Growing up in a Christian home, my
family celebrated the season of Advent – the four weeks before Christmas. I
loved this time, not because I was waiting for my Christmas gifts, but because
we got to light a candle every night during our family devotions. We would dim
the lights, and my Mom or Dad would try to read from our devotional book. Each
week we would light another candle on the wreath until Christmas Eve when the
big Christ Candle would be added. Even with all the lights off in the
room, it felt as bright as it did when all the lights were on.
In my curiosity, I looked up the word
Advent: A coming into place, view, or being, arrival – onset, beginning,
commencement, start – the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event.
Sharon, Andrea and Debbie celebrating life by the glow of candle light.
My rabbit trail of thought then took
me to the idea that each one of us in a place, with a specific view, that
signifies the commencement of something that only we are designed to start. We
are the candle that brings light into the darkness. As we connect with others
who are also carrying light, we begin to change the environment around us. Yes,
our little light is important, but like the time my family spent around that
wreath enjoying the stories and basking in the light of the candles, we get
strength from being together and sharing the Word of God. We grow in our impact
on the world. We grow in our love and acceptance of others. We grow in faith.
In those moments, when our light seems to flicker, there are others around to
reignite us.
What if the blaze of our collective
light is what it will take to ignite our community with the transformational
love of Christ? What if I share my light with someone who doesn’t have it yet?
I want to see the whole wreath light up
with the Christ candle in the middle, driving back the darkness, giving hope
and joy to all who are touched by the glow. Do you?
Will you join me in finding one person this season with whom you can share the light of Christ?
Early this past fall I took a trip to Lake Chelan in Washington and had planned to write this as soon as I returned from my trip. However, when I got home, I was diagnosed with cancer. Everything around me changed overnight, and I have spent the last month coming to terms with the season I’m in right now. It’s not bad, just different
In contrast, the fall is so quiet, and I could hear the squeak of the geese’s wings resisting the air as they flew over my head. The water was perfectly calm, and at one point, I was the only person sitting on the beach. Peaceful is the word that comes to mind.
Beach time in the summer at Lake Chelan
Normally, my whole family
(four generations worth) gather in the summer to enjoy the cold water and
summer activities. However, this year, I had the privilege of a fall visit. The
difference was stark. Not just because there were only three of us in my
uncle’s condo (instead of 12-15), but the whole community was calm and laid
back. The summers are frenetic – lots of people, constant movement from one
activity to another – swimming, hiking, putt-putt golf, tennis, and more, with
the background filled with birds chirping, bees buzzing, jet-skis and boats
revving and people talking, laughing and shouting with joy.
The lack of activity and
noise gave me the space to take in the changing season. The trees that had
given us shade and fruit this year, had one last job before resting – to fill
the horizon with brilliant shades of yellow, orange and red – a feast for the
eyes. As their leaves fall off, details that went unseen in the bustle of the
summer stand out like significant memories to be treasured. Even as the water
of the lake was receding, things that were hidden in the depth and murkiness of
water in motion became vivid monuments to the surprises waiting for us yet to discover.
Creation reminding me that even now God is showing me new things – hidden
things.
Crazy Mad Squirrel
As the nip in the air, the clouds in the sky and the shorter days encouraged me to bundle up, I was prompted to grasp hold of the moment and enjoy it by a funny little squirrel who climbed up a tree to give me a piece of his mind. He had a plan and my presence was messing that up. I find myself doing the same thing to God at times. I have a plan and He seems to mess it all up. After a few minutes of gyrating and chattering at me, the squirrel moved on with what needed to be done. I know God watches patiently as I do the same thing, but when I realize that His love and faithfulness is there for me – no matter what – I’m able to move on with life.
I’m so glad that I had
time to sit back and reflect. God knew I would need to be ready for my next
season. I needed to know He still had things to reveal to me and that slowing
down can give me time to reflect on His greatness.
I know it can be
difficult, but I pray that you can find a quiet moment to absorb the wonders of
creation. God has something special to show you, too, no matter what season it
is!
