It has been said and proven that we are creatures of habit especially in our actions. I believe that to be the case sometimes even in our expectations. The Bible is filled with God’s promises that He will never forsake us or fail us. However in times of our greatest challenges we wonder . . . and that wondering potentially turns into doubt. It is nearly impossible to resist basing our future expectations on past experiences. However that is where faith is supposed to overshadow fact! No longer can we predict what happened in our past to repeat itself in our present or future.
Rest And Restoration
I do not think it is a coincidence that the first four letters of the word restoration are REST. Dictionary.com states the meaning of restoration in this manner: A return to a former, original, normal, or unimpaired condition. Restitution of something taken away or lost. Oftentimes the need for restoration occurs because there has been a shortage of rest. Out of necessity many times we set a pace for our lives that initially is manageable but after a period of time our bodies, minds, and spirits need a break from that pace. When we ignore the obvious signals we receive we can incur repercussions. If we continue to ignore those signals we can expect that sooner or later there will be a breakdown. God has created us in such a fashion that our bodies, minds, and spirits need rest; a time to revive, relax, and refresh.
Testimony By Transperency
What Kind of Mother Are You?
So often when this holiday comes around women who are childless quickly dismiss the day with the mindset that it doesn’t apply to them. I’d like for you to consider viewing this special day from a different perspective. I’ll start by asking you to think of what comes to mind when you hear the word mother. What characteristics surface when you see someone you revere as a mother? It can be your own mother or grandmother, or someone you highly admire as a mother. Since I have the floor I’ll share a few that come to my mind. When I think of a good mother I think of one who exhibits love, caring, nurturing, protection, guidance, listening skills, disciplinary skills, encouragement . . . and my list could go on. When I look over the aforementioned characteristics, I ask the question “Aren’t these the same characteristics that should be present in every female?”
Marvelous Works
I had today’s blog planned and ready to submit for posting but God had a change of plans. This morning I attended and participated in the homegoing service of someone dear to me who went home to be with the Lord. We met over 15 years ago and our relationship will be one that I treasure for a lifetime.
For the past several years she has been confined to a wheelchair due to a debilitating arthritic condition. But her love for God, family, and people (in general) was never affected by her handicap. In fact, it intensified. Last night for some reason my attention was directed to the lame man in Acts 3. As I took my final views of my precious friend today and all throughout the service I kept thinking about the comparison between her and the lame man in the scriptures who came year after year to the Gate Beautiful. This man obviously had given up hope of ever being healed, and resorted to being carried by anyone who would assist him to assume his position at the gate to beg for handouts. I imagine many people looked at him in disgust and derived their own conclusions as to why he kept coming time after time and was content with begging for handouts. It was not their place or ours to judge the man but in the end we know he got so much more than he ever expected!
Month after month it didn’t appear that my precious friend was getting any better. After many falls and other complications, it was determined that for her safety and overall wellbeing it was in her best interest to be moved into a healthcare facility. Through it all she never complained and whether it was a hospital, nursing home, her home, or any place else she never failed to be a shining witness and servant of the Lord. She never met a stranger and had a beautiful smile that drew you to her like a magnet. Once she drew you in it was certain that you were going to hear about her Jesus and His faithfulness to her.
I sat asking myself how many of us have our own figurative wheelchairs that we have been confined to by experiences beyond our control or that we have created for our own purpose or convenience. If you think about it a wheelchair does not totally incapacitate the individual. Yet it can hinder their mobility and limit the freedom and liberties that an able bodied person can enjoy. You would never have known that my friend was hindered by that wheelchair and the crippling arthritis. It didn’t alter her purpose, her zeal, her service to God’s work; if anything it heightened her spiritual sensitivity to the needs of others. She lived a life like Paul testified, in Philippians 4: 12 when he said he knew how to be abased and how to abound. She knew what it was like to be mobile and enjoy the good life, going wherever she wanted, when she wanted. But when that no longer became possible, she adopted the attitude of the popular cliché . . . “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”!
In my conclusion, I pose the question to you – What is your wheelchair keeping you from? Just in case you didn’t get it, I’ll rephrase the question another way. What excuses are you using to keep from doing what you know you have been called to do? If it is for you to do, if it is yours to accomplish, if it is your blessing to possess, then no “wheelchair” designed by man has the power to keep you from what is yours to achieve. The way I see it you have 3 options:
1) Lay the excuses aside and get up out of the wheelchair and do what you’re supposed to do.
2) If getting out of the wheelchair is not an option, then move forward and don’t let anything stop you! Use it to your advantage and start rollin’!
3) If you know that you must endure the wheelchair for a certain amount of time, take this time to regroup, refocus, and recharge. When you are finally delivered -- it’s ON!!
A Tribute to My Friend,
Marianne Lockett
Sunrise: October 3, 1943 Sunset: January 26, 2015
Marvelous Works
About a month ago we celebrated the most joyous season of the year - Christmas. For many it is a time for holiday parties, decorations, gifts, etc. For Christians it is so much more, it is the birthday of our Savior, the Messiah. If you don’t personally read or quote Isaiah 9: 6, you most likely hear it recited in a child’s Christmas pageant or in a movie at once during the holiday season. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”. This child is born to the world as a gift, and not only will He bring peace, He is The Prince of Peace. He proclaims peace, He ordains peace, He embodies peace.
If we truly believe all that the prophet Isaiah declared in Isaiah 9: 6 why is real peace so difficult to maintain? Dictionary.com describes“peace” as “freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession; a state of tranquility, serenity”. All of those descriptions of peace are the exact disturbances that interrupt the peace that our Savior desires for our everyday existence. By honestly addressing the following it may help discover what hinders us from the actualization of real, lasting, peace.
1) You must determine what peace really means to you. Too often we equate peace with joy and happiness. Peace can incorporate those two emotions, but real peace should never be predicated upon them.
2) You must determine what the peace “robbers” are in your life. One of the biggest robbers of peace is worry, the twin of anxiety. Whenever we are faced with a situation we cannot control and have no knowledge of the outcome, worry and anxiety easily set in. However, if we really think about it, we’re not in control of anything -- God is! So when we put everything in His hands and purpose that His way is better than our way, peace will be our state of mind. Being anxious about our finances, our health, our future, our relationships will rob us of the peace that we should have when we allow God to control and orchestrate His predestined outcome in all of those situations.
3) You must determine what you need to do to maintain peace. The first order of business to maintain peace is given in Isaiah 26: 3, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee”. The instruction is to keep your mind on the Lord and in so doing you will demonstrate to Him that you trust Him. Our minds are so easily distracted even when our intentions are honorable. When flesh is allowed to triumph over God’s spirit our peace is most assuredly challenged. Whatever or whoever we give the most thought and attention to in our lives will take precedence over everything else. It is impossible to enjoy a peaceful relationship when the relationship lacks trust.
4) You must determine that genuine peace only comes from God. If we look to anything or anyone else as our source of peace, we are looking in wrong direction. That place of tranquility and serenity even in the midst of a storm is free for the asking. He’s waiting . . . will you trust Him?