How do you feel about getting older? In my family we have 11 September birthdays (which includes my own) and even more in the extended family. It made me think about how do I like birthdays? Well I concluded I love them as I make it a habit (and have for years) to celebrate everyones life in some way on their birthday. To have life is so special, Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full!" Do you realize that our God is a very big party celebrator? He commanded his people the Israelites to plan three very important holidays that they spent at least 7 days worshipping, eating, drinking, dancing and hanging out together in tents or in each others homes or at the temple or in local synagogues. Anyway I personally think that is so very cool and fun! Some people think heaven will be boring, but that is because they don't know what kind of God we worship in the Bible. Even in this world that has all of it's problems God gives us so much life! I know I long for heaven in one respect but I also look forward to all the joy God has for me in this life until he calls me Home. Therefore I have no death wish, so don't feel guilty if you want to live awhile - that is a God given gift and we must enjoy life expecting good things, only God can give.
With all that pondering about life I realized I am expected to be content with the places God has called me to live. Getting older teaches me through many experiences (good or bad) that I need to be content and then I am so much happier! I love to worry about what could or couldn't happen and that just takes the joy out of life. This last while as I come into the 5th year of the loss of Tom and the 1st year loss of John, I know I can't foresee what will happen in my future. Sometimes I worry that to be alone the rest of my life will be so lonely and then on the other side I worry getting married again could bring so many problems!! Things always happen that I don't expect or I say I will never do! Ridiculous! It is time I be content in whatever place God thinks I should be! This is my earnest prayer, if you are praying for me that is the best thing to pray for - contentment in whatever place or situation God wants me to be in and serve Him.
Our pastor has been teaching on what it takes to be a disciple of Christ. The first week he taught us to look for Jesus in all of life and expect to see Him. When we are in tune with Him and listening and seeing we notice when water changes to wine or when there is a resurrection (great things I don't want to miss). The second week we learned as a disciple we need to know and understand love. Love frees us from slavery of sin but we don't have to rush to grow up in the Lord as any kind of growing takes time. Finally today he taught us to love the church and realize we are all a part of the body (the church) and need one another. One person is like a hand another an ear or an eye, etc. The church family is such a blessing, we don't want to go through our Christian walk without that precious family. I know first hand how great it is to be surrounded by God's people who care and walk with you through sorrow! For me it is a bit of heaven on earth. I'm excited to be an expectant believer! How about you?
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Thursday, August 10, 2017
A Mist and How to Live
Here I sit drawing a bit of a blank - Yet I feel the need to write to friends and family who may read my blog to know how life is going for me. Well God has again been so good to me and given me a wonderful summer. Maybe in some ways too good. Now I have to face everyday life and not have hikes to climb, lakes to float on, or road trips to drive, as well as have a blast with family and friends! Coming home each night to an empty house has it's challenges, but God always reminds me He is close by to talk to and talk I do! I'm very social so quiet is okay at times, but for me having no one to express opinions to after an interesting day is a bit of a let down. This sounds very depressing and I do not come from a family who feels sorry for themselves (not for long anyway)! My mother was the most positive person I knew and many times I am so thankful for that as it helps me look for the positive in every situation. So here is some positive!
There are still many friends I get to do things with - love my neighbor lady friends who do bible study with me. We started up again after a summer break. There are several young women I get to counsel in parenting skills and another bible study class to do at Care Pregnancy Center where I am able to volunteer a few times a week. On top of all my activities and friends I have a huge family close by. My life is so very full and rich, truly. Yet I know there are other men and women out there alone and not always enjoying it, because like me they terribly miss that special spouse who now is home with the Lord.
A devotion I read the other day reminded me of something to keep in mind which says: "What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." James 4:14 I especially liked how Joel Plantinga, who wrote the devotion said, " We are regularly reminded by God's Word that time is fleeting and the day of the Lord is approaching. Don't be paralyzed by fear! We live in a moment of incredible opportunity to share the gospel with our world. Live out of an urgency that comes from understanding that opportunity."
Yes indeed it can be easy to fear the future or complain about it to God, but God wants me to relax in the moment. Jesus died for me and rose again and ascended into heaven and has gone to prepare a place for me and all who want to believe! All we have to do is confess our sin and receive His gift and follow Him! I'm expected in the place Jesus is preparing for me and others who want Him in their life!
"This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24
Lord help me and everyone dealing with sadness to make the best use of our time today and the good things you give for your glory! Amen
There are still many friends I get to do things with - love my neighbor lady friends who do bible study with me. We started up again after a summer break. There are several young women I get to counsel in parenting skills and another bible study class to do at Care Pregnancy Center where I am able to volunteer a few times a week. On top of all my activities and friends I have a huge family close by. My life is so very full and rich, truly. Yet I know there are other men and women out there alone and not always enjoying it, because like me they terribly miss that special spouse who now is home with the Lord.
