Friendship – Live the Crazy Life

Christmas, Friendship, Jesus, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized

Getting to the feet of Jesus

November 26, 2022 No Comments

It has been a whirlwind of a week for me. Starting last Saturday. It was the wedding rehearsal day for my second oldest son. Which was fun, confusing (lots of discussing who walks in before who, and what word in the song do we start to walk out to kind of stuff.) All in all a good day, a little surreal but good.

Then Sunday morning (church day not the wedding day because both parents on each side are pastors and well, pastors have church services we do weekly) my daughter and oldest son alert me to a shooting in a town 20-30 minutes away. Five lives have been taken and 18 more are injured. My heart breaks. This shooting is yet another hate crime. Thoughts are swirling, Why God?, How God? And then to happy nervous thoughts. Yikes, tomorrow is the big day…

Then Monday, wedding day. Great day. Lots of emotions – all happy. Then Tuesday, back to work for Christmas decorating day. Then Wednesday, finally a lull in the week. Followed by Thanksgiving which has its own set of emotions. What I am grateful for and who do I want to smack for getting in the way while food is being put in the oven and taken out of the oven in crazy amounts. And now finally Friday. Black Friday. Why do we celebrate a day of being grateful and then call the next day Black Friday? Weird. Anyway, no Black Friday shopping here. Just a quiet house for the first time in a week – ’cause there are extra friends and family around because it was Thanksgiving and a wedding in one week.

I am sitting back in my office – which was turned into a spare room for said friends and family. Life is slowly making its way back to normal or as normal of the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas can get.

I’m working my way through a study on Jesus via the book of Luke. The author, Erica Wiggenhorn, does a great job of leaving you daily with deep thoughts to ponder. Today’s is based on Luke 5:17-26. For those of you who don’t immediately know Luke 5:17-26 (if you already knew what this section of Scripture is about, you ROCK, because I would not have known without having read it this morning), it’s about the paralyzed man with the amazing friends who go to great lengths to get the paralyzed man to Jesus.

When I say great lengths I mean like physically carrying the man on a mat to the house that Jesus was in, only to find one way, through the crowds, to get to Jesus. Determined, they carry the man up the stairs (outside) to the roof, cut a hole in the roof, create some sort of pully system so they can lower the man through the hole to the feet of Jesus. That all took thought, skill, muscle and teamwork. Once the man is in front of Jesus he is both healed and declared forgiven for his sins. He leaves carrying the mat his friends had been carrying him on all night.

The author of the study (Erica Wiggenhorn) poses the questions “Are you that kind of friend? Do you have friends like that?” My answer is I hope so to both. Then she takes it further, “Are you that kind of neighbor?” If your neighbors are some of your really close friends NEVER move, because that is not so common in today’s world.

Then she says “When we become people who readily admit our own desperation for Jesus, the door opens – or the roof is dismantled – for us to become people who will do anything to bring our friends to the feet of Jesus as well as to have their sins forgiven.” She goes on to say “Are you and I ready to become mat-carrying, roof- raising, believing-the-best-for-others kind of people. Will we allow Jesus to make us people with such faith and audacity that the world is left in wonder?” (Unexplainable Jesus, pg 72-73)

As I sit here this morning, once more in my office, in my quiet home, Jesus I want to be that kind of person to my friends, to my neighbors and to those I don’t know. I want to clear a path for people to come to the feet of Jesus because He can handle any situation we lay at His feet. He can make right any wrong. He can heal, and He can forgive sins. He alone can make whole what is broken in our bodies, in our hearts and in our world.

Friends, will you join me in being people who take others to Jesus? Someone who carries those who can’t walk to the feet of Jesus? Someone who won’t stop until the hurting, the broken, or the lost are at the feet of Jesus?

Over the next month as holiday madness ensues, let us remember our job isn’t to be the best host, give the best gift, or have the prettiest decorated house… but to help take those around us, friends, family, neighbors, and strangers to the feet of Jesus.

