Category: Watching for God

God is all around us. All we have to do is look for Him. If we seek Him, we will find Him at times in the most unlikely places.

Why Do You Do What You Do?

Posted on by Wendy
It's a good question to ask ourselves.
It’s a good question to ask ourselves.

Last week I read a blog post by Pastor Darian Duckworth. She writes a weekly blog that my church mama from my last church, introduced me to. Isn’t it funny how she sent me one article that she thought I would enjoy and I ended up subscribing because it spoke to me so deeply?

You just never know when you toss that pebble in, how far out the ripples will go. Last week, her post was titled, “Why I Do What I Do.” She ended it by asking the question, “Why do you do what you do?” I’ve included a link here if you would like to read it.  http://www.darianduckworth.com/musings

I thought about her post all week and asked myself that question. I suppose I’ve always wanted to write. As a kid, I had dreams of moving to California and being a famous author. Then I went to college and found that everybody wanted to be a writer. I put that dream on the back burner and moved on to other more realistic pursuits.

Every now and then, I would be so inspired that I would write something down and file it away somewhere, but I rarely gave writing much thought. Many years passed. My faith grew and I thought I might like to start a blog. I prayed about it for a while and the day I wanted to start, my computer crashed; I mean black screen, crashed.

“Okay, God.” I said. “I get it. Not now.”

More time passed and I felt lead to lead a Bible study of some kind, for Lent. I pitched doing an online study to the ladies in my Sunday school class and my mom. It was a closed group. Only the people who were on the list, could read it. We covered the book of Acts.

I learned so much from the study, from reading, writing, and from the ladies who participated. I learned that many times when I sat at the keyboard, the words that I typed, didn’t come from my brain. They were Holy Spirit inspired. It was a truly awe-inspiring and life changing experience for me.

When the study was finished, I was hooked. I read a few books about blogging and Graceful Gaines was born. My premise was a Vacation Bible School principle. “Watch for God in the world around you and share it with others.”

My hope and prayer each day as I write, is that someone who reads my words will be inspired to do the same. God shows me grace regularly as I attempt to share the light of Christ. Sometimes it’s a nudge to take a picture or to get outside and take a walk. Sometimes, I find myself  sitting at the keyboard with a blank mind, after a particularly stressful day and I can think of nothing to share; the words I write on those days tend to inspire the most people and I get the most comments and shares. Again, they aren’t coming from me, alone.

Writing for me, is a constant reminder that. “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13

I write to grow closer to Jesus and I pray that by doing so, I can help others draw closer too.

To answer Pastor Darian’s question, that’s why I do what I do.

Now, I’ll ask you; “Why do you do what you do?”

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

God With Us

Posted on by Wendy
As we celebrate Advent, we remember that Immanuel means "God with us." He is with us wherever we are.
As we celebrate Advent, we remember that Immanuel means “God with us.” He is with us wherever we are.

Have you ever had one of those days where nothing particularly good happened? Have you had one of those days where nothing catastrophic happened, but as you sat down from a long day of being productive, you couldn’t think of much to be thankful for?

Yesterday was one of those days for me. I went to bed the night before with a stomach ache. I woke up with one too, yet I was scheduled to work for a teacher with a sick child, so I sucked it up and went. On my drive in, I prayed for strength to make it through the day and that I wouldn’t get sick once I got there.

My son wasn’t feeling well either. His stomach was hurting too. He texted me around 11:30 that he was feeling very sick. My hubby happened to have the day off, so he went and picked him up.

I did make it through the day. I stopped by Publix for stomach bug staples, like ginger ale, crackers, soup and Gatorade. I arrived safely home and wanted to do nothing more than crash on the couch that was already occupied by my ailing son.

I settled for the chair with a cup of ginger tea. I dozed off for a few minutes. My daughter arrived home from school all cheer and smiles which is often not the case. But, she aced a math test and exempted a final and all was right in her world.

I sat there in that chair after she bounced away, willing myself to move. What in the world could I write as words of encouragement for Wednesday’s post? I was exhausted and not feeling well. I pride myself in seeing God in daily life, in the good and the bad, but I was coming up empty. I prayed as I always do, that He would meet me at the keyboard.

