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.

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.      

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. 

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.