The Apple of His Eye

I was excited that SPFCA (Single Parent Family Camp) had finally arrived. The local Christian radio station where I volunteer was sponsoring a weekend for single parents. There were workshops, fun activities, and a concert on Sunday. The whole purpose was to minister God’s love and to let each person know that they were not alone. So much prayer, time, and energy had gone into preparing for this short weekend. I had prayed about this weekend and God had put on my heart to refund someone’s registration fee. It would be a surprise blessing at the end of the weekend and completely anonymous. I loved the idea that God was using me as a vessel through which He would touch the life of another person. Who would the Lord desire to bless? I was filled with anticipation.

The very first woman I met was Lisa (not her real name). She was early and was walking around until it was time to register. She had three little girls with her. One was still in a stroller. After only a few minutes of talking with her, I immediately pegged her. In my mind, I covered her with little yellow sticky notes that read – needy, whiney, clingy, a taker. I sat and listened to her sad song and looked around for the one God wanted to bless.

I think just about everyone on the staff would encounter Lisa that weekend. She hurt her ankle, she talked with the children’s workers about her little girl getting hurt right before they came, how she didn’t know how she was going to pay her bills and she continued to sing her sad song to anyone and everyone. Saturday came and went and I kept looking for a deserving person.

Sunday morning was our last service. I still had not found the right woman who deserved this blessing. I was like Samuel looking for the chosen one to anoint and the Lord kept saying no. I was beginning to think I had been mistaken about the refund. Maybe there was some other place this money was to be given and then I saw Lisa. She was pushing her stroller with two little ones beside her. She was upset and near tears. She had checked out and she could not find her room key. If a key was lost there was a $5 fee to replace it and she did not have $5. She didn’t know if she had enough money for gas to get home and she was concerned about getting lost.

I wanted to help someone I would deem deserving. I wanted to choose someone who was working hard and truly trying to make their life meaningful. Someone I considered worthy.

But ….

the one on the Lord’s heart would be Lisa – undeserving in my estimation but loved by God with a love that didn’t even see the whiney, needy, clingy woman I saw but He only saw His daughter for whom He gave His life. Lisa was the apple of His eye. It was His desire to bless Lisa.

At the beginning of the weekend I thought God had chosen me to be part of His divine plan of blessing someone in need. Little did I realize that God was actually using this experience to correct my own heart and I was the one in need. My heart was proud, arrogant, and judgmental. I was certainly not a pure vessel through which God could minister to someone in need. I quickly went to the front desk and gave them the money to refund to Lisa. God had used Lisa to show me my heart. I left that weekend overwhelmed by God’s love for me.

It is my prayer that each one of you knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that God loves you. He sees us through His eyes of love. You are the apple of His eye.

Psalm 17:8 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings

No Provision for Retreat

There are many reasons I hate going to the doctor’s office. One, I am cheap and I don’t want to spend the money but when the pain becomes greater than my cheapness - I go. My first obstacle to hurdle is the scale. Why do they always have to weigh me? I have a pain in my side and it has nothing to do with my weight. I think more people would go for their checkups if they could just bypass the scale. Then they put you in a room and tell you to undress and put on the wonderful gown. It is made of white paper people – white paper!! What am I paying for this office call? You would think by now there would be a new design. A gown that as been updated and with some style – maybe hot pink. Something other than one size fits all but NO! I am just barely 5 feet tall and somewhere over 100 pounds and they give me the very same gown that they give a man 6”7 and 300 pounds. Is there no one with a brain?

Anyway I digress. I am thinking this morning about that gown. The nurse always tells you to put it on with the opening in the back. Opening is the optimal word. My whole backside is exposed for the entire world to see and I will say that is not my best side.

I am reading today about the armor of God.

Eph 6: 14 – 18 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Once again there is no provision for my backside. That should be a clue to us that God does not have in mind that we are going to turn tail and run at any moment in our lives. That is huge for me. Brave and courageous are not words that will be on my epitaph. I am more on the cowardly lion side of the coin.

So my friend if you are facing a difficult season in your life and you want to turn around and run – don’t! There is no provision for your backside. The good news is that God has well equipped us to move forward. Begin to sing praise to our heavenly Father. The enemy cannot stand to hear the sound of praise. If you want someone to join you, just let me know and I will be singing my little heart out right beside you. Full speed ahead

Everlasting God

------Chris Tomlin

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord

We will wait upon the Lord

We will wait upon the Lord (repeat)

Our God, You reign forever

Our hope, our Strong Deliverer

You are the everlasting God

The everlasting God

You do not faint You won't grow weary

You're the defender of the weak

You comfort those in need

You lift us up on wings like eagles

A Red Boot Hissy Fit

Isn’t it funny how little bits and pieces of life can come together in some strange way?

That happened to me. The first piece was a pair of red boots. My daughter called and told me she had found a pair of red boots for me. I can’t really say I was as excited about the red boots as was she, but I tried to keep an open mind. The next time we were together she brought out the red boots and I will have to say, “I loved the red boots!” I immediately began to put together a knock out Christmas outfit. A red sweater, black pants, a white wooly sleeveless vest, a red curly scarf and then those red boots.

