Chin Up!

Aw...memories...

The convention for church workers had been a great success and on the last day, I was chatting with a director of Women's Ministries in the break room. We were discussing the state of women's ministries and I wanted to impress her with my wisdom. Wouldn't she then want to schedule me for her church's women's retreat?

During our conversation, a tray of fresh, hot chocolate chip cookies was delivered to our table and we munched and chatted. The more we chatted, the more I knew I was impressing her. In fact, she seemed to not be able to take her eyes off my lips. Evidently every word I spoke was a pearl of wisdom not to be missed.

I was a little surprised then when we concluded talking and she hadn't suggested she would keep in touch. But I hoped she would contact me in the future.

After we said goodbye, I headed toward the bathroom but came across some new friends I'd made at the convention. One of them had been taking pictures of the group and invited me to join them. Wonderful! I felt so good being included in the photo and asked that they send me a copy. Then we parted with joyful goodbyes.

Finally walking into the bathroom, I glanced at my reflection in the mirror and stopped. What's that dark spot on my chin? I inched forward closer to the mirror and slowly realized that chocolate drooled down my chin. Hot embarrassment flooded me and then I saw the humor. Chuckling, I wiped off the chocolate and thought, “OK, Lord, you got me. I sure was being impressed with myself, wasn't I? You have a gentle way of bringing me to my proud senses.”

Why my new friends didn't tell me about my spotty chin, I don't know. But after that, I wasn't really surprised that the Women's Ministry Director didn't contact me, nor did I get a copy of the photo in the mail. When pride seeps up within me because of the opportunities God has given me, I think of my chocolate chip chin.

My Review of "Wayback" by Sam Batterman

Wayback is a fun book. Author Sam Batterman did a good job for his first novel. He had some very interesting ideas to be fleshed out and he did a good job. You can tell he really had a mission in this plot to prove that the earth is only as old as the Bible literally says it is—the “young earth” idea. At times, he was a little too forceful in expressing it—as if he was determined to make the reader believe his ideas. But that was acceptable because of the creative way he expressed it. And I loved the twist ending. Originally the characters went back in time to the time of Noah and you expect that they will just return to their original time. But then he creatively arranges for them to go forward in time but to an even different time period that brings an interesting wrinkle into the relationships among the characters. I was kept interested in the story throughout and enjoyed the characters and the descriptions of the settings. Regardless of whether you're convinced about the earth being young, it does give you something to think about and you have a fun time enjoying the plot. I trust Mr. Batterman has good things up his sleeve for future books.

We Are His Property

(If you haven't read yesterday's blog post, please read first.)

Yesterday, after posting, I took another one of my short walks and looked again at the sign. I realized I'd misquoted, or I should say, left out some of the words. The sign actually says, "This property is managed by La Quinta Realty."

Wow! The words "this property" really hit me. Just as I am "managed" by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I am His property to do whatever He desires. The word "property" can make it seem pretty unattached and distant but the Bible says we are His and we belong to Him. Therefore, I suppose we could apply the word "property." And how wonderful to know that God takes better care of His "Property" that any landlord, land owner or property manager ever could. He knows everything about us and knows exactly what is best for us. You couldn't have a more loving, kind, gentle and understanding "landlord."

I am His and He is mine! You are His and He is yours! That kind of management I appreciate. How about you?

How's Your Manager Doing?

As I took a short walk this morning, a tear escaped down my cheek because I was feeling sorry for myself. Last week I somehow did something that set me back five steps in my recovery from back surgery. I'd been in increased pain and only able to be out of pain while walking. Even laying down doesn't bring relief. I just felt fearful that this journey would never end.

Along with a tear, a thought escaped from my mind, "God, I don't think you're doing a very good job healing me." I walked a few more paces, and looked up into the window of a house on our street that is in foreclosure and vacant. The sign in the window said, "Managed by La Quinta Realty. Contact for any concerns or problems."