I stepped across my “chicken line.” My friends, husband and I went out on our first Treasure Hunt (see the book by Kevin Dedmon), where we looked for people that God wanted us to find. I can’t lie, for me, there is nothing scarier than walking up to someone and trying to carry on a conversation, but this adventure takes it one step further. We needed to share with them something that God wanted them to know.
What if we didn’t find the person?
What if we got what we were supposed to say wrong? What if the person wasn’t
receptive? What if…what if? I had to believe it was God’s problem, not mine.
So, we sat down and asked God to give us clues to the person He wanted us to
meet. We used a form we found online with different categories like: Where is
the person? What are they wearing or is there an identifying mark? Do they have
something obvious for which you can pray? What does God want to reveal to them?
Ten minutes later, we had our
Treasure Maps filled out.
As a group, we decided to go to my
place first. We did a lot of people watching. I found myself relaxing into the
moment. Then something switched, and I became aware of each person walking by
as a God-given treasure. Even if they weren’t someone on any of our lists, I
saw potential in each person. It made me thankful that God loves the
individuality of each of us. I thought, that I don’t have to fit into a certain
box or fit into a preconceived pattern for me to be a valuable treasure in
God’s eyes. It was a freeing moment. In the half-hour we stayed in that space,
many people came and went. My husband and one of our friends, started
conversations with a few of the people, but we finally decided we needed to
move on to the next place.
We went to my husband’s place next.
It was a new grocery store in town. He was looking for a woman, with dark hair,
buying a yellow zucchini. He walked into the store and within the first two
minutes found his treasure. As he tells the story, he was so shocked he had to
take a moment to compose himself. Eventually he did approach the woman and told
her our story. She was polite but didn’t over engage. He left her with a
blessing.
Meanwhile, one of our friends found
two people that fit at least one clue on his list. He chatted with each of
them. He even got to pray with the ‘blue pants’ lady from his sheet.
Our whole group had an ongoing joke
about needing to go to IHOP. So, we went there next. Why not? We had just found
three of our Treasures. Maybe we would find more. The friend that hadn’t found
any of her clues was looking for a female, red hair, inside a building with
issues with her lower extremities. Our other friend who had already found two
on his list still had a strange clue of finding someone with a name he couldn’t
pronounce.
Our server came, and his name badge
was “Ilaya.” Our friend asked how to pronounce his name. Even now I can’t get it
right. The server said he was English, but his name was Russian. Wow, we just
found another one. Our friend tried to engage the server, but it fell flat.
What’s up with that God?
Then I saw the red-headed, female,
walking as if her feet hurt. She was a server in another section of the
building. My friend didn’t want to get up and talk to her, probably because we
had just watched the last conversation fizzle out. Anyway, we spent time
talking about changing our approach, so it didn’t come off as confrontive or
weird, but as a friendly blessing. I could see my friend still wasn’t going to
jump into a conversation, so I gave her a piece of paper and suggested she
write a note and give it to the server on our way out to encourage her
Treasure. Our other friend also wrote a note to our server as a blessing. They
passed them off on our way out. Though we don’t know how those notes were
received, there was a sense of accomplishment handing them to the Treasure.
Though I was the only one that didn’t
find a treasured person, I came away with some great treasures:
Be
aware of the people around you, they are God’s treasures, and He wants you to
see them
Instead
of leading with questions that would make people uncomfortable, give away words
of encouragement and appreciation
If
all else fails, write your message from God to them in a note
Even
if you don’t find your specific treasure, you have succeeded because you
stepped out in faith.
I know God was with us as we went on
our Treasure Hunt and we found Him working in strange places and interesting
ways. As an extreme introvert who almost failed her Evangelism class in
college, this adventure was way, way out of my comfort zone. It took a lot to
get me to step across my chicken line. However, I’m extremely surprised to write
that I’m looking forward to our next Treasure Hunt. I had fun! As the Hunt
finished-up I realized I didn’t want to stop looking. What if my person was
waiting for me and I just missed her? What if…what if?
