Author: Wendy

Learning to Go with It

Posted on by Wendy
When your heart and soul are calm, a little chaos is no big deal.
When your heart and soul are calm, a little chaos is no big deal.

If you read my post yesterday, then you know all about my rewarding Sabbath time yesterday. Interestingly, the calm I took the time for yesterday, prepared me for my chaotic morning today.

After I dropped my daughter at school, I was planning on coming home and doing some cleaning, which didn’t get done yesterday, some laundry, because it’s everyday, exercise, because it’s a new year and I’d like to be in better shape, work on a Wednesday night kids program for church and write for gracefulgaines.

My husband met me at the door and informed me that our neighbor’s alarm had been going off. That has never happened before and since she is one of the sweetest people on the planet, I sent him over to check it out. The alarm had stopped, but he went over. The house was locked up tight. I called her, but there was no answer. I was concerned, but I let it go. I said a prayer for her safety.

I put in a call to my mom to catch up and we talked for a little while about a recent death in the family. Then we talked about a dear friend of hers who has been diagnosed with cancer. We were talking about another friend of her’s whose husband has been put in hospice care, when the alarm went off again. Mom, ever the steel magnolia, told me I should hang up and investigate.

The alarm stopped again as I went across the street. I peaked in windows and saw nothing. The alarm went off again and I dialed 911. They asked me to wait for an officer to come. I did, although it took him quite awhile. He looked around and discovered there was no car in the garage, so I was relieved. He assured me I had done the right thing by calling. He left.

I finally sat down at my keyboard and my phone rang. It was my sweet neighbor who had been out and knew nothing about the alarm. I told her about all of the excitement and she thanked me for looking after her. She was going to call the alarm company and get it figured out. I was so thankful she was okay. I said a prayer of thanks.

I sat down once again at my keyboard. My phone rang. A very good friend of mine was having a moment. She never calls to complain or vent. She’s just not that way; but today, she needed an ear. I was happy to listen and I feel like she felt better when we hung up.

By this time, it was close to noon and I hand’t showered, cleaned, exercised or written anything. I marveled at how I wasn’t the least bit frazzled, although my entire plans for the day were shot. I was praying about it and I felt like God whispered to me, “It’s the Sabbath time.” I hadn’t done anything on “my list,” but I did everything on God’s for me for the morning. I loved everyone He put in my path and I just went with it. I felt calm and blessed.

I really do believe there’s something to this Sabbath time, especially if it means learning to do His will and not mine. What do you think? I’d love to hear from you.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Obedience Can Produce Beautiful Results

Posted on by Wendy
This was the first waterfall I discovered.
This was the first waterfall I discovered.

Yesterday, after church, I decided to make myself observe some Sabbath time. It was rather difficult for me because it had rained for the past two days which resulted in three dogs being in the house round the clock, which resulted in numerous hair balls and muddy footprints that desperately needed cleaning up.

However, in my quest to live more intentionally and a desire to be more obedient to God, I was determined to observe some Sabbath time. I gritted my teeth as I stepped over a tumbleweed of a hairball and walked out onto my screened in porch.

It was a gorgeous day. Early last week, we had temperatures in the single digits. On Friday, we had torrential rains and thunderstorms, and late Saturday, the clouds broke and the sun appeared like a long-lost friend. We had little rivers running all through our yard even after the rain stopped.

But, today, well, today was stunning. The sky was that brilliant blue that you really only get in the winter time and the temperature was in the high fifties. As I sat in my swing, sipping my coffee and taking in the beautiful weather, I could hear the rushing water of the creek behind our house.

As I was thanking God for the weather, and the beauty of nature, I began to think about that creek. The creek is often no more than a trickle. From time to time, after really heavy rain or the occasional snow, we can hear it from our house and we always marvel at how people pay for property with a noisy creek.

We have been in drought for the majority of our time here and we rarely hear it. But, as I heard it today, I felt like I was being nudged to investigate, to not only hear it, but to see it. I went inside, put on my rubber boots and headed out.

The first little waterfall I came to, I had seen before. I took a few shots of it. But, something told me to keep exploring. I followed the sound and found a second waterfall I had never seen before. I was really surprised. I was probably a hundred yards from my house and here was a second gurgling, bubbling waterfall. I took some more pictures, but something nudged me on.

