What To Do With Disappointments

February 16, 2016February 15, 2016 RefreshHer7 Comments

After being apart for several days, and knowing that Valentine’s Day was to fall on Sunday, my husband and I decided that we would wait to celebrate the holiday on Monday. On Sunday we focused at church on God’s love for us and it was a wonderful time of worship!

For our Monday celebration we had made plans to go to a nearby lake cottage and enjoy the respite of no cell or Internet service, the beauty of the lake and mountains and just the company of one another.

cottage

Then the snow came.

The result?

No cabin get-away.

That equals disappointment.

As I thought about that and the change in our plans, I asked the Lord a question that has come to my mind with other (larger) let-downs –

What are we to do with our disappointments?

We all have them, and though they vary from a small disappointments, like a change of plans, to the huge devastations, they need to be addressed, rather than buried. Tremendous disappointments such as the complete change in life’s plans, the betrayal in marriage due to infidelity, or the breach of a long-time friendship, all have to be dealt with in the very same way we would treat a small disappointment.

How is that?

With the understanding of a Sovereign God. His sovereignty is protective. The snow comes and changes our plans and we say,

“God knew this. Perhaps there is something that we would miss if we left home right now, or maybe the best time to go is later on.”

We trust.

Then too, in the humongous blows that come, we must run to our God who knows what is happening and we must trust that He allowed even this for His glory and our good.

Can a relationship fracture be good? If it pushes us to be more dependent on our great God, it will. Perhaps it will remind us that our expectations must only be on God – not on people. Of course great disappointments hurt our heart, but we have a God who is “The God of all comfort.” We can draw closer to the Lord in those times of pain than we would during times of ease as we let Him comfort our hearts.

I’m sure that in time even this little snowy disappointment will be understood as a blessing from the hand of my Sovereign God Who does all things well. I can’t wait to see what God will do! It’s another chance to watch Him work in my life – even in the little things!

Take your disappointments – small and large – to Him Who knows best.

Lovingly,

Christian Life

My Prayer Strategy

February 4, 2016February 23, 2016 RefreshHer7 Comments

Strategy – a plan, method, or series of maneuvers or stratagems for obtaining a specific goal or result. We have strategies for weight loss, organization or job promotions, right? We need a strategy for our prayer life, too. How will we maneuver through the burdens on our hearts without a plan?

Let’s face it, we all face so much every single day that can cause us to be overwhelmed. The devil would love for us to feel hopeless, and we are UNTIL we open our Bible and read God’s promises! We need to take those promises and pray them back to the Lord. Can I give you some suggestions on how to gather and use those verses in your prayer strategy?

You could copy those verses, or print them out from your computer.

Another simple way I’ve found to keep track of those verses I want to pray, is by using You Version Bible app on my phone. When I’m reading a passage that would be the perfect promise to pray for a person or a need, I go to the top left of the Bible app where the three lines are, and I click that and then go to “bookmark.” I choose “Options” then and write the theme of that verse or the person for whom I want to pray that passage. Here’s what it looks like on my phone:

These are just a few of the many that I’ve bookmarked. As I’m praying, I click on those verses and I pray them to the Lord.

It may sound like this:

Father, I pray that you will give to Dale a heart to warn those in his flock that are unruly – those who are disobedient to Scripture. Give him wisdom to know how to comfort the feebleminded and those who are weak (here I will share the people for whom we are burdened – sick and lost, alike).

Keep him from desiring to return evil to those who may do evil to him today. Give him wisdom and the desire to follow that which is good today and to even discern what is good and what is not…

You get the idea. I love having these verses bookmarked on my phone, and not just posted in my Prayer Closet, because then I have those verses with me to pray at any time and any place.

Praying verses is powerful because it’s God’s Word!

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isaiah 55:11

Praying verses is also giving the Lord specific things that you’re asking God for, rather than just rambling, or not knowing how to intervene for that dear one or for your own needs! Here’s how Paul prayed:And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
Who wouldn’t want someone to pray that for them?!

I encourage you to find verses to use as your prayer strategies, then watch and see God answer!

