Author: Wendy

Choir Wisdom

Posted on by Wendy
When we all do our unique part, we get to be a part of the beauty of His Kingdom.

One of the most difficult things about singing in the church choir is sticking to my part. I’m a soprano. The men sit behind me. They have completely different notes. The altos sit to my left. They also have different notes. Sometimes for extra fun, we have first and second sopranos. You guessed it; the notes are different.

So often, when we begin singing a new selection, I have a tendency to sing along with whichever part of the choir is singing the loudest. That’s not what I’m supposed to do. I’m supposed to sing my notes. But, I often follow along with what I hear instead of singing my part.

I never was very good at rounds either. It only took a chorus or two of, “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” and I was hopelessly lost. I would end up doing the other part instead of my own.

When music is written with different parts to sing and they are all sung correctly, it’s beautiful. When those different voices joint together in unique ways to sing the same song, they create something completely different from what would be created with all the same people singing the same thing. It’s a tapestry of sorts, but of voices.

Each voice is like its own thread color and all of the different parts form a musical picture with great depth.

But, it’s not easy, at least not for me.

Singing in the choir has also taught me about our Kingdom callings. We are all called to use our unique talents to help build God’s Kingdom. It’s sometimes easy to get caught up in what someone else is doing and follow along with them instead of doing what we are called to do.

There are seasons when we are called to help others along with what they are doing, but we are also called to use our unique talents and gifts. When we do that and join in with others, we all become a part of a spiritual tapestry which has beauty beyond words.

It’s our uniqueness along with that of others, that makes it work. I’ll readily admit that doing what we are called to do can sometimes be a challenge. It’s a worthy challenge because when do what we are called to do, it creates a type of music greater than that of a symphony.

Singing in the choir reminded me. Perhaps you need reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Remembering to Seek Him

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“Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

A couple of weeks ago, I had to run an errand for work. That errand took me through our tiny downtown where traffic backs up like it does in a huge metropolis. When I finally got my turn at the stoplight, a big eighteen wheeler was on the other side. Of course, I needed to go left.

I found myself seriously grumbling. Why was that truck there? Were those big trucks even supposed to be downtown? As my negative inner-dialogue continued, the driver of that truck flashed his lights, signaling me to go ahead and go.

I was immediately grateful and humbled at the same time. The one thing that I was grumbling about, made it possible for me to get where I was going.

I made a mental note to remember that everything happens for a reason and that God always has a plan.

Yesterday, I had a meeting right after work. As I got into my steaming hot car to drive home, I saw that my dashboard said it was 86 degrees. Now, I’m not someone who complains much about the heat. I loathe being cold. However, it’s mid-October and a little crisp, cool air, would be nice.

When I arrived at home and took my dogs outside, I was treated to a stunning display of blooming hibiscus plants on my porch. Those plants are tropical. They can’t survive the cold and if we were having normal fall weather, they wouldn’t be blooming. I would have missed the beauty.

I felt God really working on my heart. For a gal who considers herself optimistic by nature, I’d been awfully half-empty lately. I reasoned that it’s partly because all of the negative world events going on at the moment. It’s been fairly hard to find the light in all of the darkness.

Yet, the Light is still there. God still remains. God is still in control. God still has a plan. Whether it’s in global disaster, or bumper-to-bumper traffic, or stubborn weather, if we seek Him, we will find Him.

That’s a promise to all of His children. That promise gives me peace. Sometimes I need reminding, perhaps you do too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

God Makes it Work

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God takes whatever we willingly give and makes it work.

We have a young lady in our church with the voice of an angel. She co-leads our praise and worship song every Sunday. Recently, there were a bunch of people up there singing with her. It was one of those songs that makes you feel like you can get a glimpse of Heaven while you’re singing it. It was one of those songs I didn’t want to end.

When it was finished, the man making our announcements, commented that he had no business being on a stage with her, but that God makes it work.

What he meant of course, was that she has tons of natural talent, so much so, that the rest of us are kind of reluctant to sing with her. What can we possibly bring to the table, when compared to her?

Turns out, we just need to bring whatever we have and God will do the rest. He certainly did that Sunday.

This isn’t the only circumstance where I have found that concept to be true. A few years ago, when I climbed on a roof for the first time, I looked around and wondered what a woman my age, with zero roofing experience, could bring to that particular table.

