Month: October 2019

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate and the hope of salvation as a helmet.  Thessalonians 5:8

My grandmother owned and operated  Ida’s Beauty Shop in my hometown.  She was what we now call a hair stylist.  Ida stayed busy six days a week, but she did have hobbies to fill the the few days she allowed herself away from work.  The piano was one of her favorite ways to pass her off days.

Ida never had any formal musical training, but she could play the piano by ear – if she heard it, she could play it or thought she could.  When one plays by ear, the down side is that lots of times you are just guessing at the notes which results in a lot of do overs. One of her favorite hymns was Whispering Hope, and when she played it, she would sing along.  She liked for us to sit and listen.  I have to admit, it was like listening to a recording where you go forward, then go back, correct mistakes and start again, but she loved an audience and we were mostly patient.

We never made it through the song without a sour note or two, and sometimes all we could hear were the mistakes, but the words were so beautiful and comforting that we learned to ignore the mistakes.

Sometimes hope comes as a whisper when our lives are filled with grief, pain and sorrow.  Many times we can’t hear the whisper of hope because our ears have become deafened to the voice of God.  We mistake His voice for the world’s and we only listen for mistakes.

Many things in this world drown out God’s voice but none so strong as our own voice of negativity and self doubt.  We make it hard for God to get  a word in edgewise.  It’s often hard to discern God’s whisper of hope above the voices of the world, of conformity, or of condemnation.

We need to remember that God’s whisper is different from the world’s.  His voice conveys joy, peace, grace, wisdom, love, and truth.  If we listen for the whisper of hope, we will never feel defeated because God’s voice trumps the world’s.  If God can stop a storm on  the Sea of Galilee with three words, “Peace Be Still”, then surely he can calm the storms in our lives.

The words of Whispering Hope are based on scripture from Hebrews and Thessalonians.  Written in 1868 by Setimus Winner, it illustrates the point that not listening to God’s whisper is not a new problem.  We need to concentrate on the whispers rather than the mistakes.

Soft as the voice of an angel; breathing a lesson unheard; hope with a gentle persuasion; whispers her comforting word.   Wait til the darkness is over;  Wait til the tempest is done; hope for the sunshine tomorrow; after the shower is gone.      Whispering Hope, oh how welcome His voice; Making my heart, in its sorrow rejoice.

I delight to do Your will, O my God…Your law is written within my heart.        Psalm 40:8

Recently during a rare cooking event, I sliced not only the vegetables, but also my finger.  While debating whether or not stitches were needed, I decided to wrap it up and go find a butterfly bandage.  Interestingly, I found this super duper bandage that promised to heal the cut and the surrounding skin.  The only rule is you can’t peek for three days.

It’s funny how telling me don’t peek is a sure way to make me obsessed with peeking just to see how things are coming along.  So, after a day, I decided it would be to my advantage to peek just to make sure the cut was healing properly.  The only problem was that once you loosen the bandage to peek, you can’t get it back on properly, so you must start the process again.  I could have saved so much time and trouble if I had just followed the directions.

Isn’t that so like us?  We want to give problems to God, trust Him with our life, feel assured that He will never leave us, leave our lives in His hands, and walk away.  However, just like me and my finger, we get impatient, and we want to peek just to see how things are going.  We just can’t follow His directions.

There are times in life where not peeking into God’s will seems just too difficult, too slow, and too unrewarding.  We think our ideas will produce results quicker and that the results will be more to our liking.  However, in the end, we find that His plan is better and that it always will be.

It will always be best to yield to God’s will, do things His way, and believe  that He will always give us His best.  If we will just trust and don’t peek, we will learn to settle for nothing less than God’s will.

After following the directions, my finger healed just fine.  There’s not  a sign of the awful cut.  It would have been so much easier and faster not to peek.

My goal is, no peeking today just thankfulness for whatever God has in store.

 

 

For in Him you have been enriched in every way, in all speech and in all knowledge.  1 Corinthians 1:5

It’s always fun to play the rebate game with products on the market today.  A rebate is a partial refund given to someone who has already paid full price for an item as an incentive to buy the product. In other words, the company gives back to you.  It can be a lot of trouble, but why not collect a reward for your purchase?