A devotion I read the other day reminded me of something to keep in mind which says: "What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." James 4:14 I especially liked how Joel Plantinga, who wrote the devotion said, " We are regularly reminded by God's Word that time is fleeting and the day of the Lord is approaching. Don't be paralyzed by fear! We live in a moment of incredible opportunity to share the gospel with our world. Live out of an urgency that comes from understanding that opportunity."
Yes indeed it can be easy to fear the future or complain about it to God, but God wants me to relax in the moment. Jesus died for me and rose again and ascended into heaven and has gone to prepare a place for me and all who want to believe! All we have to do is confess our sin and receive His gift and follow Him! I'm expected in the place Jesus is preparing for me and others who want Him in their life!
"This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24
Lord help me and everyone dealing with sadness to make the best use of our time today and the good things you give for your glory! Amen
Thursday, June 8, 2017
A Story from Israel
What a blessing to once again travel to the places the Bible tells us about and especially the ones Jesus walked and lived. This time (it was my third trip) I was with my sister and a group of great Christian people walking the land together. John Farwell was our leader, you can find out about his trips on the sight called "walkthestory.com". He is a great teacher and we all highly recommend his trip if you are able to go.
There is so much a person could share about the trip but I realize you would get totally sick of reading so I'll share one moving thing that happened for me and something I had never thought of before. Since I have lost two great husbands in my life I know what it is like to suffer almost unbearable loss. John told us a story about a tour guide who died suddenly on his friend's tour. This man lived in Israel so John's friend had to go to the man's wife and let her know what had happened His friend explained the moment the woman saw him at her door instead of her husband she knew something bad had happened and she just fell down weeping in front of him. The woman's son happened at the same time to come into the room seeing his mother weeping on the floor. His immediate response was to tear his shirt from top to bottom and weep with his mother. They both knew by the look on John's friend's face the news was fatal. John's friend said he will never forget the sound of the man's shirt tearing and the buttons hitting the floor. It made the grief so profound in that moment. John explained this story as at the time we were having a teaching on Jesus death and all the things that happened when Jesus died. He likened it to the grief of the Father when Jesus the Son died on the cross and the curtain in the temple tore from top to bottom. Me personally had to do everything to keep from weeping out loud hard! Even now as I write this it makes me cry since I know this kind of grief so up close and personal. I loved how it made my God and Lord and Savior so up close and personal with this amazing story even though it makes me cry. My prayer for you who might read this can feel the unbelievable love of the Father in giving up His Son Jesus so we could have life eternal and one day be expected in Heaven!
I sign off with John's favorite saying on our trip "till the next time we are to meet here on earth or at the Golden Gates"!
There is so much a person could share about the trip but I realize you would get totally sick of reading so I'll share one moving thing that happened for me and something I had never thought of before. Since I have lost two great husbands in my life I know what it is like to suffer almost unbearable loss. John told us a story about a tour guide who died suddenly on his friend's tour. This man lived in Israel so John's friend had to go to the man's wife and let her know what had happened His friend explained the moment the woman saw him at her door instead of her husband she knew something bad had happened and she just fell down weeping in front of him. The woman's son happened at the same time to come into the room seeing his mother weeping on the floor. His immediate response was to tear his shirt from top to bottom and weep with his mother. They both knew by the look on John's friend's face the news was fatal. John's friend said he will never forget the sound of the man's shirt tearing and the buttons hitting the floor. It made the grief so profound in that moment. John explained this story as at the time we were having a teaching on Jesus death and all the things that happened when Jesus died. He likened it to the grief of the Father when Jesus the Son died on the cross and the curtain in the temple tore from top to bottom. Me personally had to do everything to keep from weeping out loud hard! Even now as I write this it makes me cry since I know this kind of grief so up close and personal. I loved how it made my God and Lord and Savior so up close and personal with this amazing story even though it makes me cry. My prayer for you who might read this can feel the unbelievable love of the Father in giving up His Son Jesus so we could have life eternal and one day be expected in Heaven!
I sign off with John's favorite saying on our trip "till the next time we are to meet here on earth or at the Golden Gates"!
