Last night when we walked the beach the waves were higher than we’ve seen this week. Sitting at high tide on our favorite wooden box, we watched them crash onto the shoreline.

As I watched the waves come tumbling over and over I wondered what it is like down beneath the waves. I’m no scientist or oceanographer, but I imagine that while the waves are beating here on the surface, out in the middle of the ocean, in the deep water, it is calm beneath the surface. The fish and sea life go on about their business not bothered by the surface waves.

It reminded me that as a Christian there are often things that are troubling “on the surface” of our lives. Financial struggles, relationship problems, job loss, parenting stress, or illness can cause the waves to be stirred up. Yet, because we have an anchor for our soul we can be at peace. We can go about the business of serving the Lord and not be tossed about.

However, unconfessed sin, a lack of faith in the promises of God, or worry (which is a sin) can rob us of that quiet peace. If there are waves instead of calm, read the verses that I’ve linked the words to here. Confess your sin and let the sweetness of God’s peace rule in your heart instead.

The only place you can enjoy waves is when you’re watching it from the beach – don’t live it out in your life today.

While I do business with the Lord and dust off my britches from pitching a “temper tantrum,” how about if you check your maturity level? I trust your results are better than mine!

At our ladies’ retreat a couple weeks ago we offered several different workshops from which the ladies could choose. The one I taught was on multi-tasking. Aside from being reminded that the reason we want to use our time wisely is because our minutes are a gift from God, one important tip I gave the ladies is that of planning a weekly menu. I was surprised to learn that the habit of creating a menu of what they eat each week was a new idea for most. I challenged the ladies to sit down at the beginning of the week and write out a simple menu plan. Why? Because planning out your meals will do four things:

1. It will save you money. It reduces trips to the grocery store and impulsive spending. Using leftovers efficiently cuts food waste, while planned buying in bulk makes it easy to stockpile freezer meals at reduced prices.
2. A menu plan saves time. No dash to the neighbors for a missing ingredient, no frantic searches through the freezer for something, anything to thaw for dinner.
3. A menu plan improves nutrition. Without the daily dash to the supermarket, there’s time to prepare side dishes and salads to complement the main dish, increasing the family’s consumption of fruits and vegetables.
4. A menu also provides better variety. You’ll have time to look through recipes and cookbooks and try new foods rather than getting stuck in the same old grind.

To get started you can use a calendar, or just a piece of paper with the days of the week written at the top. Write down the main course, side dish and/or salad, and dessert you plan on fixing for each day. Look through the sale papers for the local stores and see what’s on sale and plan accordingly. If you see that hamburger and chicken breasts are on sale, this would be the week to make dishes using those meats.

Having your menu for supper planned allows you time to begin working on the meal earlier in the day, rather than waiting until everyone is starved. You can thaw the meat early in the day, or make the salad the night before.

Once you get into the habit of planning out the supper menu you can move on to planning breakfast foods, lunches and snacks. This simple step will save you time and money and it takes less time than you’d imagine.

Do you regularly plan a menu? How has it helped you and your family? What is on your menu for this week?

This weekend found us moving our daughter to college. Whew! Thank the Lord for a mini van!
As she sat in the floor of her room packing the last of her belongings the night before leaving, she got a bit emotional about the transition that was in front of her. I understood – my emotions have been in my throat for a week. I’m so happy for her, yet it’s just unbelievable that this time has come so quickly. I’ve gone back and forth – happy, then melancholy; excited, then fearful.

God knows what we need before we do. Yesterday morning in the church service we attended a song was sung by the choir with the pastor singing the verses as a solo. The song? Consider the Lilies. I love the song; our family has sung it in church with one daughter at the piano, the other on her violin accompanying my husband and me. Remembering us singing it recently made it special. But the words were a sweet reminder that I can trust my God for the care of my younger daughter at college. She’s young, she’s new at college life, but He is aware of where she is and what she needs and I can trust Him – especially when I consider the lilies… Matthew 6:27-29

God also gave me a wise husband who planned for us to get away to the beach after taking our daughter to college. He suggested that we take some vacation time, before going back home. How smart that was! We prayed and the Lord has provided a lovely condo at an extremely reasonable rate. Here’s the view out our patio window…

As I had my devotions recently I read Ecclesiastes 3:1 – “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Immediately the Lord brought to my mind that there is also a purpose for every time. How I long to use this season of my life to honor the Lord. It would be very easy to live for myself now that I have more free time, but I want it to count for eternity. I’m asking the Lord for the purpose of this season, and I pray that this week while we’re away He’ll show me a bit of what that may be.

How wonderful it is to relax after a very busy summer. So for now I’ll rest…and consider the lilies.

As we continue through the end of the story of Abigail we find that she and David are to become man and wife. Surely now her life will be a bed of roses, a piece of cake, life on easy street – right? Wrong. Consider the circumstances of her new marriage:

• She is wife number three!
• For years she had to wander with David’s band of 600 men as a fugitive.
• She had to deal with David’s unbridled passion again when he had an affair with Bathsheba.

