Lost keys. Lost
phone. Lost anything. How do you rejoice when the lost is
found? Last month my study group visited
some precious children. We arrived with scissors,
glue, yarn, buttons, socks, and plenty of plastic wiggly eyes, all for
constructing puppets for these sweet ones with disabilities. Accessible for both
ambulatory and wheelchair-bound, our craft area donned huge smiles to welcome these preschoolers. I brought my cardboard theater and some extra
puppets in case anyone wanted to play puppeteer while today’s glue still dried, and indeed glee displayed when these
young ones danced their puppets at the cardboard window. A wonderfully joyful day all-around. Later returning home, I realized 4 of my finger
puppets were missing: a rabbit, a frog, a
lion, and an elephant. No sign of them in
my cart, nor in my bag. If somehow they
remained on the table at the children’s center, I asked the Lord to use them to entertain again and again. In
case they were lost somewhere else, I asked Him to reveal them to me. As weeks passed, I almost forgot about them, until last Wednesday when I lifted a pair of black pants off the clothes hanger. There in the right-hand pocket were a rabbit,
a frog, and an elephant. Stepping back into the closet, I found the lion on the floor. And, oh, how my
heart quickened to remember my prayer. Certainly on the surface nothing seemed too significant about 4 miniature puppets made of ordinary fabric. Yet the Lord used the ordinary to remind me
how extraordinarily He hears and listens to the voices of His children. How personal and detailed He is with us. So I want to celebrate with Him first, before sharing with any family or friend. And to celebrate as He does, I need His compassion. Luke 15 explains that compassion leads the Lord to celebrate in abundance. With a feast and a robe, He welcomes and rejoices for the lost being found, the dead coming alive. So I ask Him to impart to us His compassion, as my newly found puppets remind me. May we receive and carry forward in joy.
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Monday, November 13, 2017
Russian radio thrill
I
almost didn’t recognize the moment. Over
the radio in the car, I heard “How Great Is Our God,” though I’d heard it lots of
times before. Passion’s world edition melts my heart every time, yet I’ve never really
tried to understand any of the languages other than English and Spanish, just
assuming they were out of my reach. Then
suddenly I caught a vague recognition of two words. “Did he say ‘Наш Бог’?” Such a
thrill to even hope that my study of Russian was translating into real life. Arriving home, I pulled
up YouTube, and yes, the singer says “Наш Бог так
велик,”
which means ‘How great is our God.' Well, this is huge news for me. This
is so big that my heart can hardly handle the blessing.
When any of us follows the Lord into something, our eyes are open wide
for His leading. We watch closely for Him to cue our next step. I knew the Lord
wouldn’t leave me stranded, but I also didn’t know how the details of learning
Russian would live out. So these
moments found my heart leaping into praise of how He was so sweetly encouraging me to keep studying. Certainly He has guided me all along. Certainly He tuned my ears to the lyrics today when
ordinarily they would’ve tuned out.
Psalm 147:6 tells us, “The Lord sustains the humble . . .” And I am overjoyed and thankful and trusting of Him all the more to sustain me along His path. May you too be blessed in seeing Him at work in your life.
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Attention: Shoppers
How do you feel about giving gifts? For me, it’s something I love. It's also something that stresses me out. Two weeks ago my husband and I stared down the task of preparing 16 gifts. Though part
of our family draws names for Christmas so that each adult gives only one gift,
we still had a slew of birthdays to celebrate.
So I prayed, “Lord, show me through. Lead me in this.” After all, Christ tells us to not
worry about our life and what we will eat, drink, and wear. In Matthew 6:33, He says, “But seek first
his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as
well.” In case my family reads this, I won't give names of stores, but here’s the gist of what happened after I prayed. On a Wednesday in the course of
my usual day at a hospital, I stopped at a small shop. To my surprise, I found 3 gifts. The next day en route to visiting some
pediatric patients, I came upon another small shop and happily found 2 more
gifts. Friday evening on a shopping trip
with my husband, we found still 3 more, plus we ordered
1 from a bookstore due to a recent email ad I consider divinely inspired. Then Saturday we found the remaining 7, all conveniently located in 1 store. Add everything together, and within 4 days the Lord had pointed us to 16 gifts with very
little effort outside the regular day. Especially for anyone who stresses over gift-buying, this is an astonishing feat. I kept hearing my own voice rattling in the air because it’s difficult to
keep quiet when every bone in your body is utterly amazed.
