Author: Wendy

When the World is Foggy

Posted on by Wendy
When our world gets shrouded in fog, we don't have to fear. We can just slow down and trust.
When our world gets shrouded in fog, we don’t have to fear. We can just slow down and trust.

Yesterday morning, our area was under a fog warning. Every radio station was talking about it. The Weather Channel App, had a warning about it. My thirteen-year-old son finally asked, during our commute to school, “What’s the big deal about the fog?”

His artist mind thought it was cool to look at and I agreed with him. I explained to him that the problem with fog is that people don’t like to slow down. We don’t like to plan ahead and leave home early. We don’t like to be inconvenienced in any way. So, we leave for work at the same time and travel at the same speed, even though we can’t see clearly, and we crash.

That explanation seemed to satisfy him. When I returned home, I got my camera to try to capture some of the foggy images around me. They really were quite beautiful and the fog and its beauty as well as its inconveniences, continued to play out in my head.

Faith and fog seem to be close cousins to me. Both are a beautiful. Both require us to slow down and watch and sometimes wait. Both can cover all the imperfections in the world around us. Fog covers them physically while faith covers them spiritually. They both force us to keep moving ahead towards our destination slowly, even when we can barely see what lies ahead.

A few months ago, my hubby and I were having a really tough week. It was one thing after another. In desperation, I sent an e-mail to our pastor, asking him for prayer. I loved his response so much that I wrote it down.

“We can never travel though enemy darkness beyond the headlights shown by Christ. Deep breath of Holy Spirit. Next step. Just the next step. He is with you.” Dick Hoard

I immediately felt better. I think his message is perfect for foggy times too. There are simply times in our lives when we can’t see a thing. Our world is shrouded in fog. Whether we decide to let that fog be frightening like the fog used in a scary movie or more enchanting like fog used at a prom, is up to us.

We can slow down, breathe in the Holy Spirit and take one step at a time, staying within the headlights shown by Christ, resting in the knowledge that we are loved and there is a plan, or we can panic and hit the gas and take our chances.

Maybe Lent is an ideal time to think about the foggy areas of our lives. Where do we need to slow down and let Christ shine His light? I find that when we ask, He will show up and His light never dims.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Smiling in the Rain

Posted on by Wendy
Vacuuming this little pin up turned my day around.
Vacuuming up this little pin turned my day around.

It seems like it’s been raining here in Georgia forever. It’s been a very wet winter. My mama says she thinks we’re going to mold. Yesterday began wet and dreary. I had two teens that decided they would pick that particular morning to argue with each other and me and to complain incessantly about life in general.

I’m well aware that is perfectly normal behavior for kids that age, but their attitude along with the weather was on this normally optimistic gal’s very last nerve. Furthermore, I really needed to vacuum, (think over a week), but my hubby was supposed to work on our vacuum cleaner and hadn’t gotten around to it.

I know this all sounds like whining and truthfully, it is. I have so much to be thankful for. We are all well, and have plenty to eat, and a house to live in, and electricity, and hot water, and, and, and… But, I sometimes forget and I get lost in my own little pity party and moment of despair. Maybe you do too?

I sat down on the kitchen floor and disassembled the vacuum cleaner myself. It wasn’t necessarily something I couldn’t do, just something I didn’t want to do. I finally got it back together and up and running. I vacuumed and prayed. I find that God often shows up in the seemingly mundane.

I prayed about the crummy weather and my matching mood. I prayed about my kids and for guidance from God in guiding them. I prayed for God to show Himself, acknowledging that sometimes He doesn’t.

As I prayed, a scenario came to mind. Sometimes I feel like God is like a parent teaching a child to ride a bike without the training wheels. He runs along behind us, holding onto the seat. We pedal gleefully knowing He is there. But, at some point, He lets go because we have learned to ride on our own. He knows we can do it and He’s never far away.

In the beginning of our faith walk, we become frightened much more easily, and like the child on the bike with no training wheels, we may bobble and fall. He will always be there to help us up.

But, I think His goal may be for us to be able to walk in faith and not to need constant reassurance from Him. We learn to do that from Christian community, prayer time and reading the Bible regularly. That’s how we become strong. That’s how we help others along the way.

As the scenario worked itself out in my mind, during my prayer time, I felt much better. I knew a blog post had been born. Suddenly, the vacuum cleaner sucked up something big, under my daughter’s bed. Wearily, I turned it off and checked the receptacle.

In it was a smiley face pin and immediately a song from youth group camp fires, popped into my mind. “Smile! Don’t you know God loves you? Come to think of it, I love you too. Take the time to smile at someone else, before you’re through, someone will be smiling back at you! Bom! Bom! Bom!” Then it goes faster.