"OK, God. I guess I'm saying you're not a very good manager of my life and I know that's not true. I do trust you to do whatever you desire and to draw me closer to you in whatever you desire. I certainly think more often of you when I'm in pain, that's for sure! So I'm bringing you my concerns and problems and asking you to heal me according to your will. You're not just my manager, you're my Lord and Savior and have total control over my life. I surrender to you."

Within a few more paces, I sensed God guiding me for a walking program that was different than I had been doing. I'll walk more frequently during the day for shorter periods and thus omit laying around so much. I felt encouraged and grateful.

How's your Manager doing? I bet better than you might sometimes think.

Got Photos?

Last week the Lord opened up a door for me to be interviewed for a magazine article and the writer wanted me to send her photos of myself and the family when the kids were little. So I had to pull out tons of photo books to see what I could find.

And what fun! Of course, i realized how many photos could be thrown away but it still was so fun to look through pictures I hadn't reviewed for a long time. And I thought, "Why don't I look through these more often?"

So I've decided to leave out one of the books of photos to flip through every once in a while. Then when I've looked at it enough, I'll replace it with a different photo book to peruse.

Wanna join me in an old photo book excavation?

PS On another subject: I so appreciate the comments I receive on my blog. I reply to each one privately but I'm not able to post a return comment because for some lame reason, which I can't figure out or correct, my comments won't go through. So, if you've read my posts and wonder why there's never a comment in response to the comments, that's why! If you can help me figure it out, I'd appreciate it!

Whew! Job Becomes Hopeful!

For the past eleven posts, we've looked at the word “hope” as found in the book of Job. I bet you thought we'd never get out of Job but this is our last look at hope there. But hasn't it been rich and appropriate for a person who is in such a hopeless situation? We know the end of Job's story but Job didn't at the time. To keep hope alive when you don't know the end of the story is hard. So many times we think, “If I could just know the end of the story and then come back, I could handle it.” But then our hope would be in “the end of the story,” not God and walking and abiding in Him moment by moment.

I've been so intrigued to think of so many things we can have hope in—other than God. But only God offers a hope that is completely faithful, loving and true. All the other things we might hope in will let us down. And the last mention of hope in Job unfortunately is about those who don't have this sure hope:

"For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, When God requires his life?” (Job 27:8 NASB).

This verse reminds us to not take for granted the blessings of the hope that we have. If you read the rest of chapter 27, Job gives a long list of the disadvantages that the godless have without that hope of God's faithful love. From the opposite we can infer the blessings we have in knowing God. Here they are:

God hears us (vs 9)

We can delight in God and call upon Him anytime (vs 10)

We have a good portion and inheritance (vs 13)

We are saved, safe, and satisfied in God (vs 14-15)

We have God's provision (vs 16-19)

We have peace and confidence even in the midst of difficulty (vs 20-23)

Oh, what a glorious hope we have. Life doesn't always go smoothly and it is challenging but there is a Rock under us that we can depend upon and trust in.

As I skimmed through the rest of Job's story, I wondered whether I could find a nutshell that would wrap up Job's hope in God. When I came upon Job 42, I read the words of a humbled man who had come to the place of putting his total hope in God. He had been humiliated and brought so low that everything had been stripped from him He literally had nothing to offer God and could only completely throw himself at God's feet and beg for mercy.

1 Then Job replied to the Lord:

2 “I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you.
3 You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me.
4 You said, ‘Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.’
5 I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.
6 I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.” (NLT).

True hope results in a humble spirit. Broken hope is a godly perspective that says I can only depend upon and hope in Someone far superior to myself. Complete hope recognizes there is really nothing else that deserves our hope. And emptied hope gives us an insight into God that is personal and real. We no longer know about Him from a distance but we've “seen him with our own eyes.”

Our hope in God is based in God's amazing power (vs 2), who doesn't allow us to remain in ignorance (vs 3), who calls us to truth (vs 4), and receives our repentance and surrender (vs 5-6). Oh, what a glorious God to hope in, depend upon, and trust in.

