Stay the Course!

I think one of the universal flaws of human nature is the inability to stick to a commitment. It doesn’t seem to matter if you are a God follower or not. We just lack the drive to see things through to the end. Our intentions are good, but our resolve… not so much.  The doctor recently put me on a special diet for better digestive health. I looked at it and thought, “this will be a breeze since I rarely eat the things that are forbidden.” Well, a week and a half into it and I want all those things that I can’t have. Apples, broccoli, bread (believe it or not, I am NOT a bread person and now I want toast all day long!).

It isn’t just diets we struggle to stick with. How many times have we vowed to exercise, read the Bible, be consistent with our kids, get better rest, establish a healthier routine, drink more water and less (fill in the blank) and then drop the ball? Even the things that come easy often fall by the wayside. Is it because Satan doesn’t want us to succeed so he plants temptation on our path? Do we sabotage ourselves?

If you are raising kids you have likely read or heard a gazillion times that you have to stay the course and you can’t give up just because it is difficult. Kids are kind of high maintenance. They have to be fed regularly, dressed appropriately, trained properly, disciplined effectively and taught correctly. Any one of those things can overwhelm us on a given day… especially if you are one of those free-spirited people for whom routines feel like torture.

This whole subject takes me back to New Testament days when the Pharisees were all bogged down with following all the dos and don’ts and lost site of the reason why they had been given any commandments in the first place. Jesus boiled their rule following issues down to 2 things…

Make God your #1 priority

Love others… honoring them above yourself

Jesus said if you do these two things, everything else will fall into place. Pretty sure the same thing is true in parenting. When we make God our #1 priority and really focus on following Him, the things that aren’t so important fall away. We don’t get wrapped up in the things that are merely things, but keep our feet on the path that brings us closer to Him. Maybe, just maybe, the exhaustion from our hectic schedules would subside and we would better know how to order our days if Jesus was writing our agenda.

And all those tedious tasks that we do as parents? What if we knew that Jesus was standing there beside us cheering us on? He is, you know. He knows how hard it is to make sacrifices… since He IS our sacrifice. Practice loving and praying for your kids as you help with homework, clean under beds, brush hair, do laundry…  Remember that you are doing what the Lord asks, loving without reservation (and without reciprocation on many occasions). That is just what love looks like when you are a parent.

Keep up the good work! Follow and love Jesus with all your heart and you will learn to show the love that your kids need to learn as a pattern for their lives. 

A Dangerous Trap

Did you ever try to purge toys from your children’s room while they were present? Typically, the things they never play with suddenly become something they couldn’t possibly live without. That’s why we do it when they are not home. We aren’t much different, though. We really don’t like to give things up. We hang on to clothes we don’t wear and tools we don’t use. The doctor tells us to give up certain foods and suddenly we are craving them like never before. There is just something about being told we must surrender that makes us want to hang on.

When Jesus told the disciples of his imminent crucifixion He was ready to surrender. Then one of the disciples rushes in and tells Jesus that’s a bad plan. Jesus response? He realized that he had to stop that nonsense of man’s plan verses God’s plan and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it” (Matthew 16:23-25).

It seems ridiculous to think that a decent parent would choose for their child to follow the way of Satan over the way of Jesus, BUT as you look at what Jesus is saying, he isn’t talking about some heinous, vulgar, disgusting demonic way of life that is the way of Satan. He is saying that Satan’s trap is purely the “human point of view.” We must realize that our own thinking is often self-centered, self-righteous and self-absorbed so that we can say as Jesus said, “get behind me Satan” and move toward the selfless, God-centered life. If we are not willing to take that step, we are basically – albeit unintentionally, inviting our children to the path Satan wants us all to follow… seeking what we want without consideration of what God wants.

These are tough words to write. Tough words to read. Tough words to live by. But since when is taking up the cross of Christ, symbolizing failure to the world, easy? Just remember; what the world sees as failure, heaven sees as victory. By whom will you be defined?

I pray that you will choose to surround yourself with godly friends that will call you out when you are living life with a “human point of view” and direct you back to the surrender that leads to a godly way of thinking and living. Your friends who are not serving the Lord Jesus may help you make good choices, but they will never be able to point you to taking up the cross Jesus speaks of if they haven’t done the same. Choose your friends wisely. Your children’s faith may very well depend on it.

