day.

I was reminded how we can let unwanted things take root in our spiritual lives as well, if we aren’t careful. A little disagreement can grow into something huge if we don’t resolve it quickly. Hurt feelings can balloon into lasting anger if we don’t deal with them. Careless words can leave lasting damage if we aren’t willing to apologize or accept apologies.

All of those scenarios can seem so small in the moment, small like little acorns. Yet, if left alone, they can just keep growing, like acorns do and before long we have an something as big as an actual tree and eventually a mighty one.

Acorns have a purpose just like our hurt feelings and anger do, yet there’s a time and a place that’s ideal for both. The gutters of my house are clearly not an ideal place, neither is deep within our hearts and souls. My gutter sprout reminded me that not only do we need to clean our gutters frequently, we need to clean up our hearts and souls frequently as well.

There’s just not room to let the bad stuff take root. Perhaps you needed reminding today too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Reflecting Jesus

Posted on by Wendy
How do we react when someone is unkind?

My pastor commented on Sunday, that sometimes when she looks out into the congregation and smiles, some of us actually smile back at her. I really took her words to heart because when I sing in the choir and survey the congregation, not everyone smiles. But, some people always smile and so I look for those people.

My hope has always been that when I sing, it comes across as a testimony of sorts or sometimes a prayer, and when I make a noise for God, I try to make it a joyful one. When people smile back at me, I feel like they are reflecting Jesus back at me. It’s a wonderful, soul filling phenomenon.

After the sermon today, I really began to reflect on how I can do a better job at reflecting Jesus back to a world that really needs Him right now. I feel like I do a decent job of returning a smile when someone gives me a smile. I’m always polite when people are polite to me.

But, how well do I do when they are rude? Human nature tells us to give back what we are given and that we shouldn’t take anything other than kindness and respect off of anybody. We certainly don’t want to be perceived as weak in any way. We are a nation of winners.

Yet, Jesus teaches a different path, a more difficult one to be sure, but He’s more concerned with our spiritual nature than our human nature. He knows that the spiritual lasts forever. The physical does not.

“Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Luke 6:31 Those are red letter words, directly from Jesus.

So we are called not to give back what we are given, but to reflect back what we would like to have been given. That’s a tall order. When people are unkind, we are called to return their actions with kindness. When people are rude, we are called to return their rudeness with politeness.

How do we want to be treated? That’s how we are called to treat others.

As difficult as that can be, sometimes we find that when we do that, the person we are encountering has nowhere to go. Something changes inside them and a breakthrough happens and sometimes it doesn’t. Thankfully we have a helper in the Holy Spirit who provides us with the fruits of perseverance and patience.

A sermon reminded me to remember who we are and who we represent. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Hurricane Reflections

Posted on by Wendy
We should seek and hold onto joy whenever we can.

As the pictures of the devastation from Hurricane Michael keep rolling in, it seems to be the topic of everyone’s conversation. Part of it is because, Florida is our next door neighbor and so many of us in Georgia, have been to those places that were hit so hard.

We have so many memories of wonderful times spent there.

Personally, I have scanned the internet daily for a business in Panama City called Goofy Golf. It’s a putt-putt place that’s been there since the fifties. My parents took us to play putt-putt there every year on our family vacations. My mama’s parents took her to play there and I’ve taken my own kids to play there. Although it’s just a place, I desperately want it to have survived.

A few years ago, when the entire town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee was on fire, I frantically searched the internet, hoping that the chapel that my hubby and I got married in, was still standing. It wasn’t like our marriage would have no longer been valid if it burned, I just really wanted it to have survived.

When I think of the people who actually have homes in that area, that were there one minute and gone the next and the people who have severe storm damage, my heart breaks for them. As I have prayed for the folks on the Florida Panhandle the last few days, I’m reminded that our lives can drastically change in the blink of an eye.

As we go through our everyday lives, we can get so complacent, that we take it all for granted. It had been since the 1850’s that, that area had been hit by a hurricane of that magnitude. No one is even alive that would remember it, but I’ve no doubt that those people living back then, were just as devastated.

The aftermath of Hurricane Michael reminds me that we should soak up every moment we are given with the people we love and with those who love us. It reminds me to tell the people we love that we love them. It reminds me to seek and to hold on tightly to joy and to let anger and pain go. It reminds me that we should forgive easily and anger slowly. It reminds me that nothing on this side of Eternity is permanent, no matter how strong we may think it is.

