Look For Glimmers

   I began a grueling time of COVID. I've had COVID before. It did take a lot out of me. I had many of the same symptoms as before. I just expected it would be about the same as the times before. I was wrong.

   I was congested beyond any level I had been ever. I was exhausted and unable to sleep. When sleep did finally come I didn't want to wake up. I wasn't hungry but when hunger came it was ravenous. The problem was I had no energy. Yeah I could hardly even sit up at a table. Chewing? Took the energy out of me. And when I did get any headway, my head would start aching and pounding. 

   That went on for at least 10 days. 10 days of misery. 10 days of questions. 10 days of "God why?" "God did I sin?" "God do I need to learn a lesson?" "God tell me what to do to get better, please." 10 days of crying out for healing. And, nothing.

   I wasn't even able to make it through a whole day of work in that time. I was weak, tired, and losing hope. So what do you do when you have nothing left?

   I had to look for the glimmers. What was good? Where did I see God? I saw God in him sending my boyfriend to be my helper. I saw God in the scriptures, as I listened to healing scriptures for many of those days. I saw God in people reaching out to check on me. I saw God in the songs he sent over the radio. I saw God in the podcasts that randomly played while I was resting. I saw God in women praying in the spirit over me for healing. I saw God in my students listening and helping me. I saw God in my bosses being supportive and caring. 

   None of those things changed my circumstances, but it did change my perspective. I was still tired and in pain but I was thankful for those around me. I was still congested but I saw the help coming. And, as I write this, I'm still sick. But I know God is with me. Will I still face thought battles? Probably. Will I still get emotional? Probably. I don't know if there's a grand lesson in this suffering. I don't even know if I'll make it through work tomorrow. But I know whose I am and who is for me. That's what I need.

   So, when challenging times come what do you do? Where do you look? Who do you look to?

Hands Up in Battle

    Each day we wake up to a new morning and a new chance to grow in God. We may not know what battles we will face that day, but we know who is on our side as we face those battles. Yet, some battles are harder to face or defeat than others.

   In Exodus 17:8-16 the Israelites are fighting against the Amalekites. Joshua is leading the charge against them. Moses is standing on a hill holding his hands up to God. Now, maybe there's been a time where you had to stay in a certain position for a long time. Your body starts to have some kinks in it, but you keep going. Then your body begins to ache, and you just want to switch positions. That's probably how Moses was feeling. The only problem was, when he put his hands down, the Israelites began to lose the battle. Because of this, Aaron and Hur held up Moses' arms so they would win.

   This battle was in the physical realm, but it was in the spiritual realm where it was won. It emphasizes the fact that God is with them. It emphasizes that God won the battle for them. That's what we must do sometimes. We must be prepared to face our battles with God. And, when the battle draws on, we must remember to raise our hands to God. We must ask for his help and provision.

   So, what battles are you facing? Are you facing them with God or trying to face them on your own?

https://youtu.be/sxXU0kBlh1Q?si=Sdsh0gCZOsKJtswk

Your Everyday Impact

   One tradition I have at the end of the school year is asking the students who are graduating what song they would like to dance to on their last day. This year many of the songs we danced to at holidays were songs by Christian artists. I didn't expect them to impact the children as much as they did. They were so impacted that many of them said they wanted to dance to Shooting Star by Owl City.

   This made me think about our impact that we have each day. By choosing to find songs by Christian artists, with a good message but not too didactic, I was able to reach those kids. It was something little but it could make a huge impact on their lives.

   Matthew 28:19-20 says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." In using songs by Christian artists I was reaching students. They were learning good morals and having fun while they were doing it.

   Have you ever thought about this in your daily life? Is there any way you could do or change something little in your life to make an impact for the kingdom?

https://youtu.be/jjJeAh7sCuk?si=ww-ILgtiZHxpFo8V

Peace Be With You

 One day I was at church just sitting in a chair waiting for the service to start. The pastor came down the steps and was making his way to the front. As he passed me, he said, “Peace be with you.” Now it is very rare that I am so quick thinking when it comes to quips and jokes, but in that moment, I said, “my peace I give to you.” The pastor stopped, smiled, and said, “I like that.” Then we moved on with our days.

I thought about that exchange afterwards. What I said was for real. I did want to give him my peace. But I had also said it because of a Bible verse. John 14:27 says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” 

Jesus left this earth and gave us peace. We can have his peace. That’s mind boggling for me to think about. Because we have his peace, we can offer his peace, and in turn our peace to others as well. 

Here’s the thing though, to offer others peace, we need to be at peace ourselves. We need to have Biblical peace, which is not just calm and tranquility. It is having peace during those times but also in the storms of life as well. When things are going wrong and our world seems to be crashing around us, we are still calm because we have peace. We know God has a plan and nothing the world throws at us can hurt us. The worst thing that can happen to us is death. If that does happen, we will be with Christ.

Once we are at peace with ourselves and our circumstances, we can offer peace to others. We don’t have to fight them. We don’t have to argue. We can turn the other cheek. We can offer to go the extra mile. We can give them our cloak as well. Through those actions people will notice there’s something different about us. Then we can tell them how to get perfect peace.

So, are you at peace right now? How can you remember to have peace daily no matter your circumstances?

https://youtu.be/QZFzcc_6Mbw

On the Rock

 The last nail was hammered into place. Your home is finished. It looks beautiful to you, and you are proud because you made it yourself. You are even more proud because you chose to build your home on solid land. Looking around at your neighbors you see that some of them chose to take the easy way. They did not spend much time on their foundation. Some chose to put their homes on dirt, others chose sand, sand! You shake your head at their choices.

