One of the kindest acts ever done for me was over 20 years ago when I was still a new soldier in the army. I was in AIT, job training, and had finally earned the opportunity to go off post on the weekends, so I found a church I could attend.
Since it had been months that I had had a home-cooked meal, a lady in the church wanted to invite me to her home for lunch one day. Unfortunately, her husband was an instructor on the post, so I could not go to their home as that would be considered fraternizing. She could have just said, “Oh, well,” and let that be that. It’s the thought that counts, right? She instead decided she was going to bring a plate of food to me at the barracks.
Awesome! The day she was going to bring me a plate of good, home cooking, it started raining and not just a little bit either. It was POURING! Again, this SHOULD have been where she said, “Well, I tried,” but she didn’t. This woman drove and got out of her car in the midst of a rainstorm to make sure this soldier had that meal. Ever heard, “ Come Hell or high water?” She meant it.
It has been almost 23 years since she did that for me, and while I cannot remember her name I have not forgotten her or what she did. I am often reminded of that act of kindness, and I intercede for her every single time. She was faithful in that moment, and I have been faithful ever since to bring her before the Father. Maybe that’s why she was relentless in her efforts to bring a simple meal to a single soldier. Maybe Holy Spirit had her plant that seed so that she could reap the harvest of an intercessor. While I have no idea where she is or what her life has been like, Holy Spirit does. The Bible says we entertain angels unaware…maybe she was mine. Or maybe, in some way, I was hers.
I said all of that to say this: Everything you do for others is seen by all of Heaven. Don’t dismiss the value of your mustard seed. It only takes one match to set the world on fire.
I have this bad habit. I convince myself that I have to be good enough for God. I tell myself I need to “fix” myself before I come to God. As if I can wipe my own sins away! God didn’t say fix yourself and then I’ll send my son to die for you. He said come as you are and I’ll cover your debt.
Ephesians 2:8-10 expertly explains it.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Eph 2:810
In these few verses Paul sums up the Christian mission statement. We are to serve God and people not for our salvation but because of it and because we were created to love. We didn’t save ourselves and any notion that we did is pride. We were saved by God’s grace through our faith so that no one can boast in their own doings.
All throughout the Bible there are sinful messed up people doing great things. He didn’t ignore their sin but instead used it to show his power and grace.
So when you feel like you aren’t enough for God know that he doesn’t require you to be because grace is like none other.And before you try to fix yourself go to God.
“Well, you know we have the hope that we will see him again” said the 1 millionth person after Connor died.
I have heard this phrase most of my life. I’ve even said it to a lot of people myself. I can tell you from experience that you never realize what hope really is until it’s all you have.
But what exactly is this “hope” we speak of? In today’s world, the word hope is often used to represent wishful thinking. Hoping for the best. Sort of like a child with their eyes closed, blowing out birthday candles, wishing they get that present they’ve been wanting. It is often hinted at with uncertainty.
But you see hope is not vain nor wishful thinking. Hope is not a feeling. Hope is not an emotion. It is not “fingers crossed” way of thinking.
When I lost Connor last year, all hope was lost. I knew he was in heaven, no doubt about it. But what was the point in going on? It made no sense to continue without my son. Life wasn’t worth it to me. But it was in those moments of grief and despair when the sweet, sweet presence of the Lord made true hope known to me.
Hope is a state of mind. It is a confident expectation that God will meet all our needs, both present and future. Our hope is based on who God is alone. Not on the circumstances, not what the world says, not what science says, it is based on God alone.
“This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.” Hebrews 6:19
Hope sustains through the challenges of life. I know because I’ve been there. And more than likely, so have you. My hope is based upon the promises of God. I trust that God alone will sustain me.
Back to the child blowing out their birthday candles. Their tiny little hearts have their hope set on the “perfect” gift. So, what happens when it’s not what they hoped for. Disappointment. There is no disappointment with God. When our hope is in Him, it doesn’t matter about the outcome. It is the confident, expectant trust that God will fulfill His promises to us, whatever it looks like.
Hope has taught me to take a different approach to suffering. When grief strikes, I have that sweet reminder that heaven awaits with my sweet Connor first in line! And oh, what a glorious day that will be!
“That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So, we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Hope has taught me to live with intention. The bible tells me that I was created for good works.
“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10
God created each of us to complete specific assignments based on our individual gifts and talents. He uses our challenges; the good, the bad and the ugly, to do great works.
My prayer is that my journey of finding hope in despair will help you to find true hope in the Lord.
I’ve been a self-proclaimed scaredy-cat my whole life.
