Category: Trusting God

Last week, I got to watch the annual country music awards. Being a country music fan, I usually watch at least some of the show. This year I was very interested to see how they the stars of country music would deal with the tragedy in Las Vegas. As a rule, country music artists tend to be a people of faith who regularly talk about and sing about Jesus.

How do Christians respond to tragedy?

I knew I was in the right place when the very first performer, Eric Church, sang “Amazing Grace.” What other genre of music would do that? Then they led into the 90’s song, “Hold My Hand,” by Hootie and the Blowfish, but they all came together.

They sang of peace, love and harmony and holding hands.

I don’t know that any genre of music has ever taken a blow like country music took. I wrote in an earlier post about how amazing the response was from the fans at the Las Vegas shooting, how they fearlessly rescued and cared for one another. Surely Jesus was among them.

Carrie Underwood began the monologue by acknowledging the tragedies that have struck the country music family this year. She then said,”So tonight, we’re going to do what families do: come together, pray together, cry together and sing together too.”

What would our world look like if all of our families did that?

Later in the show, she sang a tribute to all of the fallen and the song chosen was an old hymn; “Softly Tenderly Jesus is Calling.”

As a society, we like to use terms like, people of faith, or believers. We don’t talk about Jesus nearly as much as we talk about the church and all of its failings. We tend to equate the church with Jesus. We forget that it’s made up of broken people. Jesus is perfect.

The Bible tells us there is power in Jesus’ name.

As I watched Carrie Underwood singing the hymn I sang in church as a child, and all of the audience standing up in silence as she sang, “Ye who are weary come home,” I was reminded of the hope we have as Christians.

Yes, this past year has been rocked by tragedy all over our country and our world, yet as always, Jesus is calling us home. He’s calling us to rest in Him and walk with Him while on this side of eternity and then invites us to stay with Him forever on the other side.

This year’s award show reminded me that no matter what, if we walk with Jesus, hope wins. Perhaps you needed reminding today.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Last spring, someone gave me a hanging basket with several different kinds of plants, planted together. I love growing things and I really appreciated the gift, but I simply didn’t have anywhere to hang it. After thinking about it, I took the basket apart and replanted everything in a raised box in the backyard.

I wasn’t very familiar with the plants and I wasn’t sure how they would do in the spot they were planted. In the back of my mind, I was going to replant each one separately, in its own large pot. But, summer got busy and I forgot.

It rained a lot in June and the little plants took off. They loved their new large space and they thrived right where I planted them. They quadrupled in size. They couldn’t have possibly done that if I had left them confined to their original small pot.

Those plants got me to thinking about what happens when we allow ourselves to be confined. So often, we tend to listen to the voices of people, or the voices of our past, instead of listening to God’s voice.

We let those voices of doubt and fear confine us to a tiny spot, when God has so much more for us. It’s true that we can sometimes do okay being confined, but we cannot flourish.

God wants us to flourish with His plans for us. He wants us to lean in, listen and trust and when He tells us to take that next step or giant leap, He wants us to do it. He might be calling us to simply stick our toe in or He might be calling us to jump off the high dive.

Either way, when we stay in His will and follow His plans, we are in for a beautiful, wild ride.

That ride, that journey, simply can’t happen if we remain paralyzed by things like fear and doubt.

A flourishing group of plants reminded me to carefully listen and then be willing to act. Perhaps you needed reminding too. Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

I picked up my cell phone and saw I had a message. I smiled because it was from the daughter of a dear friend of mine from high school. I had messaged her on Facebook with some questions about off campus living because she went to the same college my daughter is attending.

When I read her message, it struck me what a gift true friendship is. Her mama and I are getting ready to celebrate our thirty year class reunion next fall. It sometimes takes my breath away when I stand at a crossroads and I look back and see how God was busy at work in ways that I couldn’t possibly comprehend at the time.

This isn’t the first time she has answered my questions, this sweet adult daughter of my friend. When I think back to our high school years and all the things we used to talk about while floating on a raft in my parents’ pool, the idea of us having adult daughters never even came to mind, but God knew.

God knew way back in our teen years that her daughter would help mine. I stand both amazed and humbled at the reality of it all.

I recently ran into an old college friend while out shopping. She was with her daughter and they were getting ready to visit the college campus my daughter is attending. I told her to feel free to text her and ask to see her dorm. A week later, she texted me to get her number.

Keep in mind we haven’t had a sit down conversation in years, but she’s always been one of those, “if you need me I’m here,” friends. I was happy to offer and she was comfortable asking.

When I look back at my college years and she and I were young and just getting to know each other, our adult daughters would have never entered my mind. But, God knew.

We sometimes find ourselves in uncharted territory and we sometimes forget that for God, there is no uncharted territory. He knows where we’re going even when we don’t and He calls on us to trust Him and His plan.

Sometimes the best way to do that is to look back. When we look back on the path we have traveled, He was always there, intervening and working in ways we couldn’t have possibly seen or understood. Looking back at His grace and mercy can remind us and reassure us, He’s at work now too.

A Facebook message reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

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 🙂

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 🙂

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 🙂