Accepting the Dance

“There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while… Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious inexpressible joy.” 1 Peter 6-9 (NLT)

When I was a little girl, I was always trying to make people laugh, especially my mother. I’ve always thought my mother was beautiful and I still do. She has always enjoyed laughter, love and family gatherings. I can remember a few times when she was going through something difficult. I was used to seeing a smile on her face but during these times I could tell things were a little off. I recall purposely being silly in front of her and using my best efforts to make her laugh. When that beautiful smile flashed across her face, my world had straightened up again. The audience had been captured and all was right again for that moment.

That is what joy in God does…it invades the dark space where sorrow has hunkered down. It doesn’t knock on the door but flings it wide open and walks right in as a trespasser. Joy recalls past smiles as it begs sorrow to remember the great times. Joy dances around trying to make sorrow laugh in spite of its present circumstances. Sorrow can sometimes be afraid to laugh and turns it’s back on joy, fearing a smile would be disrespectful to the growing challenges.

But contrary to sorrow's belief, God gave us joy…inexpressible joy in Him…for challenging times such as this.  The more we trust God in our sorrows, the more we see the visible manifestation of an invisible loving Father.  In our sorrows we must open our hearts and search our landscape for joy’s footprints.  Sometimes we must look backwards to find our joy identifying God’s faithfulness in other difficult times.  But most times, we must look forward because that is where joy dances it’s best and holds out it’s hand to us to join the party of hope.  We will never be let down or led astray when we waltz with the fruit of the Spirit called joy.

Piles of Manure

“‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down.’ ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure.’” Luke 13:6-9

I read this story for the first time a year ago and for some reason it amused me. I’m not sure why but I thought about it for the following month. Time went on, Bible Studies were completed, and I forgot about this story until this morning. With Jesus, the ultimate storyteller, no story gets told without being steeped in wisdom and hope. In this story, we find ourselves eavesdropping on the landowner and the gardener. The owner is tired of searching for fruit on a stubborn and sterile fig tree. He wants it removed because he sees no value in it taking up space on his property. With great patience and compassion, the vine dresser sees beautiful possibilities and probabilities if the landowner will only give him access to the tree. He explains that if the landowner will allow him to dig around the base and mix in manure, fruit just may appear at the harvest. I LOVE this story and it’s been the story of many times in my life.

There have been seasons where my circumstances stunk to high heavens! I felt like a dump truck backed up with its loud beeping, and tilting the bucket vertically covered me up. However, the fruit that was harvested from these difficult seasons have produced the most remarkable fruit shared with the Father. I’ll bet some of you are feeling exhausted, dumped on and fruitless this morning. If so, our story can give us hope and clarity for what is up ahead when we allow God to dig around in our heart. Just like the vine dresser, God sees the potential of what we can produce when abiding in Him. He knows the amount of time required to promote spiritual fruit, and He doesn’t mind tearing up our landscaping to make it happen. But he doesn’t leave it in disarray but does use the stench of our challenges to create a future harvest.

Even when others seem to dump on us and wound us, we can thank them for fertilizing our tree! We can trust God will use every bit of hurt to develop each of us into the remarkable people He created us to be. We certainly don’t have to like the manure, but believe that God can use it for profit. ‘Nobody told me a productive life would involve so much manure...The gardener can take what is nothing more than a pile of putrid manure, apply it to the base of our tree, and do us an enormous favor.’ Chasing Vines, Beth Moore, p 224. All He asks is that we give Him both access and time and allow Him to tend to the land.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9

No Match for Jesus

“The disciples went and woke Him saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" Then Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters, and they subsided, and all was calm.” Luke 8:24

Well I guess it is time to address the ‘elephant in the room’ which continues to move through the nations.  This elephant doesn’t discriminate and isn’t afraid to march into any country, state, city or home.  This elephant is creating havoc across every landscape of our lives…emotional… financial…political…medical…spiritual.  Yesterday, I sat in amazement as closures across our nation multiplied and announced cancellations for events never canceled.  I know that fear has no place in this approaching march, but we can’t help our minds from ‘going there.’ Although 2 Timothy 1:7 reminds we that ‘God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind’ we feel powerless and anxious.  We are just as human as the disciples in our morning verse.  Their little boat was being tossed around like a rag doll and they were terrified of the raging waters and the powerful wind.  But I’m relieved that we have the same help and anchor in our boat that they had all those years ago…we have Jesus.  Thankfully, our Jesus never sleeps…our Jesus still rebukes the wind… our Jesus still nods to the raging waters directing them to subside.