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."   Jim Elliot

Balancing Biblical Teaching at Home

Recently I have begun exploring new curriculum to see it there is something out there that does a better job of helping teach our children the truth of scripture more appropriately, effectively applying it to life. Why? Because what your children are learning in the formative years will be the memories they carry into adulthood; the foundation upon which they will build their beliefs and values. But, teaching the Truth found in the Bible is not something to save for those who teach your children on Sunday. There is so much that you can teach them as you are reading the Bible and learning new insights yourself.

One challenging part of scripture they must learn as they grow is that following Jesus is not a ticket to jolly good times here. In Matthew 10 Jesus warned His followers that there would be struggles, trials, persecution, separation from friends and family, flogging, imprisonment and even death. Teaching that alone wouldn’t convince anyone to follow Jesus, but what a beautiful way to deal with the betrayals that lead to broken hearts or the injustice they begin to realize as they grow. That isn't the end of the story because He goes on to say, “Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul…” (v 28) Jesus knows our pain and promises that all those wrongs are seen by God (v 26). That is what truly matters because He is the Judge. Here is another challenge for parents who want to charge in and right all the injustice or demolish all the fears our kids experience. We must work to find balance in giving comfort when they have been wronged or face fears and teaching them that Jesus is our Comfort and it is to Him we must learn to run in times of stress. Most adults haven’t even learned that lesson well!

Another thing we learn in this passage is; Children must be aware of the enemy of their soul. I have witnessed many children discussing the failures of teens and adults and saying, with resolve, “I am never going to do that!” Then I watch them grow into young adults who are making the same choices and walking the same path they vowed never to tread. When Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul,” he followed it with, “Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (vs 28). Another balancing act in parenting is not over-spiritualizing normal childish behavior, all the while making them aware that there is an enemy of their soul who will stop at nothing to get them off the right path. Kids do a lot of things wrong because they don’t always know the right direction to go. They legitimately forget because their minds are very busy learning and developing. You need to deal with blatant defiance because it leads to an ongoing pattern of disrespect for authority; however, not every infraction is punishable. Many of their errors, even if they have happened more than once, need to be teachable moments. You have the opportunity to teach them why it is wrong and instruct them in the way they should have behaved and the consequences of both actions. Then you have to determine how many times you teach before you have to react with negative consequences.

Parenting is the most challenging and the most important job you will ever do. Don’t try this alone. There is One who walks beside you. Listen and Obey. Stay focused on His Word so that you can direct the children as He directs you. 

What's Holding You Back?

As a young teenager I remember the fear I felt in following Jesus. I had read in Luke 9 about the things that you have to do to be a committed follower and I didn’t think I was made of the right stuff to make it work. Here is what Jesus said to those He compelled to follow Him, what I heard and what I truly needed to hear:

The would-be follower	What Jesus said	My interpretation
I want to follow Jesus…	v. 58 “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”	I will likely be homeless, living in a straw hut being preyed upon by cannibals

What He was likely, truly saying was… Are you serious about following me? Because it could very well mean giving up your comfortable life so that you can be a blessing to those in need. It means being willing to step out in faith, before you have an iron-clad plan in place, complete with a fail-safe itinerary.

The would-be follower	What Jesus said	My interpretation
I want to follow Jesus, but first there are things that have to be in place…I need to go back and bury my father when he dies.	v. 60 “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”	You have to stop caring about the family that loves you, get out of your comfort zone completely and do the most difficult thing you can imagine… public speaking to a hostile crowd about something I don’t even fully understand myself!

Since He always seemed to know what people were feeling or scheming, maybe what he really meant was… Your security is not in your inheritance from your earthly father. Waiting until you have a cushion to fall back on means that your commitment is based on what you think you can do on your own, without the need to depend fully on Him. So, “If Jesus isn’t the real deal, at least I have other options.” Or maybe it means you are focused on what you can gain rather than what you think you can give. That isn’t commitment; that is merely adventure seeking. The inheritance we receive from our Heavenly Father is truly all that matters. It’s just hard to focus on something that we don’t fully understand rather than what our culture has taught us to understand; that our security lies in our own well-ordered plan for our future.