Friendship, Jesus, overwhelmed, Prayer, Trust, Trustworthy

Overwhelmed – When the enemy tried to knock me out and God spoke

May 27, 2022 1 Comment

man near carton boxes with many different words about stress

I am sure if you have been a believer for longer than a day you have experienced a season where the enemy seems to hit you out of the blue with spiritual warfare, and then the hits just keep coming from every direction. I don’t like battles. I am not confrontational by nature. I am a people pleaser who easily can put making others happy above my own happiness. I am not a cryer, but lately you’d think I was pregnant the way I cry at EVERYTHING. You get it if you have walked through a season like this in your own life.

It started a little more than 2 weeks ago. An event that shouldn’t have had that much effect on me did. It caught me off guard and sent me into a tale spin. While I was still trying to figure out why I was angry and hurt but this situation, the attacks piled up and took me by complete surprise. After 2 weeks of stress, funerals (yes that is plural), hurt feelings, mental self esteem negative thoughts, PT for a torn ligament in my arm, and fighting with those close to me, I found myself feeling like I was drowning by it all. I began to feel spiritually bi-polar – excitedly “preaching” to my husband one moment, then tearfully exclaiming to him I give up, I throw in the towel, I am done the next. The highs and emotional lows were crazy The tears come easier than I thought was possible.

I read a devotional book personally just for me every morning and every evening. Starting my day with God and ending with God has become a new habit in life this year. On one of the hard days, I was feeling so overwhelmed by, well, everything. Then God stepped in. I cried more but this time not tears of overwhelming hurt and frustration but overwhelming tears of how God was there speaking and loving me. That night I opened my night time devotional book and the title for that day was PERSEVERE. The verse 2 Timothy 4:5 – “Be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

The first sentence from that day’s devotional reads, “Today, persevere. Do not give up, no matter what happens.” I laughed out loud. At my church we are in a series on 2 Timothy. I had been crying out for God to show up, and He did. Just not how I thought He would. I should know by now He never moves how I think He should or will. He didn’t show up and fix the problems although I am believing He will. He came and spoke to my broken heart. He came being more worried about me and the condition of my heart than the chaos around me.

I looked up a few key words from 2 Timothy 4:5. Sober means free from illusions, being tempered and self-controlled, the opposite of irrational. I had been staring at the illusions of the enemy. I had been irrational and definitely wasn’t exercising self-control.

Hardship means enduring painful hardships that SEEM to be a set back but are not. Lastly fulfill your ministry means the use of God’s power bringing the believer to maximum potential, matching their true knowledge of Him.

I finished reading the one page devotional and my spirit shifted. I cried again, but not out of fear; out of knowing God knew how I felt and had been there with me over the last few weeks. I fell asleep in a better frame of mind than I had started the day.

God didn’t stop there. My morning devotional — The same power that resurrected Christ from the dead lives in me. The verse. Romans 8:11. In the devotional she referenced Mark 12:18. The Sadducees were a group of religious leaders during the life of Jesus who were convinced that Jesus’s life ended in a dark tomb and that there was no resurrection. The author says “As I thought how sad it is to see life this way, I sensed the Holy Spirit whisper ‘You have areas in your life where you don’t believe in the resurrection either.” BAM God was opening my eyes and heart to see where my faith was lacking. Again tears of God’s overwhelming love for me.

As if the two devotions were not enough God moved further. Two bloggers I follow posted last night and early this morning, one on don’t give up. The verse “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9, ESV). God was moving telling me He is here. He knows. He cares. He’s not done, so I shouldn’t be either.

Then God got real personal. I have a friend who has hurt my feelings deeply and the worst part is that she is unaware, and I believe at this point she is incapable of seeing or acknowledging this. The other blogger I mentioned posted “How to love well when a friend hurts you”. More tears. God knows. God is here, God cares, God feels my pain, and will move and do what only He can to heal my hurts.

I am so overwhelmed by the God I serve. The only person ever to cause me tears of joy – God.

