Archive for February, 2009

February 9, 2009 @ 7:04 pm | Filed under: The Solid Rock,The Writing Life

“I knew then that “w-a-t-e-r” meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, joy, set it free!” –HELEN KELLER
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My mind has been on living water a lot lately.

I’ve felt like a kid at a big giant water fountain – one so large that I’m raised on my tiptoes, with tongue outstretched, eyes shut tight in wonderful anticipation – loving the cool wetness as it bathes all the parched spots that life sometimes dries up.

Jesus has always delighted in giving water.

I think about the Samaritan woman. It’s often bothered me that she was never known by name, but rather by her location and her place in life. But today – as I sit here, reading through the story again, I’m touched by just how electrifying it must have been to meet Him.

He, who reached out to her – a woman and an untouchable – and with kindness she’d never known before, he softly, politely, lovingly gave her water to drink. No doubt she had come to draw water at that hour in order to avoid the mass of other women who would do nothing except point, whisper, and avoid all contact with her.

But this man – he looked her in the eye, perhaps even touched her sleeve to get her attention, and then he proceeded to begin a conversation that, interestingly enough, is the longest recorded conversation in the Bible between Jesus and anybody.

That is fitting, I think.

The water He offers us – all of us, the ones from the wrong side of town and the ones raised on church pews, the ones with faults and failures and the ones who’ve yet to taste bitter disappointment – is the same. What better way to demonstrate sharing this living water than by making direct eye contact, speaking words of truth in love, and taking time to meet a person in need – right where they are?

In a global community that is so caught up in living green, how is it that God’s love – this living water – is very often the last place folks go for solutions. This living water is pure, it’s free, it can be recycled over and over again, and will never clutter anything.

It breathes life, restores life, gives life.

It’s that wonderful, cool something that flows over my hand – and my heart, and my soul, and my spirit – awakening me, giving me light, joy, and setting me free!

February 7, 2009 @ 5:57 pm | Filed under: Family,It's funny!,Pure Sunshine

Before Carter was born, Mike and I had several fun conversations as we “tried on” all the various names for grandparents.

We ultimately tossed most all of them out on their ear, since at least one of us (sorry, honey!) was way too young to be called grand anything yet…

We would find out soon enough that those two kids could very well call us anything and we’d answer.

Yep – grandkids really do have just that kind of power over you.

We finally decided on “Pops” and “Nana” since these seemed to best define, both, the traditional and the fun side of how we saw our cute little grandparenting selves. From the first time that Carter first uttered “Pots,” (the precursor to Pops) these names have been indelibly engraved on our hearts since.

It’s no doubt that Carter and Kendall have very firmly established our roles as Pops and Nana. I promise, you’ve never seen a big strapping man like my husband melt like hot butter the way he does when one of the grandkids says, “Pops, will you…”

So imagine his joy when Amy informed him a few days ago that Paul had an important meeting and would be unable to attend Donuts for Dads at Kendall’s school, and would he like to go instead…?

Would he? Are you kidding me?

And imagine my laughter when he returned home a few hours later and was telling me all about his time at the school. Kendall had marched him right up to her teacher and in her very best, big-girl way she has about her right now, she’d introduced him.

“This,” she indicated Mike, “is my grandfather.”

Tags: Family, grandkids

February 6, 2009 @ 11:38 am | Filed under: Family,Pure Sunshine

Tags: Family

February 5, 2009 @ 9:44 pm | Filed under: Books,CFBA Reviews

Take a break from whatever you’re doing, sit down for a few moments and focus your thoughts and your heart on one or two of the prayers in this book. You’ll be thankful that you did!  Marion Stroud’s prayerful meditations will take you to the Father’s feet with the honest concerns of your own life.

In Dear God, It’s Me you will find six sections that cover every aspect of a woman’s life: A Woman Within, A Woman and Marriage, A Woman and Her Children, A Woman at Work, A Woman Who Cares, and A Woman Growing Older. The topics range from A Bride’s Prayer on the eve of her wedding to Feeling Unwanted and such concerns as Blue Monday, Mid-Life Crisis, After Chemotherapy, and Bereavement. Singleness and marriage, parenting and career, caring for others and growing older … with imagination and inspiration Marion Stroud offers prayers for every season of a woman’s life.

Meet Marion through the Q&A below and then leave a comment and be entered into a drawing for a free copy of this awesome book!