The would-be follower	What Jesus said	My interpretation
I will follow just as soon as I go back and say goodbye to my family (and maybe they will bring me to my senses and remind me that my commitment is first to them!) parenthetical thoughts are purely mine.	v. 62 “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”	I am worthless if I don’t have a huge amount of faith so that I never question anything, but push aside my loved ones and follow God into the unknown

Jesus always wants us to look at the BIG picture. What we do here in our own homes, with our own families, is essentially worthless in light of eternity if we keep putting them first, catering to their wishes, their schedules, their agenda, all the while we are pushing God to the background. Our priorities are not according to His plan if we keep waiting until we are finished raising our family, establishing a career and preparing for our retirement before we commit to following Him wholeheartedly. Every time we look back at what the world is doing, rather than looking forward to what God calls us to do, we become ineffective and wander off course. We will never get to the plan that He hand-crafted for each of us if we don’t keep our eyes on Him and His path.

I am not so far removed from raising a family that I don’t recall the busy schedules and the tight budgets and the enormous to-do list that goes with it. I get it…. Really! But being on the far side of raising my family, it is so much easier to see how often I forfeited what really mattered in the light of eternity for my list, my calendar, my well calculated plan. And I wish there could be “Do-overs.” Just like you, I am a work in process. But if I could make one of those commercials we see all the time lately, mine would say… “Don’t be the busy me whose focus is this life, this planet, this day. Be the new me, seeing the big picture of eternity and truly follow Jesus so your kids will learn to follow Him, not a schedule.”

Raising Disciples

It is a huge task to raise a human being well, shaping them to reflect the God that made them to bring honor to His name. Though Jesus didn’t raise a family, he did shape the lives of his followers, and He didn’t get to start from scratch so He had to re-train, re-teach, re-program them. He was able to do so by spending time with them, grabbing hold of every teachable moment, telling stories to help them understand and shedding light on the things they had misunderstood from their own childhood. We can learn much about leading our kids by taking a look at the way Jesus interacted with the disciples to get them to follow Him.

1.      Jesus talked. The disciples followed because they spent time listening to Jesus. What are you saying? Make sure that there is time in your busy life for your kids to sit and listen to you telling them about a God that loves them; that they are His masterpiece created for a special plan and that it is in following Him that we discover that plan. Talk to them about what you are learning about being a God follower. They won’t learn nearly as much by watching you as they will if they are also hearing about God walking with you on your journey.

2.      Before they followed Jesus, they had heard enough to trust Jesus so when Jesus asked to borrow their boat to push back from the crowd so He could continue to teach, they were willing. Does your lifestyle and your words align so that your kids are learning to trust you? Drop the “do as I say, not as I do” life-style if you want to lead well.

3.      The disciples were willing to do something that didn’t make any sense to them (fish in the heat of the day) simply because Jesus said so. There are things that we don’t understand and even more things that our children don’t understand, but obedience that is born of trusting Jesus, not just a list of rules, is transformative.  What do your kids see in your life to help them grasp the blessings of doing life according to Jesus’ teaching? Tell them stories of when you followed even though it didn't make sense to you. If you don't have any of those stories, keep listening and obeying. They will come.

4.      The would-be-disciples dropped their nets, their livelihood, to follow Jesus because they believed He was the real deal and whatever they sacrificed, it was going to be worth it. When we reach the point of total surrender in order to follow Jesus, the lives of our children will be greatly impacted.

We cannot force our children to follow Jesus, but we can certainly set an example for them. Don’t live your life with one foot on the path with Jesus and the other on the path with the world. That sends a definite message that Jesus is not trustworthy enough to be followed wholeheartedly… so why should they want to follow Him?

Lord, help us to trust you more; to actively listen to you and follow where you lead us. Give us boldness to share openly our journey with you so that our children will learn who You are and desire to follow You, in total surrender.

Follow Me

Here are a few things you never find in red letters (the words of Jesus) in your Bible:

“Knock it off!”

“Stop being an idiot!”

“If you do that one more time…!”

“Don’t make me come back there!”

