Category: Biblical Wisdom

Sometimes the answers we seek to life’s troubles are in the Bible. Can I make a difference? Does God care? Am I good enough?Yes!

Recognizing the Signs

Posted on by Wendy
God has a long history of using Creation to communicate with His followers.

A friend of mine recently asked me if I believe in signs. Do I believe that the Creator of heaven and earth and all the creatures in it, can use His creation to communicate with His followers? Not to mention, there’s even a talking donkey in the Bible and God sent ravens to feed Elijah?

I told her yes, without a doubt.

She proceeded to tell me about her mother and grandmother who were driving to a hospital for her grandmother’s knee surgery. It had already been postponed one time and her grandmother is in her eighties. The ladies had refused to come and spend the night with my friend the night before, so they had to leave home at 4:00 AM.

When they got on the road, it was still dark outside. A little ways into their trip, a dove flew right in front of their windshield, close enough where both women could see it. They immediately felt that God was with them and a sense of peace.

The surgery went well and her grandmother is recovering, but that dove left a lasting impression on my friend, so much that she shared with me.

I told her that God often shows Himself to me through hawks. I can take a walk and be diligently praying about something and a hawk will cross my path, so closely that I can’t help, but see it and I’m always filled with His presence.

I was thinking about our conversation last weekend, when I was able to get outside for a rare walk. I was giving thanks for the sun and the warmth and praying for guidance on my next steps in the season I am in. I came to my neighbor’s house with a blue bow on the mailbox. They were outside with their five-year-old daughter and their brand new baby boy. I stopped to talk to them and take a peek at the baby.

He was adorable and I was caught by surprise at my own memories of holding my son that suddenly flooded my thoughts. He will graduate from high school in a couple of months and my nest will be empty.

But, after a few minutes of talking with them, their five-year-old excitedly said, “Look!” and pointed across the street. A big hawk flew from over the neighbor’s house and landed in a tree, right where we could all see it.

I smiled, filled with peace and headed home.

Do I believe God can use whatever means He chooses to communicate with His followers? That’s a hundred percent yes. I just wonder how often we miss it. Thankfully, a five-year-old pointed it out to me. Maybe you needed someone to remind you to look today too.

Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂

Seeing the Light in the Difficult Times

Posted on by Wendy
Sometimes when we are forced to be still, we hear and see things we would have otherwise missed.

Sunday morning I awakened by a throbbing migraine. I have had them since my freshman year in college. My mama has them. My granddaddy had them. Over the years, I’ve learned to feel one coming on and I can head it off by taking medication early, before it gets bad. After it gets bad, there isn’t much to do besides, sit in the darkness with an ice pack on my head.

Because of my learned coping strategies, it’s been a long time since one has really knocked me off of my feet, but this one was sneaky and it came during the night. I tossed and turned as it got worse and it wasn’t until it became more than I could stand, that I finally got up and took something.

Of course, it was too late at that point and I had to get an ice pack and go right back to bed. An hour later, I finally trudged into the kitchen for some coffee to continue the fight. It was a little better, but still there. I sat at the kitchen table in semi-darkness, lamenting the fact that I would miss church and probably the work out I had promised myself.

I knew very well that my day would be slowed down to a turtle crawl at best and a day on the sofa at worst.

As I began to drinking my second cup of coffee, I could hear nothing but silence and the ticking of a clock. The sky through my windows began to brighten and the sun came out. It had been raining for days, so my soul felt a little lighter. Then a deer walking the fence line caught my eye. I sat mesmerized watching her, wondering what had caught her attention.

If I hadn’t felt confined to the chair, I would have been up emptying the dishwasher.

I likely would have missed the sun breaking through the clouds and the deer.

A little while later, I went to let the dogs out and it felt like a cool spring morning. I grabbed a blanket and went out to the porch to sit and I could hear the creek behind our house. It doesn’t normally have enough water to make a gurgling sound, but the recent rains had given it a beautiful voice, one I would have missed if I hadn’t had the headache.

As I sat, bundled up in the cool morning air, I felt thankful and blessed, not for the migraine. No one is thankful for a migraine or any other sickness or crises in their lives. But, I was thankful that in the stillness I was able to see God. I was able to see beauty. I was able to find peace.