It’s a tough world right now. Hurt and pain seem to be the normal. Anxiety and stress, being overwhelmed, is just the way life is. That my friend is the lie I had allowed the enemy to convince me was true. It is an illusion. God’s word – “be sober”. God wants me and you to live free from the illusion the enemy creates. God wants me and you to live in full resurrection power. God wants you and me to not give up. God wants you and me to live in unity with other believers. Stop living the illusion and start living the TRUTH. This is a challenge for you and for me. Are you up for it? I am!!

Bible, community, Friendship, Uncategorized, wisdom

We all have a part to play

September 1, 2019 No Comments

I am getting ready to lead a study on the book of Esther this fall. So I have started studying and reading this book. I have come to a conclusion that Esther isn’t the only hero in the story. As I was reading I came across an interesting verse. One you probably have heard a million times. But read it one more time, slowly, focusing on the first part of the verse rather than the last. “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to a royal position for such a time as this.” Esther 4:14. Did you notice anything new as you read this?

Here is what I noticed – Mordecai’s faith in a God who will always fulfill His covenant promise to His people. Mordecai knew this is what God wanted Esther to do; but even if she didn’t, he knew that God would not allow the Jewish population to be annihilated. Mordecai also knew this was bigger than him. He knew his life was at risk as well as Esthers. I think it was his faith in God and in Esther that gave her the courage to go before the king.

There are times when we are asked not to play the lead in the play but to be the supporting character. But oh how important that role can be. Maybe you are the one called to stand in faith while encouraging your child to go for what the Lord has called them to do. Maybe there is a friend who needs someone strong in their faith to remind them of what God can do in a situation.

Hebrews 10:24 says let us consider how we might spur one another on toward good deeds. And what greater good deed is there than obedience to God lived out in faith? The word spur there means to literally jab someone to the point they must respond. Isn’t that what Mordecai did? He reminds Esther that both his life and hers is at stake, but that God is bigger than this situation. Mordecai pulls on her heart strings by saying, “… you and your father’s house.” Mordecai had raised Esther. He was her father’s brother, her uncle. He pushes Esther so that she must respond. And he encourages her with his faith in a loving caring God.

If you are like me you want to be in the starring role – to be the hero who saves the day; but heroes need someone behind them, encouraging them, cheering them on to fulfill their purpose. There is nothing wrong with not being center stage. God often uses people who never get applauded for their actions. But that does not diminish their part in the story of God.

Who can you spur on toward good deeds? Whose faith can use a boost from yours? Is there someone who needs your faith and support today? Is there someone God has in your life for you to spur them on? Go find them and play your part with great gusto.

Bible, Friendship, Uncategorized

Real Friends – Real Community

March 6, 2019 No Comments

Do you know how many followers you have on whatever your favorite social media sight is? If you don’t, good for you. Do you know how many real friends you have? If you don’t, my heart hurts for you; but I don’t think you are alone. With the craze of social media, I believe we have lost real community and real friendship along the way. I am not meaning to bash you for posting but maybe give a loving word of caution. We all should care more about the real people around us that we interact with on a daily bases than the ones on screens.

I was sitting at my desk working on my Bible study and I read these verses. “And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” -Hebrews 10:24-25

I read it, paused and re-read it and then began wondering what some of the words mean in the original language of the Bible. So I did what I always do, logged onto biblehub.com and began searching for deeper meaning.

The word concerned is really made up of two words in the original language: kata and noioe. Kata means “exactly according to” and noioe means “to think properly from up to down, expressing real comprehending, thinking decisively to a definite understanding”.

According to this we are to be so concerned with people that we know what is really going on in their lives. We are to know exactly according to them what they are dealing with and think through that situation with up down thinking. Now this is just my thoughts on that up down thinking. To me it is heaven minded thinking. It’s heaven on earth mentality. I love that. I love the idea of thinking and interacting with people with a God’s way first thought process.

But according to this verse we are not just to be concerned about each other for the sake of being concerned. We are to be involved and concerned with people so we can promote love and good works. The word promote here means “a provocation” which literally means to jab someone so that they must respond. We are told in the Bible to be involved with others so that we have concern for them; we know what is really truly going on and then push them towards love and good works. The word love in the verse is agape love or God centered love. And good works means “beautiful attractively good, good that inspires or motivates others to embrace what is lovely, or praiseworthy”.