In awe I stood and sat and knelt to pray, practically fidgety and unable to contain the
joy. It's an experience I love to relive, and so I pray for you too. May the Lord give you His almost inexplicable joy for
experiencing His presence.
Monday, October 2, 2017
Flood of Russian reassurance
For almost 2 years, the idea to learn Russian has stayed with
me. I haven’t known why exactly, except
that when meeting Holocaust Survivors in 2015, the Lord gave me a deep love for
them. And they spoke Russian. So as part of loving and serving them, it
seems natural to want to share in their language. And as I’ve prayed for the Lord to guide me, He’s recently revealed a couple of things. He showed my husband and me to return to the Survivors
in Israel in February. He also introduced me to some
delightful new friends, reminding me to not become so focused on
any one future event that I lose sight of blessings along the road. When taking a local community education
class, I met someone for whom I’m so grateful because she continues even
now to teach me more of the language. Through italki.com, I met Russian-speakers via Skype who also are helping me learn. And in both instances, these acquaintances have become friendships and have brought blessings beyond language. There’s been
opportunity to learn about life in other parts of the world and pray for these
new friends and share the name of Christ. How sweet is that! And still as I’ve
been tempted to feel frustrated at learning the language so slowly, the Lord
set my ears to the song “Flood the Earth.” Just imagining His glory and power pushing
out darkness and fear and pain, as the lyrics say, I suddenly focus more on the pleasure of His larger purposes and less on any difficulty of learning
a single language. The Lord will indeed accomplish His purposes. There's no thwarting that. In whatever way He chooses to use the Russian language with me and the Survivors, with these
new friends, with whomever else, He will supernaturally make it happen. My job is to diligently seek Him. Philippians
1:6 tell us, “. . . he who began a good work in you will carry it on to
completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
And it is there that you and I can be thankful to find peace in the Lord's love.
Friday, September 8, 2017
Self-doubt & hospice
Ever wonder about your purpose in life? Does the thought ever hit you, “What am I
doing?” or “How did I get here?”
Sometimes it helps to retrace my steps.
Four months ago, I began volunteering with hospice. I loved the idea from the start, but once
finally meeting my patients, a day came that I suddenly panicked. My confidence vanished. I lacked any solid sense of how to greet and
lead conversation. Questions of self-doubt crept in. Yet I remembered praying long before. Before
answering that VolunteerMatch inquiry, before completing that very lengthy
volunteer application, before consenting to a background check, before driving
to meet my volunteer coordinator for the first time, I asked the Lord to guide any decisions about where I should be. And to recall that sequence of events,
recognizing again that it was all predicated on prayer, helped to reassure me that I
was in the right place. Coming to mind
also was Matthew 10:19, which tells us, “. . . do not worry about what to say
or how to say it. At that time you will
be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your
Father speaking through you.” Even
though Jesus spoke these words to the apostles about circumstances of arrest, I
trust the message translates to other settings.
In my situation of hospice, indeed the Lord provided. He supplied joy in visiting my patients,
inspiring me with words to say and songs to sing, refreshing me with new amazement for seeing Him at work. So when you next sense any self-doubt approaching, may you trust in His word. May you seek His deliverance, knowing He saves us once unto eternity, yet He saves
us over and over for His daily purposes on this earth.