I began to type and He began to whisper to my weary heart all the places He was in my not great day. I did have the strength to make it through the day. I didn’t get sick at school and I didn’t feel so drained until I got home. That means a lot when you are leading fourth graders all day. “Thank-you God.” I whispered.

I kept typing. The kids were surprisingly well-behaved all day even though we are perilously close to Christmas. I didn’t have to sign any cards or raise my voice. Even the kids who were notorious for misbehaving, were well-behaved. “Thank-you God.” I said again.

My hubby was available and willing to drive my son home. I have been blessed with a good father for my children. “Thank-you God.” I found myself repeating.

I had money to buy necessities at the grocery store. “Thank-you God.” I said a little louder.

My stressed out junior in high school got a good grade after working really hard. “Thank-you God.” I said smiling.

It seemed that the more I typed and the more I thought about my day, the more I could see Him. But, that’s the key, isn’t it? We have to look. We have to take the time to be quiet and still and open our hearts, if we want to see.

When I sought God, He reminded me He was with me every step. As we celebrate this season of Advent, may we all remember that Immanuel means in Hebrew- God with us, and so He is. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

 

 

God Can Fix This

Posted on by Wendy
God can fix this.
God can fix this.

As I write this, our country is once again reeling from a mass shooting. Sadly, it’s becoming more and more common place and people are frightened. These are without a doubt, frightening times we live in.

The latest massacre occurred in San Bernardino, California. One of the first reports that I saw was that a young woman had texted her father to, “pray for us.”

I thought about that young woman’s text, all through that evening. I thought about the times I have had a friend text me and ask me for prayer and how powerful prayer is. I thought about how desperate and afraid people sometimes are when they finally ask someone to pray for them.

I also thought about how nonchalant people have become about prayer on social media. Some people have become awfully comfortable asking all of their five hundred plus, Facebook Friends, to pray that the cake they are baking doesn’t fall. I also see a lot of my best friend’s, brother’s friend, Sally’s sister, needs prayer type things. I often wonder, is Sally praying? Is her brother praying?

Prayer is serious business. It’s our direct connection to God. I have the utmost respect for the power of prayer.

Imagine my surprise, when I read the headline of the “New York Daily News,” that boldly proclaimed, “God Isn’t Fixing This.” It went on to belittle politicians who had offered prayers for the victims and their families.

Apparently, many people who were trapped inside that building in San Bernardino felt differently. They were praying. One young woman called her sister to tell her she loved her after she was shot in the back. She was crying and praying for her life. She survived.  Furthermore, many of the ones who were rescued, formed a prayer circle and prayed together. There’s a picture of them captured on Twitter.

I’ve always heard there are no atheists in foxholes. Looks like that’s true.

Who knows what kind of intervention resulted from the desperate prayers of those people who were trapped and injured along with the prayers from their families and other Americans who watched the horror unfold?

As far as God not fixing the mess, that America finds itself in regarding gun violence, He’s the only one who can. As a nation, we have largely turned our backs on God. Of the 70% who claim to be Christians, studies show that only 20% attend a weekly worship service. If we aren’t worshiping God, who or what are we worshiping?

When we give God very little thought, when we don’t worship, or pray, or read the Bible or try to be like Christ, how can we be surprised that our country has turned violent?

God is still very much alive and in play. He can certainly intervene, but have we asked God to fix our problems? Our God is not a dictatorial bully. We have to ask. As a nation, are we willing to fix our minds on Him and His plan and not our own?

I don’t think for a minute that He sits up in Heaven with a smite button to punish us for our wrongdoings, but when we insist on living outside His will, the consequences are on us.

I respectfully disagree with the, “Daily News;” prayer is the most powerful weapon we have, but we have to use it wisely and frequently and we really need to use it as a nation.

He’s not done with us. Are we done with Him?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

The Spirituality of Thanksgiving

Posted on by Wendy
Sometimes we have to let go in order to draw closer to God.
Sometimes we have to let go in order to draw closer to God.