The Bible tells us over and over that we never walk alone and most believers know that it’s true on some level, but it’s often the darkest times when we are really reminded, when we can really feel and see that promise.

A migraine reminded me. Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too.

Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂

Faith, Hope and Love Remain

Posted on by Wendy
When we share faith when we feel prompted, there’s no end to the beautiful ripples we can help create.

One morning last week, when I finished my morning devotion, I checked my Facebook feed. I don’t know why. I rarely look at Facebook in the mornings. I simply don’t have the time. But, for some reason, I did.

At the very top, was a picture of a daily devotion that a friend of mine shared. She recently lost her mother to cancer and is in a period of deep mourning and profound loss. She has shared so many beautiful pictures on Facebook of her mother through the different stages of her life and has received many comments and I’m sure, countless prayers for her peace and healing.

She has shared that her mother was a person of deep faith and raised a daughter who shares in that faith and so on that morning, even in her despair, when she read something that really spoke to her in her sadness, she felt led to share it with others.

And on that morning, I saw it and downloaded it and sent it to my own daughter because I thought it would speak to her. It did and she thanked me.

Later at work, a friend of mine shared that her daughter had just received some bad news about an injury not healing as it should have and she was pretty devastated. I shared the devotion with my friend and she felt it would really help her daughter.

Later in the week, when I witnessed another friend who has been struggling with an ongoing family issue, show kindness when she really didn’t have to, I felt prompted to share the devotion with her as well. She’s kept such a great attitude, but I really felt like she could use some encouragement.

She texted back immediately, that she had really needed that and thanked me for sending it.

Even thought my friend’s sweet mama has gone home to be with Jesus, she’s still making all kinds of faith ripples because of the faith she instilled in her own child. We are all here for such a short time. What we do in that time depends entirely upon us. We can squander it on all kinds of things that will never matter once we are gone.

But, we can choose to spread the seeds of faith, hope and love and in the end, those are the only things that truly remain. I’m so very thankful she chose to share.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Celebrating Anne

Posted on by Wendy
The love and kindness we share, remain long after we are gone.

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, I attended a funeral. It was for one of the most influential women in my faith walk. Her name was Anne. She came in every Sunday morning, when I was a child, carrying a black flannel board and little cut out paper characters to introduce a new Bible story.

She began each Sunday morning with songs, that are forever etched into my heart. One of her daughters would play the piano and we would sing, “This Little Light of Mine,” or “Jesus Loves Me,” or “Deep and Wide,” or “Zacchaeus Was a Wee Little Man,” or “Joy, Joy, Joy, Down in My Heart,” (she would always pause during that one and ask us where and we would loudly sing it back.”

She taught kindergarten and she happily used her gifts, week after week, and year after year, to teach Sunday School as well as Vacation Bible School. I don’t think she ever had to be asked, she just did.

She taught me and my sister, and there’s no telling how many other children over the years, about the Bible giants. I have vivid memories of Jonah and the Whale, Noah, Joseph, Moses, Paul and of course Jesus, and countless others, marching across that black felt board.

She laid a foundation that would one day encourage me to dig deeper and learn more about God’s Word. She was a seed planter.

There was another lady in that tiny country church, who was also as influential for me as Anne was and she went home years ago to be with Jesus. She was definitely a Martha. As I was praying for comfort for Anne’s family, God reminded me that my sweet Anne was a Mary, spending countless hours at the feet of Jesus and then sharing what she learned with everyone around her in the kindest, gentlest way possible.

My daily devotion two days later just happened to be about those two sisters and I was reminded how both are needed to do Kingdom work. My personal faith walk was influenced by women with both of those gifts and I learned so much from them both.

From one, I was encouraged to plan and direct Vacation Bible School for almost ten years. From the other, I was encouraged to dig into the Bible and write about and share Jesus with others.

As I stood at Anne’s graveside, the day was spectacularly beautiful. The sky was a brilliant blue and the temperature had risen to close to seventy. It was as if nature was rejoicing that she had moved onto a better place, out of the sickness and pain where she had been.