Saturday, March 25, 2017
All About Me
Do I focus on God or do I have self pity in my grief and loss? Sometimes I get very sick of being alone and badly miss the things I loved doing with my sweet husband, but then I ask myself --- Is life all about me? This morning I read a devotion from my favorite (yet most challenging) devotion book, "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers. Again I was so struck with the thought that life IS often about me and what I have to handle for the day - whether it be my grief or the ministry I think God wants me to do, or what I have to do with family or friends. (None of these bad things mind you) but then I read the scripture from John 3 where John the Baptist speaks of his becoming less and Jesus becoming greater. That was John's goal in life to lead others to the Messiah. He called himself the friend of the bridegroom and has great joy as he waits and listens for him. It is all about serving the bridegroom (Jesus) because the bride (all believers) belong to the bridegroom.
Oswald warns that if we only make ourselves look great because of what Christ has done for us we fail as people will look at us and say, "Oh, what a fine person that man or woman is!" When we do this we ourselves are increasing not the bridegroom - Jesus! Oswald states the only way we can avoid this way of thinking is focus on having a moral and vital relationship to Jesus above everything else. If we are maintaining this relationship the rest of our Christian walk will flow the way it should.
Wow this is very hard to live out in daily life. It takes a constant thought process to focus away from me and look to adoring my Savior so I allow Him to have His way. It's frightening even to really let go of my life and let God have full control. I Corinthians 9:24-27 is an awesome text giving an example of this thought. This text reminds me that it takes time to do something well. You can't expect to be an athlete without strict training - we can't be God's vessel without beating our body (and mind) to be God's adoring child, relaxing in His arms so in the end we will win the prize!
Salvation is a free gift of God we don't work for it Christ has done that on the cross (Easter message) - we just simply believe, and because of this we adore and worship Him. This morning I was thinking we are still sons and daughters of Adam and Eve and we would rather eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil than the Tree of Life! I got to thinking did God say they couldn't eat from the Tree of Life before sin entered? I discovered the answer is NO (read Genesis 2)! The only tree they could not eat from was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They were banned from the Tree of Life (Genesis 3) after they fell into sin so they wouldn't live forever in this sinful state! Personally I think they didn't even bother to eat from it before they were tempted to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I feel we are still the same we want to take from good and evil and not take the LIFE God offers freely because we want CONTROL.... I confess that is often my reason when I'm honest with myself.
These are my thoughts for this time of waiting in expectation for my home in heaven (where the Tree of Life will be - Revelation 22) and the prize will be to hear: "Well done good and faithful servant".
Oswald warns that if we only make ourselves look great because of what Christ has done for us we fail as people will look at us and say, "Oh, what a fine person that man or woman is!" When we do this we ourselves are increasing not the bridegroom - Jesus! Oswald states the only way we can avoid this way of thinking is focus on having a moral and vital relationship to Jesus above everything else. If we are maintaining this relationship the rest of our Christian walk will flow the way it should.
Wow this is very hard to live out in daily life. It takes a constant thought process to focus away from me and look to adoring my Savior so I allow Him to have His way. It's frightening even to really let go of my life and let God have full control. I Corinthians 9:24-27 is an awesome text giving an example of this thought. This text reminds me that it takes time to do something well. You can't expect to be an athlete without strict training - we can't be God's vessel without beating our body (and mind) to be God's adoring child, relaxing in His arms so in the end we will win the prize!
Salvation is a free gift of God we don't work for it Christ has done that on the cross (Easter message) - we just simply believe, and because of this we adore and worship Him. This morning I was thinking we are still sons and daughters of Adam and Eve and we would rather eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil than the Tree of Life! I got to thinking did God say they couldn't eat from the Tree of Life before sin entered? I discovered the answer is NO (read Genesis 2)! The only tree they could not eat from was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They were banned from the Tree of Life (Genesis 3) after they fell into sin so they wouldn't live forever in this sinful state! Personally I think they didn't even bother to eat from it before they were tempted to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I feel we are still the same we want to take from good and evil and not take the LIFE God offers freely because we want CONTROL.... I confess that is often my reason when I'm honest with myself.
These are my thoughts for this time of waiting in expectation for my home in heaven (where the Tree of Life will be - Revelation 22) and the prize will be to hear: "Well done good and faithful servant".
Sunday, January 8, 2017
Pilgrimage
October 30 was my last post, how time flies! This is definitely a good thing as walking through sadness can be rough at times, so when time flies I love it. A favorite book of mine on widowhood spoke of losing ones soul mate (husband) after many years can be one of the hardest things in life to endure. I'll have to agree, and losing two husbands has tested me greatly, but also gave me strength I didn't realize I possessed.
