Social Anxiety? This is the time of Year!

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Social Anxiety? This is the time of Year!

So here we are...at a time when it seems that all social occasions(all right, slight exaggeration) are squeezed into, at best, a four week space...your spouse's office Christmas party, the kids' school programs and parties, neighborhood open houses, family in-law, and what may be worse, "out-law" gatherings, and what did I miss? But you get the picture.

And all of this on top of our own preparations of cleaning, decorating, cooking, shopping, wrapping...

And did I mention the heart preparation of Advent, peace on earth, joy in the Lord, scripture, song, prayer?

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There's Something to say for Caring and Commitment -- 45 Years Together

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There's Something to say for Caring and Commitment -- 45 Years Together

Marriage is a curious thing ... each year can be very different than the one before. This has been no less true for us and this, our 45th year of marriage.

An interesting year, this 45th. It began with my 91 y.o. mom's home going (so hard!); then the publication and launch of my book The With-ness of our God (so exciting!); and in February, retirement ... for both of us (the jury is still out!)

Smooth sailing at first, then upheaval over a home renovation project going south, house in total disarray because of the work being done ... feeling like never ending. On top of it all, the "new normal" impossible to find.

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An Unexpected Grief

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An Unexpected Grief

There I was, sitting at the stop light. All of a sudden, an overwhelming grief ... not primarily for my mom who died an exact year before, almost to the day. No, for my dad ... who had died in 1983 right before Thanksgiving.

But why am I grieving now ... why this year, when I hadn't thought of him at this time other years?

I tried to track my train of thought and realized that my thoughts had gone from grieving over my mistakes in my parenting to the difficulties in my own childhood home.

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Beauty in the Eyes of the Beholder

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Beauty in the Eyes of the Beholder

... God has made everything beautiful for its own time. 
Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT

During a recent visit with our lovely daughter and family, I was walking on "my path" on the Dover Air Force Base.

I love my path! There are walkers and their dogs, playing children and military "manifestations" (like signs written in military rather than civilian time), and best of all, safety and well-cared for walking areas. But for as many times as I have walked my path, I wasn't prepared for the delightful, though shocking, surprise on the day in question.

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"All of God in all of me"

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"All of God in all of me"

In recounting her journey to Christ as a young college student, Jill Briscoe tells of a little nurse who led her to the Lord during a hospital stay. The night Jill was saved and every night thereafter,  that wise little nurse encouraged her to go to sleep saying:

All of God in all of me.

Jill says, as a result of that truth etching itself in her mind and heart, she never doubted that when she received Christ, she had gotten all there is of God. 

... If the spirit is a person, then you can't receive a "bit" of the Spirit, just as you can't receive only a part of a person. So I had been given all of God I was going to get ...*
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Craig's Song: I Am Waiting for the Dawning . . .

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Craig's Song: I Am Waiting for the Dawning . . .

The beauty of aging is that long-term memory starts to kick in (don't ask me what I had for breakfast!).

And that's what happened in the midst of a hard time, a sweet yet bitter time, when many gathered to share our corporate sadness, yet rejoicing, at the graduation to glory of our dear brother and friend Craig Steffen.

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Touch Jesus . . . Touch Life

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Touch Jesus . . . Touch Life

Years ago I had a mentor-friend named Donna.  She was the one the Lord used to usher me into experiencing Christ in me as the One who does the doing in the Christian life!  Her key phrase was (as I remember it) "God does it."

Then by the Spirit of God came the realization that my indwelling Lord Jesus Christ is my All in All!  He is the Father's Ultimate Gift to me...no-thing else, no-thing more!

Jesus + Nothing = Everything

 

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The Stabilizing Focus of a Morning Prayer

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The Stabilizing Focus of a Morning Prayer

Oh, life has been full of losses lately...deaths, illnesses, failures. And these during and after times of refreshment with loved ones and beaches and the simplicity of Amish peaceful countryside. 

As a result, I am reflecting, revisiting, and responding in new ways to previous thoughts...some of which have already been shared. Forgive me. But if you would like to listen in, here is my meditation:

Life is a mix, a conglomeration.
There is confusion and clarity, flailing and focus, excruciating pain and exquisite peace.
There is bitterness and sweetness, strength and fragility, "rugged seas" and "smooth sailing."

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Why? Why one but not the other?

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Why? Why one but not the other?

While my husband and I made our way to the East Coast to spend time with our daughter and family, grandsons, my own siblings and their families, word came to us of the sudden death of our friend Craig. Shock beyond words! Grief and heart-break for our friend Cindy, his dear wife as well as for ourselves and all those who have known him and loved him. No time for prayer, beseeching, begging!

Then a few days later, word came of my friend Linda, who had just suffered a stoke at 73 years of age...

So that's always the dilemma.

WHY? Why one and not the other?

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Grief and Joy and Love and Life: for a Friend in the Loss of Her Beloved

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Grief and Joy and Love and Life: for a Friend in the Loss of Her Beloved

For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name... 
Isaiah 54:5

My dear friend,

I heard a song and I thought of you!