Oh well, maybe next time I’ll be the
one who finds three people on my list.
This week my husband and
I celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary. Our story is a serious
God Hunt sighting. Only God could keep us together this long.
The week before our
wedding, I looked at my future husband and realized I didn’t have that gooey
love feeling that you see in movies. At that moment I wasn’t even sure if I
liked the guy enough to spend the rest of my life with him. It was terrifying.
Then I remembered that
God had orchestrated our meeting, through a series of dreams I had as a junior
and senior in high school that sent me two states away from my family to a tiny
college that wasn’t even accredited yet, to meet my future husband. The dreams didn’t include romantic promise
but promises of working side by side to do great things.
I’m laughing right now
because I can hear my husband in his home office, which is next to the spare
bedroom where I’m working. Working in adjoining offices isn’t new to us. We
spent eighteen years working for a church with offices right next to each
other, but somehow this is different. No longer having a regular paycheck means
we really need to depend on God and each other to make it through each moment.
I love it. We have arrived at the place that God promised me thirty-six years
ago as I sat in my room trying to decide if it was worth it to go ahead with
the wedding.
In the years since that
moment, we’ve done some crazy things. We ran a half-way house – living in a
tiny one bath, three-bedroom house with three to five guys in various stages of
recovery and need. When we finally bought our own home, we continued to have
people living with us, adults preparing for mission work, teens who needed a
break from their parents and even an eight-year-old whose Mom spent a month in
treatment. After several years of that, we decided it was time to adopt and we
selected a late-placed, hard-to-adopt child, while we were in the middle of
building a new home. The night we moved into our beautiful new home, that I
thought would be our forever home, we both looked at each other and said, “We
won’t be here long.” Eighteen months later we had sold or stored our furniture,
rented out our houses, and bought a twenty-two-foot travel trailer which we
parked in my mother-in-law’s driveway while my husband finished seminary. I
spent the next sixteen months homeschooling our new child, which lead me to a
day when I packed all my worldly goods and was ready to walk away from the
marriage. Obviously, we all survived, but it was touch and go for several
hours. When my husband finally finished seminary, we moved to Palm Springs for
his job.
Moving to the desert was
crazy for me because I had vowed as a little girl that I would never live in
the desert, be married to a pastor, or work as a secretary. Shortly after
moving to the desert, I became a church secretary at another church in the
area. We bounced around from house to house in the desert. At one point after
our son had moved out, we lived with one of our friends in her house. That
doesn’t sound that outrageous, but how we got there was. We had a perfectly
fine home at the time. However, God prompted both of us at a conference to call
our friend and ask if we could live with her. Amazingly she said yes, which
lead to a rich time of ministry to the youth of our church, as we used the
house as our meeting base while the church was going through a remodel. When we
finally moved out on our own again, both of us were working for the same church
and growing in our ability to work together.
When the time came to
leave the church, God had already prepared a new ministry for us to join – one
that took us back to the very beginning. We are back working with people who
are in various stages of recovery and growth, that often have the same
questions that the youth we worked with had, and a need for unconditional love
while they explore their relationship with God.
As I look, back at the
rich, full life I’ve had, I’m thankful that God reminded me that day when I had
iceberg feet, that He had a greater plan for our relationship than that
romantic gooey stuff. It’s a good thing since my husband isn’t the classic hero
type in a love story, but he is perfect for me. Every night when I fall into
bed, he is there to hold my hand. Just as I drift off into my dream world, I
know that my real world is so much better because of the man holding my hand.
The man God picked out for me long before I ever met him, the one that would
take me on great adventures and encourage me to be all I could be. Our story
has been an epic God Hunt for me.
I look forward to many more years of hunting down God sightings with my extra special husband at my side.
Praying that God blesses your day with extra joy!
For more information about our ministry go to www.live180.org.