Friday, August 18, 2017
Hospital's inquisitive boy
“He’s cool! I wanna get
my degree and be a PT!” Those words I
heard from an adventurous boy. Evidently
his grandfather’s physical therapist made a favorable impression. And while not every seventh-grader would appear
undaunted in a large medical facility, this boy was actually enjoying the
hospital’s open roads. Navigating the elevators and making trips
to the lobby and onward to the gift shop, even asking me directly about my role
as a volunteer, he queried with earnest interest, “Are you here every day?” I answered, “Just one day a week here, but I
volunteer at other places too.” I
mentioned how he could become a volunteer as a high school student in just 2
years, adding “My daughter even found a job at a hospital by volunteering
first. You can volunteer at all kinds of
places, in the day and at night. My
husband and I had fun volunteering at a music festival recently, and then we
got concert tickets for free.” With
that, his eyes bounced wide with excitement, saying “I wanna do that!” I continued, “I pray for the Lord to lead me
each day. I ask Him to lead me where to
be, what to do, what to say. He makes
the connections. He takes care of
everything.” Then we paused. “Do you know Jesus?” I inquired. And the boy nodded his head affirmatively. It was an intriguing conversation and such a
highlight of the day for me. First Peter 3:15
tells us, “. . . Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you
to give the reason for the hope that you have. . .” In this case, how amazingly did the Lord connect
an inquisitive boy and a hospital volunteer to encourage them both in His name.
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Beyond jams & jellies at Central Market
Last month my husband and I shopped at Central Market. There’s only one of its kind in San Antonio,
and I hoped to finally find unsweetened carob as a noncaffeine substitute for
chocolate. Glad to say, we found
it. Even better, we approached their
tasting area for jams and jellies, and lo and behold, I heard a familiar
voice. It’s a friend we hadn’t seen in
many months, and how I loved the surprise of seeing him today! He lives not too far, and the bus delivers
him right in front of the market. Such
fun to talk, but then after probably 20 minutes we parted ways, and I gave him
our phone number again, just in case.
Days passed, and weeks passed, and then he called me about something
totally different, inquiring as to whether I’d be interested in helping him
teach English classes. He planned for lessons
to begin with Bible study in Spanish, then we’d choose particular words from
the verses to translate into English, and then we’d add vocabulary to
build sentences and practice pronunciation all along the way. He had recently received requests for English
classes, and the whole idea sounded so exciting that I almost forgot to ask the
Lord. So I paused and prayed, not
wanting to jump into a new endeavor on my own, and in a few days I called our
friend to accept his invitation. He asked
about my husband bringing his guitar for some coritos, and the very next Sunday evening, we loaded our Bibles, the
guitar, and our bilingual songsheets, and we’ve been blessed ever since. Our students have become our new friends. And how I’m humbled to realize I had nothing
to do with creating these sweet circumstances.
All we did was walk into a store, presuming our only purpose was to find
unsweetened carob. Jesus says in John 3:21,
“But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen
plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” Thank you, Lord, for enlightening me this
day.
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Patient Puppetry: Plan B
I wondered how this trip to the hospital would play out. My puppet partner was still out of town, and I’d
been praying. With a loose idea of how to
adapt our puppet script, I left our usual cardboard theater at home and this
time would enter the puppets from around a corner in the hospital playroom. I’d tell some silly jokes, such as “What’s
the best way to keep dogs out of the streets?” (Answer: Put them in a barking lot.) I’d also change puppets frequently, making exaggerated
entrances like “E-x-c-u-u-u-s-e m-e,” then asking a laughable question to encourage
kids to smile. Because we never know
exactly who'll attend our puppet shows, whether teenagers, toddlers, or even
adults, our need for flexibility rates high. And I had
asked the Lord to impart His selection of songs for us and tailor the whole occasion for
the sake of any and all who would come. Sometimes
I caught myself smiling days ahead, just imagining the fun of interacting with
these children. So when Thursday came, I
happily packed my cart for the hospital.
Turns out the playroom that day held extra volunteers who welcomed me in. Eventually we greeted parents, grandparents, nurses, therapists, and a chaplain who joined our quite lively
group of young patients. Only "Jesus Loves the Little Children" from our
regular sing-a-longs made the lineup that afternoon, as a very kind volunteer wholly
adopted the new role of puppet front man, practically emceeing the whole
routine. To hear the kids chuckle and
realize the Lord supplying them enjoyment, even in the midst of medical heartache,
was truly a thrill for me. To witness
the Lord orchestrating words and timing among volunteers was awe-inspiring. Indeed He had
prompted my heart to make this trip, and along the way He supplied everything
necessary to carry it out. Philippians
4:19 says, “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious
riches in Christ Jesus.” Amen.