While many of us are looking to government, doctors, and 24/7 newscasts, we must remind our heart and mind that God still remains in control. He controls the bloom of each flower…He controls the breath of each lung…He controls the movement of every cloud…He controls the timing of every outcome. I’ve decided now is not the time to question why God is allowing this, rather determine what God wants to do in me during this experience. How can I respond to the care and concern of others? The disciples had it right when they turned to Jesus to calm their fears, but Scripture doesn’t tell the story of how long before the storm calmed. We want to believe that Jesus immediately got up and brought everything to a standstill. But Scripture does not say that, so we must assume that timing is not the point. Turning to and focusing on Jesus is the point in any storm we face while on earth. He was the anchor in their storm, and He will be the anchor in our storm. The disciples had each other to cling to and be encouraged by and so do we. So, as we are tossed by the waves of uncertainty with this virus may we hold tightly to each other, and approach Jesus with complete certainty that He still calms storms.

“You stilled the roaring of the seas, the pounding of their waves, and the tumult of the nations.” Psalm 65:7

Waiting on Hummingbirds

“Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid;” Luke 12:6

When I was pregnant with each of my children, I loved the time leading up to their births. I would make my plans for their nurseries including the colors in the room to which they would one day awake. I would search the stores for the perfect items to place intentionally around the room. For the last child I even attempted to sew to save money. I chose pink and mint fabric and made her valances, covered her bumper pads and pillows to place in her crib. Nothing in the nurseries were placed randomly or by accident. They were all details I chose before they were even born for their future needs and joy. At least once a day I would walk into the nurseries while waiting on my children to be born. I would scan the room to ensure every detail had been seen to for their comfort. Fast forward 30 years and I found myself the other day happy to unwrap my hummingbird feeders although their arrival is not yet due. Just like rocking in the nursery rocking chair before my babies were born, I love seeing the bright and colorful feeders beckoning the sweet birds to come and dine.

Can you even fathom that our Father knew the exact second our children and grandchildren gasped for their first breath of life? Isn’t it remarkable that the Lord knows the exact instant when our little hummingbirds will land on the perch? Not one detail isn’t directed by the master Conductor in the symphony of each sunrise and each sunset. The trees are given their sap by God, and the waves take their direction at His voice. The moon sees God’s nod signaling its entrance as the sun is commanded to sink into the horizon. So why do we worry? Why are we afraid of our circumstances when every detail is covered by God’s wisdom and great sovereignty? Just as His timing is perfect for the sun…the waves…every birth…the hummingbirds…His timing is perfect for each detail of our lives. Waiting on God may seem empty and futile, but to Him it is the time of nesting when He is preparing and arranging the beautiful details for our lives up ahead.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" Matthew 6:25-27

The Knot in our Rope

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Colossians 3:1-2.

One of my prayers for my husband Bruce is that the Lord would feed the ‘insatiable brain’ that He gave Bruce. His brain never rests…the pad with scribbles on the nightstand proves it. Over the years I can’t tell you how many nights I have awakened to the faint glow of a flashlight as he added to a list, began a list or was trying to work out a problem. He has retired from being a former nuclear industry consultant but has taught and deemed himself to be a lumberjack on our property. He has watched many videos on YouTube on how to safely and successfully drop 50-foot trees. He has ordered the items needed to stay safe and those needed to have control on where the trees fall. He purchased a book on the numerous knots that gave the greatest strength. But one knot seemed to frustrate and challenge him relentlessly …the button knot which apparently has an unbelievable ability to lessen the weight of trees. It allows him to carry and move the excessive burden of what he normally would be unable to accomplish. In order to tie this knot, he finally thought of a way to successfully weave the two strands of rope forming the knot. He took a gold sharpie and drew a stripe on one of the strands to better show which strand was the one to weave into the knot. It was the ‘identifier’ that would show the way to form the tightest and most secure knot. He finally had success!

This morning in my devotion time I read a simple question a woman had once asked Beth Moore, author of Chasing Vines. The woman asked her, ‘What is the knot in your rope?’ I immediately thought of Bruce and the button knot. We live in a world where we must navigate through the challenges of right and wrong, obedience and compromise, spiritual focus or earthly focus. It is easy for the focus on the world to get entwined with our spiritual life which forms a knot of weakened faith. All the strands begin looking the same and there is no real identifier for our faith. If we don’t weave Christ into our lives, we lose all spiritual focus. We as believers have been raised with Christ so our lives should be marked with the stripes that He bore for us. When He is clearly the knot in our rope, we can bear the burdens because of His strength, not our own strength. When we seek the things that are above, we don’t feel the full weight of this world because we were never meant to. The more our knot is marked with Christ the greater joy we can discover while here. In God’s economy the more focus on the next life brings abundance in this life.

