Trusting His Love & His Plans

Back on Easter Sunday, our pastor taught on how God's plans are better than our own, and his wife, my friend Krista, shared her personal story of walking through infertility and trusting God through the adoption process. She was kind enough to write out her remarks, and you can read them here.

The parts of her story that grabbed my attention were (1) how her Sunday school teacher challenged her class with how their view of God might change if they didn't get married or have children and (2) how Krista later responded by writing out Psalm 136 in her own way as a reminder of God's enduring love for her, no matter her circumstances.

I took the challenge to do the same.

If I never get married,
His love endures forever.

If I never have children,
His love endures forever.

If I never adopt another dog,
His love endures forever.

If my mother dies during my lifetime,
His love endures forever.

If my sister dies during my lifetime,
His love endures forever.

If I get cancer,
His love endures forever.

If I get a crippling disease,
His love endures forever.

If I suffer pain daily,
His love endures forever.

If I lose my job and benefits,
His love endures forever.

If I lose my house and belongings,
His love endures forever.

If I become poor financially,
His love endures forever.

If I am ridiculed and mistreated,
His love endures forever.

If my reputation is trashed,
His love endures forever.

If I have no friends,
His love endures forever.

If I can’t deliver on my promises,
His love endures forever.

If a crime is perpetrated against me or my family,
His love endures forever.

If the world around me is chaos,
His love endures forever.

And even if I don’t feel His love,
His love endures forever.

To be honest, I need to repeat those lines every day for my heart to get in sync with them because I'm not all the way there yet. I'm kind of like the father in Mark 9:24 who says, "Lord I believe; help my unbelief."

I'm glad I wrote these out and challenge you to do the same.

Happy Mother's Day!

For those who've wondered where I get my love for Jesus, my heart for those who are hurting, my desire for justice, my (former) ability to study for hours on end, my handwriting, my need to accessorize, my gift for baking, as well as many other gifts, they all came from my sweet mother who possesses much more of each of those traits and abilities than I, as her offspring, received. She's my hotline for medical issues, cooking questions, theological dilemmas, and so much more. I'm very grateful to have her in my life!

So Happy Mother's Day, Mother! And a very happy Mother's Day to all of you ladies out there who make the time to read this blog amidst all your mothering duties!

Simple Sweet Day

Spoiled.

That sums up how I feel. Each day this week, sweet cards from my friends came in the mail, and packages arrived from my family. And then one dear friend braved her way to my work where she delivered a box of chocolates and this special card from her son:



Today overflowed with simple reminders of His love. I hope you felt it too!

Loving Neighbors

This week, my writers' group is posting on what it means to love our neighbors. I'm thinking this may be a timely topic if you recently had the joy of sharing the Fourth of July with your neighbors or possibly just watching their firework displays? At any rate, I hope you'll stop by and take a read here. I'll be posting on Tuesday.

Love's Day

Today, we normally think of telling "the one" in our lives that we love him/her. But that's such narrow thinking. A day celebrating love should be so much bigger in our minds. We should be celebrating The One, as well as all the wonderful people whom God has put in our lives:

• Our parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles who love us unconditionally;
• Our siblings who endured growing up with us;
• Our pastors and mentors who teach us by example and encouragement;
• Our friends who listen and spend time with us; and
• Our bosses who provide us with a job and income.

And so I challenge you to expand your definition of what Valentine's Day should look like. Don't limit yourself to only those people for whom Hallmark has already printed Valentine's Day cards. If you do, you may be overlooking some of the most important people in your life and the opportunity to bless them with words of love and encouragement.

"We love because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19)

People in my Pathway

Do you ever wonder why God put a certain person in your path? I’ve pondered this question a lot throughout my life. I can look back over my life and see how God brought a new person into my life at just the time when I needed a friend and then that person faded out of my life just as quietly as he or she had entered my life.

Back in junior high, all of the cliques were feuding, and I seemed to end up on the outside. By myself. Alone.

Then, the Sunday before the first day of 7th grade, a new person my age showed up in my Sunday school class. This may sound like a normal occurrence. But, I’m from a small town, and new people were few and far between. This person offered me friendship, taught me how to make friendship bracelets and how to play Nintendo, and helped me make other friends. A few years later, this friend moved away. And we lost touch.

About ten years later, I had another person end up on my same path. I had been through some rough times emotionally. So, I assumed that God must have put this new person in my life to be my soulmate. After all, this person shared many of my same interests. But several years later, I was able to look back and see that person’s role was simply to teach me to trust again, which was no small task but seemed less significant considering the role that I had assumed that person was playing.

And then there are the people that I come across each day that have needs that pull on my heartstrings but I’m not sure what role I’m supposed to play. For instance, there is a man who lives outside my work building. He sits or stands beside a trash bin for most of the day. He has had the same set of clothes on for several years now and wears a winter jacket and long pants year-round. He never begs or even speaks to others, though sometimes he does appear to be talking to himself.

Having read Same Kind of Different As Me, an amazing book about the role a homeless man played and continues to play in the life of an international art dealer, I can’t walk by this homeless man without acknowledging his presence, if not with words, at least with a glance and a facial expression of some sort. I usually pray for God to provide for this man’s needs and help him find a real place to live and gainful employment. Yet, I struggle with whether I should be doing more.

I often wonder when I pray that prayer, “Lord, is it your desire to provide for this man‘s needs by having me bring him food? Should I offer him reading material to help pass the day? What’s my role? Just to listen? To pray? How do I show this man Your love without putting myself in danger?”

I don’t want my actions to be stifled by fear, but that last question is a nagging one. It reminds me of the line from The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe in which the children ask whether Aslyn is safe, and the reply goes something like, “Of course He’s not safe, but He’s good.”

“Lord, I know that You are good. I want to love others well. If that means praying for a person, please bring that person to mind often. If that means providing food, help me to be obedient rather than fearful. If that means extending a listening ear to someone, help me not to be so selfish with my time. Show me how to be salt and light to those You put in my path.”