I bet you don’t have those kinds of interactions with people on social media. Connections where you have knowledge and true facts, and relationships where you can speak to them and help move them towards love and good things, so that others will be attracted to good that is happening in their lives.

This, people, is why we need church. Because I need someone involved in my life who knows what is going on, and can help me think correctly about myself and my situation so I can express God’s love and goodness to a world full of everything but love and goodness. And others need me involved in their lives at that same level so I can do the same for them.

This is the kind of life we are called to live. Real honest friends don’t come easy. There is risk involved for sure, but most rewards don’t come without risk.

So I want to encourage you. Are you involved in a church? I don’t just mean do you go to church? Lots of people go to church. But are you involved there? Do people know you? Does the leadership of the church know you? If not, God wants that for you. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of great churches. Find one. Get involved. Take the risk, and watch heaven invade earth.

Bible, Friendship, Uncategorized, Valentine's Day

All kinds of Love

February 6, 2018 1 Comment

Ah, February, the month of love. And since my word for the year is Steadfast love this is shaping up to be a great month! Of course, we tend to focus February’s love on those we love, but what if we included those we simply like in our focus this month? What if we shifted our focus to those God loves this month?

I woke up in the middle of the night with two thoughts on love running through my mind. The first stemmed from John 15:15 “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I called you friend for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

Jesus, the one we are supposed to serve, changes that game and says while you are serving me I will call you friend. The word friend there has lots of meanings ranging from an acquaintance to a trusted confidant, held dear in a close bond of personal affection. This is where my thoughts began to run wild. Jesus – the one who loved me before I knew Him – that Jesus calls me a friend. I began to think of my friends. How do I treat them? Am I only friendly with them when it serves me? Do I seek out time with them when I am lonely and have nothing better to do? Do I love and honor them the way a true friend deserves to be loved?

As I lay there in the middle of the night with all these thoughts of friends – questioning if I am even a good one – my mind circled back to February, the month of love. What if I not only focused my love toward my friends? What if I told them how important they are to me? To God? What if I looked for small ways to tell my friends they are loved and valued this month? Some of my friends are going through some really hard stuff. I bet yours are too. What if God used me to show them his love? I began thinking of ways to do just that, expanding this month of love to include my circle of friends.

I wrote down a few things thinking that would help me 1) remember them in the morning, and 2) give my mind the peace it needed to fall back to sleep. It didn’t work. My mind transitioned from God loving me as a friend and me living that out this month to God loving those I don’t. God loves the unlovely. That is a heavy thought at 3:00 am. John 13:35 came to mind. “By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.”

My restless mind, now almost fully awake, began to wonder, “Do I show the world around me the love of Christ? Would a stranger in the store know I was a Christ follower because of the way I chose to interact with them? Does giving the homeless man on the side of the road a granola bar as I drive by count as love? Could I do more? Is God wanting me to do more?”

I wrote down a few more thoughts on my paper by my bed hoping once more that by writing it down and planning to dedicate more attention to this in the morning that I would be able to fall asleep. It did sort of help this time. The final thought/prayer was what if I challenge myself and others through this blog to live these two verses out this month?

So here it is – February the month of love. I challenge you this month to look beyond those you “love” to those you like. Find a way to make them feel important, valued, and cared for. It could as simple as taking a friend for coffee or sending a quick text to let them know you are thinking of them. Then don’t stop there. Take that spirit of love to those who truly need to know someone cares about them. Do something for someone you find unlovable this month. Become someone who is known for the love they give to others. Share the love of God by loving on those around you, those you really do love with your whole heart. Then share the love of Jesus with those you like: friends, co-workers and neighbours. And then take a giant leap and share the love of the one who calls you friend with those who have no one to love them.

I have decided to make these two verses the memory verse for this month. You can pick one or the other.

Click here for John 13:35

Click here for John 15:15

Leave me a comment to let me know how your month of love is going.