This was the second waterfall I discovered.
This was the second waterfall I discovered.

I walked just a little ways further, following the little creek and the sound and what I found stopped me in my tracks. Here, practically in my backyard, was a little waterfall with a fairly steep drop making beautiful music as it crashed on the rocks. It was surrounded by big boulders covered in moss that just called me to have a seat. I did and within a few minutes, a hawk soared above calling out as he went.

This was where my quest for Sabbath time and obedience lead me.
This was where my quest for Sabbath time and obedience lead me.

I just laughed as I looked up towards Heaven. “Of course there was a third,” I whispered. “Thank-you, God, for showing me.”

God always has a plan, and sometimes, when we listen and obey, the reward can be breathtaking. I’m still working on the obedience thing, but today, well today I got it right and it was good. How about you. How are you doing with obedience? Feel free to share.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

Staying Crumb Free

Posted on by Wendy
Every slab of granite is unique just like each one of us.
Every slab of granite is unique just like each one of us.

I have granite counter tops in my kitchen. I love them because they are varied and unique. The area by the sink looks different from the area by the stove. No two slabs of granite are ever exactly alike because they come from nature and nature just doesn’t work that way.

We are a lot like granite. We are all unique. We may have similarities to each other, but we are all unique creations. No two people are exactly alike.

What I don’t like about my granite is that it hides crumbs. I can wipe and clean and then when the sunlight lands on it, I have a mess. I have missed so much. I never even know the crumbs are there unless the light is on them.

As I was cleaning the kitchen the other day, (again) with the help of the sun, it struck me that our lives are like the granite before the sun shines on it. We carry all kinds of crumbs around like guilt over our past, I’m not good enough attitudes, unresolved pain and anger, the list goes on; you can fill in your blank here:________. Try as we might, we just can’t remove them alone.

When Jesus comes into our lives, he shines a dazzling light on the crumbs that have been left behind and need to be swept away. Sometimes the light can be a little blinding and painful as we work to sweep away destructive behaviors or attitudes that we have come to hold close. Sometimes the light is incredibly liberating as we learn to accept that we are unique and loved, “fearfully and wonderfully made,” just as we are.

Either way, with Jesus, we are wiped clean, free to start fresh with a new path and a new plan. We have to keep in mind that crumbs can easily re-gather and to keep them away, we have to walk closely with him, listen to his voice, pray and obey.  When we do, we can be  shiny and crumb free and that, I think, is something worth smiling about.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Trust the Potter

Posted on by Wendy
The newest version of the all important scientific calculator.
The newest version of the all important scientific calculator.

My high school freshman came home after her first day of Algebra 1, (Although it’s no longer called that; it’s now called Coordinate Algebra. Doesn’t that sound more rigorous?), and announced that she needed a scientific calculator. Her teacher told her that it was a good investment because they would use it all through high school.

I smiled as I remembered back to math during my high school days. My math teacher had said the same thing, and she was right. I did use it all four years of high school. Being a journalism major, I never used it again, thank goodness! And I can’t tell you for the life of me, what good tangent and cotangent are, but I digress.

Her calculator is a lot snazzier than the TI35, I had, but it serves the same function. The calculator got me to thinking about the things that we require for certain periods in our lives that are totally necessary at the time, but we will never use again afterwards. The first things I thought of were baby things, like cribs, high chairs and car seats. When your child is ten, you can’t get rid of that stuff fast enough, but when they are infants, they are a must have.

There are school supplies like crayons and glue sticks that elementary school kids need, but high schoolers have no use for crayons. Our lives are always changing. Nothing ever stays the same. We are in constant motion like the earth we live on. Our needs change as we change.From babies to seniors, we change and grow.

God is often depicted in the Bible as a potter. “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are the work of your hand.” Isaiah 64:8

I like the idea of Him molding and making me, but I have come to look at myself as more of a Play- Doh consistency than true clay and I think that’s a good thing. When a potter makes a cup or a bowl, he puts it in a kiln and bakes it into a hard, permanent shape. It will forever be a cup or a bowl.

