Pulled From The Pit

"Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name….He redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.”   Psalm 103:1,4

“Back to reality”.  That was the status of a friend of mine on Facebook this morning.  What is reality?  It was 6 months ago today that my dear friend, Deanna, lost her battle with cancer, but gained victory over death.  Those of us who loved her had our reality changed, we have a new reality.   For me, it has been a very different 6 months.  I have sunk to the pit of depression, though few people knew it, because I really isolated myself from other people.  The pain was very deep, much deeper than I imagined it would be.  And I let very few people into my life, withdrawing from many people.

Recently I was asked to share the story of our friendship with a group of women.  I realized during the writing of that talk, that God has healed me much more than I even realized.  Right after Deanna died, I vowed I would never become that close to someone again.  It was just too painful to think about.  The pain of losing someone that you love so much and was such a big part of your life was much greater than I even realized. 

Two days ago as I shared this story with these women and spent time with these good friends as we prepare for a spiritual weekend that we are working at in a few weeks.  I realized the truth of the words that Alfred Lord Tennyson's wrote:

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
than never to have loved at all

I am humbled and amazed at the realization over the weekend that God has healed my broken heart much more than I even imagined.  I rejoice that I have felt that love, even though I “lost” it (for a time).  As I laughed, talked and cried with these women, I realized I had let people into my hurt and it felt good to share that and feel the love and care from them.  But more importantly as we laughed and talked (and with some of them we even “chased” the clouds that were swirling in the sky :D) – I discovered that I had let people back in and it felt good.  God had healed my broken heart.  And that this same group of women that were my Christian community last spring, as they prayed for Deanna (and I) were truly still that today.  

I have no reason to go through life, hiding my hurt, fearing the next hurt (or making SURE it doesn’t happen).  God does not want that for any of us.  We were created to be in community with others and  when we truly experience that type of love and care from people we are living a part of the Christian life that God truly desires for us.  What a gift.  I was going to end this with the hope that you experience this today. But on second thought…. I hope that you ARE Christ’s love to someone else today.

The Peace God Provides

John 14:27


Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.


We moved to another house in July, still in our same town, just a different house. When we bought this house, we felt very strongly that God was leading us to this house, for the purpose of giving people who needed “shelter” and place to stay. The economy is still not the best in our area and the housing market has been in “park” for about 6 months now, so we currently own 2 houses. Our kids have long begged for a home at “the lakes” (about an hour from us) and we have always told them that ‘no, we can’t afford 2 houses”. Now we own 2 houses so they are wondering why we have said we can’t and now we do. Our answer? Just because we do, doesn’t mean we can. *smile*


Throughout the past few months I have had my doubts, times of fear, times when I questioned whether we did the right thing, times of an absence of peace in my life. Then Ju Chan arrived in the US and needed a home and without question we knew he was supposed to live with us. We did not want to receive anything financially for allowing Ju Chan to live with us, however, his father insisted and wired money to us for Ju Chan’s care. God provided. Last week a man that we attended college with us contacted us, he needs a place to rent in our town during the week, would we rent our home to him? God provided.  Two days ago I began a new job.  This one is fewer hours and more pay.  God provided.  We made the first double house payment last week and I am truly stand amazed at how God is providing for us in tangible ways. Why am I so amazed? God’s deepest desire is to love and care for his children. God’s deepest desire is to deepen my relationship with him.


After a few “quiet” weeks with only one showing, we have had 3 showings in the past two days. As I opened the house yesterday for the realtors, I realized I have complete peace right now with this situation. God knows. He knows my needs. He knows the plan. He does not promise an absence of hardship in our lives, He promises that HE will never be absent.

The Least of These

Three weeks ago today we welcomed a young man into our home from Seoul, South Korea. We had first heard of this young man 3 days before when our church sent out an email with a special request for a young man (22 yrs old) who had arrived in the United States earlier that day to attend the college where my husband is employed. He had arrived that day on campus with his younger brother (15 yrs old), who was registered to attend the high school that our kids attend. However because of “glitch” in communication - there had been no housing arrangements made for the younger brother.

I read the email from our church while on a break at work. I immediately thought that I needed to talk to my husband (Mike) about that. 45 minutes later Mike stopped in at my work and asked if I had received an email. I said yes, and he said without hesitation, “I think we need to do that.”

We had almost full and immediate support from our kids on this decision. In explaining it to them we used these verses from Matthew 25:35-36 -- For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

We have 2 sons the same ages as Ju Chan and his brother. Mike and I could very easily place ourselves into their situation and wanted to do what we would want people to do for our family if the situation was reversed.