Saturday, July 1, 2017
From the playground to the cedar cross
An awesome thing has lingered with me for weeks. It started with a simple drive past an
elementary school. I’d passed this
school before and really didn’t pay much attention until my friend and I were
praying. We met farther down the road at
a large cedar cross on the property of her church. Praying outside, we’d become accustomed to ant
bites and mosquitoes and San Antonio’s extreme heat, yet this time something
new floated in the air: the voices of
the children from the school. And the
voices stirred new thought. I wondered, “If
the children's playground voices floated to us, then to where and to whom were our voices floating?” Who else was hearing the name of Christ that
we spoke in prayer? Whom all might the
Lord be inspiring here? This was
wonderfully exciting. And entirely
possible. And it fit right alongside
other inclinations I’d had about taking the church into the world, stepping outside
the walls of the church building and into the streets, into the businesses,
into the open spaces where people roam. In Mark 16:15, Jesus says, “Go into all the
world and preach the good news to all creation.” I trust He knew we’d tend to isolate
ourselves. So He gave the instruction, and it’s time to move beyond our walls and privacy fences. I pray for Him to give us His love of
people and fill us with His joy.
Saturday, June 17, 2017
Tendrils of the vine
This vine in my backyard has become my teacher. It’s a passion flower vine with a beautiful
purple blossom, yet it’s the way its tendrils reach out that has me intrigued. Like human arms, these thin, green strands extend toward the
nearest slat of the fence, illustrating a
treasured lesson of faith. My husband
crisscrossed some string at the corner of the yard to serve as a trellis,
and with remarkable grasp, these tendrils have spun around it fast and snug. Seeming to travel whole inches
in a day, they’ve caused me to wonder, “If I stared for an hour, would I witness
the tendrils actually in motion?” Then
too, their strength intrigues me, for when heavy rain poured a
few weeks ago, this vine didn’t budge. Not
one tendril unleashed from any string or any slat of the fence, and quickly I
questioned, “What if I clung to the Lord like these tendrils cling? What if I held so closely to the Lord that no
storm, no temptation of any size could set me asunder?” In John 15:5, Jesus says, “I am the vine; you
are the branches. If a man remains in me
and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” I’m reminded of limitless spiritual opportunity that comes with clinging to the Lord. He is our absolute sustenance. Again this morning I eagerly visited our
vine, noticing many buds soon to blossom. Yet
it’s the tenacity of the tendrils that sets the array of these purple beauties.
Sunday, May 28, 2017
Lone sheep
In Luke 15, Jesus tells a parable. He poses the scenario of a shepherd and his flock of 100. The shepherd loses 1 sheep, and Jesus asks the crowd to consider how they as shepherds would respond. Will the shepherd remain in the field with the 99, or go search for the 1? As readers today, we think this through, and in my course of personal decision-making, I realize my heart rushing to the lost sheep. My head conjures an
image of an animal panicked and prone to self-harm. So readily do I identify with this sheep that I know my answer to Christ’s question has to be to leave
the 99. I know firsthand this sheep’s mental
anguish. Imagining it drifting
toward danger and baa-ing to plead its desperation, I sympathize with its emotional exhaustion, for clearly I have wandered my
own treacherous field. It’s
really the both of us needing a shepherd.
And Jesus proceeds to describe a shepherd who searches to the point of
finding his sheep and lovingly putting it on his shoulders to carry home. So now my perspective shifts from the sheep to the shepherd, and I'm humbled by
a flood of introspective questions.
How well do I care for the sheep that the Lord entrusts to me? Do I comfort those who appear
nervous? Do I take time to search out those missing? Am I willing to sacrifice myself for their sake? These opening verses inspire many lessons, and ultimately our Shepherd calls us to seek Him, to pray, to follow. I’m so
thankful to be in Christ's flock.