As I was doing dishes this morning, I looked out my window and saw leaves falling down like rain. There were literally hundreds of them. With Thanksgiving a little over a week away, the leaves made me think about letting go of things that not only don’t matter in the long run, but also letting go of things that keep us from being thankful.

Every year, the retailers rush from Halloween to Christmas and try to skip over Thanksgiving. The holiday doesn’t make them much money. But, it’s a uniquely American holiday, where we take time out to be thankful for all that we have.

It seems to me that to truly ready our hearts for the gift of the Christ Child, that we really shouldn’t skip the step of humbly giving thanks to God, not only for our personal blessings, but for being who He is.

That brings me back to those falling leaves. Every year, the trees shed all of those leaves that they needed and used during the spring and summer. They don’t need them in the winter and they beautifully let them go.

As we prepare ourselves for Thanksgiving, are we like the trees, blissfully letting go of things that stand in the way of our being thankful, or are we holding tightly with both hands?

Things like anger, resentment, pride, or guilt and shame over past actions, have to be let go like all of those leaves, in order for us to draw close to God. It doesn’t matter whether the things we are holding onto with a white knuckled grip, were done by us or done to us, if we want to walk with Jesus, we have to let them go.

The Bible tells us to give thanks in all circumstances which can be incredibly difficult when our lives are going badly, but when we give thanks, we are thanking God for who He is and for His love for us, knowing that circumstances will eventually change. When we give thanks, we acknowledge that His plan is better than our own, although it’s impossible for us to understand sometimes.

The falling leaves remind us to let go of all that stands between us and Him. We don’t need all of that negativity. All we need is Him.

The leaves that have been allowed to fall, can turn into a rich fertilizer for things to grow in the future. They remind us that God can use all of our baggage to grow us too, if we allow it, if we let go.

God reminded me this morning of the importance of Thanksgiving. I was reminded not to fast forward to Christmas, but to bask in the moment of letting go and giving thanks. Perhaps you needed a reminder too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

There is Power in the Name

Posted on by Wendy
We are called to be God's light.
We are called to be God’s light.

In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris, the entire world is on edge. We don’t normally hear about that kind of mass killing in the Western world. However, Israel has to deal with terrorists on a daily basis and they don’t just target the Israelis or Jews.

Back in October, a 78-year-old Christian woman named Marike Veldman, was riding on a bus in Israel. She was from the Netherlands originally, but had lived in Israel for many years. She had opened a home for Arab children 32 years earlier.

At one of the bus stops, two Muslim terrorists boarded the bus. One had a gun and one had a knife. They yelled, “Allahu Akbar,” and the one with the gun headed to the back of the bus and began shooting. The one with the knife began stabbing Marike.

But, Marike had her own battle cry which apparently trumped theirs. She began calling out in Dutch, “Lord Jesus! Lord Jesus! Help me! Help me!” She said at the sound of the name of Jesus, the terrorist ran away from her to the back of the bus and allowed her to escape through the opened door.

She was weak and bleeding and walking alone when a Jewish passerby, she calls a good Samaritan, picked her up and drove her to the hospital. She had a punctured lung and a shoulder injury. Two people died in the attack and sixteen were injured.

Seventy-eight-year-old Marike, is expected to make a full recovery. She says that she has no doubt that God intervened and that it was the name Jesus that saved her. Seventy-eight is kind of old to be walking away from a stabbing and with a punctured lung no less, yet God has shown us many times that He is not bound by human weakness or understanding.

I also find it pretty amazing that the woman called out in Dutch, her native tongue. The terrorists were not Dutch and surely didn’t understand what she was saying. Yet, the name of Jesus carried the same amount of power, no matter the language barrier.

Jesus said in John 14:13-14 “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the father. You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it.”

Marike’s actions certainly brought glory to God, and Jesus came through just as He said He would.

Philippians 2:9-11, tells us that, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Marike was never alone that day and neither are we. She remembered to call on the One who could save her and He did. The world has always been full of people who love evil, but we are called to remember that we worship a God who is good and He will win.