“I’ve told you for the last time…!”

“You make me so mad!”

He had “children” who he “raised” to be people of good character and integrity; to be leaders; to be strong; to be catalyst for change; to mature in their faith; to learn what it means to be godly. In that way, Jesus was not all that unlike us in our desire to raise our children well. His method of teaching them and speaking to them, however, may have looked and sounded different than ours.

He said, “Follow Me.” And then he led them, patiently, by example, loving them… in all their childishness and spiritual immaturity. Because He knew that we are all children, starting in infancy, growing, learning, maturing in our faith and on a journey that needs a Guide.

Take a look in the mirror. Are you living according to Jesus’ plan for you?  Do you possess character and integrity? Are you strong enough to lead? To be a catalyst for change? Are you maturing in your faith and learning what it means to be godly? If you can say YES, I want to meet you because I haven’t yet met the person who could honestly answer affirmatively every moment of every day. We are flawed and we struggle and we mess up.

And He loves us anyway. Because He is GRACE.

Two things I want you to take away from that picture:

1)       Extend the grace to your kids that you want God to extend to you. Understand that they are young, immature, learning, growing, imperfect, flawed, selfish, strong-willed, beautiful creations of God, entrusted to your care. Let grace fill your heart and your speech as you guide them. Let all harsh words fall away (and when you lose it, let them know that you are aware that isn’t how God wanted you to act and apologize to them and to Him).

2)      Be someone you want your kids to follow. A person that snuggles up to God to meet your needs… not a credit card, a career, a bottle, a creed or “friends.”  Look over your shoulder and you will see that they are following YOU. So make sure you are following Jesus. 

There is a good chance that you want to send the message to the world that walking with Jesus isn’t about RULES, but about RELATIONSHIP.  Make that your plan as you guide your children. We are big on teaching them the rules, but teach as Jesus did, asking them to follow you, learn from you, as you patiently show them how to live in relationship with Jesus while you build a unbreakable relationship with them. 

Starving Children

The kitchen is the place in many homes where crisis is likely. Not because there are sharp knives or fires, but because working in one can make you CRAZY!

Your brain gets exhausted with mind reading, which is a must. I have enough difficulty figuring out what I want to eat, let alone what may sound good to the rest of the family.

If you fail at the previous struggle, another common crisis in the kitchen will occur. It is the fanning fridge door phenomenon. Open the door. Look inside. Find nothing appealing. Close the door. Walk away. Return. Open the door…. Repeat steps countless times until the frugal family member reminds you of the energy cost involved with such behavior.

The endless chore of cook, clean, cook, clean, cook, clean tends to wear you down after a while but you can’t stop because apparently there are laws about feeding your kids … every single day!

…and how in the world does a fridge get so dirty when you only put clean things in it?

It is always a good practice to be thankful for the fact that you have food to feed your family, rather than complaining about the task of doing it. If you are reading this blog, it is likely that you don’t have to worry about your child starving… physically. But sometimes I wonder if we need to worry a little bit more about our kids suffering from spiritual starvation. Jesus understood the need to be fed by more than bread. He knew, as the Creator, that there is more within us than a stomach to fill. The souls of our kids must be provided for. The void that causes them to fan the door of excitement, adventure and risk taking in search of what they crave can be filled with the soul nutrition of the Bread of Life. God’s plan and purpose for them will supply all the adventure they need. The risks He will call them to take may look dangerous to those who don’t understand the Sovereignty of the Almighty, but to those who truly BELIEVE, they will be the adventure of a lifetime.

Feed your children. Care for their nutritional needs. What we put into them does matter. A steady diet of pop tarts and cereal will not supply their needs. By the same token, we are called to feed their souls. The part of them that is eternal is much more critical than the physical. Provide healthy spiritual snacks of Truths from the Bible… verses to remember and hide in their heart. ..Bible stories that teach them how to live as a follower of Jesus.  If you go on strike, they will starve. Follow through on the responsibility God has given you to train them. It’s the best thing you will ever do!