Saturday, May 13, 2017
Girls Like Us
How do you respond when something peculiar happens? Do you slough it off and say “Oh, well”? Do you just move on? Or do you smirk and get mad and beleaguer the
circumstances because they just don’t make sense? In my case, I kind of shook my head and wondered. I never imagined 4 years ago how the Lord
would use a book I read. My friend
handed me Girls Like Us: Fighting for a
World Where Girls Are Not for Sale. I
read it and took notes, pondering later, “Why did I do that? I set out to read, not write. Why did I spend extra time taking notes as if
I were going to teach this book?” I couldn’t
remember consciously making the decision, yet it happened, and then over years I forgot about it. Fast forward to 2017, and I’m praying for the
Lord to guide the selection of a new teaching resource for a class. So far no book titles seem to fit. None seems to bring peace to my heart, until
I sort through my teaching bag another time and find Girls Like Us. And there my old
notes call out, “Yes, teach!” Of
course, the Lord in His omniscience knew 4 years ago that I’d be working today with precious women
who have endured abuse. He in His
infinite wisdom had prepared me while I was unaware. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “‘For I know the plans I
have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.’” And
yet as I've seen Him provide for my future repeatedly, I'm amazed each time. We pray to be in His will and follow Him for
the day, yet a day can affect unto years.
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Cyrillic sheep pen
“Lord, how should I teach this? What visual tool could I bring?” That’s how I started praying. Later discerning to bring wooden blocks to
illustrate the lesson, I had 2 options. First, my Russian alphabet blocks. Second, our Jenga blocks. The next morning while packing my teaching bag, I prayed again and
opted to toss in the Russian ones that have Cyrillic letters and words
imprinted. Our study topic was John 10,
and we would build a sheep pen with these blocks, highlighting Christ as the Good Shepherd who lays down His life to save us, the sheep. Indeed it was an inspiring treasure of a lesson the
Lord gave. Even afterward He continued
to bless as my co-leader helped repack my bag to go home. She inquired about my Russian blocks, saying,
“My boyfriend has learned some
Russian.” And right there, my whole body
halted because almost never have I heard that comment in San Antonio, which by far speaks mostly Spanish and English.
The distinctly single occasion when I heard that comment was in our little
church coffee shop several months prior.
And then as I realized my co-leader is close in age to the person in the coffee shop who spoke
those same words, a warmth of wonder began to
wash over me. In slow motion I turned to ask my co-leader the
name of her boyfriend. And oh, wow! Yes, her boyfriend is our church drummer! How crazy fun is that! All the way home, and actually for days, I
floated on that fun. Had I not brought
the Russian blocks, we wouldn’t have discovered this tremendous tidbit because there’s nothing
about Jenga blocks to draw the same discussion. Humbling all the more is the fact that I still don’t have it all figured out as
to where this study of Russian is going for me, though blessings like this certainly add excitement to the task. As
children of God, we pray and trust and proceed, sometimes without knowing exact outcomes and reasons. In this case, the Lord’s answer for a teaching tool brought joy
far wider than I could’ve imagined.
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Prayer for a song
One Friday, my friend prayed, “Lord, if it
would please You, would you have Linda bring ‘Give Me Jesus’ tomorrow?” My precious friend simply asked for a song. The
next morning, about 50 of us gathered from different parts of the city, both
near and far. Food had been purchased and carefully apportioned into brown paper bags, just eager to supply for anyone’s need. Clothes had been
donated, now hung on the racks and placed neatly on the shelves. Among givers and recipients, we awaited
the Holy Spirit to unite us. Guests signed
in. Smiles were offered, with prayers ascending all the while. My husband lifted his guitar from the case and strummed his first chord. I can’t say my voice sang too well because I’ve
been dealing with a throat problem, but my heart surely sang. As we came upon "Give Me Jesus," I felt my heart
leap. To look into my friend’s eyes, having learned that she’d prayed for us to bring it, my heart and my whole body felt wonderfully full. Remembering how my husband and I sat on the
couch the night before and selected songs, completely unaware of our friend's prayer at the time, I realized the Lord was uniting giver and recipient then too. Such thrill and such humility washes over. His gifts are simple, yet immense. And my
blessing in all this was even somewhat tangential to my friend’s initial prayer. James 1:17 says, “Every
good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the
heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” Thank you, Lord.
