Love is Patient…

December 1, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Tonight I was listening to my son learn a rather long passage of scripture, 1 Corinthians 13.   It is one of my ‘favorite’ passages of scripture.   Rich and meaningful, this passage really is the Christian’s motto.

Love is patient, love is kind, …am I really?  I find myself cringing as I recover from a moment of impatience and unkind all throughout the day.  I know I could do better but… what is my excuse?  I am tired, I am stressed, whatever my excuse, it isn’t worthy of a follower of Christ.

Paul, who penned this long passage on scripture, also encouraged us to be imitators of him as he was also of Christ.  I want to Lord, I want to.

My family doesn’t get the best of me.  My Lord doesn’t get the best of me.  I give my best to strangers or aquaintances but I let loose on my loves ones!!!

I will take the time to memorize this passage of verse with my son.  But more than that I will endeavor to infuse its meaning into my life.  I want to dig into the heart of what Paul was trying to teach the Corinthians.

In coming weeks I may share nuggets the Lord gives me as I soak up his word.

Filed Under: Children, God and faith Tagged With:

Daily Grind Part 2 – Elder Care

November 28, 2007 By Leave a Comment

I had to write a bit more on this subject of finding a miracle for Ross and Betty.  I have spent so many years finding cures, remedies, therapies that help the body to get well and have had numerous “notches” in my gun (all health issues have been solved 99% at home with God’s natural herbs and simple therapies).

My “trophies” hung in the walls of my mind.  Knowing my kids and husband didn’t go to the doctor for typical illnesses and that even the toughies like pneumonia and bronchitis hung on the wall right up there with regulating/curing my lifelong digestive problems including chronic appendicitis (yes, it can be chronic).

I had built such a confidence bordering on pride in my achievements.  I could tell you you can heal anything with full expectation it is true.  But I lost track of the fact that I could only make these choices for my young children and willing husband.  As my children have gotten older, they choose to “forget” the cures Mom gave them all those years.  So far, only one of them has gone to the doctor for a mess of carbuncles in a very uncomfortable place.  But all of them still call Mom and ask, what do I do for_____?

Enter two aged adults with habits well set.  I knew (I still know!) if they would just change some things they would at the very least improve their quality of life and maybe even reverse some of the problems that cause their pains.  But old habits die hard.  And when you hurt – it takes all your strength to get through it not to mention trying a new lifestyle.  We turn to comforting habits of food and drink.  We tend to cling to the warmth of a chair or bed.  We don’t feel up to rocking the boat – it might toss us for good!

I love Betty and Ross enough to respect their choices for good or ill.  They have enough to live with without me making them upset with possible cures.  So like I brought up in the previous post, I will rest in my role of comforter and part time caregiver.

Thank you, God, for giving me the grace to love others when it is difficult.  And after all isn’t that what love is?

Filed Under: Caring for Elderly, God and faith, Health in General

Giving Thanks…

November 21, 2007 By Leave a Comment

In Everything Give Thanks – so says the Apostle Paul.  In everything?!  In the bad as well as the good?  In the trials as well as the blessings??

How often do I remember to give thanks for the good things much less the bad?  I know I will catch myself thanking God as an afterthought when good things happen. 

Giving thanks is a matter of habit, yet it’s more than that.  It’s a heart condition.  An attitude of gratitude is what flows from the thankful, joyful heart.

 When the heart is joyful then one can give thanks even in the tribulations.  Oh, not the giddy, eternal smile-on-the-face “joy”.  We are talking joy because I am a sinner saved by grace.  Joy because, well, my Father loves me.  Loved me so much He died for my sins!  Just so I could spend all of eternity with Him and all the saints.

Thankfulness spills over from a joyful heart so then I CAN be thankful for the good, bad and the ugly. 

Thank you, Father.

Filed Under: God and faith

God Saves – Completely

November 15, 2007 By 1 Comment

You will come to find out as you read my blog that I have a deep and abiding faith in God and his Son, Jesus.  I won’t bore you with my personal testimony at this point but I must share a praise!  You see, faith is not faith unless it is tested.  Read on …

Last week my husband and I were making necessary renovations on my in-laws bathroom to make it safer for Betty. She must use a walker at all times and we needed to make the doorway wider.  This meant taking out a wall (easy in an older mobile home) and replacing the corner bathroom sink cabinet with a straight one as well as other details.

In the process of replumbing, a slight spurt began and there was no way to go further without turning off the main water to the house. 

Now, the tricky part here is the main water valve happens to be inconveniently placed.  We have a trailer parked directly over it (I know, BAD plan).  But nothing could be done but that I shinny under the trailer and reach down the hole that is a full arm’s length deep and turn it off.  This I did with great effort as I am not as skinny as I used to be or as agile.  It was dark.  And, yes, there were spiders and other such like under the trailer and down the hole.  Nevertheless, the deed got done - not without trepidation, though.

The leak was fixed so off I went to turn the water back on.  Did I tell you that I had spied down the 24″ deep 6″ wide hole – webs and bug carcasses?  I did what needed to be done and got out of there.  But as I began my scoot, I dislodged a rather large spider that was probably just as upset as I was!  It plopped on my nose and scurried off into the dark.  (hear me groan/shreak)  I was OUT of there.

I never knew it till then just how deeply frightened I was of dark, tight places.  It really scared me to my core.  I shook for the rest of the night and we only got the necessary work done on the bathroom to get it functional for them.

For almost two days I was sort of “out of it” – not really depressed but not my usual industrious self.  I was reliving the spider on the nose in my dreams.  And I sort of felt covered with webs even a day later. I was having a hard time snapping out of it. 

My prayer life has been rather utilitarian of late – short and to the point.  I will talk to God all through the day – kind of an ongoing discussion.

Well, the usual prayers were not enough, obviously.  And I am thankful that the Spirit reminded me of an account in the Old Testament when the Israelites were being bitten by poisonous snakes yet they had made for them a pole on which was fixed the brazen serpent.  They were to look upon it and be instantly healed.  All they had to do was look.  They didn’t have to say anything or do anything but look upon it.  but they still had to have the faith to look.

How did this help me?  I remembered that God not only saved me utterly from my sins but he also gave me the power to never sin again.  He gave me the power to never fear (which is the opposite of faith).  In my mind’s eye I looked upon Jesus, my Savior, and He took away all fear.  Yes, I had to look but that is all – He did the rest.  He took away my fear.  He took away the creepy feeling.  He took away the ugly part of the memory leaving only the useful part of the memory (does that make sense?)  To God be the glory!

Now, I didn’t test my new state of being (ie. crawl under the trailer again) but In my mind/heart I knew it was OK and I could do it if it needed doing. 

God saved me from sin and now I know he utterly saved me in life.  I can face fears with Him – He showed himself strong where I was weak.  Praise God!

Hope this helps to encourage you to look to Him who saves completely.

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