We are not called to live in fear, but to live courageously like Marike, knowing that He has a plan. The days may be dark, but, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

When the Rain Stops

Posted on by Wendy
While we eagerly curse the rainy days, do we remember to give thanks for the sunny ones?
While we eagerly curse the rainy days, do we remember to give thanks for the sunny ones?

It has rained in Georgia a lot this Fall and close to non-stop over the past two weeks. To add insult to injury, it turned cold over the weekend. I’m well aware that it’s November, but when it goes from the seventies to the forties overnight, it’s a shock to the system.

Everyday last week, the Weather Channel only had a forecast of like 20% chance of rain. Yet, everyday it continued to rain. The general mood of everyone has been kind of low. And you haven’t really ever lived on the edge, until you are a substitute teacher in an elementary class that hasn’t been allowed to go outside for two weeks. They were stir crazy to say the least.

Miraculously, on Tuesday, the sun came out in the afternoon. It was glorious. When it was shining straight into my eyes, as I drove to pick my son up from school, I didn’t even flinch. I didn’t dare complain. It was too precious.

On Wednesday, I had a meeting with my pastor and associate pastor, about ordering new curriculum for Sunday school. We sat outside. It was a little cool, but well worth it.

By the time I returned home, the sun was shining brightly and the temps had climbed into the seventies. I had a ton of things to do, but the day was so beautiful…

I prayed about my to do list and it was almost as if I could feel God beckoning me outdoors where He and I always have the best talks. I gave in and went out. I planted some pansies that had been wilting in the garage, waiting for the chance to break out of their tiny pots.

I blew some leaves off of the driveway, that had piled up in slick layers. I found myself thanking and praising God continuously for the magnificent day.

Then it occurred to me. Life is sometimes bleak and rainy. I mean, it sometimes feels as if the rain will never stop and then, when we think it can’t get much worse, it turns cold. We trudge on through the mud and muck and then when we think our situation will never change, the sun breaks out from the clouds giving us a little hope. Then, often fairly quickly, the sky turns a brilliant blue.

Do we keep on living life as we have been in a state of drudgery and ho-hum, or do we drop to our knees and give thanks for the change? I think if we’re honest, we often are momentarily thankful, but then go right back indoors to business as usual, allowing the answer to our prayers go by, almost unnoticed.

A beautiful sunny day, in the seventies, in November, is a gift. Yesterday, I had enough wisdom, to thank and praise God for making it. I’m not always that observant or grateful, but He gently reminded me.

The rain will eventually return and it will turn cold again, but I think it’s really important to be thankful for the sunny days. I sometimes need reminding. Perhaps you do too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Be Patient and Let God Work

Posted on by Wendy
We all have the opportunity to glorify God with our choices.
We all have the opportunity to glorify God with our choices.

I recently came across a story just too good not to share. While everyone seems to be focusing on the demise of American culture and labeling our society as “Godless,” I keep finding story after story of Christians rallying around each other, that bring me hope.

Interestingly, once again, this story of hope takes place on a football field.

A young man named Luke Keller had seen some hard times. His father left. His grandmother died and his grandfather was jailed. He had lost all hope and he decided on his way home from school, that it might be time to end his life.

He went to mow the lawn, hoping it might get his mind off of his suicidal thoughts. It didn’t. In desperation, he finally decided to call out to a God that he had never believed in. Isn’t that how it goes for many of us? We wait until we hit hard rock bottom before we cry out for help.

Luke said, “God, if you are real and you are what people say you are, then tell me something, because today I’m going to end my life. I need to know if you are real.”

He heard  voice that said, “I want you to follow me.”

Luke needed to be sure. Here again, it amazes me at how often we question God. The supernatural alarms us. We like to check and double-check. But, our loving Father is ever patient with us, especially the young ones.

Luke said, “God I feel like I heard you, but will you please say it one more time so I know I’m not crazy?”

What do you think God did? Did He strike him down for his disbelief? Nope. He obliged and repeated, “I want you to follow me.”

Luke dropped to his knees and began crying. He had been through a year of counseling and after that day, not one more suicidal thought entered his mind.