The second piece was the hissy fit. I really don’t know how many people have ever even heard the phrase hissy fit but I have and it makes me smile. When I was growing up, me or one of my brothers (usually a brother) would get upset about something and that would bring on the hissy fit. My dad would become impatient (to put it nicely) with us and tell us in no uncertain terms that the hissy fit was to come to an end.

My dad passed away several years ago but his memory lives within me. I was out shopping one day and I saw a calendar and there dedicated to the month of June “Never underestimate the power of a hissy fit!” Needless to say, I had to have the calendar. So now I had the red boots and the hissy fit calendar.

The third piece would come on Black Friday. Black Friday is probably one of my favorite days of the years. I am sure you are shaking your head right about now and thinking that I am “No Ordinary” and you would be quite right. Anyway, on Black Friday my daughter and I get up in the middle of the night and head out to find Christmas treasures that will bring squeals of delight on Christmas morning. We shop, eat, shop, get a snack, shop, eat, shop… well you get the point. There is a lot of shopping and a lot of eating. On this particular Black Friday I had my red boots. I wasn’t actually wearing my red boots. It is never a wise idea to wear new shoes on an all day shopping extravaganza. I say that from experience. But I had them with me to wear to lunch. We were trolling up and down the parking lot aisles looking for that elusive parking spot when we both spotted it. Eureka! Then coming from the other way, we saw a car turn down our aisle look at our spot and turn on their blinker – that was when the words came tumbling out of my mouth. “They better not think about taking that spot or I just might pitch a red boot hissy fit!” My daughter and I have never laughed so hard. I am a pretty laid back, even keeled, not quite five-feet, grandmother (not actually the red boot hissy fit type).

Now every time I put on my red boots I think of my Dad and Black Friday and I smile. I know that getting a parking spot on Black Friday is a big deal but probably does not warrant a hissy fit. As a Christ follower, I think I have become too mellow, too even keeled, too vanilla. I think it is probably time for me to put on my red boots and pitch a hissy fit. Some things not only warrant it, but also demand it.

I wonder what the world would be like if more Christ-followers put on their red boots and pitched a hissy fit about the things that make Jesus cry. Things like children dying of starvation, whole villages with no clean water, or women with no rights. My 38-year-old sister finished her fight with ovarian cancer December 11, 2009. I think that is a cause worth a red boot hissy fit. And how much more should we be moved by the fact that thousands will go into eternity today without Jesus. What about you? What would cause you to buy red boots and pitch a fit? Let me know and I will write your name in my heart and smile knowing the world is never going to be the same.

Being a Little Chilly Makes You a Little Crabby

Since the wind chill last night was a mere -5 degrees, I thought today would be an excellent day to post to my brand new blog. I wrote this last fall but it just seems to fit today. Hope you enjoy.

Friday was the second cold and rainy day of the week. Just one of those bone chillin days when even though the outside temperature is not frigid the cold still seems to penetrate and bring shivers. I had held off turning on the furnace by using a small space heater to take the chill off the bedroom in the morning so that we could shower and get dressed. But now I had decided to bite the bullet and turn on the furnace, so with reluctance I went and pushed the system button to heat and the little golden light lit up telling me that heat was not far behind. I waited. Nothing. No heat.

It is one thing to be cold when you know all you have to do to relieve being cold is push a little button and you will have heat, and a totally other experience when you are cold and push that little button and there is no heat. I went from being a little chilly to being downright cold.

By now it is late Friday afternoon and all good repair people have turned their phones to their answering machines and gone to their nice warm homes. I knew that there would be no heat coming my way over the weekend. I did call and leave my name, number, and a short message so that on Monday morning I would be first on their list. We had plans to meet with friends on Saturday so that passed the time and occupied my mind from thinking about being cold. Sunday we went to church and turned on the little space heater in the bedroom and snuggled under a blanket to watch the football game. All in all not a bad weekend but Monday morning I woke up and it was still cold. By now any sense of adventure and fun had long since worn off. I wanted heat. I called to make sure the repair people knew I was in desperate need. They knew and I was on a list. How long was that list the nice lady on the other end did not know. Where my name was on that list she had no idea. When could I could expect to see a repairman standing at my door she had no idea. At noon I called again and still no idea. At three I called again. I told the lady I did not want to be rude but being cold for four days had made me a little crabby.

Late Monday afternoon here came the most beautiful repair truck I had ever seen into my driveway. Yippee! Now I was just praying I did not need a part that he did not have in that beautiful repair truck. I had no idea how many days that might take. About an hour and a half later – eureka – HEAT.

Tuesday morning I was back to my chipper happy self and talking to God. Like so many times before, as I talked with Him He turned my experience into a teaching moment as He shared this simple thought with me – being cold does make you a little crabby. I knew exactly where He was going. When I allow myself to become spiritually cold I get a little crabby. People annoy me. Life seems drab. Focus is inward on me, me, me. I had been hunting for a quote for over a week and – you guessed it – the first book I pulled off the shelf it was in.

“To pray is to change. This is a great grace. How good of God to provide a path whereby our lives can be taken over by love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.” Richard J. Foster

Remember it is just a hop, skip and a jump from being chilly to down right cold. Say a little prayer and stay close to the warmth of God’s love today. Stay warm and be happy.