Looking in the sky you see dark clouds. It seems like a storm is on its way. You walk inside your house and build a fire. The storm comes and you feel at peace in your new home. Glancing outside you see your neighbor’s home begins to slant. He chose to build his house on something that was not firm and now he was out trying to fix it, getting soaked. You whisper a quick prayer for him then sit back down in comfort.

A crash of thunder awakens you. You had dozed off. The storm got worse while you were asleep. You go to your window and see that lightning is flashing and the rain is pouring down. Can you really be confident in your handiwork? Will your house stay strong through this storm?

As you ask yourself these questions you look back outside. That’s odd, did you not used to be taller? Looking at the floor you realize that you have begun to sink. How?! Your rock began to turn to sand! How, you do not know but to make matters worse you realize something else. Your house was starting to lean.

With no time to waste, you grab some rope and try to tie your home together. But the sand does not make it easy to move. You try using some of the furniture in your home, you try using spare logs, you try using anything to get your home to stay up. Why had this happened? Had you not planned for any situation?!

Outside your window you see something in the distance. Could it be a boat? Around the boat the sky looked clearer. You see what looks like a person standing at the front of the boat. Suddenly a rush of wind hits you and you hear the words “be still.” What? How can you be still? Your house is beginning to break. You need to fix it quickly before the storm gets worse. Again, the voice comes, “be still.”

Realizing that you probably cannot fix your home anyway, you give it a shot. Letting go of your home, you sit in the middle of it. Your breathing begins to slow down as the storm is around you, as the sand sticks to you. You hear the words “I am with you.” Briefly you open your eyes. No one is there, just the same storm, sand, and broken home. 

Closing your eyes again you hear the word, “sing.” Sing?! Now!? That’s crazy. What would singing do? Well, what have you got to lose? The song “Word of God Speak” by MercyMe comes into your head. You begin to sing, “Word of God speak, Would You pour down like rain, Washing my eyes to see, Your majesty, To be still and know, That You're in this place, Please let me stay and rest, In Your holiness, Word of God speak.”

You lose yourself in the song. You realize that you had taken your eyes off of God, you had praised yourself, you had thought that something was more powerful than your creator. Prayerfully you ask for forgiveness. No sooner do you do that than you realize you don’t feel rain anymore. You open your eyes and see that not only is the rain gone, but your house is fixed, and it is back on solid rock!

It was counterintuitive for you to be still and sing, yet in doing that, God helped you! He fixed everything! He was your rock all along!

So, where are you building your house? How can you become stronger in your relationship with God?

https://youtu.be/FNUri_-LKOk

Thanksgiving: Being Content

   One Thanksgiving I sent out a blog that talked about how comparison is the thief of joy. That is still true. We can look at what someone else has and say "I want that. I won't be happy until I have that." This is the thief of joy.
   But, it goes beyond that. The wisest man who ever lived was telling us that we need to be content with what we have before we even said "I want that." In the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon talks about how many things are meaningless. Here is the richest, wisest man in the world telling us many things are meaningless. He had all he could ever want and yet he said pretty much all of it was meaningless. Why?
   In chapter 6 Solomon talks about wealthy people. These people have much but they never have time to enjoy it. Instead, when they die, someone else enjoys their wealth. What is wrong with these wealthy people? They are not content.
   These wealthy people look around and say I need that and I'll be happy. They are not happy with what they have. They are not content. God gives us so much, and yet we never seem to be content. Let me ask you this... when you die will anything you own go with you? No! So then why are we always ungrateful for what we have?
   This Thanksgiving I encourage you to look at what you have. Take a lesson from the wisest man on earth and don't fall into the trap of wanting more. Think about all that God has blessed you with. Rather than choosing to look at what you want be thankful for what you have. Remember to enjoy the special moments in life because, when we go to heaven, it's not going to matter what you had on earth. What is going to matter is what you did to reflect God's glory.
   So, will you continue to compare your possessions to others? Will you choose to be content with what you have? Will you look around at the blessings you have and be thankful? Will you reflect God's glory in all you do?
   I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!
   Philippians 4:11-13, 1 Timothy 6:6-8, 1 Thessalonians 5:18

   Certain ideas for this blog were pulled from the book by Jud Wilhite called The God of Yes.

https://youtu.be/Wf_aiLsRfwg

Nobody Like You

   As a teacher, I listen to a lot of children's music. One song that is very popular lately is "Nobody Like U" from the movie Turning Red. Some of the lyrics are: 

"I've never met nobody like you

Had friends, and I've had buddies, it's true

But they don't turn my tummy the way you do

I've never met nobody like you"

   The kids love singing this song. As I was listening to them sing, I thought about the lyrics. "I've never me nobody like you, Had friends, and I've had buddies, it's true." I know the song was relating it to an earthly relationship, but I couldn't help but relate it to our relationship with God. 

   Jeremiah 10:6 says, "There is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might." It's true, I've never met anyone like him. He's perfect, loving, caring, intelligent, strong, and so much more. All of his attributes turn my tummy because, though he is perfect, he chooses to love me. He chooses to love you. He sent his son to die for us then sent the holy spirit to be our counselor. That is something that should turn our stomachs.

   Some more lyrics in the song are:

"You're never not on my mind, oh my, oh my

I'm never not by your side, your side, your side

I'm never gon' let you cry, oh, cry, don't cry

I'll never not be your ride or die, alright"

   I just picture God singing this to us. Lamentations 3:22-23 says, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." His love for us is so much that we are always on his mind. He is always with us. While we may cry, God feels those tears. He comes to comfort us. His love encircles us in a warm embrace. He's always with us. That’s why there is no one like him.

   So, do you believe that God is always with you? What can you do to grow in your relationship with God?

https://youtu.be/QJNPfm4onx0?si=iNaf_d7d4rNHqMzj