That song always makes me smile and so did that pen. There’s some simple wisdom there. God loves us and in the end, that’s all that really matters. Maybe you needed a reminder today too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

Seeking Answers

Posted on by Wendy
How often do we miss the answers to our prayers because we are too distracted to see them?
How often do we miss the answers to our prayers because we are too distracted to see them?

I have recently been struggling with how involved I want to be in a particular outreach of my church. It takes me out of my comfort zone and quite frankly, it’s called a comfort zone for a reason. Now, I’m not one who makes it my business to wrestle with God. I understand people who do and for many, their faith grows as a result.

But, I’ve always been more of a people pleaser, so when God calls, I’m typically on board. But, in this particular instance, I couldn’t really discern whether I was being nudged by God or pushed by people. If it was a God calling, I was willing to follow, however reluctantly, but if it was a people thing, I was planning on bowing out.

I was really praying about it on the first walk I was able to take in weeks, due to our recent stretch of horrible weather. I returned home with no solid answers, but then I checked my phone and I smiled and gave a prayer of thanks, not for answering a prayer to leave me in my comfort zone, alas, but for answering a prayer for direction.

The night before, while perusing Pinterest, I pinned a quote from Ann Voskamp that said, “You can’t be a world changer until you serve. And you can’t serve until your break free of your comfort zone.” It had a picture of a weathered door.

I don’t know why I pinned it. It just spoke to me at the moment. But, when I returned from my walk and prayer time, my phone informed me that someone on Pinterest had pinned my pin and when I clicked it, Ann’s message popped up.

There was my answer. It may not have been the one I was most comfortable with, but it was my answer.

As Believers, when we really look for God in the world around us, He’s everywhere and why wouldn’t He be? When we pray for answers, do we expect them? Do we actively look for them or do we hope for a text message explaining it all in detail? Maybe we hope for the burning bush answers.

I find that God most often answers prayers in quiet subtle ways, that could easily be missed if we weren’t paying attention. I wonder how many answers I’ve missed along the way because I wasn’t looking or fully alert. How often have I missed out on God communicating with me because I was too busy or distracted? Perhaps you struggle with this too?

During this Lenten season, I’m intentionally taking time to slow down and listen. I’m trying not to miss the subtle that would easily be missed in the rush of life. When we pray, we should expect answers, but maybe we are expected to actively watch for them. I’m going to try harder to be a better watcher and listener. Care to join me?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Living Out Faith is a Team Deal

Posted on by Wendy
Perhaps Lent is an ideal time to reflect on how and why we are serving.
Perhaps Lent is an ideal time to reflect on how and why we are serving.

Yesterday was a miserable, dreary, rainy day. It was also a Sunday. Getting out of bed took some discipline. I could have come up with a hundred reasons not to have gotten up and attended church, but I didn’t. I got up and I went.

The pastor reminded us that we had to make a tough decision to attend in the rain. We all chuckled. But, then he reminded us that throughout church history, people had been killed for all kinds of decisions relating to their faith.

The thought occurred to me that Christianity is not a spectator faith. It never has been and Jesus has always been a polarizing figure. While most of us won’t be called to physically give up our lives for following Jesus, we are all called to fully serve and participate. Yes, getting out of bed and attending a church service is a start, but then what?

When people join churches they seem to be in one of two camps. They either participate in everything or they participate in nothing. So, we often find a small group of people involved in many church activities and other groups simply attending church and maybe Sunday School.

But, here’s what happens; the word gets out that there are certain people who will agree to help with whatever they are asked and so they get asked to serve again and again and again. They sometimes get very tired and discouraged and sometimes they end up leaving the church altogether.

I kind of think of it as a relay race at a track meet. In that kind of event, each runner runs for a little while and then they hand the baton off to another member of the team and they run for a little while and then they hand it off. Everyone has a leg to run. Everyone has a part to play. Everyone is a part of the team. Everyone’s participation matters.

If one runner drops the baton or doesn’t do their part, the entire race is severely hindered.

Perhaps Lent is a good time to do a little service soul-searching. The season is meant for us to intentionally take time and make the effort to grow closer to God. Maybe it’s a great time to ask ourselves in what ways we are serving.

Are we serving at all? Are we serving in the same way we have for the past ten plus years? Should we prayerfully seek a different way to serve? Would a new type of service help us to grow closer to Jesus in our faith walk?

If we are serving in many places, perhaps we should prayerfully ask God if we are too thinly stretched. Are we serving because we are called or because we couldn’t say “no?” If we are serving for the wrong reasons, we may be taking someone else’s slot who could really grow doing that particular service.