I recently watched a documentary on
the Blue Angles, the Navy’s flight demonstration squadron. I have a love for
this group that goes back to my childhood in Seattle. Every year during
Seafair, my mother would make sure we went to Lake Washington to watch the Blue
Angels perform. We would find a place where their show takes them closest to
the ground. It felt that if my arms were just a little bit longer, I could
touch their wings. The rumble of the engines and feeling the rush of air as
they passed overhead is forever etched in my memory. The documentary was about
how they make that magic happen.
As I was preparing a team for praying
at a conference. Most of the people in the room had gone through this training
in previous years when it occurred to me that we were like the Blue Angels. As
we reviewed the guidelines for prayer with others, I saw a picture in my mind
of the lead pilot, slowly reading through the complete flight plan in the hours
before they were going to fly. I was struck with how important it is to be
ready to go into a prayer session with everyone prepared – to practice, practice,
practice – like the Blue Angels who spend long hours together training. They
hang-out with each other in their off-hours. The goal is to be able to think
and move as a unit, to trust each other with their lives. I love the imagery of
this in my faith walk. Spending time with God practicing spiritual disciplines
prepares me for the daily journey with Him. However, hanging out with God just
for the joy of it, is equally important. My ability to trust Him grows,
allowing me to think as He thinks and see the world the way He sees it. We turn
into a team that does amazing things.
I want the guidelines to be second
nature, so that I can be completely in-tune with what God is doing right in
front of me. I want to be keyed into His voice, His commands. I want to be so
in sync with His movement that I’m in the right places at the right times, even
when it feels death-defying. It’s exhilarating – my happy place.
In that space, I’ve seen bodies
healed. I’ve seen people tormented by regrets and anger set free. I’ve seen
people transformed to the point that they step into their true destinies. It’s
the fulfillment of both Luke 4:17-19 and Matthew 10:7-8:
(Luke 4:17-19 New American Standard Bible) And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
And
(Matthew 10:7-8 New American Standard Bible) And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.
I know that this only comes with
practice, sometimes failure, and the ability to own up to the times when I’m
out of sync, which is also something that the Blue Angles do at the end of each
flight. They debrief with each other and look for places where they can
improve. I feel that this is an area often left out of prayer teams, but it’s
important. None of us gets it right one hundred percent of the time, but when
we have others around us helping us to think through the process, we can improve
and grow in our ability to be in the middle of what God is doing.
The Blue Angels have a saying when
they are debriefing: “Glad to be here.” That is how I feel when I’m praying for
others, so glad to be the person God is using to show someone else how much He
loves them. It’s a privilege that deserves my full commitment to the process. I
encourage you to fly strong and safe with God.
While on vacation in Washington this
summer I had a major God sighting. It started with a promise to visit Index
Community Church, where my nephew-in-law is the pastor. It is the perfect
little country church on the edge of town.
I can remember my Dad driving me over to Eastern Washington via Highway 2 when I was a little girl. One of the many tiny towns along that road is Index, WA. The strange part of my memory is how scared I felt driving along that road, which didn’t make sense to me since I loved traveling with my Dad. It was just this stretch of Highway 2 that made me feel like something was going to jump out and hurt me. My dad loved to take me on adventures, like the time we detoured off the road and over a two-lane bridge into the city of Index. He would say when we saw Mt. Index, “Look! There is the mountain that points to Jesus.” It was a phrase that seemed to calm me down.
Back to the present: there I was, standing outside this little white church, thinking about how I had been praying that God’s presence would fill this valley for most of my life. Then walking into the church, I realized that my niece and nephew were part of the answer to those prayers. I finally felt at peace. I sensed God showing me that they have taken up the call to be pointers to Jesus. They hold the index of important words that this community needs to hear. The people of Index Community Church are full of the presence of God and want to share that love with everyone they meet – family, friends, neighbors, and people just passing through.