Yet, I went anyway. I followed directions. I did my best and my life was forever changed, as well as the lives of the people who owned that home, so badly in need of a roof. God took what I had, however meager, and used it for His glory.

My pastor says that God’s plan is never defeated by our lack of faith. When we find ourselves called to do something, it doesn’t matter whether we believe we are truly capable or even that we are the right person for the job.

We aren’t called to believe in our own abilities; we are called to believe in His. We are called to remember that the God we serve took five loaves and two small fish and fed thousands.

He doesn’t require greatness from us. That’s His department. In the end, it’s not what we bring to the table, but whose table we bring it to. Remembering that, makes all of the difference.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

A Day Off

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My son is out of school for fall break so I’m taking the day off with him. See you soon.

Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂

Stories Worth Telling

Posted on by Wendy
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” John 1:5

On October 1st, in Las Vegas, the largest mass shooting in U.S. history took place. Before the dust even settled, the politics started, ranging from some hateful words uttered by a lawyer at CBS, to immediate calls for gun control. There was also the mass media’s obsession with the why.

But, I don’t think that’s the most important story here. In a horrific shooting where 58 innocent people were ruthlessly killed and over 500 were injured, the accounts of the beautiful side of humanity are seemingly endless.

There is story after story of people risking their own lives to save others. There was a teenage girl who was shot in the leg and could not run. A stranger hoisted her over his shoulder and ran with her. He put her in a cab and she was taken to the hospital.

There was a firefighter from Seattle who went back into the crossfire over and over to lead people to safety. There was an IT guy who helped people over a fence and then directed people to triage for hours. He said he didn’t know how he did it. He had no training, but adrenaline took over, or was it something else?

There was a retired Marine who stole a truck to drive two loads of people to the hospital. There were also countless civilians who took bleeding strangers in their personal vehicles to the hospital. They just simply stopped and opened their doors.

There was a man in the Army Reserve who passed by an injured man lying in the back of a truck with a tourniquet on his leg. It was in the wrong place. He adjusted it and saved his life. Another man, when asked by a stranger, literally gave the shirt off of his back to be used as a wound dressing.

Then there were those who gave their own lives to save their loved ones. Many used their bodies as shields.

The next morning, when the sun came up, the citizens of Las Vegas stood in lines all over town to give their own blood for the victims who were complete strangers. One line stretched for blocks. Then there were the donated supplies, money, bottled water and blankets, so much so, that they stopped taking donations.

The firefighter from Seattle said the words that I have been unable to forget, “We all became one that night. I got to see one person at their worst, but I got to see humanity at its best.”

This is a tragedy that America will never forget. I pray that we also never forget the stories of ordinary people who became heroes at a moment’s notice when faced with the unthinkable.

They remind me of the people who have always made our country great. They remind me of who we are all called to be. They remind me of what unity looks like. They give me hope. They make me proud to be an American.

Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

A Call to Walk

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Sometimes we are called to walk.

I injured my back a couple of weeks ago doing yard work. I’m not exactly sure what I did, but it really hurt. For the next week, I took a ton of ibuprofen and kept a heating pad on it. I wasn’t able to exercise at all.

After about ten days, I was feeling better, not completely healed, but better. I reasoned that I should be able to walk. I’ve read that walking is supposed to be good for just about anything that ails us. As I put on my tennis shoes and stretched a little, I promised myself that I would not run.

It was a beautiful day outside. The heat had finally broken and there was a breeze. I felt grateful to be outside and to be moving. As I got warmed up, I reached the first mailbox where I usually start my first sprint. It’s at the top of a hill and I really had to force myself not to run.

I found that to be the case all through my walk. I suppose when you live in the same place for twelve years and you walk on the same path, you form habits. Some are good and some are bad. Some are good for a particular season and not so good for other seasons.

I felt the urge to run because I always had. But, I knew, that if I ran at this point, I could re-injure my back and go back to all of that pain. Still, I found the self-control to be a struggle.

I thought about that walk long after I was finished and the deeper lesson that I knew God was trying to teach me.

There are times in our lives that God wants us to slow down. Sometimes we know the reason. We could be coming through a season of constantly being busy. We could be coming through a season of sickness, or grief, or change, or maybe even growth.

