Tag: Comfort

Under Siege

02/21/2014Death Grief and Mourning, Gospel, Sharing the Gospel, , , , , , , 8 Comments

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A little over five years ago, my friend’s family came under siege. Her husband was diagnosed with cancer. They engaged the fight.

Under siege, you have limited resources. At their disposal were surgery, medicine, wise doctors, time, faith, hope and love. They have used up all the procedures, medicines, doctors and clinical trials available to them. Now, they are hoarding the only things they have left: Time, Hope, Faith and Love.

Time is running short.  The enemy will try to rob them of time together with each call, text and email notification on their phone. To protect each precious moment with their family, they have asked their friends not to phone or text. We won’t. We will pray and stand by in silence. We will give them uninterrupted moments together.

Hope will soon end for my friend’s husband as he will no longer need it. He will see the face of Jesus. He will dwell, in the glory of eternity. He will hear “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  Hope gives this family peace today.

Faith will sustain them as they grieve his passing from this life into the next. Their faith is in the Gospel: Jesus’ perfect life, death, and resurrection. They trust in the salvation that Jesus purchased on the cross. Their faith is in God’s promise of resurrection and new life.

Love never fails, and love never ends. When this precious family is reunited in glory, their love for God and for each other will grow through all eternity.

What can we learn from my friends?

Time is running short. No one is guaranteed tomorrow. Not you, your parents, children, relatives or friends.

“The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.” – Psalm 103:15 NIV

Hope is the settled assurance that what God says is true. Our hope is in Christ alone. He is the promise that sustains us.

“In you, Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame. For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth.” – Psalm 71:1, 5 NIV

Faith is confidence in what we hope for. We must confidently believe that the Gospel is true, and act on that belief by receiving Jesus as our Savior and committing our lives to Him as our Lord.

“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” – John 1:12 NIV

Love is sacrificial. It is how Christians act toward one another because this is how God acted toward us.

For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16 NIV

We are all under siege in one way or another and we have limited resources. Time is running out for all of us. How might you share hope, increase faith, and show love to others while you still have time?

Taggies, Blankies and Bed-Buddies: It’s a Sleep-Over!

02/07/2014Prayer, Spiritual Walk, , , , 4 Comments

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Jake and Matt are sleeping over tonight! As excited as they are, about 8pm their joy will turn to sorrow, and perhaps a few tears, if their taggies, blankies and bed-buddies aren’t here.

As soon as a sleepover is mentioned, Matty grabs his taggies and stuffs them in his back pack. He’s ready to go if his tags are packed, but he won’t leave home without them. The tags are precious to Matthew.

When Matty wakes up, he looks for his tags. When he gets out of bed, the tags are in his hand. He plays with them. He puts them in his trucks. He shares them – sometimes – for a moment. He carries them every place he goes. We often search for them. He definitely won’t go to sleep without his taggies.

Moses was a bit like that. He wasn’t worried about taggies, blankies and bed-buddies, but he wouldn’t go anywhere without God! When God told Moses to lead the Israelites into the wilderness, Moses said:

“If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here… What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” – Exodus 33:15-16 NIV

Moses knew God must be with them every step of the way. God must lead. God must be present. God was Moses’ security, comfort and protection. God made a difference in Moses’ life and the lives of the Israelites.

Without God’s presence, the Israelites were no different than any other group of travelers in the desert. Only the Israelites had a God who led them, spoke to them, and protected them. Nothing distinguishes our lives from the millions of other lives on the planet if God is not with us. If God isn’t leading us, we are lost. If God isn’t protecting us, we’re doomed.

As a believer, God, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, lives within you and is with you everywhere you go:

“For this is what the high and exalted One says – he who lives forever, whose name is holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit.’” – Isaiah 57:15 NIV

Yet, how often are we willing to leave home without a thought of God? How often do we run off to work, school, the grocery, the neighbors, church, or even to Bible study, without asking Him to lead? God is with us, but do we allow His presence to mark us and distinguish us from the world?