It has been an interesting 3 weeks since Ju Chan arrived to our home. We took a “crash course” in the Korean culture (a.k.a. surf the web), so that we could better welcome him to the US and to our family. We have tried to teach him about the way we live and the American culture. And at times it does seem overwhelming.  The language barrier has been just that at times… a barrier.

It is amazing to me - the things that we say or do (as Americans) that really make very little sense and sound even more odd to have to explain to someone who really has no idea what something means. For example: I believe I really scared Ju Chan two weeks ago when I told him it was not a problem at all for me to “run him over” to his brother. You might understand what I meant by that (drive him over to his brother). But the look on Ju Chan’s face told me he HOPED he did not hear me correctly.

Many things have come back to me from my past that are helping me today. The many trips that I took to the country of Honduras, leading mission trips for teens, has been very helpful in learning to communicate without words or with very few words, where there is a communication barrier.

Actions speak loudly in some situations.  I am reminded of the quote by St. Francis of Assisi -- “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”  As I said in the previous post: what do my actions say to others, about who Jesus is?

We are making progress with Ju Chan and our family is learning a lot of different things through this whole experience.  Such as: after Ju Chan made us a Korean meal two weeks ago -- Koreans prefer that their food be VERY spicy.  I think my lips/mouth burned for two days after that meal. :)
 
Despite the ability to communicate with him clearly, our kids have taken him in as a sibling and have become very protective of him.  I ask for your prayers for Ju Chan as he continues to adjust to living here in the U.S. and for our family as we continue to adjust to adding him to our family. Thanks!

Matthew 25:40 - The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Who Do You Say That I Am?

"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.

Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

- Mohandas Gandhi

The email came from a friend of mine, with the subject line: “Here’s where I always have a problem”…. So I knew it was going to be another good discussion with her. Even though she never actually said the quote, her email ran along the lines of this famous quote by Mohanda Gandhi. I’ve been thinking about this email and quote ever since I received it. We did have a great discussion, too.

This email and conversation with my friend also raised a lot of questions in my mind, things I have been “chewing” on ever since. These questions have convicted me to take a look at myself. How is that people can claim to be followers of Christ and yet, not look one bit like Him? I know that there have been times when I looked NOTHING like Christ, in my actions or words…. And I never paused to think about how others might see Christ, if I claimed to be a follower of Christ.

At youth group the other night we talked about a theme for year. We listened to several songs and read some scriptures to go with the songs. We were searching for a theme for our year… who do we want to be known as? What does it mean to “live the life”? What does it mean to BE Christian? What does it mean to love as Jesus loved? One of the songs we listened to was Lincoln Brewster’s new song “Reaching For You” [Video quality not the best, but you can hear the song quite well]. A great discussion followed that song on how these kids sometimes feel “persecuted” for going to the church that they go to or being labeled some type of Jesus Freak when they live with integrity. It was at this time that a very wise young man said: do you think people even realize that they need God? That statement blew me away.

How often do I live like God really doesn’t matter?

How often do I live like I don’t really need God?

How often do I live like all that really matters is "today"?

How many times do I confuse people who really need to see Jesus in my life, by living in a way that they do not see Jesus in me?

Our words and actions are on display. They “tell” who Jesus is to those who know I am a Christian and to those who do not know I am a Christian. What is my life saying about Jesus? What picture do other people see?



[The Lincoln Brewster video is from last weekend at Lifelight - a free 3 day music festival located about an hour from me.]

Yahweh

Yahweh – A friend of mine had a life changing experience on an Iowa highway a year and a half ago. While listening to a favorite Chris Tomlin song “Yahweh”, she was involved in a head-on collision. The accident left her with a “Y” shaped scar on her leg. [Sidenote: I love how she titled the blog entry "The 'Y' Scar" - how many times don't we ask "Why?" in regards to our 'scars'?]  You can read more about her scar here.  Since the accident she sees the world differently.  Yahweh saved her life, and she now sees the letter “Y” in many different places. Her God story has influenced me and I, too, look for “Y”’s. 