Sometimes we don’t know the reason. We find ourselves praying fervently for movement, but nothing seems to happen.

The key is remembering that although we may not know why we are being called to walk and not run, God knows. He has a reason and His timing is always impeccable, even when we don’t understand. That’s what we call trust and obedience.

A walk reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

The Wisdom of Youth

Posted on by Wendy
One nation under God

Last week was just one of those weeks. You know the ones, the ones where you are just slammed at work and you just never seem to get a minute to breathe? I wasn’t feeling well physically either, which didn’t help matters.

Besides all of that, every time I logged onto Facebook for a little diversion, I was assaulted by opinions on NFL players and their treatment of the National Anthem and the American Flag.

The entire ordeal is mind boggling to me. Sports, any kind, is one of those forces that has the ability to unite people of all colors, classes and political convictions. It doesn’t matter who I have ever sat next to at any sporting event, if we are cheering for the same team, we are friends. It’s the same way at the concession stand or even in the bathroom for that matter.

So what happened?

Last season, one NFL player elected not to stand for the National Anthem. Some media outlet chose to give that guy the spotlight. The other media outlets jumped in. Chaos, division and anarchy sells. I could point out that there’s another dark force that thrives on chaos, division and anarchy.

So this season, the entire NFL jumped into the Anthem fray along with all of the mass media, and social media went wild.

It never ceases to amaze me how easy it is to get people to turn on each other. Who do you think enjoys that the most?

When I think back to the photos of the firemen hoisting that flag from the ashes of the World Trade Center and how it offered a glimmer of hope to an entire nation, I can’t imagine not standing for it.

After Hurricane Irma, police officers in Savannah saved a flag from the marsh and hoisted it back up. The picture was put on social media and was viewed 54,000 times. The flag gives us hope. When we recite the pledge, we stand and we are reminded that we are one nation under God, protected by God and blessed by God. Is the problem perhaps, that we are failing at the under God part and that, that failure is leading to all of this division?

Thankfully, last Friday night, I was treated to a snapshot of hope. Our high school football team was playing its rival from across town. The two bands from the opposing teams came together and played the National Anthem. EVERYONE stood on both sides. The flag and the anthem united us as it always has.

I fought tears as I gave a silent prayer of thanks for small town America and the values that it holds dear. As if that wasn’t enough, when our team came running onto the field breaking through their banner, a player was carrying the flag, waving it proudly. The crowd went wild. He ran for a few extra loops before sticking it in the ground.

I think the Bible said something about a child leading the way. This child got it right and these are the stories we should share. Perhaps you needed a little hope today too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

The Call to Cook

Posted on by Wendy
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

I read a story a couple of weeks ago that’s just too good not to share.

In the small town of Perry, Georgia, a stay-at-home mom, Kimberly Chancy, ran into Kroger to get a single case of water for her family. While she was there, her sister called her and suggested that they cook some meals for Hurricane Irma refugees who were fleeing Florida and south Georgia.

Perry is in central Georgia and sits right on I75, so there were many people coming through. Some could go no further because there were fuel shortages and some were out of gas.

Chancy told People Magazine, “20 cases of water, 20 loaves of bread, and 10 18-pack cartons of eggs later, ‘I realized we were fixing to help somebody.'”

As it happens in small towns they called friends and those friends called friends and something beautiful got started. Neighbors came together and they were planning on delivering 500 prepared meals and 500 sack lunches. Those meals weren’t peanut butter and jelly either.

Nope, those people in Perry, prepared Boston Butts, mashed potatoes, green beans, pecan pie and homemade biscuits, to weary travelers who weren’t sure whether or not they would lose everything.

As Christians, our faith calls us to be the Good Samaritan. Our faith also tells us to practice hospitality. “Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” Romans 12:13

But what does that look like? Does being a Good Samaritan simply mean tending to people’s medical needs? I don’t think so.

The Good Samaritan helped a fellow, forgotten human being in need. That’s what the people in Perry did.

We often find ourselves with the desire to help others, but wonder what can we really do? There’s so much need in the world and we sometimes find ourselves with so few resources and so little time. Kimberly Chancy pointed out that with $10.00 of Crisco, buttermilk and flour, she could make 250 homemade biscuits.