However, I think that God calls most of us to do different things during our lifetimes. There are those of course, that know early on that they were called to do one thing and they do it well for a lifetime. But, many of us are called to do many different things during the many different seasons of our lives. Those tasks may not always look the same as we don’t look the same.

As we grow and mature and change, what we are called to do often changes too. We may go from being a saucer to a pitcher. I think the key is to stay flexible. Listen for His voice and remember that whether Play- Doh or clay, only the potter decides the final shape, not the medium being shaped. So, we should let go of our desire to control and see what He come up with. We are likely to be amazed. What do you think? Feel free to share.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Recognizing Evil

Posted on by Wendy
Our windows were iced over this morning.
Our windows were iced over this morning.

The good people of Georgia woke up to an icy, cold morning today. The temperature was a balmy nine degrees. Southereners simply aren’t prepared for this kind of cold. Many of our homes have heat pumps. Heat pumps don’t do well in frigid temps. There are probably many kids who don’t own big, winter coats, not because their parents can’t afford them, but because they are too “cool” to wear them and rarely need them.

Due to many factors, local schools were cancelled today along with schools in several surrounding counties. The weather was too dangerous to contend with. As I was going about my business, the ice on this window, really caught my eye. It was beautiful and kind of fairy-tale looking with the barren trees in the background. You wouldn’t know, peering through it from the comfort of my home, how cold and dangerous it was on the other side.

My family and I were recently watching “Return of the Jedi,” and we were discussing how evil the emperor looked towards the end. He didn’t look that way in the original movie, but he became hideous, obviously evil. So, I posed the question, “Wouldn’t it be nice if everything that was evil was hideous, so we would know it was evil?”

We love to think of the enemy as a horned devil carrying a pitchfork, but evil rarely shows its true face in the beginning. Like the emperor in the first movie, it starts off looking rather benign. Billy Graham once said, “All sin is fun, for a time.”

When evil presents itself to us, it’s often in a pretty frosty package like that window. It can seem harmless, but what waits for us on the other side can be dangerous. In the first “Star Wars,” Darth Vader was scary. The emperor was just a little man. In the “Return of the Jedi,” Vader was a slave to that little man.

So, how do we know if something is evil in nature? We just had this discussion in our middle school Sunday school class. We have to ask ourselves if it lines up with scripture. We know from Proverbs 3:5, that, “We are to trust in the Lord with all of our hearts and lean not on our own understanding.”  That means what we as humans, “think” or “feel” is right, may not be.

Isaiah 55:8-9, tells us that, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” That means God knows better than we do, just like parents know better than their children do. He is all-knowing and we are not.

Finally, Ephesians 6:11, tells us “To put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Part of that armor is the gospel of peace.

We have to read the Bible if we want to know God’s thoughts, God’s plan and God’s will. It’s really the only way we can know the truth. Now is as good a time as any. It’s a new year. Let’s get started. Feel free to share.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

One Size Fits All

Posted on by Wendy
Jesus will meet you wherever you are.
Jesus will meet you wherever you are.

My teenage daughter has a very dear friend named April. When they first became friends in the fourth grade, she was very disturbed when she told me that April didn’t believe in God. I told her she should invite April to Vacation Bible School. She did and not only did April attend VBS , she began attending church with us and went through confirmation in the sixth grade. She was then baptized and joined our church. Never underestimate the power of a little children’s program called Vacation Bible School.

The girls are both in high school now and continue to be good friends. April is a very dedicated soccer player and plays year round. Last Fall, she was playing in a tournament and was badly injured. She was kicked so hard that she broke both bones in her lower leg. She was far from home and in excruciating pain. Her parents rushed her to the nearest hospital.

Her mother told me that she was sitting in the emergency room in a wheelchair crying hysterically. She was in so much pain and was very frightened. Out of nowhere, a woman who spoke Spanish, put her hands on April’s shoulders and prayed over her. April was instantly calmed. Her mom told me that an amazing sense of peace overtook her.

Here’s the thing, April doesn’t speak a word of Spanish and no one knew who the woman was. She wasn’t a nurse or employed by the hospital.