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9

Ambassadors at Home

Grandparents like to tell their story. They like to recount the events of their childhood; compare and contrast then and now. They like to share where they started and marvel at where they ended up. The mistakes and sins of their past have been wiped clean and they have a new life and they give God the credit for the changes he brought about so that they could have a great story to tell. This is part of that special bond between and grandparent and grandchild… the sharing of the story.

Parents are not nearly as eager to tell their story to their kids. Somehow we think that they need to see us as more than a real person who is without struggles and failures. It seems like we don’t want them to know our bad choices for fear that they will run right out and duplicate them. We bury our sin in the hopes that they never find out, lest they lose respect for us and complicate the already difficult process of raising them. Often our shame and not forgiving ourselves keeps us from telling our story to them.

There is, however, a story that parents MUST learn to tell their children… even if it involves revealing some of the flaws in our character. In order to teach our kids the way that they should go, we have to be able to tell them our story of walking with God, which may involve a time when we were the “prodigal in a distant land.” Children learn in a variety of ways, but a sure winner is from hearing the story. They can hear the story of how God protected Daniel from the lions or David from the Giant, but that is a story from a distant time and place. Hearing how God protected Dad from an unwise decision so that He could teach him a valuable lesson is much more real to them. They can hear how Delilah was a bad decision for Samson, but how much more beneficial to learn how a broken heart turned into a Divine rescue from an unhealthy relationship for Mom.

Make sure that your journey with Jesus isn’t personal and private, but learn to tell what He is doing in your life and your heart so that your kids haven’t a doubt that God is alive, in you, and working through you. They need to know that the good they see in you is a result of God at work. They need to know that the things that aren’t so good are areas where God is still teaching you. Let’s face it! They are not ever going to think you are a perfect human so stop trying to present yourself that way and allow them to watch your journey and learn. Use the wisdom you find in talking with God to humbly share what your kids need to hear, then trust Him to use your story to magnify the God they seek.

Remember…

“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”

2 Corinthians 5:20

Let's Make A Deal

Have you ever watched “Let’s Make A Deal” and witnessed the apprehension and anxiety involved as the contestants select their “prize?” The reason for the dilemma? The participants know that the wrong choice lands them with a ridiculous gag gift rather than a fabulous prize. It is important to select well, but there is absolutely no way of knowing how to do that. And the crowd cheers wildly, as if they know the best choice.

This time of year brings a plethora of Facebook photos of kids on their first day of school with comments from parents about how quickly their little one has grown up. In the blink of an eye they are teenagers, standing on the stage of life, trying to choose their “prize” while listening to a host of voices telling them what to choose. Except in this game the stakes are high and their decisions can change the course of their lives. But there is good news… in this game there is a handbook that gives the information they need to select wisely.

As parents and people of influence in the lives of our children, we must come to the place where we stop hoping for the best as our kids grow into adulthood and start putting every effort into showing them the source of all wisdom. Taking them to church is good. Buying them a Bible is good. Teaching good moral values is good. Teaching them to be respectful and responsible… good. But someday they will be onstage and there will be voices shouting from the audience and trying to convince them to choose what is behind the “wrong” curtain. We have to give them a foundation of truth to stand on. That Truth is found in one place. The Word of God.

How do you make God’s Word an integral part of their life? You can start by making it an integral part of your life. Get into the Word. Discover the truth and the grace that is woven throughout the pages. Eventually it will begin to live within you and you will find yourself speaking the truth that you are learning. It will begin to direct your conversations, your decisions, your attitudes. You will begin to understand what once seemed foreign. You will begin to seek answers to the things that you don’t understand. You will be shaped by what you find in the pages of scripture and it will be apparent to your children that there is something transformative about the Word of God.

When the world is screaming all kinds of options at your kids, I pray that you will have demonstrated for them where to go to find the wisdom they need to make the right decisions. I have never met anyone who found the discipline of Bible Study easy or fun in the beginning. But I have met plenty who wish they would have started sooner because they now see the extreme value in hiding God’s Word in their heart.

Let’s make a deal… pick up your Bible every day and begin reading Matthew. As you read, write down questions and observations. When you finish the book of Matthew, go to Mark, then Luke and John. If you miss a day, don’t beat yourself up, just get back at it. When you finish the Gospels… those first four books of the New Testament, let me know. There will be a prize…for real! It may take some of you a few weeks and others a few months. Maybe longer. Just do it! Your kids need to see you treating God’s Word like it matters to you if you expect it to ever matter to them. 