I’ve no doubt, heaven was rejoicing at the addition of a new saint and I’m sure she heard the words: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” Matthew 25:21

Remembering Anne reminded me that we should keep planting and using our gifts, whatever they may be. We just never know what might take root. 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 🙂

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 🙂

Acknowledging the Tough Seasons

Posted on by Wendy
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

I was recently taking a walk and I ran into a neighbor who I hadn’t seen in a while. We live down the street from each other, but rarely get to talk, We usually wave as we pass each other in the road. I love to talk to her. She’s always laughing, always has funny stories and always has encouraging words.

I stopped in front of her house and we started getting caught up on each other’s lives. Her kids are a little older that mine. One is in college and one recently got married. I was chattering on about my summer and she was telling me some funny stories about hers.

Then she told me that her daughter had suffered a miscarriage. She was going to be fine, but was really disappointed. It was fairly early, but they had seen the heartbeat. My neighbor was thankful that she could be with her. They would try again soon. A little later in the conversation, she told me that her son’s dog had run away on the same day that they were scheduled to be out of town for a wedding and also on the same day that he was scheduled to be a pall bearer at the funeral of a friend who had died suddenly and tragically.

But, she was happy to report that they did find the dog. I stopped her at this point and said to her, “You had a terrible summer.”

She took a breath and acted a little surprised at my words and admitted that, yes, it had been a rough summer for them. I told her how sorry I was to hear it and that I would keep her family in my prayers and she thanked me.

We chatted a little longer and said our goodbyes. I thought about what a tough season she had been through and how she wasn’t complaining at all, but just telling her story. I thought about how important that it was for her to be able to tell it honestly. But, perhaps most importantly, that she could acknowledge, and have someone else acknowledge her tough season.

I think that many of us believe that to be good Christians, we are supposed to smile through the pain, no matter what and just count our blessings, because we have so many. Sometimes we can be guilty of telling others to do the same. Being a glass half-full kind of gal, I always attempt to look for the blessings in my own life.

But, sometimes, there are valleys. Sometimes we suffer through rough seasons. In those seasons, we should remember that it’s okay to acknowledge our pain and disappointment. It’s okay to share it with others and it’s okay to cry out to God, remembering that we never walk alone and the season will eventually pass.

A conversation with a neighbor reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Trusting the Caller

Posted on by Wendy
The man selling peanuts wasn’t there to assist swimmers, but when he was called to, he did.

Last summer, when my family was on vacation, there was a guy who came by in a tiny boat, selling boiled peanuts and drinks, to the snorkelers and the people on the beach. I had never seen anything like it before, but I thought his entrepreneuarial spirit was amazing.

People would line up in the water, to buy snacks.

One day, there were two little girls on a float, that had ventured out a little too far and they seemed to be struggling. He motored over to them and somehow pulled them into his tiny boat, to safety. He then, took them to the shore and delivered them to their grateful parents.

He motored back out a little ways and a lifeguard came over on a jet ski, from the other side of the beach, and scolded him. I couldn’t hear the conversation, but I could tell the lifeguard wasn’t happy. The peanut boat captain, sat politely, then shrugged his shoulders and went back to selling peanuts.

The entire scenario didn’t last more than a few minutes, but stayed on my mind long after we left the beach. I was shocked. That guy had just rescued two little girls. Was that lifeguard seriously trying to get into some bizarre turf war? I’m sure those parents would have loved to have had their say in the matter.

We have all been at one time or another, thrown into a situation that we didn’t feel equipped for, but felt called to do. The Bible is full of those people, from Moses the stutterer, to Ester the reluctant queen, to Mary, the virgin, who would give birth to our savior.

God often chooses to call people who seem very ill equipped for the task He has in front of them. It’s how faith is built. When we are called to do something bigger than we are, then we are forced to attribute our success to His strength, not our own. We end up seeing first hand, that nothing is impossible with God.

But, the Bible also teaches us that there will be opposition when we are following God’s plans. There will always be pharaohs and pharisees, like that lifeguard, who will attempt to tell us why we can’t or shouldn’t do what we are called to do, or to even convince us that it’s not our job.

And just like, Moses, Ester, Mary, and the disciples, we must go forth anyway, even if it’s just one tiny fearful step at a time. Because in the end, when we are following God’s will, we will be at the right place at the right time and we will have exactly what we need to succeed. Faith is about learning to trust the Caller.