I can remember all the way back to Kindergarten when our parents took a big group of us to Bragg Road – IYKYK. I refused to get out of the car for the first four miles, but eventually I got out and walked with everyone else.
And although I’ve carried this title with me for 42 years now, I think I’ve decided to flip the script.
Yes, I do get scared.
Yes, I can be a nervous-nelly.
No doubt.
But I don’t let that stop me. I still do the things. And I mean all the things.
So, if you think about it I’m actually pretty darn brave. I overcome fears on the daily. I pray through, and I press through.
Fear doesn’t stop me.
I said all of that to ask you this – what are you speaking over your life? What self-proclaimed labels are you strapping on your shoulders and carrying around with you?
Words of affirmation or defamation?
Are they God’s words? Or someone else’s?
I promise God isn’t calling you demeaning names – names that weigh you down or describe you in a negative way.
No ma’am – that’s not God.
Here are a few words from God to you:
In Ephesians 2:10 He says that you are a masterpiece created by Him to do good works.
In 1 Peter 2:9 He says that you are chosen – royal.
In Ephesians 1:4 He says you are holy.
Listen, I don’t know what script you’ve been speaking over yourself, but I’ve read the one that God is speaking over you every single day.
That’s the script.
Read that one.
Believe that one.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9
Lately at my church we have been discussing the story of the Woman at the Well in John. The story really makes you wonder what the woman was thinking while she was interacting with Jesus. If I had to guess it would probably be something along the lines of…
“If they really knew me….”
This truth has really made me think myself. I think as Christian women we often disregard the woman at the well…I mean no one answers the question “with which Biblical woman do you identify? with ‘the women at the well.’ Esther. Sure. Martha, of course. The woman described in Proverbs 31. Absolutely. Despite our dismissing her as a role model, the woman at the well was intentionally sought out by Jesus.
She was, in fact, His first choice. The person to which He revealed the truth of who He was and what He came to accomplish. This fact does not make sense to us as a society who has chose to believe the lie that we must come to Him completely clean and perfect. We simply must choose Him.
Jesus chose an outcast within an outcast society.
Jesus chose a woman completely broken by the world.
The woman at the well was shunned by her village. Judged by others. She endured her life with the despair and hopelessness that is so common today. The fullness of her emptiness was inescapable. Each day carrying it, alone and isolated, to the well with the sun beating her down, further reminding her of her worthlessness. For a moment, drawing from the well, her thirst was quenched, her skin cooled. Respite enough to pick up and carry the weight of her shame back home.
But then….
She encountered Jesus.
Waiting. Patiently. A divine appointment. An unexpected and shocking encounter.
When He spoke to her, her confusion was palpable. A man. A Jew. Speaking to me? “If He only knew…” But, in her isolation, the comfort of a human being interacting with her…not sneering, pointing, or accusing had to be a welcome relief. As I’ve read—and re-read—this passage over the last few weeks, what stands out is her fear. The thought “If He only knew me…..”
But He DID know. Jesus knew everything about her. He confessed the truth of all she had ever done out-loud. The love in that moment—in His choice to confess her sin—such a beautiful foreshadowing of all He would carry for us. I imagine Jesus saying: “I KNOW you. I know you don’t even have the strength to confess all that you have done, but I love you enough to free you from your brokenness and the shackles of your shame. I will confess on your behalf.”
The goodness of God. The sufficiency of His grace. The power of His love found in a brief encounter:
I KNOW you; yet, I CHOOSE YOU.
In that encounter, everything changed for the woman at the well. You can imagine just how truly seen she felt. The empty, broken woman covered in shame was now filled to overflow with living water. Her thirst forever quenched. The ashes of her brokenness and the shackles of her shame forever exchanged for the beauty and freedom found through Jesus Christ alone.
She forgot and abandoned her worldly toiling. She bounded back to her village proclaiming the truth. She came to the well invisible, condemned, and imprisoned by her sin – that is not how she left though. She left seen, forgiven, and freed.
Her simple, unexpected encounter with Jesus was tangibly visible to everyone in her village. Compelled by her love for Him, her joy and transformation were evident to all. Her testimony: “He knew everything about me” brought many to Him.
Jesus waits at the well for us all.
He knows everything about you, but still, He pursues you. He does not condemn you.
Jesus is enough.
You are loved.
Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
If you saw my bio yesterday, you would have read that my husband and I have the honor to pastor some really cool people. As part of giving God our yes in this season, I make a stop at a local skilled nursing facility every Monday to visit with an elderly member of our congregation who has lived there for just under a year. In the beginning, the visits were easy conversation but dementia has set in rapidly since January, and very rarely does she even know who I am anymore. As an RN who spent a lot of time with the geriatric population this is not difficult for me to navigate. I go wherever she goes. Some days we are young friends in grade school and other days we’ve had a long day working in the bank. My husband is bi-vocational, working a secular job in addition to being a pastor, so he has only been to see her twice since she was admitted. It has become a running joke between us that no matter how much she has seen me and how little she has seen him she always remembers him, even when she forgets me. So much so, that on a day when she could barely form two thoughts let alone remember who I was, she called out to me before I exited the building, “Be sure and tell Josh I said hello!“ It’s really uncanny. This has been the case for months now, but only recently has Holy Spirit revealed a spiritual parallel to me.
While she doesn’t recognize me anymore, she recognizes who I am attached to. When she looks at me, she doesn’t see me anymore. She sees the one I’m in covenant with… And that’s how it supposed to be between us as believers and the world. The one whose mind is broken and confused, should be able to look through the mist of life and recognize their savior when their eyes lock with ours. Just like when my friend with dementia fails to see or recognize me but is still able to recognize that I am married to someone she does remember even though she hasn’t seen him.
If everything else was stripped away from us, would the lost still be able to find HIM while in our presence?
Yesterday, I looked back at my goals from January 1st of this year, and basically at this point I’ve failed.
It’s cool.
I’m cool.
Seriously though, I’ve got time. I’m not giving up on myself and neither is God.
Thank goodness.
The definition of a “work in progress” is an unfinished project that is still being added to or developed.
So my question is are you also a work in progress? Are you reflecting on your goals, your “self”, where you are and where you should be? Are you crying out, “Lord, develop me!”
We have to be intentional. We have to be purposeful. And some days we have to get in our own business.
If you’re not where you set out to be, don’t fall into a pit of self-pity. That’s not gonna get you anywhere.
No.
Instead, fall into a Kingdom-focused mindset where you are constantly looking back, reflecting, and asking yourself the hard questions.
Give yourself a pep-talk, sister. God wants you to be the best version of yourself, but YOU have to put in the hard work.
“But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.” 2 chronicles 15:7
1 John 3:1-3 tells us, “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason, the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
Pondering this scripture always overwhelms me with the grace and mercy of our heavenly Father. He calls us His sons and daughters. We are adopted by grace. By all things that count in this world, we are unworthy, not enough. But God doesn’t call us to be enough because He is always more than enough. When we accept by faith that Jesus is Lord, His righteousness becomes ours. What indescribable grace! When our heavenly Father looks at us, He sees Jesus.
I love the part of this scripture that says, “it has not appeared as yet what we will be…” Have you wondered, like me, what you will be when you grow up? (Yes, at 65, I’m still wondering…) I am a daughter, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a cousin, an aunt, a friend. I’m a teacher and a leader of teachers. I’ve been a secretary, an onion chopper, a babysitter, a newspaper typist, a Sunday school teacher. Those are the paths the Lord has given me to walk, but they don’t fully describe me. I am a child of God journeying Home. Jesus calls me to walk in the light as He is in the light. He calls me to be a faithful servant, to listen and obey. Though I may slip and fall, He always remains faithful. I serve the One who sees me and loves me despite my waywardness. Thank you, Lord!
I hope that we never forget that we are created for a purpose both here on earth and in heaven. God has a good plan for us, “a plan to prosper and not to harm.” One day when Jesus comes again, we will be transformed “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:52) I can only imagine what awaits, but I trust that it will be perfect, just as our Lord is perfect.
Well, here in Southeast Texas, there can be no doubt that the seasons are changing – between the heat and a crazy thunderstorm that seems very closely related to a hurricane,complete with no electricity and downed trees everywhere, it’s summer, people.
I don’t know what this last season of your life has been like, but my last season has been fairly difficult. I’ve actually beendealing with the big C – cancer. Now before you gasp and feel too sorry for me, I have a great prognosis and have just finished chemo, awaiting a decision on surgery. Honestly, it could have been so much worse. But, between cancer and this not-so-friendly little thing called chronic pancreatitis, it’s been a struggle.
But I’m here to tell you that…I survived! And, God, being so good and faithful, has been with me every step of the way and has taught me SO many things, about Him, about myself, about people. I can’t say that it’s something I would’ve ever chosen to go through, nor do I want to go through it again, but I know these precious lessons I’ve learned, I wouldn’t have learned if I hadn’t gone through it.