Being the CHURCH at Home

08192015 Bringing it home

Imagine spending three years following Jesus and then being charged with the task of keeping the good work going, guiding people to be followers of Jesus in his absence. Throw in all the different personalities and cultural backgrounds and family history and you have the recipe for a disaster! And there you have a fairly accurate picture of the first century church. A lot of rules, a lot of bosses, a lot of reason to avoid becoming a part of  “the Way.”

I love how they came to their senses, and listened to the Holy Spirit whispering to their spirit (Acts 15:28). His message was no different than that of their Lord. With all the differing opinions of how to be the church, the followers, the leaders that Jesus wanted them to be, the focus needed to narrow to what was most important… basically… don’t be immoral and don’t be rude, offending others (Acts 15:29).  That aligns directly with what Jesus said was most important… love God; love each other. 

Now, let’s bring that home. If you were to compare the environment in your home to the instructed atmosphere prescribed for the early church, would your family fit that model? What do your children learn from you about not offending or being rude?

Do you work hard to explain with love rather than lose your cool and yell?

Do you expect your children to know things and model behaviors that you have possibly failed to teach them?

Do you lead them with patience so they feel valued?

Do you explain the correct way to say something so that it isn’t rude or just tell them they are being rude?

Do you allow unkind words and actions or are there consequences for them?

Do you use unkind words or actions at home?

How about the immorality issue? Do you even think about comparing what you claim as right and wrong with morality as defined in scripture? Maybe you don’t know what the Bible has to say about moral values. Maybe it is time to read and learn. I believe that 2 Timothy 3:16-17 is true; that

“God has breathed life into all of scripture.

It is useful for teaching us what is true.

It is useful for correcting our mistakes,

It is useful for making our lives whole again.

It is useful for training us to do what is right.

By using Scripture, a man of God can be

completely prepared to do every good thing.”

If we allow society to be the moral compass that directs us in raising our children and making decisions for our families, we have chosen the wrong source of information disguised as “truth.” If you think the Bible is outdated and you can choose your values without it, you may well be in the majority, however, you will discover at some point that the Truth of God’s Word is a most precious gift. It is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path and without it there will be much wandering in the wilderness looking for what is good and right and healthy for our families.

Maybe we need to work harder at learning to follow God's morality and start being kind and considerate to others so that our kids will learn the prescription given by God's Spirit, for those who would lead others to the heart of God. Are you on-board? You will never regret it!

A Healthy Heart

Last week was a sweet, precious, relaxing time with my husband. Every day we found time to just “be.” We sat by the lake and enjoyed the sun reflecting off the water and witnessed the rare sighting of a bald eagle swooping down to secure his afternoon snack. We experienced a continual peace that comes from knowing that your life and your future is literally in the hands of a good and faithful God, who apparently has a plan.

The week prior, a heart catheterization revealed that my husband, Dana, had 90%  blockage in one major artery and 100% in the other two, yet he never suffered a heart attack and passed his stress test with flying colors. Doctors and nurses alike told us that he should not be alive with that kind of blockage. Their only explanation, “God isn’t finished with you yet.” They sent him home to rest and prepare for a quadruple bypass the following week. So we went home filled with gratitude to God for sparing his life. And we rested quietly, praising God for his mercy, and thoroughly enjoying our time together.

I suppose knowing God had spared his life on multiple occasions helped us to feel at ease about the upcoming surgery. The prayers of many wonderful, caring people held us up as we waited and even the day of surgery, there was an inexplicable peace, but as I waited with family and friends, I felt an extreme need to find a quiet place to sit in awe at the feet of the One who was truly in charge of the way our day would end.

During this time of meditation, I envisioned the heart of my husband in the hands of the surgeon and the surgeon in the hands of my Savior. Medical science is a wonderful thing, but without God’s decision to spare Dana’s life, none of that mattered. What’s more, the skill of the surgeon to “re-plumb” and save Dana’s heart…a miracle beyond my comprehension… so that we could have more time together this side of eternity was insignificant compared the importance of the Great Physician, who has the ability to “re-shape” our hearts in preparation for life with Him here now AND throughout eternity.

