Christians Read

Mr. Rogers used to say that in the face of tragedy and scary times.  Look for the helpers. I know life is tough out there, but as Christians, we really should look for the helpers.  The lessons for us and the earthly angels God has sent us.  Being grateful for what’s good helps us to not get mired in the Valley and keep our eyes on the prize: Heaven.  This is not our world!

The crazy thing is, when we do something kind for someone else, it really benefits us.  Something that is not that big of a deal to us, might be life-changing for another.  Case in point, I could not fix something on my website and I was paying twice for something that I could not afford.  I could not figure it out. The company I host with would not answer the phone and their helper was not in America and not great at English.  Add that to my inferior knowledge of website management and you have a recipe for disaster.

Well, a few years ago a young reader of mine in Stratford-Upon-Avon (how literary, right?) told me that my website was not dynamic.  That apparently means it won’t open well on a phone — which is how most people read websites these days.  So she took it upon herself to redesign my whole website.  She told me that God had impressed upon her to do it.  Well, the result was so much more “me” than the other one and there is really no way I can make it up to her.

This morning, she went on the site where I was having trouble and fixed my entire problem.  Just because.  She’s a young mother.  She’s got a job and she’s starting her own business.  But she took the time to help me out in my frustrations.

When I was about to give up writing, a fellow blogger here, Cheryl Hodde told me to send her my stuff.  She’d edit it. Colleen Coble paid my way to a conference recently so I could meet with my agents. I could go on and on…

It’s not in my nature to accept help and that is something that God has impressed upon me over the years in the Valley.  But it is in my nature to look for the helpers.  It’s been very humbling to be on the other side of “helping” but I am so grateful.  I encourage you today to look at a situation that isn’t great — where are the helpers?  Maybe it’s just a friend who lets you vent and makes you laugh. (Sibella Giorello and Melanie Dickerson for me.)

Writing is my world.  When I don’t write, I’m not me.  Am I Shakespeare?  Certainly not, but God gave me a purpose and I’m grateful for every person who helps me get back to the keyboard so that I can do what I’m called to do.  Where are your helpers today?  Have you thanked God for them by name today? Do it.  It will change your outlook and remind you that God is always with you.

Do you long to draw closer to God? Do you want more of God’s presence? If the answer is yes, then I invite you to observe Lent this year. Depending on what church denomination(s) you have been to, you may or may not have heard of Lent. I currently go to a non-denominational church that doesn’t observe Lent. But I still find Lent to be a valuable time, so I prefer to observe it.

What is Lent? In anticipation of Easter, Lent is meant to be a time of spiritual reflection. It can be a very rich, soul-nourishing season … if we make the right decisions. I will dig deeper into that in a bit.

When is Lent? Lent starts on Ash Wednesday (which lands on 3.6.19 this year) and lasts for about forty days. Lent ends just before Easter. Depending on the denomination (such as Catholic), some say it ends on Holy Thursday. But in the churches I went to when I was a child (such as Methodist), it was said to end on Holy Saturday.

You will often hear people say that they are giving up something for Lent. I am sure you have heard of Mardi Gras, which is French for Fat Tuesday. This is the day before Ash Wednesday, when Lent begins. Many people give up certain foods or drinks during Lent. And on Mardi Gras, they indulge in those things one last time before Lent begins. Then they say they are giving up chocolate or coffee (for example) in the name of the Lord. They see this as a sacrifice, which I can understand.

Nevertheless, in my opinion, if I give up something for Lent, it should be an item that hinders my relationship with God. For me personally, I don’t feel that giving up a certain food or drink is helpful. To be honest, there were times in the past when I did give up chocolate or cookies for Lent. However, now my focus has changed. During Lent I want to grow in my relationship with the Lord. I personally would prefer to find something that will truly improve my spiritual walk and produce lasting results.

Please keep in mind that I do believe there are times when giving up a meal might be a good idea, such as not eating dinner, if I am using this mealtime as a means of traditional fasting. I could use the time to pray, rather than eat. Or I could also consider using the money that I didn’t spend on that meal, and donating it to those less fortunate.

In today’s society, a good thing to give up might be social media. This tends to be a huge distraction in our lives, which takes away from our time with the Lord. Giving up television, computer time, or video games are other good examples. This will vary with each person. It all depends on what stands in the way of deepening your relationship with God.

Or another option would be to add something new to your routine, rather than removing something. If you haven’t had time to read your Bible on a regular basis lately, adding a daily Bible reading regimen would be a wonderful option. Or you might want to find a Lent devotional to read over the forty days. Or you could also consider adding more prayer time into your day. Again, this will vary with each person. If you see an area in which you would like to grow, then consider making this a priority for the forty days. The point is to draw closer to the Lord. So if you decide to observe Lent, then you will need to examine your own life to see what the best options would be.