A peanut boat rescue reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Walking in Faith

Posted on by Wendy
When we walk with God, every little step we take in faith, matters.

Last Sunday, my Sunday school class was discussing Exodus 24, the building of the Ark of the Covenant and the tabernacle. It’s easy to get lost in the Old Testament sometimes, when we read things like specific directions that seem to drone on and on, about how to build something, using measurements that we aren’t familiar with, we want to just skip over it.

We tend to zone out when the language, or even the culture, or situation, is foreign to us, but in doing so, we can really miss out on some very interesting and inspiring information.

When we were reading the chapter aloud in class and it got to the part of what materials God wanted used to build the ark and the tabernacle, my mind snapped to attention. He wanted things like silver, gold, bronze, fine linen and dyed yarn.

Where would they have put their hands on that stuff? Didn’t they leave in the middle of the night, pursued across the Red Sea by the Egyptians? Wasn’t the story that their bread hadn’t even had time to rise, so they took it on the run? Did they have the time to pack this kind of stuff?

But, another verse popped into my head and I couldn’t wait to look it up. In Exodus 12:35, Moses instructed the Israelites to go to their Egyptian neighbors and ask for those things and they complied.

I wonder if they thought Moses was out of his mind. They had just lived through all of those plagues unscathed and Moses wanted them to go ask the ruined Egyptians, for their riches. But, they did.

The text says, “The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed towards the people, and they gave them what they asked for, so they plundered the Egyptians.” Exodus 12:36

Soon after, the plague that killed the firstborn sons of all of the Egyptians came and Pharaoh told them to go. So they went quickly, but they carried all of those riches.

It’s kind of a strange little story until you get to Chapter 25. God wanted those riches to build His ark and His tabernacle. He knew all along what was needed and how He would get it. All the Israelites were required to do was have faith and obedience.

And that’s all that’s required of us today. We worship the same God who knew exactly what He would use those riches for. He was at work then. He’s at work now. It sometimes may seem like He’s not and that we are required to do things that make no sense to us at the time.

The story of the building of the ark and tabernacle, reminds us that we don’t have to understand; we just have to trust and obey. Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Age Inspiration

Posted on by Wendy
Strong faith takes a lifetime to grow.

I recently asked a friend of mine how her dad was doing. He had just lost his wife a couple of months earlier. She had been sick for a while, but death is always hard.

She told me that he was doing well and that he told her he had started walking with some ladies in his church. He said he needed to get in good shape for when he was older. He’s 90.

She and I laughed and I marveled at his attitude. It’s so easy to find something to be down about. Just turn on the news. It’s also easy to grumble about getting older. Our bodies begin to change shape and ache. We don’t have the energy we used to. We can’t see or hear as well.

We could come up with a long list of why youth is better and spend a lot of time dreaming about the good old days.

But, with age, comes wisdom. We simply know and understand more than our younger counterparts do. In many ways, we become more fearless that we were when we were younger. We learn from living, that many of our fears and stresses were unfounded to begin with, but try explaining that to a teenager.

They can’t possibly understand and I don’t think they were meant to. They have to do their own living and make their own mistakes. Wisdom must be earned over time.

There was a man named Caleb, in the Bible, who was one of the spies to check out the Promised Land. He was 40 at the time. He and Joshua were the only two men who gave a good report and stood strong in their faith. The other ten spies panicked and persuaded the rest of Israel to do the same.

God rewarded Caleb and Joshua for their faith. They didn’t get out of the forty plus years of desert time, but they did see the Promised Land. When Joshua was dividing up areas for each tribe, Caleb, who was now 85, told Joshua to give him an area that had not yet been conquered, the fortified city with the Anakites. He said he was as strong as ever and with God at his side, they would take it.

Joshua agreed and Caleb and his clan prevailed. Caleb could have easily requested another area, something flat, by the water, that had no more fighting involved. Surely he’d earned it. Yet, he chose the more difficult route, because his faith told him he could.

My friend’s dad reminded me of Caleb, still strong, still fighting and still standing for God. He inspires me to do the same. Maybe you needed a little inspiration too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