Though it is estimated that only 205 people live in Index, it is a spiritually rich community with the Index Community Christian Church, the Aquarian Tabernacle Church of Wicca and the Snowy Mountain Buddhist Retreat Center – all firmly established there. There is a sense of convergence, pointing to something significant going on in the spiritual realm. What a blessing it is to see my relatives stepping into ministry in this important piece of land. I’m praying that they have a big impact that is felt around the world.
Then I had another flashback, to a time I was sitting at my Grandpa’s kitchen table and he was praying for the generations to come that they might serve God with their whole hearts, that each of us would have a heart of ministry, willing to share the love of God with anyone that we come in contact with. Again, I am overwhelmed at how God answers prayers. Not only is this niece serving God as a Ministry Assistant at Northwest University and working with her husband here in Index, bu my other two nieces, are also in ministry. My middle niece is starting a ministry for single pregnant women at her church, and her husband also works at Northwest University. The oldest of my nieces is a missionary with her husband in France.
I am overwhelmed by the grace of God
that has helped me to stay faithful my whole life, and that I now get to see
answers to prayers that were prayed 30 – 50 years ago. Over the years, I’ve
sometimes wondered if God was listening to my prayers; but clearly, He has been
listening the whole time and just waiting for the perfect timing to answer
them. Don’t give up hope — even your simplest childlike prayers have an
impact! God hears them all and has answers waiting for the perfect time to be revealed.
Stay strong and have faith, maybe someday you will have crazy God stories like
this one.
Have you ever gotten a bruise and wondered, “Where did that come from?” I saw one of those on my hand the other day. It didn’t hurt; it was just several interesting colors. But what I noticed was an old scar became visible. When I was really young my dog, Kirby, bit me. That scar on my hand was red and bumpy for years. It used to bug me until it faded and got lost in my adult wrinkles. I forgot all about that day in the backyard – a day when I learned not to tease a dog with food. Yep, Kirby thought I was a piece of meat – my own fault.
Anyway, when I looked down at the bruise today, it made me think about all the scars I have that are invisible until something makes them come back to the surface. Sometimes I see something, or someone says something, that brings back a painful memory; or, like today, I’m not clear what has made my scar reappear, but there is no hiding when that happens.
It wasn’t a huge leap to start thinking about all the people that I’ve talked with and ministered to over the years that are wounded. We all have scars that are invisible until something brings them to the surface. We all have some things we would like to keep hidden or forget about, but those things are still part of our life story. Sometimes we need to do something about the scars, like the one on my elbow where the internal stitches are festering to the surface long after surgery. Sometimes, like the scar on my hand, it’s just a reminder of my youthful stupidity. But the bottom line is that our scars have helped shape us and mold us into the people we are today.
My goal is to embrace my scars as signs of my growth over the years and to find ways to use them to help others through painful moments. When someone’s scars are showing, I choose to have empathy. I choose to listen as they talk about the scars, to give away hope and to walk with them through the process of healing when needed. Honestly, making the choice not to turn away from scars isn’t always easy, but definitely rewarding. When I see a scar healing, fading into a distant memory or into something that spurs a person into a healthier, more productive future, my heart leaps for joy. I encourage you to take the leap and choose to use your healed scars as a beacon of hope and healing for others, whose scars have just become visible.
Too often when I look at something, I see the bad in it first. As I look out over the vastness of the Coachella Valley, I see the problems and issues. However, I want to look at it from the perspective of God’s heart.
This is an amazing place full of symbolism and creativity. There is a sense of hardy survival amid arid dustiness. The hostile environment is transformed by water.
On February 14, 2019, we had a flash flood which forever changed our environment, roads were washed out and many plants happily living in the washes have been destroyed. In the mountains where there used to be soft folds, deep crevasses have taken up residence. One mountain side grabs my attention. It used to look like a well-worn baseball mitt. Now I’m looking into a shallow cave with amazing stalagmites reaching toward the sky as a testament to the power of water.