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Intravenous puppetry
My, oh my, how Christ loves children! I’d been praying about our next puppet trip
to the hospital, and the idea recurred to make a cardboard theater. I found a scrap piece of cardboard, sprayed it with some old white paint, and tried
cutting out a puppet window and gluing down some leftover red ribbon as trim. A gray remnant of fabric and a piece of doweling lying waste in the garage provided
for the theater's curtain. Days
passed, I continued praying, and one Saturday at dinner, some friends showed me photos of some very inventive spoon puppets. Now
I’m all keen on getting home to see if I still have that old wooden spoon I never
use! My new puppet partner made us some
medical puppets with popsicle-stick handles, plus we still had the bigger
puppets I sewed last year, and for music we now had an extra flute that another friend gave
me. Also
we have a Little Red Riding Hood doll trio on loan from a friend from
church. So this trip to the hospital was
looking a bit different than previous.
Many people we loved meeting in the hospital hallways, and some for only short periods in the
playroom, yet there was one little girl who stayed with us the whole time. It’s
with her that I saw the Lord illustrating His love in detail. Only He could know the pleasures of this little girl's heart and prepare us accordingly.
At first, she sat quiet and watched puppets appear one by one. She grinned when we sang and eventually giggled
and asked to strum the ukulele and hold our extra flute. Then this tiny voice piped up to announce she
wanted to be puppeteer, so we made room for her IV to roll alongside her behind the
theater, and lo and behold, she donned a smile signaling new command of the
playroom! Puppets found new voice and
new dance, and as she designed her own paper bag puppet, I marveled at the
extent to which the Lord provided for this little girl. She remembered most all of our
puppets’ names and took special fancy to our new spoons Paul and Cindy. And from
our collection of medical puppets, she had a fondness for the puppet with his own IV, which perfectly matched her own. In Mark 10:14, Jesus says, “Let the little
children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to
such as these.” And so I thank the Lord for His capacities to see far and wide and to love to great extents. This day we invited our guests to each draw a picture on our
cardboard theater, and they sent us home with a souvenir we treasure. Thank you, Lord, for answering our prayer to
prepare the way.
Friday, February 24, 2017
Drenched & detoured
Have you ever experienced something just too
unusual to be human? Maybe some sort of
remarkable timing that made you pinch yourself to see if it's real? One Saturday in December, we awoke to
that very thing. The alarm buzzed at
6:30, and we grabbed the guitar, our music, and a couple of granola bars to
hop in the car. Without news of the extent
of the night’s rainfall, we knew nothing about road closures. From the highway, we saw lower roads with cars
stranded. We ran into flashing lights
and road blocks, and when we hit a major detour, I highly suspected we’d
be late for music. Possibly too, we might be
absent entirely. And my heart sank to
imagine the precious faces of people we'd miss:
friends and guests who give and receive food, clothes, and the love of the Lord. But along this detour, I
started remembering driving this way once to a funeral. I recalled no low sections of road that would
flood, so my mind sighed in relief, though we soon encountered a train, but there the Lord
reminded us of another alternate route we’d taken to a different funeral. Now I'm smiling huge to realize we weren't going to be late for music after all! Quite amazing, really. Considering our
trek was across the city, from far north to north central to east side, we were amazed at how the Lord directed traffic in our favor. And as my heart bubbled in glee, I kept realizing
more. While praying 2 days before, I felt inclined to prepare Rita Springer’s song “I Have to Believe.” I charted the chords and loaded the piano Friday
night, and now it’s crossing my mind
that if indeed the Lord imparted that song for today, then actually no amount of torrential
rain could've ever thwarted the singing of it, meaning that the night's rain was
never really a deterrent but maybe just twisted into temptation for us to lose
focus. Still too, there was the added
blessing of remembering I didn’t even have this piano till 2 years ago
when a friend said the Lord inclined her to give it to me from her
grandson. How sweet is that! I felt wonderfully saturated in
blessing, just immensely loved in the details. I stood in awe of how the
Lord set our sequence of events in motion, drawing from our travel on these detoured roads in years past, yet purposing for a song today. Even toward the importance of attending
funerals, I felt a nudge of encouragement. Second
Corinthians 3:5 tells us, “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim
anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.” And so may you too experience the joy of seeing the Lord
at work around you. So precise is His orchestration. You’re in my prayers.