My oldest son, Ryan, is in Alaska this summer, serving as a volunteer at Victory Ministries of Alaska. He spends each day capturing the experiences and memories in pictures and video for the camp. During his free time, he does a lot of hiking and is taking some beautiful pictures! This morning, as I was looking at new pictures that Ryan posted on his Facebook page,  I began to see a “Y” in many of the pictures. The mountains seemed to bow down in worship, singing their praises to God, revealing God’s glory. A few words kept going through my mind as I scanned through the pictures of all that God has created for us to enjoy! “ From the beginning of time…. Yahweh, YOU reign forever, age to age You are still the same. Beautiful! Glory and praise to YOU, oh God!”

Psalm 72:19 – “Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen.”

Lamentations 5:19 - “You, O LORD, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.”

A song written by Hillsong entitled “Yahweh” came to my mind and as I looked at Ryan’s pictures this morning I listened to that song. I found myself breathless - in awe at the beauty of all the things that God has created for us to enjoy. Yahweh (Jehovah) – the God who provides and protects. The God who will never leave us. The God who is everything that we need. The God who satisfies us. The God who heals us. The God who brings beauty from the ashes. The God who creates all things for HIS glory – including you and I.

I pray that throughout your day, you will experience times when Yahweh leaves you breathless at the beauty of His creation.  Consider that this God - who created all things - is the same God then as now and this God delights in YOU and absolutely loves when you "see" Him all around you.

On Loving "Them"

Differences – Something has been on my mind the past few days. I recently heard a comment having to do with accepting other people who believe (if they believe) differently that I do. How do we accept them? I think the better question is why would we NOT accept them? God’s love and grace is for “them” just as it is for me. While on earth Jesus did not make any distinctions between the “good” people and the “bad” people. He didn’t make distinctions between what people believed or didn’t believe. What people did or didn’t do. He loved - all people right where they were, as they were. He didn’t approach others to necessarily address the differences, he saw others as people and found the similarities. I know that is what he calls us to do.


So my response to the question: How do we accept “them”? Find the common threads that you have with others, start there. Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 9.   When we look for the common threads that we have with another person, God has the opportunity to piece together a beautiful tapestry. The beauty will only be seen once we have taken the time to sew together a few of the strands that we have in common. I know that I would not be who I am today, had I not taken the time to get to know people who in many ways are not like me. I am thankful for those that saw me as someone who was different than them, yet took the time to develop the common threads that we had. Secondly, I think we need to get rid of the “us” and “them” language. Let’s be “us” together on the same journey. Love as you want to be loved. Grace as you want to be “graced”. Forgive as you want to be forgiven.” For you and I were once “them” to “them” and still today are “them” to some.

Still Standing

I know... it's been a while.  I’ve been in a “funk” lately. I hate funks. They are easy to slip into and hard to get out of. I was spending more time listening to the words that are untrue and less time listening to the Voice of Truth. I felt lonely and down, so what did I do? I withdrew from people. Honestly I think that is the dumbest thing to do. But more often than not it is the easiest thing to do… sometimes it just seems it takes too much energy to get in touch with people or to talk about what you’re feeling.

Eventually, I did share honestly with someone how lonely I was and how worthless I felt. She set me straight in no uncertain terms - her words were laced with a ton of love and truth. Satan knows where to shoot his arrows into each of us. He knows where we are weak. He knows what will paralyze us. He knows what will stop us, sometimes before we even “start”. He is on the look-out for those he can devour. He seeks to kill and destroy.

I found the words in 1 Peter 5 very interesting. Verse 7 begins with telling us where to put our worry. “Cast all your anxiety on Him [Jesus]”. Then Peter goes on to say something that at first appeared odd to me. “Be self-controlled and alert.” But when I thought about that, it means don’t let your mind wander and make up things that are not there. Don’t let things that are not true, become “truth” to you. Keep control of your mind and your thoughts, don’t let it wander and begin to believe things that simply are not true. Be alert. Satan realizes if he can "destroy" a Christian today that is for sure one less person he needs to worry about impacting the world for God. [We do know that we have the victory over Satan, praise the Lord, his attacks are temporary, God's kingdom is eternal!]

Ephesians 6 gives us the best advice we will ever get on how to fight off Satan’s attacks and schemes. Verse 11 “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.” Use everything that God gives to fight off the attacks that are sure to come. It’s a choice to put on the armor that God gives. Finally, so that you can STAND. The word “stand” is used 4 times within 3 verses. Another verse uses the word ‘stand’. 1 Corinthians 10:13 – “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

These are important words for our lives today. Cast. Be Self-controlled. Alert. Put on. Stand. And most importantly: stay in the “pack”, don’t be found alone and on your own. We need each other! Who needs you today? Or is it you that needs someone today?