As I observe Lent this year, it’s more about intentionally drawing closer to God than giving up some kind of vice, not that there’s anything wrong with that. I just feel like it’s really important not to make the season about us and what we can or can’t accomplish.

It’s supposed to be about deepening our faith walk and I think that examining how we do or don’t serve and making changes may be worth a look.

What do you think? How are you observing Lent? I’d love to hear from you.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Seek and Show

Posted on by Wendy
Lent is the ideal time to remember to seek the Divine in the world around us as well as to represent it.
Lent is the ideal time to remember to seek the Divine in the world around us as well as to represent it.

Yesterday, I was talking with a friend of mine who happens to be a counselor, about my post that day. It was the one about talking to the lady in Wal-Mart. She made the comment that people are really lonely these days and need to connect more.

I told her that I connected with people fairly regularly when I go to Wal-Mart and I had actually written about it a few times. She told me that she thought a lot of “God stuff” went on there. Of course, being the curious individual that I am, I pressed her for more information.

She said she was in the produce section one day and was in a bit of a slump with her faith. She said a woman walked up to her and asked her if could she give her something. She replied, “yes.”

The woman handed her a New Testament. Is the hair standing up on the back of your neck?

The Gideons are men. She wasn’t with them. She wasn’t standing on the corner with a pile of Bibles to hand out. She sought out my friend. Why? Did the Holy Spirit nudge her?

It was just what was needed a that moment. Isn’t God amazing that way? The more I thought about it, the more intrigued I became. Maybe angels hang out Wal-Mart. The Bible tells us, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained strangers without knowing it.” Hebrews 13:2

Where would Jesus hang out if he was walking around in 2015? He didn’t hang out with the rich people on his first trip here, or the most educated people, or the religious people. He didn’t spend a lot of time with people who we might consider the cream of the crop.

When I really think about it, Wal-Mart would be a very likely place to encounter the Son of God. There are all types of people there. There are lonely people there. There are struggling people there. There are angry people there. There are frustrated people there. There are old and young and lots of children there. There are several different languages spoken at my location. One can encounter John Q. Humanity there.

I’m not sure we would find Jesus at Sax. I guess my point is, I think that Jesus would most likely be where people need him the most. Wal-Mart seems as likely a place as any. I often see a great need there. I think Jesus often shows up in the mundane. Maybe angels do too.

Either way, Lent seems to be the ideal time to be more on the look out for the Divine among us as we do our best to represent it to the world around us. Wherever we go, we always have the opportunity to seek and show.

What do you think? I’d love to hear from you.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Finding God in the Everyday

Posted on by Wendy
When we honestly seek God, He turns up just about everywhere.
When we honestly seek God, He turns up just about everywhere.

I had to run into Wal-Mart yesterday. I was dreading it. I always dread going to Wal-Mart because there’s no parking, and the people aren’t usually very nice, and there are never enough checkout lines open. To add to it, we were expecting anywhere from 2 to 4 inches of snow which is a huge deal in Georgia. I braced myself for chaos.

When I pulled into the lot, the parking wasn’t too bad. The inside wasn’t too bad either. I was cheered. I was looking for a specific lotion for my son’s eczema flare-up and there was a well dressed, older lady in the same section. She tapped me on the shoulder and asked me what face lotion I used.

We had a short conversation about how she had just moved into assisted living and that she usually bought her skin products at department stores in the mall and she just had no idea what to buy. I showed her the product I use and she told me she needed one for morning and night. She was incredibly spry and I was quite surprised that she needed assisted living.

We chatted a few minutes about her grandchildren and then she thanked me and told me I had done my good deed for the day. I assured her that I was happy to help her and we said goodbye.

The encounter played in my mind throughout my day. It required very little of my time to talk with that sweet woman, but that small amount of time seemed to have made a big difference to her. It kind of bothers me that we have become so busy and self-consumed that stopping to talk to a fellow human being is considered a “good deed.”

I can think of many actions I consider worthy of the title, but polite conversation with strangers is not one of them. I have often thought that being distracted in general, is one of the biggest adversaries of our spiritual life. Running around from the time we wake up until the time we go to bed also leaves very little time for human relationships.

As Christians, we are called to love one another. How can we love others if we are too busy to make eye contact or to speak to each other? Talking to each other should be the norm, not the exception. I’m going to try really hard to remember that.

I really need to stop dreading going to Wal-Mart too. God has used my visits there on quite a few occasions when He wants to teach me something. But, then again, when you look for God, He’s everywhere, even at Wal-Mart.