What are your own private times with God like?

If I’m totally honest about my quiet time, they can be very erratic when I’m under pressure. In an ideal world I would follow the contemplative tradition where I read, allow time to sit and listen to what I sense God might be saying, write it down in a journal and then pray about it. But, if I follow that pattern there’s the temptation to think that if I haven’t got, say half an hour, then there’s no point in starting. That’s wrong of course.  I don’t refuse to speak to my husband or children if I haven’t got the time for a heart-to-heart. So I try to put an hour aside once a week and ideally, half a day, once a month for a longer time of contemplation.

On other days I may use a devotional guide that might give me a short passage or even just a verse to think about. Writing the key point on a card and keeping it in my pocket means that I can remind myself and talk to God about it during moments. Catherine Marshall spoke of nuggets like this as being like vitamin pills that we should take daily with or after meals and that’s a goal for me this year! I also try to walk for 30 minutes first thing in the morning on weekdays–the theory being that I get my exercise before my body is awake enough to object! I have five post cards in my pocket on which I’ve written various topics and people to pray for. Most days I will pray for these things as I walk–but I try to bring praise and thanksgiving to God first.
 

Women go through so many experiences during the different seasons of life. How can a transparent prayer life with God help them to cope?

I remember when my father was dying with cancer. I had five children at home at the time, ranging in ages from 18 to 8. My two older children were doing public exams, which would decide their future academic path. I felt as if I was being torn into a dozen different pieces! I wanted to help my mom, be at home for my husband and children and support my father. A friend pointed out that I didn’t need to try and be God’s little helper. I couldn’t protect the rest of my family, or control the pressures they were facing. What I could do, however, was to take all these pressures and heartaches to the Lord, tell Him how frazzled and unhappy I was feeling (He knew anyway), and leave Him to deal with my needs and feelings and those of the rest of the family. It was like taking a really heavy bag to the foot of the cross and then just leaving it there. It was the “leaving it there” that was the key.

The prayers in Dear God It’s Me, and It’s Urgent! are very real-to-life. It’s almost like you can read the minds of other women who run to God with their own urgent life situations (big and small). Why do you think God is pleased to hear these very raw prayers?

 Jesus was always very honest when He spoke to people. Jesus knew what was in their hearts and He didn’t mince His words. God knows exactly what is going on in our lives and just as we can only really help a loved one if they are honest, so it is with God. He truly knows the best and the worst about us and loves us just the same. God already knows the underlying truth to our raw prayers and it is only when we acknowledge that truth to Him that we are open to hear His response!

How do women’s prayers change as the seasons of their lives change?

 

Older people sometimes find it hard to remember things and my husband reckons that this is because the “bank vault” of our memories is much fuller! It’s a bit the same with prayer. When I was young I knew what it was like to have the concerns and joys of being a “‘young mum” and sleepless nights and toddler tantrums loomed large in my prayers, while prodigal teenagers only happened to other people! As I’ve got older I can remember both the tantrums and the teenage stage but am also grappling with caring for the elderly and praying for those with serious illness. So the scope of my prayers widens. I have children and grandchildren, for whom the tantrums and teenaged years are still very much “today,” but, I have the concerns of my “today” to pray for as well. I can quite see why older people need more time to pray as they have so many things to pray about!

 

You can feel incredibly weighed down by all this need.  Sometimes I just have to remember to follow the suggestion of a friend of mine. She focuses on just one or two of the most urgent things and then pictures herself putting the rest of her concerns into a basket. She may picture the basket as one of those gondolas attached to a hot air balloon, and as she releases it, it floats away and she has no further responsibility for it–the wind of God’s Spirit has taken over. At other times she pictures it as the basket in which Moses was cradled as an infant, hidden in the reeds. She leaves it there, knowing that God might prompt her to do something to provide an answer to her prayer but in the meantime, He has it all in hand.
 
How can reading prayers be a comfort to women as they deal with their own life issues?

 

I see these written prayers as providing words where there are no words. When crisis times arise, you may feel that you just can’t voice your own feelings. Knowing that someone else has travelled on the same journey and survived, is an inexpressible comfort. It may also give you insights into what friends might be feeling and facing, when you haven’t had personal experience of that particular situation, so that you can be more supportive of their needs.
 
Discuss an example of an urgent time from your own life that became the inspiration for one of these prayers. How did God respond?