Thanksgiving and Christmas as well as New Years holidays have passed by with much to be thankful for! Lots of parties and even weddings as well as a trip with my daughters to New Port Beach and their families! I roomed with 5 young women, 2 granddaughters and 3 significant others of my grandsons. What fun it was for me to share time like this with part of my family. I had so many fun get-togethers with family, when I counted them up I had had 5 different family Christmas parties and numerous other fun times with them all. 12 of us were able to go to Disney's California Adventure and we stayed together all day! There was also a wedding in Alabama with my sister's family and one at home with my daughter's in-laws! I felt very blessed, not to mention about 6 more parties and outings with friends! Yes, I felt a bit social these past two months!
I enjoy letting all of you know I have a good life, that God is watching over, with much to do. Even though there is sadness over loss there is not loneliness. I don't have the excuse to say I'm lonely as anytime I feel the need I can call a family member or friend to do something with. The sadness comes in with the fact that the loved one I enjoyed so much with is no longer here. I ask myself often - now Vera how do you face this loss and sadness that can pop up at the worst of times. When one least expects tears just come, it's ok to cry and even good for me, but I don't like to in the middle of the grocery store or any number of other public places! I dislike making people uncomfortable! Enough on that subject - but how do we coup with hardships in life that come our way?
I recently read an article about taking a pilgrimage. A pilgrimage is not a vacation it is a journey which is supposed to teach lessons of Godly dependence. I have had the privilege to take a couple of these kinds of trips. They were not what you call fun, they involved hiking over rough terrane, for me I seemed to fall a time or two (so embarrassing). Also I would do things that might need confession on my part or forgiving others. The point is as I pondered these things, I decided life is like this. It is filled with things we don't always like to do or places we don't want to be, yet we have no control whatever over where God will call us to walk. We can either walk with grace, confession, and forgiveness along the way or we can complain and grumble and make the world around us miserable. That is my goal to walk where God has asked me to walk with His Grace, assurance, trust and be certain that one day everything will be perfect! My family will be altogether never to have to part again! Hurrah!!! A pilgrimage I think is keeping our eyes on the goal and know that no matter how hard the journey one day it will all be worth it!
"Now my heart is troubled, but what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No it was for this very reason I came to this hour! Father glorify your name!" John 12:27-28a
This verse has become a theme verse for me. A great one to come to mind as I walk my pilgrimage. I hope it gives you some grace and hope to walk where God calls you to walk!
Thanksgiving and Christmas as well as New Years holidays have passed by with much to be thankful for! Lots of parties and even weddings as well as a trip with my daughters to New Port Beach and their families! I roomed with 5 young women, 2 granddaughters and 3 significant others of my grandsons. What fun it was for me to share time like this with part of my family. I had so many fun get-togethers with family, when I counted them up I had had 5 different family Christmas parties and numerous other fun times with them all. 12 of us were able to go to Disney's California Adventure and we stayed together all day! There was also a wedding in Alabama with my sister's family and one at home with my daughter's in-laws! I felt very blessed, not to mention about 6 more parties and outings with friends! Yes, I felt a bit social these past two months!
I enjoy letting all of you know I have a good life, that God is watching over, with much to do. Even though there is sadness over loss there is not loneliness. I don't have the excuse to say I'm lonely as anytime I feel the need I can call a family member or friend to do something with. The sadness comes in with the fact that the loved one I enjoyed so much with is no longer here. I ask myself often - now Vera how do you face this loss and sadness that can pop up at the worst of times. When one least expects tears just come, it's ok to cry and even good for me, but I don't like to in the middle of the grocery store or any number of other public places! I dislike making people uncomfortable! Enough on that subject - but how do we coup with hardships in life that come our way?
I recently read an article about taking a pilgrimage. A pilgrimage is not a vacation it is a journey which is supposed to teach lessons of Godly dependence. I have had the privilege to take a couple of these kinds of trips. They were not what you call fun, they involved hiking over rough terrane, for me I seemed to fall a time or two (so embarrassing). Also I would do things that might need confession on my part or forgiving others. The point is as I pondered these things, I decided life is like this. It is filled with things we don't always like to do or places we don't want to be, yet we have no control whatever over where God will call us to walk. We can either walk with grace, confession, and forgiveness along the way or we can complain and grumble and make the world around us miserable. That is my goal to walk where God has asked me to walk with His Grace, assurance, trust and be certain that one day everything will be perfect! My family will be altogether never to have to part again! Hurrah!!! A pilgrimage I think is keeping our eyes on the goal and know that no matter how hard the journey one day it will all be worth it!
"Now my heart is troubled, but what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No it was for this very reason I came to this hour! Father glorify your name!" John 12:27-28a
This verse has become a theme verse for me. A great one to come to mind as I walk my pilgrimage. I hope it gives you some grace and hope to walk where God calls you to walk!
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