Where will you find Him today?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

Learning from the Wilderness

Posted on by Wendy
Maybe Lent is an ideal time to think of our own wilderness moments.
Maybe Lent is an ideal time to think of our own wilderness moments.

Right after Jesus’ baptism, the Bible tells us that God’s voice from Heaven said that Jesus was His son and He was pleased with him. That definitely seems like one of those mountain top moments to me. Jesus is following God’s will and God verbally recognizes him. It seems like peace and joy should commence, right?

The very next verse, has Jesus being lead by the Holy Spirit to the wilderness to be tempted. I’ve always wondered why. He was God’s son. Why the wilderness trial?

My pastor said on Sunday that it was because Jesus had been a carpenter up until this point. He couldn’t go from being a mere carpenter to the person God meant him to be. He required some training and testing from Satan. If he couldn’t pass the wilderness test, then how could he pass the ultimate test of willingly going to the cross?

This was a bit of a light bulb moment for me. We have all spent time in the wilderness and we have all been tested or tempted in some way, on our Christian walk.

When I got home, I looked up the account in Matthew, Chapter 4. Our pastor was preaching from Mark, but Matthew’s account has may more details. As a writer myself, I’m always very curious about the details.

Matthew’s version says that Satan tested Jesus three times and each time Jesus didn’t take the bait, unlike Adam and Eve, way back in Genesis, with their run in with the him. Jesus stood firm each time. When Satan quoted scripture and attempted to twist it to his liking, Jesus quoted right back to him the truth in scripture.

Notice, that Satan didn’t leave after the first, “no.” He kept at it, but Jesus didn’t waiver. I imagine Jesus feeling a little stronger and Satan a little weaker with each refusal to go along with his plans. He began on the sneaky side, but finally came out and said what he  really wanted, which is the same thing he wants from us. He wanted Jesus to worship him.

That’s when Jesus quoted the perfect scripture, “Jesus said to him, “Away from me Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'” Matthew 4:10.

What can we learn from Jesus’ experience in the wilderness that we can apply to our own lives when we experience wilderness moments?

First of all, God is always growing us. As long as we are on our journey, there is always room for growth. When we find ourselves in desolate places, it’s important to remember that God is with us. We are never alone. Jesus could have called out for help at any moment. He knew it. He didn’t, but he could have.

Secondly, knowing scripture really helps with our strength and resolve. We have an enemy who is very familiar with scripture. Shouldn’t we be too?

Lastly, Satan will always come after God’s people, but we have all the tools we need to resist. Best of all, we have the Holy Spirit. We too, have the ability to tell him to hit the road.

Because, the really awesome rest of the story that unfolded when Jesus told Satan to go, was he was first attended to by angels and then he began to preach.

His wilderness time lead to the greatest three years in human history.

What if God has great things planned for us following our own wilderness moments? It might be something to think about.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Thy Will Be Done

Posted on by Wendy
Mastering trust and obedience on our Christian walk can be incredibly freeing.
Mastering trust and obedience on our Christian walk can be incredibly freeing.

I was recently catching up with a friend of mine. She was talking about how her business wasn’t doing very well, but that almost everyone she knew in her line of work was struggling too. She acknowledged that she knew that God hears her prayers, but also that her bills were piling up.

But, then she said she wondered if God was preparing her to do something completely different than her current line of work.

I’ve thought about our conversation a lot over the past week. I’ve thought about prayers, both answered and unanswered. Of course, there are no truly unanswered prayers. Sometimes the answer is, “no.” We may not like that, but that’s still an answer.

I thought about how often we pray for very specific things. We pray for God to give us a raise for x amount of money, or to send us more clients, or to make our spouses want to spend more time with us, or to make our kids behave. There’s a limitless list of the ways that we attempt to control God’s answers to our prayers.

We feel like we know what we want and what’s best for us and therefore we ask for those things, like a to-do list.

But, what if we were to approach God in an entirely different way, with an entirely different heart. What if we were to pray instead of, “to please fix it and give me xyz”, we prayed something like, “I’m really struggling, please show me your plan for me and help me to trust. Help me to remember that, “Even the very hairs on my head are numbered.” Matthew 10:30 (my emphasis)

What if we were more willing to surrender our own preconceived notions and plans for our lives and yielded to God’s? I wonder if the pharmaceutical industry would take a hit.

There has been an ongoing struggle of our will verses God’s, since the very beginning. It showed itself in the garden and we have an enemy who loves to feed it.

Trust and obedience can be really hard to master. I think as Americans, we pride ourselves so much in our independence from government and from other world powers, that we sometimes forget that we truly are dependent on God.