Is God your comfort, guide, protection and security? Would you think of getting out of bed without first being comforted by God’s abiding presence? Do you consciously hold on to Him throughout the day? Do you talk about Him? Do you talk with Him? Do you share Him? Do you take Him every place you go? Does your relationship cause others to want to seek God?

One day the boys will give up their taggies, blankies and bed-buddies. Our prayer is that they will always hold tight to the God who loves them.

Living In the Present Tense

01/31/2014contentment, Death Grief and Mourning, Gospel, Sharing the Gospel, , , , , , , , 21 Comments

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Dad would’ve loved this record-breaking winter. Not that he enjoyed the cold and snow, but he was always up for a challenge.

He would have gone out every day just to prove he could. Level 3 snow emergency – ha! That wouldn’t keep him parked. -40° wind chill – ha! That just meant putting on the lined jacket.

Then he’d call to tell me about the brutal cold, the deep snow, how many cars he’d seen in the ditch, how much he slid around, and how well he handled the icy slick roads. And if he fell on the ice, he’d tell me about that, too.

That was the “old normal”… knowing dad would be pushing the limit, and waiting for the phone to ring in the evening so he could tell all about it.

The “new normal” is talking about dad in the past tense. The “new normal” is not getting a call from him. The “new normal” is realizing the finality of death.

That may be our new normal, but it surely isn’t dad’s!

What is dad’s “new normal”? Can it even be called “normal”? Is there anything “normal” about being in the visible presence of Jesus every moment? Of continual praise? Of ceaseless joy? Of pure love? Of a sinless existence? Can we begin to imagine? I don’t think so…

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” – 1 Corinthians 2:9

What do we know about heaven? We know it’s real. We know that Jesus is there. We know that those who trust in Him will be with Him in heaven when they leave their physical bodies.

“…as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord” – 2 Corinthians 5:8 NIV

“I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” – Philippians 1:23 NIV

We know that we will recognize each other. We know we don’t become angels. We know we remain ourselves.

Can we be sure that we will go to heaven? Yes! The glorious truth is that when we trust our salvation entirely to Jesus and the work He accomplished on the cross, our eternity is secure.

Trusting Jesus means we recognize that it is not about how good we are, but about how bad we are. We must admit that there is nothing good in us. Nothing. Not 80%, not 50%, not 10%, but 0%. We ask Jesus to save us from the sin that enslaves us 100%. We ask Him to enter into our person and live His life through us. We surrender to Him, and then we are saved. From that moment on, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. It is God who saves us, secures our salvation, and brings us to heaven.

“To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy…” – Jude 24, NIV

Dad would’ve loved this winter… but I’m sure it can’t touch how much he loves the Springtime of eternity!

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“The Mom Award”

01/24/2014Sharing the Gospel, Spiritual Growth, Spiritual Walk, , , , , , , 16 Comments

If you’re a mom, you’ve probably given yourself one or more, “Mom Awards”. You know the ones I mean: “Worst Mom of the Hour/Day/Week/Month/Year or Decade”; and the most despised: “Worst Mom of the Century”.

I have a closet full! There are days when I received all of them in one afternoon.

I’ll never forget one of the “Worst Mom” awards I received… I gave it to myself the winter before this family photo was taken.

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In my defense… it was winter, and it’s not easy being a mom of preschoolers cooped up in the house for days. Danny had developed a habit of masterfully pushing Bobby down every time he saw Bobby standing still. I warned Danny: If you do that again, I’m going to push you!

Danny pushed. Bobby fell and started crying. I gave Danny the “you’re in for it now” look!

Immediately, Danny started to quickly back away, in stocking feet on a vinyl floor. I reached toward him, he lost his balance, slipped, fell and hit his head on the cabinet. He started crying. Bobby was still crying. And I sat down beside them, crying.

