Find refreshment for your heart, home and life
Being in the presence of a man who is dying and yet is still rejoicing in his spirit is worthy of mental note-taking.
Just last week my husband and I had the blessing of visiting the founder of The Wilds Christian Camp, Dr. Ken Hay, known to most as “Doc.” He was in hospice care after all had been done to help him, yet his body continued to decline. Continue reading “Lessons in a Hospice Room”
Death. I’ve been thinking about it a good bit in the last week or so. It isn’t something most of us like to talk about or dwell on, but because we live, we have to face that fact that unless Christ comes first (and we’re all praying He will!), we will all die.
Ecclesiastes 9:5
For the living know that they shall die:
In recent days, I’ve heard about or witnessed the death of acquaintances. Their departures, like their lives, were totally different. Both were believers and had Continue reading “Thinking About Dying”
2019, Here We Come!!
There are a ton of questions we could ask ourselves as we approach a new year. Some of the old standard questions are still excellent ones, but I’ve been pondering just two in the last couple of weeks. Ready?
I think those two simple questions will really encompass all those other goals, needs, and relationships we want to make better this coming year. It covers the priorities and the people we love, as well as the habits and idols we need to rid from our lives.
When I asked myself those two questions, here’s what pierced my heart ~
What do I wish I had done more of in 2018?
What do I wish I had done less of in 2018?
Both lists have other bullets, but these are the crucial ones, ones I’m taking to the Lord in prayer as I begin a new year. One prayer I repeat over and over is,
Lord, I want my life to count for You.
I believe if I do more of what’s right and less of what’s keeping me idle, my life can count for Christ.
Oh that I may say like Paul, For me to live is Christ… Philippians 1:21
So, how would you answer those two questions? Perhaps they can guide you as you ponder how the Lord would want you to live this next year as He grants us the breath to do so. James 4:15
Refresh yourself in this new year!
Hi friends! I’m back! To you perhaps I was only gone yesterday, but I’ve been away for a week and a half. We had family vacation that was such a precious time, and I might also add, very needed. We tend to go at break-neck speed, so getting out of town to rest and refresh is truly critical for ministry families (and I’m sure every other family!!). We got to spend those days at the ocean. Here’s a totally unedited picture of the sunrise on our last day there…
That was well worth getting up early to see!
I was amazed that there were a few people walking away from the sunrise that morning instead of towards it! Why would you turn your back on something so beautiful? I couldn’t understand that one!
We got home from vacation on Sunday and while we were unpacking the car, we learned that a dear man in our church had been taken to the hospital. We dropped everything and went to spend the evening with him and his daughter. He’s a precious member of our church and truly like family to us. We went to the hospital, not watching the clock, but his face, and also his chest rising slowly with each deliberate breath. This event changed everything his week would have looked like. Instead of being in the comfort of his home, he was being poked and probed, and was now confined to a small room with beeping machines and IV drips that allowed him to sleep. It seems that his day to leave this world is imminent. Scripture tells us…
It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this, the judgment. Hebrews 9:27
I visited him in his hospital room again yesterday. As I drove home later in the day, I thought about all the people passing by me in their cars, scurrying here and there, sure they’re going to have tomorrow, making plans as though they’ll live forever. Some are ignoring God and His call to trust Christ for salvation. They assume that this thing of dying is far off. They are like the people on the beach who were walking away from the sunrise, ignoring the fact and the beauty that was just behind them.
These moments are appointed to each of us. If Christ doesn’t return first, we will each die. We will each have a change in the plans we were making for that day. Do you understand that death can be, not just a fact, but a beautiful thing? Oh the process can be ugly and hard, but the end result of death is seen in this verse as being precious…
Psalm 115:16 – Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.
Psalm 23 reminds us that death is only a shadow, and a shadow cannot hurt you. For our dear friend, when he takes his last breath here, he will open His eyes in heaven.
Absent from the body present with the Lord! II Corinthians 5:6
He has this assurance because He received Christ as His Savior for His sins. He trusted in what Christ did for him on the cross and those truths make dying beautiful. Our friend’s death, whenever it happens, has reminded me that death is like that sunrise – it will happen, and I can look forward to it and see the beauty in it.
Are you turning your back on the reality of death? If you’re afraid, is it because you don’t have an assurance of eternity with the Lord? Trust Him today to save you and receive the joy of walking with Him here, and having the comfort of a beautiful meeting in heaven One Day!
Yesterday was a challenging day in my 4’9″ world! When I ran into the grocery to buy a container of sour cream, it was inside a cooler refrigerator on the TOP shelf…and the front of the box was empty! That meant I had to R-E-A-C-H on my tip toes, pull the box forward and hope that a sour cream container in the back would slide into my hand.
It worked!
Then on to look at some fresh flowers. On the TOP shelf was a pot of greenery I was interested in. Using my resourceful short-person-skills, I got as tall as I could, pulled the green stem towards me and then the rest of the pot followed behind. Mission accomplished.
I left the store and moved on to do some decorating at church. When I got up to the storage place where our spring wreaths were hung, they were hanging as high as they could be, dangling from nails like a loose tooth in a kindergartner’s mouth. No amount of stretching was going to get those wreaths down! I looked around me for something long, and found a piece of metal that I knew would do the trick. I slid the metal under the top part of the wreath, lifted it and then lowered it into my waiting hands.
As I thought back to each of those scenarios, I remembered that I had been offered help in each of those situations, but it came at the wrong time. This short lady had already made her move and gotten the job taken care of!
All these efforts reminded me of a truth connected to Good Friday. This is a day that reminds us of the death of Christ on the cross. He died to take our place, paying in full the payment due our sins. Before He died he uttered,
It is finished.
You see, He did everything necessary for us to be forgiven and to give to us eternal life. Nothing is left for us to complete in order to gain salvation. It was all done on the cross by the Lord Jesus.
Just as I refused the help from those who offered to assist me, people often ignore Christ’s perfect solution to their sin problem. Many ignore His plea to take care of their sin debt, and reach up on tip toes for their best efforts – good works, humanitarian deeds or kind acts, thinking that will allow them to reach up to God’s high standard. But their efforts are far less fruitful than a short person’s attempts to grasp out-of-reach items. They will never attain God’s standard because it is holiness. Only Christ was without sin. He alone could reach what is necessary for us to be forgiven. And when He steps in, He is always on time.
If you’ve never accepted His sacrifice for your sin, stop trying to step in with your best efforts, and realize that He’s done it all. Your salvation is complete. All you have to do is receive what has been accomplished on your behalf by acknowledging your sinfulness, and your need for Christ. Then turn your back on your sin and receive Him.
Because of Him salvation is at hand!
Rejoicing in Good Friday and Easter morning,
RefreshHer 