There is a rebate going on in the Christian’s life as well.  Jesus has already paid the entire price for our salvation, and in return, how we would go about offering  a rebate to Him?  Do we ever think about what we owe Him?  Do we ever consider how to give back a part of what He has done for us in some way?

Fortunately, there are ways to give back, and I can think of a few ways in which we could begin. First, everyone has some basic talent no matter how large or how small.  What if we took that talent and turned it into service?  Maybe a visit to a shut in, maybe an offer to bring a meal to someone in need, maybe a volunteer opportunity, and the list goes on.

Secondly, we could offer a rebate in the form of love.  Instead of always thinking of ourselves first, we might think of trying to do what’s best for others instead of ourselves.  In other words, put others first by making time for them.

There is a story told of a man who gave of his time visiting in nursing homes.  One of the patients that he visited was blind and often sleeping during his visits, so he would just sit and hold the patient’s hand.  One day when he came to visit, there was a young girl in the room.  She rose, greeted him, and asked, “Are you the man who visits and holds my Dad’s hand?”  He replied that he indeed was that visitor.  The daughter smiled as she replied, “Oh, he loves your visits.  He tells me that Jesus comes and holds his hand every week.”

Thirdly, remember the Power that we as Christians are given.  When the spirit of the world tells us to be afraid, we should remember God tells us to move forward.  Joseph Stalin used propaganda as a powerful way to control Russians in the pre and post World War II era.  These people betrayed their friends, loved ones, and morality in order to escape the purging that they had been told would come if they didn’t listen and obey.  The world uses this same method today to tell us that we, as Christians should be afraid.

When the spirit of the world speaks fear and anxiousness, we need to respond with the Spirit of Power that God gives us.  At that point, we can turn fear and anxiousness into courage.

There is a wonderful rebate waiting for us if we only have the courage to move forward in being the hands and feet of Jesus.

 

 

The Lord God called to man and said, “where are you?”  Genesis 3:9

Most of my mornings are spent in a water aerobics class, but I especially like the class on Saturday because of the teacher.  She works everybody pretty hard, and because she keeps us moving back and forth a lot, her favorite line is “Stop, wherever you are and breathe.”  At that point, you catch your breath, and she changes the exercise.

Wherever you are is a phrase I like to ponder.  On a daily basis, each of us is dealing with something no matter how large or small.  I try to pray for everyone that I know is struggling, but a lot of times I don’t know where a lot of people are in their life.

In the last few weeks, there were three examples of this. The first was a call  I received from an old friend in my hometown who recently lost her husband.  She called me by mistake, but when I returned her call, it was a chance to find out where she is in dealing with her grief.  I asked how she was doing, and she said, “You know, I normally say I’m fine, but the truth is I’m sad.”

The second happened as I passed a neighbor walking, and when I asked her how she was doing, she said, “OK”.  That’s not like her, so I asked her what was going on?  She replied that she is dealing with lung cancer, and it has been going on all summer.  She didn’t want to burden anyone, so she was valiantly charging ahead.  Her life right now is anxious and uncertain.

Later that day, a young couple who were high school friends of my children had a beautiful baby girl.  As they opened the door to me, their faces radiated where they are.  Their lives are full of joy and hope.

Each of us is in a different place, but the good news is that God can reach us wherever we are.  When I think of things I think we should remember in these different times, I come up with three things.

We should remember that people are praying for us wherever we are.  Just the knowledge that there are others lifting us up is so comforting.

We should remember that God through the Holy Spirit is working in and through us.  He has the power to reach us wherever we are.

We should remember to have faith that God will work all this out for good wherever we are.

No one is in the same place.  Our situations range from sadness to joy, fear to faith, but we all have the power to stop wherever we are, take a breath, and hand things over to God.  Let Him help us through our sadness, help us through our anxious times, and celebrate with us in joy.

Whatever road this life takes you down;  Jesus will meet you there.                        Jennifer Murray