And when we forget, we don’t pray; we don’t worship; we don’t yield. We do things our own way which usually ends up in some type of disaster.

Lent is an ideal time to take a good look at our prayer lives. Are we praying like Jesus taught us, “Thy will be done”? Maybe we should look a little harder at that phrase and see if our thoughts and ambitions are lining up with His.

Wouldn’t it be awesome to know when we go to bed each night, that we are covered no matter what, because we are chosen and loved and He has a plan, and all that is required is for us to keep our eyes on Him and place one foot in front of the other?

That sounds kind of freeing to me. What do you think?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Help With Cobwebs

Posted on by Wendy

Words to ponder during Lent.

We were having friends over for dinner on Saturday and I was cleaning house, not necessarily because we were entertaining, but because it had been a busy couple of weeks and the house was a bit of a mess. I started with the dining room because I knew we would spend a lot of time in there.

I removed the inevitable clutter that occurs when you have a room that doesn’t get used very much, but just happens to have a table. I vacuumed and mopped and dusted. I was feeling pretty good about how it looked. Then I turned on the overhead light.

To my complete dismay, there were thin little cobwebs all over the chandelier. Before I swept them away, I took note of the fact that I didn’t even know they were there until I turned the light on. But, once the light was on, they were very noticeable. What if I had waited until our guests arrived to turn on the light? I would have been terribly embarrassed.

While I finished cleaning, those tiny, seemingly invisible, cobwebs stayed on my mind. I found them in quite a few other rooms too. Each time, they were invisible until I turned on the light and looked up.

Lent is the time of year when we are called to repent and refocus our lives on God. The cobwebs reminded me that oftentimes, we feel like we are doing just fine spiritually. But, the Bible can give us little a check up on our own prognosis.

The Bible tells us to, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

In other words, to know that we are spiritually on the right path, we have to spend regular time with God and read the Bible regularly too. How else will we know God’s ways? We can’t, because the Bible also tells us that, our thoughts and ways are not God’s thoughts and ways.

But, we can align our thoughts and ways with God’s with the help of the Holy Spirit, prayer and the Bible. When we earnestly seek to do that, we are filled with peace beyond comprehension.

The cobwebs in our lives are the little things that are seemingly insignificant, but keep us from shining our lights the best way we possibly can. Perhaps Lent is the perfect time to ask God to shine His light on our cobwebs, whatever that may be and to help us remove them for good.

Then when Easter comes and we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, we can also celebrate our newly cleaned and sparkling lights as well, as we join together with all Christians to spread the Good News.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

A Divine Band

Posted on by Wendy
The Body off Christ is like an orchestra; every person, like every instrument, matters.
The Body off Christ is like an orchestra; every person, like every instrument, matters.

My son participated in a band concert last night. I am always floored at how good a middle school band can be. I suppose it has to do with its director. All of those different instruments play just the right notes at just the right time and a beautiful melody is the result. Even when they add more members, with the right director, the music is still magnificent.

I have found this to be the case in the church choir as well. Sometimes there are very few of us, and we sound good. But then, we add two or three more and we sound great. Just like my son’s band, we have a fabulous director who knows exactly how to tell us when to sing and how loudly and which notes. It’s been an amazing phenomenon to experience.

Our church choir, like my son’s band, is always open for more willing participants.

It struck me last night, as I was watching the percussionists hustle around in the back playing all of the different instruments, and all of the woodwinds and brass play theirs, that while one more student might always be welcome and appreciated, when one is missing, it makes a difference. The same goes for the choir. Every voice matters and makes a difference.

The Body of Christ is the same scenario. There are many different parts with many different talents and gifts. Some are super visible like the preacher or the choir director. But, some people greet newcomers at the door or provide refreshments. There may be someone who is in charge of keeping coffee at the church or making sure there is toilet paper in the bathroom.

All of those jobs are equally important. Imagine for a moment, a church service without them.

Humanity loves to rank ourselves. We love to compare ourselves with other humans and jockey for better positions. But, God’s way is different. His way is to focus on Him and only on Him and then do whatever job He has given us with our unique talents and abilities we have been given.

When we commit to do that, we become part of a beautiful orchestra. When we refuse, we are missed. There are no small parts in God’s kingdom plan.

We can always add more because God is a phenomenal director and He knows exactly where to use us, but when we don’t show up or participate fully, we are missed terribly.

Lent is an ideal time to ask ourselves what part we have been playing in the Body of Christ. Are we doing our best? Are we participating fully with joy? How can we improve? How can we bring others in?

If the questions stump us, then some time in prayer will likely provide just the answers we need. We all have a part to play and a Divine Director who is patiently waiting.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