 

There have been an awful lot of urgent prayers in my life. But the one I remember most vividly, perhaps, is when our youngest son ran away from home. His three older siblings, who, the previous year had all been home-based the year before, were now at college university or travelling, and we had gone from a family of seven to a family of three in a few short months. I lay in the bath, with tears pouring down my cheeks, asking the Lord where we’d gone wrong. And God reminded me of the feeding of the 5,000 and the fact that the disciples were told to pick up the fragments of food that remained because nothing is wasted in His economy. Our older children had been relatively easy as teenagers, and without this experience, and the issues and events that surrounded it, I would have had a very different view of raising children. But now I was faced with a challenge. I could allow this experience to crush me, or, I could learn from it and share what I’ve learned with others. I chose to do the latter. It wasn’t easy but it has been a very valuable lesson for the many other crises that have beset my path since.
 
You’ve written quite a few books that have been read by women both in Great Britain and America. How do you find writing for American women different from British women? What are some similarities and universal truths that bond women from these two different continents together?

 

My American friends tell me that we Brits are more polite; I think that we’re more cynical! But when all is said and done, we’re all sisters under the skin! Britain is a much more secular society than America, and so what I write for a British audience would assume less faith or even familiarity with God and what He offers. But we share a common need for food, shelter, belonging and living a life that has meaning and purpose. We all love our families and struggle to be the best person we can be. We all realize that this is a tough call because we’re so aware of our weaknesses and failures.

 

Obviously there are a number of cultural differences. Even the words we use can mean different things on either side of the ocean. This is why a wise editor included a glossary in Dear God It’s Me. One of the words in the glossary refers to “Marmite.” Perhaps this is just as well. I shall always remember when a visiting American friend picked up a pot of Marmite. Marmite; a dark savoury spread, and spread it thickly on her toast, thinking that it was chocolate spread. Her horrified expression as the yeast extract hit her taste buds will remain with me forever!

 

Remember – leave a comment and you’ll automatically be entered for a chance to win a copy of Marion’s book at the end of the month! Stay tuned…

 

February 4, 2009 @ 7:00 pm | Filed under: The Solid Rock,Uniquely Me

You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” –Psalm 139:5-8
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This time of the year, there seems to be so much to do, so many places to go, so many conversations, so many faces.

There are thoughts of plans for the new year, and recollections of the failures and successes in the last. Ups and downs. Twists and turns. Starts and stops.

And through it all, Jesus is right there. Right here.

Waiting. Dispensing strength. Loving me.

There is no where too far for the reach of His hands.

At the end of the day all I really want is to crawl my way back home and huddle in the safety of His arms.

That’s where I find my strength.

True strength.

The really great thing about His arms? There’s room enough for us all.

Tags: faith

February 3, 2009 @ 6:41 pm | Filed under: The Solid Rock

He’s been teaching me these past many months the art of letting go. Letting go of the old in order to embrace the new. Letting go of what is not working so that He can bring to me what will. Letting go of trying to fix it or work it out on my own, instead allowing Him to bring His perfect will and plans into my life.

Letting go of the old ideas that are not based on the THE living word of God, letting go of the soul-draining stuff that tries to graft itself into my mind instead.

Someone from a great classic piece of literature said something like this, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” What a weight that would be to bear. I’m grateful to know that I don’t have to helm my own ship, chart my own course, and keep my finger to the wind constantly. There is great peace that comes with letting go.

For a control-oriented person like me, letting go is never easy. Letting go of my children, letting go of career plans, letting go of girl friends, letting go of failures…But I’ve found that there is almost always a direct compensation for letting go. He is always faithful to fill me with new hopes, new ideas, new dreams and – more importantly – fresh faith, fresh vision, fresh excitement.

Letting go means getting to free-fall back into the all powerful and loving arms of God and RESTING. Resting like David, who in Psalm 131 wrote, “I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.”

I have a grateful heart today. I came across this poem a while back and it seems to fit perfectly today.

As children bring their broken toys
With tears for us to mend,
I brought my broken dreams to God,
Because He was my friend.
But then instead of leaving Him,
In peace to work alone,
I hung around and tried to help,
With ways that were my own.
At last, I snatched them back and cried,
“How can you be so slow?”
“My child,” He said, “What could I do?
“You never did let go.

- Author Unknown