I suspect those biscuits were like manna from Heaven for some of those weary travelers and I’m sure that their kindness will never be forgotten.

Kimberly Chancy and her friends saw an Esther moment and they took it, and they changed lives. They didn’t have to travel the world. They were able to stay in their tiny home town, doing what they already knew how to do, but serving others in an amazing way.

Kimberly said yes, to her sister’s call and I’ve no doubt, made Jesus smile. Her story inspires me to seek to do the same. Perhaps you needed some inspiration too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Soul Health

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Like this tree, what’s going on, on the inside, makes all of the difference.

When a large tree fell on our house after Hurricane Irma, my hubby and I remarked at how healthy the tree was. It was completely green and it fell over from the roots. It was hit by two trees behind it. We just thought that it had to do with the extremely high wind gusts we received.

When the tree service removed it, the trunk told a different story. The tree was sick. It was dying from the inside. There was no way anyone could have known. The leaves were green. It looked like a healthy tree on the outside, but with trees, it’s the inside that counts.

I thought about that tree for days after they removed it. I thought about how it’s very easy to become just like that tree.

We can do all of the right things and say all of the right things. We can dress ourselves and carry ourselves in ways that look very healthy to the world around us, but inside we can be carrying weakened or dying souls.

When we carry around pain and anger, when we refuse to give the past to Jesus and let Him keep it, when we refuse to forgive someone, when we focus on what we don’t have or should have, or what others have, when we actively seek our own will over God’s, all of those things can cause sickness to develop in our hearts and souls.

And at some point, if we don’t surrender those vices, it will make us sick physically too. At some point, a strong wind of some sort, will knock us flat like that tree.

The good news is that Jesus is always ready and willing to heal us, and unlike dying trees, our hearts, souls and bodies can be restored to perfect health. But, we have to be willing to hand it all over. We have to be willing to let go of that stuff that makes us soul sick and that can be a tall order. Sometimes we have carried that soul gunk around for as long as we can remember. Even so, where has it gotten us?

If we ask for help, Jesus will help us, but we have to ask for help and be willing to surrender to Him. He will take it from there.

“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

A tree reminded me of the importance of soul health. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Tree Wisdom

Posted on by Wendy
A tree large enough to land on a second story roof and tear off gutters, but just happened to fall gently enough to turn on the faucet, had to be a part of Divine intervention.

When Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, I found myself not only praying for the protection of the people in the storm, but also that God would use the situation to show Himself in unmistakable ways, ways that might show those who doubt that He is always present.

When Hurricane Irma came on Harvey’s heels, I prayed the same prayer. Little did I know that He would also take the opportunity to show His mighty hand to me, personally.

Irma deposited a tree on our house, but it did very little damage which made us very thankful. However, we had a live power line on the ground for over a week. We had power, so I wasn’t complaining, but I’d heard way too many stories about live power lines and electrocution, so I completely avoided that side of my house.

When the power company did come out, the lineman had me walk to the side of the house with him. What he showed me brought tears to my eyes. There was a rather small metal hook that attached the power line and the cable line to the house. The huge tree that fell because two larger trees, fell on it, creating a domino effect, simply nicked the side of the hook and broke it.

The lines fell to the ground, unbroken.

The tree also hit a faucet on the edge of my house, turning the water on. It didn’t break the faucet off the wall. It merely hit the faucet at just the right angle and just the right amount of force, to turn the water on.

I stared at the broken ring and the faucet in disbelief. What were the chances?

The lineman looked at me and said that we were unbelievably lucky. But, I knew it had nothing to do with luck and everything to do with God.

How often do we miss it? How often are we showered with blessings big and small that we simply attribute to good fortune or luck?

As people of faith, we are called to pray. But, aren’t we also called to acknowledge the answers to prayers and the blessings that we are so freely given? How can we acknowledge them if we don’t actively seek them?

It would have been easy to miss the Hand of God in the tree, if I had just dismissed the tree as an unfortunate accident, but the tree was meant to show me much more. God was at work, just as He always is, but I had to be willing to seek Him. And when I did? Wow!

A poplar tree reminded me of God’s mighty hand in our daily lives even in situations that we might consider unfortunate. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