Lovingly,

Christian Life

My Secret Place

February 3, 2016February 2, 2016 RefreshHer4 Comments

closet 2

I have a special space in my house that I claimed before we moved in – it’s a walk-in closet off my bathroom. I’ve never had anything but a tiny space for my clothes, and while it’s a blessing to have a place to hang both warm and cool season clothes in one place, the best part of this little room is what I do in here each morning. I pray.

It’s the perfect spot to close off the world. I can’t hear anything going on in the rest of the house when I’m in there. I have a(n uncomfortable) little stool that I perch on, or sometimes I just kneel on the carpet as I pour my heart out to God. This room is special to me because I meet with God here.

Closet 4

I’ve recently watched War Room again and one line in the film jumped out at me. The main character in this movie about fervent prayer is selling her house. Toward the end of the movie, a buyer comes to look at her house and when he walks into her closet that was her prayer closet (her War Room), he said, “Someone’s been praying in here. It feels baked in.” It felt Ingrained, Covered, Plastered in prayer. Wow. That’s how I want my closet to be – more importantly, that’s how I want my LIFE to be!

I fail often in prayer, but I long to be a prayer warrior. I read books on prayer so I know how to pray. I fill out my prayer journal so I know what to pray. But no matter what I cannot give up when it’s hard, or early, or seems useless. I must keep on praying, and so must you, Friend.

Who else will pray for your husband if you don’t?

Who will petition God for your child(ren) if you neglect?

Who else will beg God for the souls of your grandchildren if you are lax?

How can you offer your thanks without prayer?

How will your faith grow if you don’t trust God for the things that seem impossible?

Just yesterday I added this vinyl wall art in my prayer closet as a visual reminder that God can do anything!

closet 3

You don’t need a walk-in closet in order to pray. Find a corner of a room, or a room that you can close off. I used to put a sticky note on the bedroom door of our former house that said, “Praying,” so that my family would know that unless it was urgent, I chose not to be disturbed. Of course a ten year-old considers asking where the new box of cereal is urgent, but that’s okay, too. Because when she came in and found me on my knees, that testimony spoke to her about what was important to me.

My Secret Place is probably my favorite room in my house, as it was for Clara on War Room. This old song tells why:

In the secret of His presence how my soul delights to hide!
Oh, how precious are the lessons which I learn at Jesus’ side!
Earthly cares can never vex me, neither trials lay me low;
For when Satan comes to tempt me, to the secret place I go,
To the secret place I go.

Only this I know: I tell Him all my doubts, my griefs and fears;
Oh, how patiently He listens! and my drooping soul He cheers:
Do you think He ne’er reproves me? What a false Friend He would be,
If He never, never told me of the sins which He must see,
Of the sins which He must see.

Would you like to know the sweetness of the secret of the Lord?
Go and hide beneath His shadow: this shall then be your reward;
And whene’er you leave the silence of that happy meeting place,
You must mind and bear the image of the Master in your face,
Of the Master in your face.

I’d love to hear about your Secret place!

Lovingly,

Christian growth · Christian Life · trials · Uncategorized

Step – Don’t Stagger

February 2, 2016February 1, 2016 RefreshHerLeave a comment

The path was fairly familiar to me – it was the route from the main meeting place at camp to the back of the camp site. I had walked it many times in the daylight. I knew there were steps, a hand railing, then a sidewalk, a parking lot and another set of stairs. But at the moment that I was standing at the beginning of this journey back to my duplex, the sun had sunk down to slumber mode. The sky was as dark as a deep cave, and we had no lanterns to light our way. I was not alone, thank the Lord; I was with a sweet friend and we clung to one another, groping our way in the blackness like Hansel and Gretel, looking for home.

We inched our way along, eyes widened to catch any ray of light that may be cast our direction, though there was none. One step at a time, we moved slowly along, letting our heels scrape against the back of each step and our toes feeling forward for the next set of stairs. We did finally make it – much later than we ever thought, but we vowed we would never come to camp again without a flashlight. I’m pretty sure that whole area has lights now, and we could skip merrily back to our bunks without our major problems or hesitations we had that night!