Uprooted Hopes

I'm sure every one of us has felt at one time or another like God is stripping us of that which isn't truly important. In Job 19:10, Job describes it this way, “He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; And He has uprooted my hope like a tree.” (NASB)

Whether it's through emotional pain, physical pain, disappointment, misumderstandings, misrepresentations, gossip about us, or any number of life happenings, God has a creative assortment of ways to reveal and cleanse that which can be of hope to us. And of course, ultimately, our strongest hope should be in God. Hope in God reveals itself when we trust Him regardless of the circumstances. When we believe His promise that He will cause all things to work together for good (Romans 8:28). Can we ever get to the place of our hope being only in God? No. That would require perfection. But His purpose in allowing difficulty is to more and more create a greater hope in Him and less in other things.

I looked more closely at Job's metaphor: “He has uprooted my hope like a tree.” There are, I'm sure, many ways to remove a tree, but one important thing is to get to the roots. He doesn't write, “He cuts off my hope like a tree and leaves a stump.” But he “uproots.” It's important to remove the roots, otherwise, sometimes, a few branches will again start growing from the stump.

By inference, I think Job is saying that the “tree” needing uprooting is a bad tree; the hope that needs to be broken and uprooted is a bad hope; a hope that is not based in trust in God.

Now that the Lord has chosen to further my healing and I'm sometimes painfree, even though my sitting time is limited, I'm finding there are some things God is uprooting. The old practices from before I became injured nine months ago seem to be ideas God is wanting to re-mold. He has uprooted most of the tree but wouldn't you know it? There are some roots still resistantly clinging to the dirt below ground.

I wrote in my journal, “I'm really recognizing the challenge now of getting back into a normal life. Rather than having to be totally focused on staying out of pain, I am needing to make choices with my time, etc. I keep thinking of Jesus asking the lame man, "Do you want to get well?" Seems like a no brainer but sometimes it's easier to be sick then you only have to think about one thing. The Lord is challenging me to be multi-tasking, which as a perfectionist I don't like. I like to be all of nothing, and just concentrate on one thing. Being sick is right along my alley. Focus on just one thing: me!” I added, “Haha!”

Not only do I like to focus on one thing, I'm finding it hard to even make decisions sometimes. It's hard to believe that in only nine months I could lose so much of my decision making abilities. They say a person who is released from prison has a hard time making choices because in prison everything was decided for them. I can relate. Specifically, what should I do with my time right now since I don't have to only think about doing whatever is needed to stay out of pain?

I think the further root God is pulling out is my tendency to want a formula, a plan that will guide me. If I follow the formula or the plan, I don't have to walk with God moment by moment. It's already determined. For instance, I tend to like Bible reading or studying programs. Of course, those are wonderful. But could the Lord be calling me to ask Him each day what He wants me to do that might not follow the plan? That's more scary. Is my “hope” in that plan rather than God? This seems to be broadening the application of what we might “hope in” but I think it can be true.

I recently chatted with a gal who is going through a hard time and she seemed to be wanting a formula for how to handle the challenges she was facing. God gave me the idea to offer her two envelopes to choose from. One envelope is labeled, “Contains formula and doesn't require God.” The other envelop is labeled, “No formula but requires walking intimately with God.” Even after I described the first envelope, she nodded knowing what was coming in the second envelope. And she recognized that she wanted hope in a formula that would remove her need to walk closely with God.

I'm also wanting a formula for how to use this new freedom I have. My frustration of having so many choices and so few things accomplished at the end of the day is forcing me to put my hope in walking with God and not in forcing things to happen in order to check off my to-do list. A new root is being pulled out. The root of my false “hope” is the good feeling of accomplishing something rather than trusting that God has led and I have followed, regardless of seeming ineffectiveness and inefficiency.

Is there a “hope” that God is trying to uproot in your life? Are you frustrated that things aren't happening the way you think they should? Does God have a different plan that requires you walk closely with Him and leave the uncertainty for Him to deal with?

We are being stretched like Job. Later in this 19^th chapter of Job, he writes, “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives” (verse 25). God is working to keep our eyes on hope of Him and Him redeeming everything about our lives.