That night, sitting between Dan’s bed and Bob’s crib, still crying, I wrote them both a letter of apology in case they ever recalled this horrible day in therapy as adults. I still have the letters. Just in case.

There, it’s out there. I’m the worst mom ever. And, I have more stories I could tell…..

Guilt? Yes! Feeling like a failure? Yes! Like King David, I cried out to the Lord:

“My guilt overwhelms me – it is a burden too heavy to bear. My wounds fester and stink because of my foolish sins. I am bent over and racked with pain. All day long I walk around filled with grief.” – Psalm 38:4-6 NLT

There is no way to remove the guilt. We may try to cover over it with kind acts – I probably made cookies for them later on, or let them watch their favorite TV show. I may have tried to ease my conscience by telling myself I was doing my best to be a good mom. I had to keep my word. I had to teach Danny right behavior. It was just a little bump. Barely nothing. And surely nothing in the grand scheme of things.  And, while all of that was true, my heart ached because I had hurt my child by my own hand.

There was only one way to remove the guilt: Come to Jesus and confess the sin.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9NIV

“For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean…” – Hebrews 10:22 NLT

As a mom I’ve gotten really good, I think, at asking for forgiveness, both from the Lord and from the boys. Sometimes now, the boys will laugh at me when I bring up long ago events and ask for their forgiveness. It is worth the laughter because I love to dance in the freedom that comes with forgiveness.

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Wake Up! What’s That I Hear?

01/17/2014Spiritual Walk, 15 Comments

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1:15 a.m. – Outside the wind howls and the temperature is below freezing. Inside I am sleeping soundly in my warm and toasty bed.

1:17 a.m. – Brian awakens me, “Marcia! I think something’s going on in the basement! It sounds like the water softener might be acting up.”

PANIC! We spent hours on Saturday at Dan and Nikki’s bailing water out of their flooded basement.

PRAYER! Please, God, don’t let the basement be flooded.

1:18 a.m. – I hear it. It could be the water softener, but it doesn’t really sound like it. We need to investigate.

Neither of us moves. Silence.

1:19 a.m. – There it is again! Drat!

We get out of bed, dreading what the rest of the night might hold, and walk toward the basement. As I walk past the utility room, I hear the sound. It’s coming from the utility room! This time, it doesn’t stop. I walk toward the garage door, is it a car alarm?

I call to Brian and he walks into the utility room. We realize the noise is not coming from the garage, but from his briefcase which is sitting in its regular place by the garage door! What?!

The alarm on his new Blackberry is going off because it is set for 1:15 a.m.!

1:20ish a.m. – I am back in bed!

Being awakened in the middle of the night, out of a sound sleep, is usually not a good thing, but sometimes, unlike last night, it is the Lord who wakes us up:

“One night… Samuel was lying down… Then the Lord called Samuel.” –1 Samuel 3:2-4 NLT

Three times the Lord called Samuel, but Samuel had not yet learned to recognize the voice of God. The fourth time God called to him, Samuel responded:

“Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” – 1 Samuel 2:10 NLT

When God calls you and me, it probably won’t be an audible voice (I’ve never heard an audible voice). And, it may not be in the middle of the night (although He has awakened me a few times for a much needed conversation). However like Samuel, when God calls, it’s important that we listen. If the God of the universe is calling, is there ever a reason not to listen?

“…the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out… his sheep follow him because they know his voice.” – John 10:3-5 NLT

If we belong to Jesus, we learn to recognize His voice. When we recognize His voice, we won’t be afraid when He calls us. If we’re not afraid, we’ll follow Him wherever He leads.

Has God called you? The first call is to salvation. If you’ve responded to that call you can expect more calls as God gives you opportunities to learn His voice.

Is God sounding an alarm to wake you up? Might God be calling you out of the warm bed of your comfort zone to follow Him? Will you turn the alarm off and go back to bed, or will you get up, listen and follow Him?