Staggering would be the word that described our progress. We were slow, deliberate, and apprehensive.

Just yesterday I read in Romans 4:20 –

He (Abraham) staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith,giving glory to God.

Abraham was told that God would make of him a great nation. Though he was old and his wife’s womb was “dead,” he didn’t stagger! He moved ahead! Confidently laying one foot in front of the other, he trusted God’s promise and clung to it in faith. Rather than looking like me and my friend on our dark path, he made strides, moving forward with steps of faith pounding on the pavement of his life until God fulfilled His promise to Abraham!

As I read that verse, I wrote in my journal, “Am I staggering, or am I trusting God’s promises today?” When we are going through any kind of hardship, trial, illness, test, or decision, we need to open God’s Word and find a promise to claim. Then, holding fast to it, we can lift our head and move forward. Otherwise, we will be staggering. Our hearts will be full of fear and doubt and there will be nothing but darkness before us.

Step – don’t stagger today! You’ll only do that when you cling to the promise of God!

What promise of God’s are you clinging to at this time?

With love,

Christian Life · Encouragement

Impact

January 20, 2016January 20, 2016 RefreshHer1 Comment

This past weekend was special, really, really special. Our son-in-law had been studying for his ordination into the ministry for quite some time, and this past weekend was the time for him to sit before a council of godly men and give a defence for his doctrinal statement. That was on Saturday.

It was a long, grueling four or so hours as the men asked questions and Andrew gave a biblical answer about what he believes God’s Word teaches. But it was even more than just getting the right answer – it was also stating his call from God into the Gospel ministry. He didn’t just decide one day to “be a preacher.” No, as a young lad, he had heard God’s Spirit leading him to be a preacher of the Word of God.

For years he has been praying, preparing, preaching, and looking forward to the day when it would all be official, and he would be in a place of serving God full-time. That time is now, and that place is at Boones Creek Bible Church. Our church. Wonder of wonders that only God could have done. It wasn’t planned or sought after by us – it was all the Lord’s doings and we stand amazed.

Below is a picture of Alli and Andrew on Saturday. They took a break from questions to have lunch. Many sweet ladies at church provided a fried chicken dinner (what else would you serve a group of preachers?!). We were so grateful for each who cooked or served.

While Saturday was special, Sunday eclipsed it by far. Sunday morning’s service was given to the ordaining Andrew for the ministry. My husband preached a great message about why we lay hands on a young preacher, what the church’s responsibility to Andrew is, and then he challenged Andrew about his responsibility to the ministry. I cried so many happy tears that I’m sure it looked like I never applied makeup that morning! But, oh, the joy of seeing our deacons and my husband gather around him to pray God’s blessing and power for his ministry! My heart was so full of God’s blessings!

How did Andrew get to this place? It was by the impact of a praying mother who had begged God to use her son. By the impact of his faithful pastor while he was growing up. By the impact of a youth pastor who gave him the opportunity to preach when he was a very young man, and to use the gifts that God had put in him. By the impact of a father-in-law and deacons who have encouraged him and welcomed him into their church to serve, to lead and to begin again this process of impacting others as he had experienced for 24 years.

This last photo below is Sunday night. The process of impacting that I just mentioned is evidenced again as Andrew has spent a couple of months pouring into the young teens in the youth group at BCBC. He’s been helping those that wanted to prepare a short message to preach in our Sunday night service. Sunday night was the second service in which we heard young men preach.

You could hear in them the Truths they’d learned from the passage they’d chosen to preach. You could see in them the eagerness to share what they had worked so hard to prepare. You could hear in them the desire to be used of God as they preached. Andrew has had impact in their lives!

Then while this young man was preaching, he was having trouble with his lapel microphone, so my husband went up, and with hands that have hooked up a mic many, many times, he hung it on young “C” so he could be heard. I wonder if God will call this young man to the ministry one day because of the impact of others?

There’s another side to this story that I’ll tell you tomorrow. It’s my story and the work of God when I wondered where He was. I hope you’ll come back then!

Who has had impact on your life, and how are you influencing others?

With love,