I also pondered how our hearts often seem healthy on the outside because we are “passing the tests” just like Dana did at the cardiologist office. We can do a lot of things right and feel we are passing the test for heaven, but a godly heart isn’t a heart that is always doing things right. It is a heart through which the Spirit of God can freely flow. When Dana allowed the cardiologist to look inside of his heart, the blockages were discovered that could have taken his life on multiple occasions. We must become vulnerable enough to allow God to examine us deeply and see what might be stopping the flow of God’s Spirit and threatening our spiritual life. By allowing Him to re-plumb our heart so that the Holy Spirit has the freedom to guard, protect and guide us, we will never need to fear, because we will walk into eternity with Him when He calls us home.

I am sure that, 5 days post op, Dana would tell you that a heart renovation is no walk in the park. Many adjustments to normal life must be made. You don’t just hop up and start where you left off, but you rest and listen and obey the instructions you are given. From the beginning, consent forms were being signed, one after another, stating that you understand the changes that are coming. But these changes mean LIFE. No changes are made without your consent. The Great Physician waits for your permission to enter your heart and your life. Are you ready to open your heart to be re-shaped to house the Spirit of God? Are you ready to allow him free flow through your thoughts and attitudes and pass-times and expenditures? If you are, you can expect LIFE to be abundant and free, without the fear of death. New life will emerge and you will not regret it!

“Look! I am knocking at the door.

If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in

And we will enjoy a meal together as friends.”

Revelation 3:20

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

John 10:10

The Good Shepherd

Summer camp was amazing! The kids were active and attentive, loud and listening, giggling and growing, energetic and exhausted… everything you could want to see in a healthy child. What a blessing it was to have some concentrated time with them. Precious memories!

Our theme was the Australian Walkabout… journeying toward the path of the Good Shepherd and we learned from Psalm 23. Six simple verses that can change the trajectory of your life.

“The Lord is my shepherd. He gives me everything I need…”  He doesn’t withhold the good things because if I am truly following, he will lead me to a place where I can rest and feast on what will sustain my life…. “He lets me rest in fields of green grass.” And He doesn’t lead me toward the danger of over-extending myself…  of temptation… of confusion. If I am walking toward these things, I have obviously taken a detour from his path,  because… “He leads me beside QUIET waters.”

“He gives me new strength…” Not to DO more, but to BE more… and that can only happen if … “He guides me in the right paths for the honor of his name…” So we must say “NO!” to temptation to do or say anything that will bring shame to the word Christian because if we don’t reflect His goodness and love, how can we hope to cause the world to long for a relationship with Him?

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley,” and that valley looks different to each one of us… “I will not be afraid.” Because I know that … “You are with me. Your shepherd’s rod and staff comfort me.” I must not wander toward the enemy of my soul. You will fight for me and rescue me because you created me to be with you forever. I need to understand that your “NO” is for my good, as is your “YES” because You see the blessings and the dangers lurking on the path ahead of me and it doesn’t scare you a bit because you know that I will be safe as long as I allow you to be in control. Then, in spite of the way the situation looks to me, I am safe with you as… “You prepare a feast for me right in front of my enemies. You pour oil on my head….” Like a miraculous bug spray that actually keeps those nasty camp mosquitos at bay, you protect me from pesky thoughts that cause my words and attitudes to swell, distract and irritate. I know that my life is blessed and I have so much more than I need because, if I will only look I can see that… “My cup runs over. I am sure that your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. And I will live in the house of the Lord forever...”  Just as you planned from the day you envisioned who I would become so that I could fulfill the plan that You made for me.

Keeping those lessons alive in my heart as I proceed through a valley that I had not anticipated. I came home from camp to discover that my husband of 39 years is in need of quadruple bypass surgery. Maybe the lessons I prepared for the kids at camp was really for me, because my heart is at peace, knowing that the Good Shepherd is in control and is guiding our lives down the right path to bring honor to His name. It’s not about me. It’s not about Dana. It’s about Jesus, and may He be honored in all that happens in the valley and on the other side of it.