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Feverish feline
How does anything so sweet and cuddly have such capacity to
draw ire? A couple of weeks ago, I wondered. We had one feverish
feline, namely Sawyer, who had endless energy he didn't know how to
use. First he darted, then he climbed, then he sped down the hallway in
chase of his sister. Seeking bookshelves, chairs, tables, cabinets—almost
anything fit in his path. And while this athletic cat slowed
occasionally for me to pet him, he quickly fell back into race car mode,
hovering fast and low to the carpet. And none of that was a problem really.
In fact, watching him plot to ambush Sally from around the couch made me laugh.
But the frustration began when his eyes changed. His whole body tensed up.
Anxiety shifted back and forth in his eyes, and he reached up the arm of the couch to plunge
in his front claws, but as he clutched the tweed, I stepped in, and he twisted
up, over, and away. From bedroom to living room to hallway and back, his
wheels kept spinning, and whenever I glanced away the slightest bit, his claws
took new aim. Finally in defense of our furniture I was angry and scooped
him up to put him in the garage. But I felt sad for doing it. Soon I thought differently, and I picked him up to pray. Not only did he frustrate me, but he was uneasy inside himself.
“Lord, may Your peace wash over this cat. I ask You to calm him from the inside.”
And what ensued was quite amazing. Sawyer actually rested in my arms.
His body relaxed. His eyes quit bouncing side to side. I set him on
a favorite blanket atop the couch, and he stayed still. I kept staring at him,
though unsure why exactly, except to realize my own near-disbelief at seeing the stark
change in his countenance. First Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us, “Be
joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is
God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” And so this day, my praying over
Sawyer was part of my praying continually. How I love the Lord for being
present in the details of the day. Any problem is never ours alone. May you be
blessed to invite Him into your circumstances.
Friday, January 13, 2017
Learn Russian? - Part 2
Learn Russian? That was my question in this blog last April. I had a desire to learn the language but didn’t know why. So I kept asking the Lord. Local library books weren’t plentiful. YouTube helped with pieces. I tried where I knew, but progress was slow. One day searching for anything Russian in San Antonio, I learned about Sasha’s European Market and stopped by to ask if anyone gave language lessons. My best bet, as I was told, was to enroll for 8 lessons with NEISD’s Community Education program. This past fall they offered the course, and I loved it. Yet approaching the last class, I still pondered my purpose. Then soon I learned about a Russian nurse at my hospital. Cartwheels started turning in my heart, just beaming with blessing, just imagining and hoping to really use what I'd learned. Finally I met her, and she said, “ЗДРАВСТВУЙТЕ,” which sounds like [zdravstvyuti]. I was speechless, in a good way. My learning on paper suddenly became real life, and though my brain understood, my tongue suffered initial paralysis. Then recovering, another thought came. I should inquire of my friend in Israel who introduced us to the Russian Holocaust Survivors. Would she have any use for my beginning Russian? And oh, did she! She posed the idea of making greeting cards for the Survivors, and again the cartwheels came. Yes! I can do this! How will I find a font for the Cyrillic alphabet to make these cards? I didn’t know, but the idea sure seemed workable. Just this week I prayed through that task, making good strides with my husband’s help, realizing it's the Lord ultimately connecting all the dots. Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” A new realm of amazement. To watch Him work refreshes the day like nothing else.
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