trust

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Bad News: Life is Dangerous

I often start my day by turning on my computer and scanning the headlines for the latest news. I want to know if anything major has changed while I slept. Does something new require prayer? Are there events that might affect me, or my friends and family? Has Elvis returned? What will everyone be talking about?

I read that thousands of people have been buried alive in an Afghanistan landslide. Hundreds of teenaged girls, kidnapped from their boarding school, are being held hostage in Nigeria. And “up to 20,000 migrants [from north and east Africa] have died at sea trying to reach Europe over the past 20 years.”

Then there’s the local news. Here are some of today’s headlines: “Homes Hit by Gunfire.” “Pedestrian hit, killed by pickup truck.” “Heroin and cash found in car after crash.”

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“No, no, no!”

Everett-WA_LAH_2624Imagine singing the ABC song. You know how it goes: “No, no, no, no, no, no, NO! … A, B, B, C, no, no, No!” It was early morning and our granddaughter was awake, happily singing in her room. So she changed the words a bit. Can you tell that she’s almost two?

In spite of her choice of lyrics, our sweetie really isn’t that big on the “N” word. Most kids that age are just discovering the power of “NO!” and they use it liberally. If we start singing “Yes, yes, yes” to her, she’ll sing along just as cheerfully.

She does have her moments, however. “Do you want the pink shirt or the purple shirt?” “NO!” “You must be hungry—do you want a banana?” “NO!” (while eagerly making the sign for “banana” and grabbing her bib). And of course, there’s the biggie, “It’s time for your nap, Sweetie.” “NO!!!!”

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She’s Here!!

LAH_1373.NEFWe interrupt this regularly scheduled blog to announce the arrival of our third granddaughter, Gwendolyn Elise. She was born this last Tuesday, March 25 to our younger daughter, her husband, and Gwen’s big sister Willow. As grandma, I’m totally stoked. Whoo hoo!!!!

Gwen’s arrival, besides being an occasion of great joy, was the culmination of months of waiting, praying, giving up, letting go and letting God—and being reminded that God does not disappoint.

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Friendship Circles

It all came to a head when Pete went to a men’s retreat. In the secure environment of that gathering, he ended up telling the entire crowd something personal about me. It seemed an appropriate issue to share—everyone was sharing at a deep level, praying for one another, and being encouraged.

But when he came home and told me what he’d made public, I was totally mortified: “You told them WHAT?!” How could I ever again face anyone who had been on that retreat? It was humiliating. Who else would they tell? How many of our friends would find out? I hadn’t done anything sinful—it was just an intensely private issue.

Pete was totally apologetic, and I forgave his innocent mistake. As a couple, we had never before considered what was appropriate to share with others, and what was just between the two of us—or at most a trusted friend or counselor. Until that point, we just sort of assumed the other person would somehow intuitively know what could be said in public.

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I’m Out of Control

I love to plan stuff. In fact, sometimes I enjoy the planning more than the actual event. The anticipation is exciting—like the thrill I felt as a kid, waiting for Christmas.

I’ll admit, I also enjoy planning and organizing things because it gives me the sense that I’m in control. Of course, I know better, but organizing lets me pretend for a while. And the more life throws me a curve ball, the more planning and organizing I do.

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Loving God

In my last post I talked about God’s Christmas wish list, and how our love for him is top priority. Here are some more ways to love God.

Trust and Obey
Another gift God appreciates is our faith. Do we trust Him? My friend Cynthia, who writes an excellent blog about prayer, recently wrote about something God told her:

When I meet you the way you ask Me to, you are blessed. You receive My grace-gifts, and you feel blessed. But when I don’t meet you the way you hoped yet you continue to trust Me anyhow—then you bless Me. You give Me your trust-gift, and I feel blessed.

Giving God our trust totally makes his day. So does our obedience. Obeying God tells him that we love him. Consider John 14:23: “Jesus replied, ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.'”

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Fear-Mongering

Not today!

It’s 9 a.m. The weather prediction for the rest of today reads… “Cloudy. Snow in the afternoon. … Highs 24 to 30. North winds 10 to 20 mph.”

I’m looking out my window at a pure blue sky, the sun is shining, and it’s already 30°. At least today’s forecast is more accurate (they did say 50%, not 100%) than one last summer that confidently proclaimed sunny skies and high temperatures, while outside a chill wind drove the pouring rain horizontally. You’d think the weather folks would look out their window before hitting that “publish” button!

Meteorologists are easy to pick on, but lots of people predict all sorts of things—cataclysms, wars, epidemics, economic disaster or economic recovery—usually with a tremendous amount of self-assurance. In fact we’re so sure we’re right, we invite the media to the show.

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It’s OK to Be Overwhelmed

 

“God won’t give you more than you can handle.”

We were going through a particularly trying time in our lives, and my friend was trying to be helpful.

The problem? Her advice wasn’t true. God had given me more than I could handle. The situation was overwhelming. I was exhausted, my nerves were frayed, and there was not even a glimmer of light at the end of a very dark tunnel. I was beginning to consider the benefits of a nervous breakdown.

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Rock Your Memory

They say that our memories are the first thing to go… and apparently God agrees.

The third chapter of Joshua relates the story of the Israelites crossing the Jordan River into the promised land. In order to get all those people across from one side to the other, God stopped the flow of water. Instead of rushing by in torrent, the river piled up into a wall far upstream while the tribes walked across on dry land.

While the Jordan miracle was perhaps not quite of the same magnitude as the parting of the Red Sea, it was still an extremely significant milestone in the history of Israel. Moses led the people out of slavery; here Joshua is leading them into the fulfillment of God’s promises.

Such an important event needed to be remembered, so God instructed Joshua to have twelve men, one from each tribe, collect twelve stones from the middle of the river bed (See chapter 4). They carried these stones to their camp and set them up as a memorial. Joshua 4:24 explains, “He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.”

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Book Review: Trusting in His Goodness

Trusting cover-1Can you trust God?

That’s the question this book raises—is God someone we can trust, not only when things are going well, but when life is one catastrophe after another? In the midst of our pain and trials, can we depend on God to come through for us?

Rather than spouting off unsatisfying pat answers, authors Mimi Wilson and Shelly Cook Volkhardt take the reader through a series of easy-to-understand lessons—digging into scripture to find God’s promises, and illustrating each point with examples from their own experience or the experiences of those they know. You feel that you’re sitting at the kitchen table, having tea together, while they relate what they’ve learned in the valleys of their lives.

The truth of God’s goodness, the very essence of His character, forms a firm foundation for a series of practical applications anyone can relate to.

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