I do want to mention one more things. It is important to go in with a solid plan. There have been years when I said I would just “cut back” on electronic devices. This didn’t work out well because I still looked at my smart phone every day, and in the end I didn’t see any real changes in my life. But if I had decided to only use my phone for calls – this would have worked out better. It would have given me more concrete guidelines to follow, and in turn, I would have seen better results.

So before this Wednesday, I encourage you to give this some thought. (If you read this after Lent has started, it’s not too late. You can still use the time remaining.) If you want to deepen your relationship with God, then consider observing Lent. And think about what things you might want to remove and/or what things you might want to add to your routine. Please comment and let me know your view on Lent and how you plan to observe it. I pray that by Easter, we all will see that we have drawn closer to God and deepened our faith!

(Photo by Cheryl Empey.)

We all go through valleys in life.  The rain falls on the just and the unjust after all.  We don’t get out of this life unscathed, but hopefully, we grow in the process.    I don’t know if any of you have ever felt without hope, but it is the worst experience of my life.  To feel like I’m useless to God and not know what my purpose is has taken a part of my soul. Even when you’re in it, you know it’s a lie of Satan.  And we know what they say, when you’re walking through the valley, keep on walking.

Believe it or not, I’m naturally an upbeat person, but when my spirit was crushed, I was surrounded by the kind of Christians who were like Job’s friends.  They told me I deserved the punishment.  That it was a natural consequence. If only I’d done this, or said that…

Looking back, I know that wasn’t true.  Here’s the thing.  When you are in the valley and things look really bleak?  You want real Christian friends who will surround you and walk with you.  They won’t lie to you to make you feel better, but they won’t beat you when you’re down either.  Some acted as if they were immune to such a terrible fate as though they were more righteous and immune from troubles. The truth is, we all deserve death.  We’re only saved by His grace, not our own works.

People rarely know the whole situation when you’re in a bad place, so take that into account when you’re feeling hopeless.  (Is this person giving me bad advice aware of the whole story?) We are Christians, but we are human too and so we will suffer.  Being a Christian doesn’t mean sweeping our pain under the rug as if it never happened. When we don’t deal with our emotions, they don’t go away. Things get more uncomfortable until we deal with the truth.

If God was done with you here on earth, He’d take you up with Him.  If you’re still here, then you’re supposed to be.  Your situation is meant to grow you as a human being. Ask yourself what you’ve learned in your situation.  What lessons have you conquered that you can help the next person going through it?

When darkness seems relentless, I try to remember that Paul had to study for 11 years just to be fit to preach.  He had to be locked in a prison and his extreme knowledge of Judaism was nearly unnecessary since he’d been called to speak to the Gentiles.  Paul had one plan for his ministry, but God had another.  Could that be your situation?

God loves us. He gave up His Son for us.  He doesn’t want you to hurt but He is there if you do.  Let those with the gift of compassion hear your story and help you walk out of the valley.  Patch that hole up.  If you have to scream it out with God, go ahead.  He can handle it.  If your hope has a hole in it, stay away from smug religious types who want to tell you that you shouldn’t feel a certain way.  Feelings can’t be helped.  They are your truth.  Acting on them is a different story.

If your hope is all patched up and pretty, go help patch a friend’s today.

My husband and I have a sticky note on our bathroom mirror that says, “I love you forever.” On a daily basis we will each move it to our spouse’s side of the sink, when they are not looking. Sometimes we will put it right in the center where it will intentionally block the person from seeing their face in the mirror. Other times we might put it way up high, down low, to the left, or to the right. And it might also be straight up, upside down, or even sideways. We never know exactly where or how we will find it. But we do know that we are likely to find it on our own side of the mirror. This is just one small thing my husband and I do to bring a smile to one another’s face each day.

Small things like this bring contentment to our lives. It’s the little things, as they say. Unfortunately many of us get in a hurry, worried about our to-do lists, and small gestures like this go unnoticed. But if we take a look around and savor the special moments in our daily lives, then we will find a sense of happiness that wasn’t there before.

I chose to bring this up today because it is Valentine’s Day. Sadly I believe many people put too much pressure on this one day of the year. They expect a dozen roses, a box of chocolates, an elaborate gift, and a fancy dinner. While I do like Valentine’s Day as much as any other hopeless romantic, I don’t think it’s fair to put that kind of pressure on this one day. Instead I believe we should aim to treat one other with love and respect every day, with small gestures. We should try to find ways to make one another smile each day, not just on Valentine’s Day.

And the truth of the matter is this – no one is ever going to love us perfectly. Except for One person. When I think of the greatest love story ever told, I think of Jesus. Reading the Bible, especially the Old Testament, we see how shocking human beings were from the very beginning. We continued to make mistake after mistake. And God knew we would make even more mistakes to this day. Yet God still loved us so much that He sent His only Son to save us. Because God is Love. He can’t be anything but Love. He can’t go against His own nature. Someone asked me recently what love was. My answer? God is Love. He is the only one who can love us perfectly. So no matter how you spend this day, take a moment to give thanks to God, for showing us true love.

(Photo by estyzesty.)