‘But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33

Substance From Nothing

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep…Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light, and it is was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.” Ge 1:1-4

This beautiful passage came to mind this morning when I was doing my Bible Study, Chasing Vines by Beth Moore.  I was reading the chapter regarding experiencing traumas and difficult circumstances in life.  Most times our painful situations can be described as darkness. Those seasons of life when light has left our hearts and nothing bright and joyful can be seen on the horizon.  Those seasons when every good thing behind us seems dead and every darkness before us seems permanent.  But as I sit here with complete confidence that God never changes, this passage comes to mind.  Since the beginning of creation, God has been making substance out of nothing every day.  He is still calling light’s name when darkness has the megaphone.  He created my children out of the ‘nothingness’ of a desire.  He took my child’s drug addiction, one of the darkest 8-year periods of my life and gave her substance like nothing I’ve ever seen.  Substance of testimony, intimacy with Christ and sponsorship to other struggling women.  He has taken my sinful times and brought substance out of its darkness.  He has taken times of deep grief and brought substance of compassion and love out of that darkness.

I know that many of you are experiencing the dark cold winters of life.  You might be wondering if God will ever divide the light from the darkness again.  God’s word is just as relevant today as it was the moment He called the world into existence and He is wielding light even if you can’t see its glimmer.  His love for us motivated His creation of us and He will continue to work everything for us through this great love.  He is always with us guiding us towards our divine destiny.  We are all destined to one day leave this earth and take our place in eternity.  Our dark seasons create a deeper dependency on God.  Many of my trials have been the keys that have unlocked self-made prisons.  Trials transform us from flesh to spirit, idleness to purpose, ego to humility and self-love to giving-love…all beautiful substance driven from darkness.  I’m thankful that darkness will perish but the Lord remains forever.  Let the beautiful words of Psalm 102:25-27 call light out of darkness. 

‘They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment.  You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end.’

Our Yesterdays

“This shall be the sign for you…Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward…The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” Isaiah 37:30-32

Judah had been attacked viciously and their lives were completely devastated. I’ll bet they felt as if things would never be the same. Time marched on and nothing ever got better. Just like us when trauma occurs, they had no idea when or if normalcy would ever return. The Lord was gracious to Isaiah by giving him a sign of future delivery, promising a return to previous blessings they had lost. God still encourages us with His comfort and promises of a good life up ahead. This is the time of year when our family’s sensitivity is on high alert. I don’t plan for it…I don’t dwell on it…I don’t go searching for it...but it always finds me. It is likened to the time I severely rolled my ankle creating such an injury it would be over a year before I could walk without discomfort. Many months into the injury I would forget the compromised foot, until I would make a certain move and it would send great pain through my body. It was a reminder that I had an injury and things were not as they had been.

March is that injured foot for our family for it is the month that holds the days when my dad and sister shed their compromised bodies for their spiritual ones. For me, the first few weeks of the month seem like strolling through a cemetery, visiting grave-site after grave-site. ‘This day marked the day that as my sister laid in her bed unreachable, she was already reaching for Heaven.’ ‘That day marked the day Daddy went into the Hospice House and slipped quietly out of this life and stepping into the next.’ The stroll goes on and on until March 19 at which point all activities on earth for them were finished.

God’s assurance for Judah is the same assurance for us when dealing with heartbreaking circumstances that flow into our lives. His message promises that He will bring life on the other side of devastation. ‘The hard truth is there’s no real going back. But once we get up again, there can be a going forward…Just finding normalcy again can be fingerprints of the supernatural. Unwanted changes occur. Crises happens. Catastrophes invade…the pleasant field that once surrounded us has been scorched…You don’t want to grow something new. You want to return to your old life. You want those exact clusters of grapes, not new ones. But in time, God can make all things new and finding fruitfulness again will make more difference than you can imagine. If we can’t have our treasured yesterdays back, at least tomorrow can matter.’ Chasing Vines, Beth Moore, p.196-197. I’ve said so many times that if I cannot have my dad back, I am honored to have Ben, my mother’s husband. God indeed has given us a new normal and it is very good. When we drop to our knees in prayer, we are taking the root downward, and God will be faithful to bear fruit upward.

Whatever you are facing this morning, take the time to grieve, take the prayers to God and allow Him to transform the old into the new…the past into the present…the promise into the healing. God uses everything from our yesterdays to create beauty in our tomorrows.