Due to an unbelievably hectic week, I don’t have a post today. I pray that you have a wonderful weekend and I hope to meet you back here next week.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂
Month: April 2021
Trusting the Process
My hubby and I are in the process of getting our house painted. It’s way past time and we have been putting it off. Who wants to spend money on paint? But, there are some window sills that have become bare over the years and they need protection, not to mention it’s just time for an update.
I contacted a painter and he came out and looked the place over. He told us that he really needed to pressure wash first to see what kind of shape everything was in under the grime. We agreed. The good news was the exterior was in really good shape and just a thorough cleaning made it look better, except for the front steps. When he pressure washed the front steps, layers of paint came off and they look terrible, yet it would have been a total waste of time and money just to paint over them as they were. The paint would have peeled right off.
I have worked from home the past week and I can see the rails and stairs from my window. As I was grimacing at how messy and unkept they look, I wondered what the people who see it from the street must think. Do they think we just don’t care about our home? Do they judge us by the current appearance not knowing that we have a work in progress? Do they think we are lazy?
As I was thinking those thoughts, I was reminded how quick we are to judge ourselves and others by how things look at the moment. It’s easy to look at ourselves in the messy beginning or even the middle and make a comparison to someone else’s finish line. From raising kids, to building marriages, to weight loss and even our faith walk. We are always tempted to look at someone else’s, “got it all together,” phase and think that we will never measure up. What we neglect to remember is that everyone started at ground zero at some point, everyone.
We also have to remember that when we let God work on us, He’s going to strip away the bad stuff first, just like that pressure washer did. He wants to wash away the things that will interfere with our walk with Him and that’s sometimes not pretty, yet it’s an important part of the process. In the end, we will end up brighter, stronger and better than ever, but we have to trust the process even the ugly beginnings.
My porch reminded me to be patient with the process. Perhaps you needed reminding too.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂
His Timing is Always Perfect
I have recently been struggling a bit with future plans. My hubby and I are empty nesters and we have been talking about our next chapter, the possibility of downsizing and the possibility of a move closer to family among other various details. I have prayed a lot about our plans which feel like really good ones, but I’ve been walking with Jesus long enough to know that my plans and His plans don’t always line up. I have learned that God’s plan is often different than mine and in the end, infinitely better, even when I can’t see it at the time.
But, I’ll have to admit, that it’s often not the fact that a door doesn’t open when I want it to, that makes me struggle the most; it’s the silence from God that causes me the most frustration. I want to know if He wants me to pursue my plans or go another way completely and I would like bold answers in neon lights sooner than later, thank you very much I’m a planner and I like to have a plan to follow and when I don’t, it makes me restless.
Yet, the waiting produces faith along with patience, both of which I know I desperately need. In my heart, I know this is true, but my human nature sometimes gets the best of me.
But, out of the blue, this week, my Google photos on my phone popped up two pictures from seven years ago. Google doesn’t regularly perform this service, so I am always interested when it does. They were both screenshots taken in 2014. I have no idea what was going on that prompted me to literally take a snapshot of my computer screen, but I did and now seven years later, here it was to encourage me.
The first one said, “God didn’t bring you this far to abandon you.” The second said, “God’s timing is perfect.”
Honestly, I felt tears burning my eyes. I don’t believe in coincidences where God is concerned and the fact that He knew seven years ago, that I would need that specific encouragement seven years later both amazed and humbled me. While I still didn’t have my answers, I had a reminder that He is working. He was working seven years ago and He’s working today. The same is true for you. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too!
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂
The Boulder Moving Business
Last Sunday my family attended Easter church services which under normal circumstances wouldn’t be unusual, but nothing about this past year has been normal. As expected, the pastor preached about the resurrection from the Gospels, something we all love to hear especially at Easter. Jesus defeated death and rose to save all believers from sin. It’s the greatest love story ever told.
But, this year the pastor pointed out a detail I had never really thought about. All of the Gospels report that the stone sealing the grave was rolled away. Mark begins by saying that three women were heading to Jesus’ grave to anoint His body. Mark 16:2-3 says, “Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, ‘Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?'”
There was basically a boulder sealing the tomb. It wasn’t possible for the women to move it, yet they faithfully went to tend to Jesus anyway. These women had seen Jesus die on a cross. They had no physical evidence that God was at work, yet they headed to the tomb to do what they felt called to do and when they walked by faith, not only was the boulder moved, they were the first to witness a miracle.
God is still in the business of moving all kinds of boulders. What boulders in our lives are keeping us from being who we are called to be? Our boulders can be things like shame, guilt, our past, addiction, fear, debt or anything that keeps us separated from God.
As we continue to live as Easter people, maybe we should spend some time thinking of three women who walked towards Jesus despite a giant boulder being in their way. What they found was God is always at work. The same is true for us. Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂
The Call to Transform
I have been seeing a lot of butterflies lately which is not unusual for spring time, but I have seen them enough to make a mental note. Then my mom sent a picture of one and I knew I was supposed to be paying attention.
I love the timeline of a butterfly. It starts off as a caterpillar, just a worm really, crawling around and looking for something to eat. You would have to make an effort to find most of them because they simply blend and if you did find one, you wouldn’t give it a second glance. You certainly wouldn’t be interested in a photo.
Then it wraps itself in a cocoon which is even a lowlier state than the caterpillar was. To the casual observer who knows no better, you would assume that it is dead. Why would you think otherwise? The business of transforming is often not pretty or fast. It takes time, patience and faith, something we often find ourselves short on, but nature has a way of reminding us to walk more closely with God and to align ourselves with His timing.
Easter weekend begins with Good Friday and the remembrance of the crucifixion. It’s certainly not pretty. It’s horrible, painful and bloody and necessary for salvation. We simply can’t get to Easter morning without going through Good Friday. Butterflies are not born as butterflies. They are transformed from what they were into something spectacular.
I am always tempted to skip over Good Friday. It’s hard. I can’t imagine what the people who truly loved Jesus must have thought on that Friday or the Saturday that followed. To them, all was lost. Saturday was probably as hard as Friday was, but God had a plan and on Sunday morning, the earth and all of its inhabitants were forever changed.
True redemption and grace were born when the disciples found an empty tomb. Jesus was not there because He was not dead and His resurrection has the power to transform us all. As we celebrate this Easter, may we feel the weight of Good Friday along with the joy of Easter and become the transformed people that Easter calls us to be. We may be born as caterpillars, but God wants us to be butterflies.
Happy Easter! He is risen!
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