Life is a gift. We should remember that every morning when we wake up. Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Warriors Among Us

Posted on by Wendy
I’m thankful for the warriors among us.

Wednesday night, we held our breath as Hurricane Michael headed our way. It had already decimated everything in its path in Florida and Georgia was next. We had seen alerts most of the day and were under a tornado watch until the wee hours of the morning.

I had felt uneasy all day long. The air outside just felt heavy somehow. My daughter was in South Georgia and my parents were in Middle Georgia and both areas were in the hurricane’s crosshairs and out of my reach.

I shouldn’t have been surprised when I got a message on Facebook from a family friend checking in with us and letting me know he was praying for us. He’s a warrior who became family on a mission trip a few years back and he always has a way of letting me know he’s praying for us especially when things feel particularly out of my control.

I immediately felt better.

A little while later, another friend who I met on that same trip, also a warrior who has become family, messaged me to let me know that he too, was praying for our family.

There was definitely some comfort, knowing we were being prayed for, when we didn’t even ask. There are certain situations when it becomes abundantly clear that prayer is the only answer. I was so grateful they had reached out to me. I had no doubt that they were following nudges from God.

It made me wonder if I should do a better job at letting people know that I’m praying for them. I think we can sometimes forget how powerful that spiritual connection can be. There are times when I feel called to pray for someone, but I rarely tell them.

Maybe they need to hear it. It certainly gave me some peace.

Thankfully we suffered no damage overnight, but the next morning, I still hadn’t heard from my daughter. I received a text from another warrior from that same mission trip to tell me she was praying for us and asking how we were. I thanked her and told her we were fine, but I hadn’t heard from my daughter. She reached out to her as well and I’ve no doubt, continued to pray.

It was a few hours later when she finally checked in. The weather had kept her awake, so she had slept in, but all was well.

I marveled all day at the power of prayer and the peace we can get from it. I stand amazed at the people who God puts in our paths for such a time as this. He always has a plan.

Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Blessed Reassurance

Posted on by Wendy
“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31

I had the day off on Monday and I was determined to get outside and go for a walk. My regular cardio routine has become irregular at best, due to some painting projects, an injured tendon and quite frankly, the oppressive heat that has refused to let up.

As I sat at my kitchen table drinking my coffee, (Who in their right mind would take a morning walk before coffee?), I noticed how dark it was outside. I knew I should go as early as possible, because of the heat, but I just didn’t want to go out under an overcast sky.

Something nudged me to wait.

When the sun finally peeked through the clouds, and I went to get my running shoes, it was 9:00. I strapped my cell phone that I’ve been lugging around to record every step I take, securely around my arm. I knew I had probably waited too late, but I was determined to go anyway.

I was pleasantly surprised when I stepped outside. It was cooler than it had been the past few days and there was a breeze. I was thankful I had waited for the light and I was reminded that it’s always going to be warmer when we seek to walk in the light.

As I walked along, I found myself praying for some wonder, for God to show His presence. The past week had been a long one filled with bad news, not for me personally, but for some friends and extended family. I felt like my prayers had become a long list of cries for intervention and comfort. My heart felt heavy.

But, as I walked and felt the cool breeze on my face, I felt thankful, thankful to be alive and to be outside and away from a desk and as I was giving thanks, a hawk flew across my path and landed on a tree branch right in front of me. I stopped and wondered if it would remain there while I took a picture. I doubted it.

I never exercise with a phone. I find them cumbersome, but I had mine because of the step counting, work contest. I carefully took it off my arm, expecting it to fly away any minute. It didn’t. I tried to zoom and then I moved closer and walked to the other side of the tree to get a better shot. The hawk never moved. He kept his eyes on me, but stayed put until I finished and walked away.

I marveled at God’s faithfulness and His timing. If I would have gone earlier, I would have missed the encounter. If I wasn’t counting my steps, not only would I not have been able to get a picture, but I wouldn’t have been been amazed at the hawk’s patience with my photo attempts.

My heart was much lighter as I continued to give thanks. My circumstances hadn’t changed, but I had been reassured of His presence, His timing, His plan and most importantly, His love.

Perhaps you needed some reassurance today too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