In the beginning, my husband and I had so much peace – it was crazy! I can truly say that it’s the first time, maybe in my whole life, that I’ve experienced “the peace that passes all understanding.” And that is so cool! I have fantastic doctors, who from the beginning, said,
“Oh, you’ll be fine; you’ll be cured.”
And, I said,
“I’ll take it!”
So we started down the long tunnel of treatment: eight rounds of chemo and five consecutive days of high-powered radiation. I thought,
“OK, seems straight-forward enough. I can do this.”
Of course, being Believers, we understood that when we enter into a time of trouble, we should take that trouble to God, first. Immediately! And we did. My husband, who has been the absolute best care-taker and partner I could have ever imagined, “surrendered everything to God.” And, I started treatment.
Enter: pancreatitis. I had had a severe bout with pancreatitis, that ended with an inpatient hospital stay back in July, and I knew I had some leftover issues with it, but it hadn’t reared its ugly head in several months and a cancer diagnosis pretty much trumps EVERY other medical issue, so I didn’t spend much time thinking about my pancreas. I just kept following my low-fat diet and concentrated on beating the cancer…until after my third chemo treatment.
One night, as I was getting ready for bed, I started hurting. And,I mean HURTING. Side note: I’ve given birth and pancreatic pain makes that feel like a paper cut. I was hurting in my upper abdomen, chest, and back. I honestly thought I was having a heart attack. Long story short, it was a severe attack of pancreatitis, which landed me back in the hospital for 13 days and 4 endoscopic surgeries, to put in stents, and other really gross stuff you don’t want to read about. As a result of my lovely pancreas, I had to stop treatment for two months. I lost even more weight. Worst of all, it was a huge blow to me, emotionally and even spiritually.
My prayers during this time went something like this,
“God, really? Cancer isn’t enough? Where are you? Are you, like, taking a nap or something? This isn’t how it’s supposed to be!”
See, while I thought I had surrendered this trouble to God, in reality, I’d held on to my own ideas of how this process should look, how it should feel, how long it should take, and on and on. Each time I would pray, God would gently remind me that He was in control and ask me to do more than just surrender this sickness to Him,
“Please surrender this PROCESS to Me, Sherra. I have your best interests in mind and I am working.” Insert long sigh here.
See, I hadn’t surrendered this process to God and I was kicking and screaming and crying because I wanted God to do things my way. I forgot that God is the one who has the GOOD plan for my life; I forgot that He sees way down the road of my life and knows what needs to happen for my ultimate good. He realized that, in order for my health to truly be restored, my pancreas needed to get healthier. And, He was right. Dang it.
And, so I had to do just that. At the end of my last hospital stay, my oncologist ordered an MRI of my tumor – something she said they never get to do with most patients, but because I was already in the hospital (wink), we could. The MRI showed that after just three of my eight chemo treatments, my tumor had already shrunk significantly! Yay! We were all so excited!
Psalm 37:5-7b tells us,
Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help you. He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun. Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act.
Maybe you’re in a tough season of life right now and don’t understand or like the process – I so feel that all the way down to my toes! But, I can tell you, from firsthand experience, the BEST thing you can do is to trust in God’s process for your life – in times of triumph and in times of trouble. He sees way more than we do and He is always, always working on our behalf.
A few years back, I was having a conversation with the big sister. I don’t know what led us there but I said, and I said it sassy, “well, I wish mom would’ve taught me how to cook.”
Big sister got in my business real quick like. This is what she said – “Daisy, mom was cleaning. Mom was working full-time. Mom was cooking, and mom coached some of our sporting events so excuse her if she didn’t have time to stop and teach you how to cook.” And if I’m being honest my momma did most of our laundry – a task my own children have been mostly doing on their own for years.
Shame on me for real.
The thing is my mom didn’t have time to stop
and have a Pinterest worthy photo shoot of her teaching us how to cook. She was doing all the things. Her job was physically hard. She was exhausted, but she kept on going to make sure we were taken care of. She did all the things that needed to get done and she did them well.
I say all of that to say this – daughters give your momma some grace. And mommas – give yourself some grace.
And if I could, I would tell my momma I’m sorry right now for even feeling that way about her.
Ladies, you don’t have to do it all all. In fact, you can’t. You’ll get burnt out on the basics real quick like if you continue to try. But you do have to do what’s most important – love those babies and point them toward Jesus.
And side note – I hope you have someone like my big sister in your life. Someone that speaks the truth to you in love. Someone that will get straight up in your business when needed. And I hope you listen to them even when it hurts.
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.
Rays of Sunshine inc 