I remembered a poem and I thought of you!

And I thought of grief and joy and love and life...and I thought of you, my precious sister-friend!

And I remembered your delightful, creative, godly love of your life Craig, who is now "exploring the mysteries of Christ."

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Schooltime (or anytime) Prayer for the Children in your Life

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Schooltime (or anytime) Prayer for the Children in your Life

Four little "scholars" begin a new school year in our family. Since these scholars are our grandchildren, this new beginning makes this Babci pause.

What will this year hold for these precious little lives?

Joys and sorrows, friendships and rejections, encouragement and despondency, successes and failures...

Lord, I want the formers and not the latters. But I know how it goes...the firsts often come through the seconds.

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Respecting the Holy Spirit in Other Believers...including (or maybe especially) Children

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Respecting the Holy Spirit in Other Believers...including (or maybe especially) Children

During these closing weeks of the summer, many of us are focusing especially on the children in our lives. School is starting (or has already started), and we are longing for a rich year of learning, love, and acceptance...good friends, caring teachers and adults in their young, vulnerable lives. And our wish list for them and prayer list on their behalf go on and on. 

So whether a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle, teacher or caring friend, this is for you. I know it can be easy to discount or forget the glorious potential in those little lives that we love and care about.

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The Prayer of Relinquishment...the hardest prayer to pray

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The Prayer of Relinquishment...the hardest prayer to pray

Like most people, when I first began active experimentation with prayer, I was full of questions, such as: Why are some agonizingly sincere prayers granted, while others are not? I still have questions. Mysteries about prayer are always ahead of present knowledge—luring, beckoning on to further experimentation.

But one thing I do know; I learned it through hard experience. It’s a way of prayer that has resulted consistently in a glorious answer, glorious because each time, power beyond human reckoning has been released. This is the Prayer of Relinquishment.

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Of Haircuts, Bananas, and Traffic Patterns: Is anything too Small for the Lord?

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Of Haircuts, Bananas, and Traffic Patterns: Is anything too Small for the Lord?

Is there anything too small for the Lord?

OK, that's not how the verse goes: 

Is there anything too hard for the Lord? (Genesis 18:14; Jeremiah 32:17; 32:27; Luke 18:27)

But maybe the first is a question we should also ask. Let me share why...

The other day I was taking my daily walk down our hill, through the nature path, alongside the horse farm, through a park area with the baseball fields and grove of trees...then back again. Many times this walk is when I commune with the Lord....listening to praise music, talking with  my Savior and Friend.

And other times, I commune with friends or family via my cell phone. Also lovely and meaningful.

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Fragile Souls...all of us, but especially...

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Fragile Souls...all of us, but especially...

As I was getting ready to write a short blog about how easy it is to run ahead of the Lord, word came through of another pastor of a large multi campus ministry, a dear brother in the Lord, who has fallen into the mire of "moral failure."

Tragic, devastating news!

We all grieve for our brother...for his lovely wife...for his precious children.

And for ourselves who have heard God's Word and Spirit speaking to our hearts through this gifted brother.

But we also grieve with him...yes, with!

Because none of us is far from the same pit...though in different circumstances. This could easily be you or me.

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The Dance of FAITH: Moving with His Life-giving Flow

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The Dance of FAITH: Moving with His Life-giving Flow

A few years ago, my husband and I were at some friends’ house.  This couple liked to gather miscellaneous people who knew them but not each other. True to form, they asked a great icebreaker question.  The particular question that evening was, 

If you could do anything other than what you currently do, what would that be? Your secret ambition?

 

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A Living FAITH: What is it?

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A Living FAITH: What is it?

What is a living faith? 

To understand a faith that is alive, vibrant, real and restful, we need to explore two verses and two questions.  Both of our verses contain the same interesting phrase, “yet not I.” And both are from Paul’s writings: Galatians 2:20 and 2 Corinthians 15:10.

1. What is “the faith” by which we live while on this earth? 

I am crucified [united with] Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

2. If God lives the life that only He can live in and through me, what about me? Do I do anything? 

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God with [united with] me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

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The Rest of FAITH: Living the “Yet Not I, but CHRIST” Life

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The Rest of FAITH: Living the “Yet Not I, but CHRIST” Life

About twelve years ago, our son-in-law was stationed in Tucson, Arizona [home of our Alma Mater, the U of A, "Go Wildcats!"  But I digress...].  When the school year for my ESOL class had ended in June, I flew to Tucson for an extended visit.

Beth and Nate were both working during the daytime, so I had some lovely, restful, sun-filled (and "Son-filled") time alone by the pool.  At that time, I was reading some of Brennan Manning's books.

One day I was reading The Signature of Jesus: The Call to a Life Marked by Holy Passion & Relentless Faith as I soaked up the Arizona sun by the pool.  I was somewhat annoyed to see that a man lying on a lounge nearby was straining to see what I was reading.  

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