I have thought of this story often since I first heard it and I have wondered who she was. Of course, her identity doesn’t really matter. She was clearly sent from God. At that moment in time, she was given the ability to comfort a child with the presence of Jesus. Her actual words didn’t even matter. The heart knows prayer when it hears it and April’s heart was comforted.

If a fifty-year-old man was sitting there, God may have sent someone else. The awesome thing about Jesus is he is one size fits all. Wherever you are in life, he will meet you there, right where you are, with his arms outstretched. There is no path or place out of his reach. There is no waiting room or sickness or pain that will scare him away.

He is fearless and he wants you and me. I don’t know about you, but I find that to be very comforting. And as I seek comfort from him, I pray that he will use me to comfort too, just like the woman in the emergency room.

What do you think? Feel free to share.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

What Do You Seek?

Posted on by Wendy
This chest could contain anything...
This chest could contain anything…

Today is Epiphany. It’s the day when the church officially recognizes the visit of the Three Wise Men or the Magi. Have you ever wondered just who these guys were and why they brought gold, frankincense and myrrh?

The Magi were from somewhere in the far east like Persia or Arabia, no one knows for sure, but they traveled a long way to worship Baby Jesus. The scripture doesn’t say how many there were, but the assumption has been that there were three because they brought three gifts.

They would have been very well-educated and had obviously read Old Testament prophecy, possibly written by Daniel. They would have likely been born into being Magi and would have counseled kings on what they knew of the stars. They were very well-respected by all people, including kings, for the special knowledge and wisdom they possessed.

The gifts they brought were very expensive and traditional for kings. The deeper spiritual meaning is that gold represented his kingship and divinity. The pagans often used gold to make idols. By presenting Jesus with gold, they were acknowledging that he was from God. Frankincense was used was often used in worship and with burnt offerings. It would have been symbolic of Jesus having a priestly role. Myrrh was used for embalming and the myrrh foreshadowed Jesus’ death.

Jesus was probably not a baby when they arrived. The scripture says he was a child. Theologians guess he was between one and two years old. When King Herod learned they were in his country, he requested a meeting with them. They told him they had come looking for the King of the Jews in order to worship him. Herod told them to come back to him when they found the child, so he could worship him too.

They continued to follow the star until it stopped over the place where the child was. (By the way, no one can explain the star. It was a supernatural gift from God.) “When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother Mary, and bowed down and worshipped him.” Matthew 2:10-11.

When it was time for them to go, they went home another way, because God warned them in a dream not to return to Herod. Ever notice how God has his hands all over the place, when you really look? These guys were the first on record to worship Jesus. They were the first to acknowledge his divinity and kingship and God protected them by telling them to go home another way. They were the first to seek and were rewarded with God’s protection.

Like the Magi, when we seek Jesus, we will always find him. The question then becomes: What do we seek from him? Do we seek forgiveness, healing, guidance, peace? Do we seek to worship?

I’m asking myself this Epiphany what it is I’m hoping to find on this quest for more Jesus. Maybe you would like to join me? Feel free to share.

Have an Awesome Day!

Wendy 🙂

What Inspires You?

Posted on by Wendy
I like to surround myself with things that inspire me.
I like to surround myself with things that inspire me.

Do you remember when we used to take pictures that involved something called film? Do you remember when you returned from a wonderful vacation and you couldn’t wait to “get the pictures back” from the lab? We used to make albums with all of our photographs and they were a way to document our family history.

They told the story of births and birthdays, and weddings, and of holidays and family trips. They were special. Film was expensive, so photographs were for special occasions. Now, thanks to our smart phones and digital cameras, we take pictures constantly. Someone always has a camera out and photos are sent instantly via Instagram and Facebook.

While it’s really neat technology that we can share our moments with so many people so quickly, how often do we actually print those fabulous pictures? Do any of them ever make it into albums or frames. I love to frame pictures of happy times or of beautiful scenery that I have been blessed to see and display them in my home for me and my family to remember and enjoy.

I mean, it’s fantastic that a hundred Facebook friends can look at them for ten seconds, but who do I really take pictures for? I take them for me. Sometimes, life can get tough. Times can appear bleak. There’s nothing like looking around my house at pictures of better times, that bring back happy memories and make me smile. Sometimes I need to remember.

