Magical answer in Esther's whirlwind

Ever wonder why you’re not seeing God’s answer to your prayer?  How does He choose when to reveal His answers?  Recently I sensed the Lord leading me to share the story of Esther at a local shelter.  Not knowing how many would attend or which ages, I wrote a script to touch on all of Esther’s 10 chapters in the Bible.  Performance would run maybe 30 minutes, for ages young and old, adding intermittent piano and simple props for fun along the way.  Sort of a musical storytelling with audience participation.  My friend and I set up shop in the shelter’s little library, happy to receive our first guests who happened to be preschoolers.  The clock hit 3:00, so we began, but soon came middle-schoolers, quickly followed by elementary and possibly high school students.  Suddenly our house was full and active, quite robust, to say the least, and we restarted the story to accommodate the new group.  More of a stand-up storytelling than a sit-down this time.  Our first actors smiled to wear their yellow construction paper crowns, and they made a handsome king and queen, complete with a royal scepter made from a toy Star Wars saber.  Children took turns with plastic play food at our pretend banquets, and as the piano accompanied with light and dark musical tones, they tuned into the good and bad turns of Esther’s story.  Quite remarkable was the attention that some of the older children kept in the midst of it all, listening and thinking to consider the ways of Esther and Mordecai in their own lives and focusing to answer my questions about fasting and bravery in making decisions.  Our time together required all my energy, yet amazingly the Lord held us and carried us forward.  Afterward returning home and unloading the car, I opened the box for the ukulele I’d taken for the story’s celebration of Purim. I saw something that left me stunned.  Inside the box was a little red plastic ball for which I’d prayed about 9 months ago.  The fact that the Lord revealed it now simply caught me unexpected, refreshing me and quenching my thirst in the whirl of the day, encouraging me too to continue following Him through whirlwinds and all.  This red ball plays a key part in a favorite magic trick, and I’d lost it one day in the hospital while providing puppets for children.  Now more fun can be had with the disappearing-ball-in-the-vase trick.  Thank you, Lord.  His timing is perfect because He knows our personalities and emotions and our future too, including when best to bestow His answers to our prayers.  Isaiah 30:18 tells us, “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion.  For the Lord is a God of justice.  Blessed are all who wait for him!”

Jesus, my postman

The Lord delivers gifts wrapped with the prettiest bows.  I had mailed a package to Israel a few weeks ago, then last week tried to track its customs number, learning only that the package was still roaming the countryside somewhere.  According to updates, delivery had been attempted more than once.  So I emailed my friend who’s the addressee.  The original plan was for her to receive the package and deliver the contents to our common friend who is a Holocaust Survivor.  But my friend who's the addressee had received no notice in her mailbox to pick up any package.  And the particular wordings on the tracking record seemed rather strange to her.  All I knew was that the package sat in Israel somewhere.  So I prayed.  It’s not that the contents were anything expensive, but more that our Survivor friend who has become our adoptive grandma enjoys coloring books, and I longed for her to not be lonely on her birthday and to receive a gift with a letter saying how much she’s loved by us and by God.  And then soon my inbox showed a new email.  My friend had located the package!  Eventually ending up at a postal substation, she could now happily ensure final delivery to our adoptive grandma on her birthday.  Really the Lord’s delivery of this package was a huge gift to me too, causing my heart to beam and seemingly my feet to float.  Our adoptive grandma is precious to us, and the idea to send this coloring book had been prayed over repeatedly.  Thank you, Lord, for being our postman, giving yet added meaning to Psalm 18:1-2, which says, “I love you, O Lord, my strength.  The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer . . .”   In truth, He is forever delivering both to and from.

Welcoming Russian friends: Добро пожаловать

I wondered, “What will I say?”  Feeling tempted, “Will we connect at all?  What will she think?”  For a few moments nervousness overran, as I second- and third-guessed the whole idea.  Then the door opened, and I knew it was her.  Our common friend set us up, knowing I was learning Russian, saying, “Oh, you should meet her.  I told her you’re going to visit Holocaust Survivors who speak Russian, and she wants to help.”  So this night at the coffee shop was precious for me, for I’d been hoping and praying.  And in that moment she pulled open the door, every haunting temptation fell away.  All worry cast out.  I felt my face run out of room to smile any bigger, and this fresh overwhelming joy set me almost speechless.  Yes, this whole endeavor toward Russian was revealing anew again.  And the Lord had set our table so tenderly, having prepared for us conversation far deeper than the learning of any one language, guiding us through a whole array of talking, listening, laughter, and tears.  She did help me with my Russian and shared firsthand of Russian culture, yet more than anything I simply loved my new friend and was praying for her.  She soon posed the notion of designing a card in Russian to welcome the Holocaust Survivors who would attend our concerts, and upon our arriving Israel in a few weeks, we witnessed such love conveyed in the giving and receiving of those cards.  Thinking back, what if I had withdrawn in fear that night at the coffee shop?  What if we had never met?  How empty I would feel, as I wouldn't have laughed with her in love of our cats, and sadly I wouldn't know the thrill of anticipating a concert with her in a couple of weeks.  Here again I saw the abundant blessing of persevering through the unknown.  Again I saw my need of the strength of the Lord.  In Matthew 26:41, Jesus tells His disciples, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”   And I thank Him for saving me, saving us, daily.

Life unto the oboe

These moments of panic.  Countless times I’ve picked up my oboe, then my reed, just hoping.  Will the reed be ready?  My little Snoopy jelly jar has served well in holding a half-inch of water for soaking a reed, but after years of playing, these times of panic still exist.  Often switching from piano, I lift the reed from the water, asking “Lord, may You sing through this instrument.”  Testing the reed softly, there’s no sound.  It’s too tight, disallowing good vibration, causing my heart to race.  But I rely on His answer to an earlier prayer about whether to play this day at all.  I risk the human uncertainties, remembering vividly the thrill of Him having sung through this instrument before.  So I gather air to breathe into the horn.  And yes, yes, yes, there He is!  The Lord has sung the first notes!  To know His rescue, I am relieved.  To experience the Holy Spirit filling and flourishing, I am in awe.  Again He has brought death to life in a new and very personal way for me.  Proverbs 8:35 tells us, “For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord.”  I treasure His presence.

A different optometry

I love surprises like this.  No ordinary appointment today.  Having become suspicious of some blurry vision, I visited the optometrist.  Asking him how he’d been doing, I learned about his dad’s health, which prompted a story of his dad’s life that included the Korean War.  What an inspiration to hear of this man’s care of people and love of life, though now very weak and ill of health.  The optometrist offered an earnest request for prayer, to which I was honored to respond.  So there in the office, we prayed together.  We prayed aloud.  We encountered some tearful moments that don’t enter every optometric visit.  The Lord bestowed a tender vulnerability with purpose above and beyond any physical ailment of my eyes.  The larger need involved more of a spiritual optometry, you might say.  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 . . .”  This day I was called to answer in prayer, sharing encouragement and our hope that is Christ.  For you, I ask the Lord to let you experience the joy of His surprises.  May He give new awareness of His purposes for your life.

Prodigal puppets

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.