On the flip side, the rain has brought about a “super bloom.” Plants that have laid dormant for a long period have more flowers and fruit on them than at any time in my memory. Some of the washes continue to have trickles of water running through them giving life to frogs, caterpillars and other critters we don’t normally get to see. When water is present things happen. Water can destroy, transform and give life.
I love how God uses the natural to illustrate Biblical truths. His living water does the same thing in my life. It destroys the things that keep me from His presence by washing away the things that are not rooted in Him. His water transforms my life giving it new meaning and purpose. The Water of Life gives me life abundantly – a super bloom life.
Though most days have a rhythm and pattern, if you are paying attention the shadows, colors and textures keep changing because God is in the details. A mundane existence is not the norm when the River of Life is flowing through you. Possibilities become unlimited going even beyond our natural horizon when we are in contact with the Water of Life. Our horizon opens like the vast horizon of the Coachella Valley full of possibility and promise because of the water flowing through it.
Legacy prayer quilt to remind my grandnephew of God’s love.
One of the things about life that is inevitable is death. However, when death happens, we still ask why questions. Why this person? Why now? Why couldn’t they have lived longer? Why them not me? Why this way? Why? Why? Why?
As I sat through yet another Celebration of Life, I realized how many “whys” I was asking. Then it dawned on me — someday I’m going to be on the other side of this equation, and I started asking different questions.
What is the purpose of my life? How will I be remembered? What impact will I have made on the world?
During this Celebration of Life, people told stories about the challenges that the deceased faced. However, the stories didn’t stop with the problems. They included inspiration and hope imparted to others through the struggles and victories. The wisdom and insight that comes from the tragedies in life can’t be discounted. Often those moments that seem the darkest are when our character is formed and where we have our greatest impact.
In meeting with a group of fellow memoirists I experience that same reality: each person’s story is important. Some of the stories are light and fun, others are dark and full of sadness; but the common thread is they all have an impact. They impart the wisdom learned through life’s ups and downs and cause us to look at the world differently.
For me, the lesson I learned through this Celebration of Life is to stop asking the why questions and start asking myself questions about legacy. What amazing thing did this person leave behind that changes the lives of others? What will my legacy be? I feel myself being challenged to turn the difficult moments in life into blessings for those around me. I want to wallow in the moments where I am surprised by love, goodness, and beauty – holding onto the joy and laughter that they bring so that I can give it away to others. I want to have the kind of impact that changes lives for the better.
My friend’s life was tragedy after tragedy, but his legacy for us is a challenge to hope in the middle of tragedy and to enjoy the little things. Everyone at the Celebration walked away knowing that: “No matter how messed up your life seems to be — you have an impact.” What is your legacy impact?
Over the past month, I have been running into people talking about times and seasons. It started as we did our annual “Spring ahead” with the clocks, but I sense something more significant than that is in the wind.
Yes, as I write this, I am looking out at the wind making the Palm trees dance and the leaves of the bushes clap their leaves together, both fierce and beautiful. To put this in perspective, we purposely moved to the part of town that has very little wind, so the fact that I am seeing this is abnormal.
For me, this is a physical embodiment of what I’ve been feeling – that God is about to do something that is out of the ordinary and now is the time to prepare for it, just like we closed our doors and windows to keep the dust from blowing through the house.
This past Sunday one of our group members brought a reading about time. He didn’t know that this topic has been on my heart and mind. I was struck by two different definitions of time: Chronos – marks the passage of time and Kairos – which signifies the proper or opportune time for action. My sense is we have moved into a Kairos time with God.
You may be asking, what does this mean? Honestly, I don’t know. I’m just aware of a shift and that I want to be ready to spring into whatever God is planning to do next. For me, that has resulted in a change in how I structure my day. I intentionally spend more and consistent time focusing on my relationship with God: reading the Bible, just sitting with Him enjoying His presence, having deeper more intimate conversations with Him, and experiencing a strong desire to invite people along with me on the journey.
Will you join me in walking into this Kairos time with God? Is there something you want or need to do to prepare yourself for the critical moment for action? Will you be ready?