Luke just happened to be a high school football player and he decided to drop to his knee and point to the sky to thank God when he made a touchdown. He said he was living for God and wanted to glorify Him with every victory he was given. This act was apparently not a problem until his team made the playoffs.

There was a referee who told him he was celebrating when he knelt and pointed and that if he did it again, he would be thrown out of the game. He was crushed. He was only trying to glorify God.

At half-time, Luke’s little sister got a note to him that said, “Be patient and let God work.” She was allowing God to use her too.

On his next touch down, he didn’t kneel and point to God. He simply walked back to the sidelines, shoulders slumped, until he looked at the stands. Around 7,000 fans had all dropped to their knees and pointed to the sky.

You see, we always have a choice. We can be like Luke and seek to glorify God in all that we do. If we make that choice, we have to have faith that God will intervene for us, if the road gets rough.

It really doesn’t matter whether we are on the field, or in the stands, or even the little sister. We all have a part to play.

What is yours?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

Just One

Posted on by Wendy
Who knows what kind of difference just one Bible can make?
Who knows what kind of difference just one Bible can make?

Last Sunday, a representative from Gideons International came and spoke at our church. I always enjoy hearing them speak because they always have inspirational stories to share. This time was no exception.

He started off by giving some amazing statistics about the work of the Gideons. Last spring they reached the two billion mark on Bibles they have distributed. He also shared that a few weeks earlier, they handed out nine thousand Bibles on the University of Georgia campus, also an impressive number. He told us that the Bibles they distribute have been translated into ninety languages.

All of those numbers are a really good indicator of the work they do, but our speaker said that he wasn’t there to talk about the numbers. He wanted to talk about just one person that a Gideon placed Bible had helped.

Part of the Gideon ministry is to place Bibles in motel rooms across America. There was a man who checked into a motel with a gun and the intention to kill himself.

When he walked into the room, there was a Bible lying open, on top of the television. It made the man angry, just seeing it, so he took his hand and knocked it onto the floor. It landed opened. Angrier still, he kicked it underneath the bed. Motel beds are built on platforms, so it bounced out, still opened.

In exasperation, he picked it up off of the floor and read the scripture that it was turned to. He expected it to be something about condemnation. He was angry with God and fully expected God to be angry with him.

What he found was John 14:27, which reads: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

At his lowest point, God didn’t condemn him. He reached out in mercy and extended grace through Jesus.

The man spent three days in that motel room and left there changed. He went home to his wife, who had locked him out of the house. She had been raising their children alone, while he was out chasing his own selfish pursuits. She was reluctant, but eventually agreed to go to church with him.

He is now a pastor in North Carolina. Our speaker asked us, “How many lives has that man’s ministry touched?” “How many lives has that one Bible made a difference in?”

It’s not about the numbers; it’s about real people being changed by the Gospel. Every lost soul matters to God.

God is always at work reaching back for us, when we reach for Him and sometimes when we don’t reach for Him. Every effort we make to serve Him has the possibility to make a tremendous impact on someone else.

Our speaker shared just one example of one Bible making a difference. What can I do today to make a difference? What can you do?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

The Joy of Fellowship

Posted on by Wendy
We should always be on the lookout for the people who God puts in our path.
We should always be on the lookout for the people who God puts in our path.

Last Saturday morning, the ladies from my church were supposed to meet at our new church building to clean our new kitchen. We are moving in a couple of weeks and we were hoping to get everything sparkling clean and organized. Our pastor’s wife was even bringing donuts and coffee.

I’ll have to admit that I was just thrilled by the old-fashioned idea of the church ladies coming together to clean a kitchen. It’s so not PC. Modern society would certainly ask why the men weren’t coming to help. To be fair, they had done their part a couple of weeks earlier, by replacing ceiling tiles.

This was now our opportunity to have some fellowship and do our part to get our new building ready. It was also reminiscent for me, of times when I went to our own tiny church, when I was a kid, with my cousin Janice to help clean up “God’s house.”

It was 8:00 AM on Saturday morning and I had survived  an exhausting week; so I came into the parking lot five minutes late on two wheels. There was only one car there. I breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone was running late.