No, heartache was not over in this woman’s life.

No matter what stage of life you are in, life is hard, but God is good. In those early years of marriage most couples have nothing. Times are hard, but God is good. During the early years of parenting sleep is limited and peace and quiet is rare. Times are hard, but God is good. When children hit their teen years, the boundaries are stretched, parents are tested. Times are hard, but God is good. Relationship are tested in the home and in the workplace. Times are hard, but God is good. As we grow older our bodies fail, health problems are many, strength is small. Times are hard, but God is good.

A woman can have her wish list and say, “If only I could be married to that man! If I could be married to a man like David, life would be so much better. He’s so much more godly. I’d love to be married to a David. Really? He was a man given to moods and depression. He had women troubles.

There is no trouble-free existence this side of heaven, but God is good. There is a fairy tale ending if you’re a child of God, but it is not here. It’s not now. We must take the long view. Looks towards heaven. If you’re living with a Nabal, know that God will avenge all evil and all evil doers. God will bless and reward you if you wait for Him.

We’re all tempted to play the “if only” game and be discontented with our situation. I remember when our youngest daughter was a toddler, she had the hardest time when supper time came. She would be seated at the table with us, and because she was such an active little person, she grew weary of being seated at the table after only a few minutes. She would begin to swing her legs back and forth as she pleaded to get down so she could go play. After many “issues” at supper I decided to try something. I went ahead and let her get down with the warning that if she didn’t eat her supper she’d have to eat it sometime until it was gone. I’d wrap her plate up and put it in the fridge. Then after she’d been playing outside for a while she’d get hungry, and come inside for a cookie. Mommy warmed up her supper and put it in front of her to eat instead. She’d eat a few bites and go outside. Then a while later, she’d be back inside because she was hungry. The plate was heated again. and again. It wasn’t long before she realized that this meal was better the first time it was put before her, and that she’d better eat then go play. She understood in her small way that Mommy had given her something good to be enjoyed the first time it was placed before her.

We laugh at a child’s ability to manipulate to get their way when they don’t like what’s been given to them, but we do the very same thing. We become discontented with our house and begin “swinging our legs” and whining how we’d like a bigger one. We see another man who seems a better husband than our own and wish we could have one like him instead! In the midst of a trial, we want out, and begin to wail for our scenery to be changed. Our good God has given us what He knew was best, but we are discontent.

Contentment is being satisfied with one’s position, status, or situation. It is the sweet inward quiet, gracious frame of spirit which freely submits to God’s wise and Fatherly disposal in every condition. What situation or thing in your life finds you discontented? What makes you swing your legs and the table and cry to be excused?

Philippians 4:11 and 12 are very familiar verses to us. Paul is writing about contentment from a prison cell! He says in verse 11 that he has learned to be content. The word, learned, means that he learned by experience. He didn’t automatically have contentment the moment he was saved, he had to go through many difficult experiences in life in order to learn to be content. Then in verse 12 he says that he is instructed to be full and to suffer hunger, to abound and suffer need. The word, instructed, means something different than the word learned in verse 11. It means to be initiated into the secret. Through trial and testing, Paul was initiated into the wonderful secret of contentment in spite of poverty or prosperity. Where did he get this? In the secret place. Psalm 91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. When Paul was in a place that was hard to accept, he took it to the Throne of Grace and prayed about it. This is the only place where you and I will learn to be content. What is it that you’re struggling with? Take it to the Throne. Make it a matter of prayer. Only then will you learn to accept it as Paul accepted his imprisonment, hunger and suffering.

In the Secret of His Presence

In the secret of His presence

How my soul delights to hide.

Oh how precious are the lessons

that 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!

I tell him all my doubts,

my griefs, my fears,

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 told me of the sins which He doth see.

Would you like to know the secret

of the presence of the Lord?

Come and rest beneath His shadow,

this shall then be your reward.

And when ‘er you leave the presence

of that happy meeting place,

You will surely bear the image

of the Master in your face!

–Ellen Goseth

As you continue to deal the fool in your life what do you do now?

You learn to wait. You endure hardship and suffering (not ever physical suffering – get out of a physically abusive situation and find safety and help!).

You learn wisdom.

You take the long view. Remember your life is bundled up in the Lord our God. In the long run God will take vengeance.

You let God use your life to influence Nabals and Davids. On the front end you don’t know who’s a Nabal and who’s a David. God had a plan for Nabal’s life and he used Abigail to bring that about. Her responsibility was to be this godly influence. How they responded was up to them – not her! We need godly, wise, biblical women today.

Why is this story of Abigail in our Bible? Romans 15:4 Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience, and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. There is hope for your Nabal. There is hope for your situation. Remember Abigail and be comforted.