I made a board of pictures that inspire me and I hung it over the desk where I work. I think it’s easier to create when you are surrounded by quotes and photos that inspire you.

So, here’s my question of the day for you: What inspires you? It’s a brand new year. We have lots of work to do.  We have the opportunity to make a difference.The best way to get it done is to choose to serve in ways that inspire you. I challenge you to take sometime today or this weekend and think about what really inspires you. Try to get some pictures and actually print them. Put them where you can see them and then get going.

2014 will be fabulous. I can feel it! I’d love to hear about what inspires you.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Making the Best of the Time We Have

Posted on by Wendy
Caves can be dark places.
Caves can be dark places.

Yesterday was New Year’s Day and it proved to be quite a lazy day for my family. We were up really late celebrating and we were running on half-charged batteries. We all napped at some point, including the dogs. The TNT Network was running the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy back-to-back. Now, if you ever have the desire to veg in front of the television for a day, there’s your perfect excuse.

Those movies have always captivated my attention along with a million others. Evil forces try to take over the world and a very unlikely underdog, a Hobbit, sets out to save it along with nine others to help him, but in the end, his best friend is the one who stays by his side to complete the quest. It’s a beautiful story of friendship. Good wins over evil and the scenery is stunning. It makes me want to visit New Zealand even though it’s like a twenty hour flight.

One of my favorite scenes of all time occurs in the first movie. They are in a cave and are being pursued by evil forces. The little Hobbit, Frodo, says: “I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.” Gandalf, the wizard, replies,” So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you were also meant to have it and that is an encouraging thought.”

Those are timeless words which hold timeless truth. We often wish we weren’t living during these times, during a recession, during terrorist plots, during wars… But, that is not for us to decide. We must decide what to do with the time we are given. We can decide to trust that God put us here in this moment at this time for a reason and like Frodo, do our very best to see good win.

The writer of the trilogy was a man named J.R.R. Tolkein. He was born in 1892 and was a devout Christian. He was also a professor at Oxford in England with another man named C.S. Lewis. Lewis was an atheist when they met, but in time, Tolkein’s faith rubbed off on Lewis and he became a Christian. He went on to write, “The Chronicles of Narnia,” another wildly popular, Christian based, good always wins in the end, book.

You never know what may happen when you share your faith. Sometimes, it may be nothing. Sometimes, you may get to witness a small change in someone. Sometimes, incredible things can happen and the world is changed forever. Like Frodo, the choice of what to do with our time is ours to make. What will we do? Feel free to comment.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Resolutions

Posted on by Wendy
Happy 2014!
Happy 2014!

Well, the New Year is officially here. Aren’t you glad we mostly use debit cards now instead of checks, so you don’t have to remember to write 2014 instead of 2013? If you are anything like me, you may be a little tired today. I rarely stay up til midnight anymore. I have come to really appreciate the quiet of mornings and if you sleep til 10:00, you missed it.

So, if you are having a lazy day watching football games, enjoy yourself. We are beginning a brand new year and it’s full of promise and possibility. How can you make changes in 2014 to make yourself happier? Is there a dream you would like to explore? Is there a relationship you would like to mend? Could your marriage be stronger? Maybe you would like to draw a little closer to God.

Last year I made the resolution to be more intentional in all aspects of my life. By being intentional, I had to think about making time to exercise. I had to think about choosing an apple over a cookie. I had to think about how to carve out daily time to read the Bible.

I had to think about opportunities placed in front of me and only say “yes” to those things that I felt called to do. This meant learning to say “no” to some things, which has always been a struggle for me. I had to be more intentional about my prayer life and instead of chattering on endlessly to God, I learned how to be still and quiet and listen for the answers I sought.

I became more intentional about the books I read. I read some really inspiring books last year. I became more intentional about the sites I visited on the internet. There are some really inspirational blogs out there.

I am happy to report that being more intentional has become a way of life for me, (unlike many resolutions in the past). I highly recommend it as a resolution.

This year I’m hoping to really pursue the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Of course, the only way to have these is to continue to read the Bible and to pursue God and walk with Jesus.

I think the pursuit will be worth it. What about you? What are your resolutions this year? I’d love to hear them. Happy New Year.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