The one lady who was there, was not one I knew very well. She isn’t in the choir and I hadn’t seen her at Wednesday night Bible study. I knew who she was, but little else. But, the fact is, that I rarely meet a stranger, so I got out of my car and figured I could chit-chat with her for a few minutes.

Although, she has a grown son and is a grandmother, we found so much in common right away. Our beginning conversation was about the new building and our excitement at getting inside. But, it didn’t take long to move onto deeper topics.

She had wanted to stay home and raise her child more than anything and acknowledged how blessed she was to be able to do so. I told her that I didn’t participate in as many programs at church that I would like, but that I was trying to spend every minute possible with my two teens who are still at home. She told me that she understood completely and encouraged me to enjoy this time.

We got cold after a while and got into her car. Our talk turned to our dogs and how we both felt that God had guided us to them and what blessings they are to us. We talked about organic gardening. Before I knew it, an hour had passed. I made a couple of calls and learned that the cleaning day had been cancelled and that somehow my name hadn’t been on the e-mail.

She and I laughed about it and said that we both enjoyed getting to know one another. As I climbed out of her car, I looked up and saw a hawk soaring overhead.

I smiled as I said a silent prayer of thanks for the fellowship with another Christian. The next morning, my pastor’s wife apologized for the mix up and said she felt terrible about it all. I reassured her that I had a delightful visit and made a new friend. She smiled and said that was exactly what the other lady had said.

I thought about it later that day. God is always at work in big and small ways. He puts people in our paths for so many reasons. Sometimes we can help them. Sometimes they can help us. Sometimes it’s simply to build new relationships in Christ through simple fellowship. I’m often too busy to see that.

It wasn’t the first time I’ve learned a valuable lesson in a church parking lot. When was the last time you stopped to enjoy Christian fellowship?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

Boundless Borderless God

Posted on by Wendy
The God who created the universe is not bound by human understanding.
The God who created the universe, is not bound by human understanding.

I was recently having a conversation with a friend of mine about a book study she is doing at her church. It’s supposed to be about, “Experiencing God.” She was super excited about the class because she’s fairly new to the faith and she’s found that a lot of the, “studies” that she has participated in are fluff.

She was hoping to get down to some serious discussion about actually experiencing God, which involves way more than getting dressed up and attending church for a couple of hours on Sunday. She was quite disheartened to find that her new study began with a video that basically listed all of the ways that you can’t experience God.

Now I’m sure that the guy who wrote the book and created the video are way more educated than I am. Perhaps that’s the problem.

I’m really not sure how anyone can tell you how you can and can’t experience God. When I pointed out to her that God made a donkey talk, and showed up in a bush, and sent ravens to feed Elijah and that I felt like He could communicate with us in any way He sees fit, she said that the group’s answer to that was, that was in the Old Testament.

Um, hold the phone. If we believe that God never changes and that He’s all powerful, do we honestly believe that He is bound by any constructs that humanity can come up with? My friend said her group said, since we now have the Holy Spirit, that God no longer communicates in the same way as He did in the Old Testament.

But, didn’t the Holy Spirit come to help us and counsel us? He didn’t come to bind God in any way.

I told her that I felt like that one of the most dangerous pitfalls of modern day Christianity is that we have become like the Pharisees. We know all of the rules and can recite many of the verses, but we miss the majesty of God, the mystery of God.

We can’t explain it; so we don’t talk about it. There was a book that came out several years ago called, “Heaven is for Real.” Do we discount that boy’s story because we don’t understand it? What about all of those people with near death experiences who see a light? We can’t explain that either. Are all of those people making it up?

God is boundless and borderless. We couldn’t possibly fathom all that He is capable of with our small human minds. We can and should read the Bible to learn about His character and how He has acted in the past. We have to know that He would never instruct us to do something that is contrary to scripture. We also have to keep in mind that we have an enemy who would.

But, other than that, the Creator of the earth and sky, the One who calls the stars by name, the One who created me and you and numbers the hair on our heads, well His powers are limitless. I think we should always remember that.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