How To Have Unspeakable Joy

After years of working at a job I loved, I was anxiously looking forward to retirement. For me, retirement meant traveling to exotic places and seeing the world, sleeping in until the sun came up, having quiet, blissful mornings, and enjoying the great outdoors. These long-anticipated events were soon to come to pass, but not without some trials.

The first trip my husband and I took after my retirement was to Denver to ski. We’re not great skiers, but we enjoy the winter sport and the snowy mountain atmosphere. On our fourth and final day, as I went to lift off the chairlift, this excruciating pain shot into my lower back. I skied down the hill, which seemed to loosen it up a bit. Thinking of the spasm might have worked out, I got back on the lift. But the same thing happened when I got up from the chair the second time, only worse. We were there to ski and have a good time, and I didn’t want to disappoint my husband by telling him I couldn’t ski anymore so I tried it again. This time the pain was so unbearable that I was in tears and by the time I got down the hill and I let him know that I was done for the day.

When we got home I made an appointment with the back doctor and, thankfully, x-rays showed nothing was wrong with my spine. “It’s just weak back muscles,” he told me. Evidently, years of sitting at a desk had weakened my back, and I needed to strengthen it. Some medications and therapy were prescribed and it gradually got better over the next few weeks.

Just as I started to feel normal again, my feet started killing me. The pain was so excruciating that at times I couldn’t even walk to the bathroom without holding on to the wall. I sought out a foot doctor and learned that it was plantar flagitious. A common foot ailment brought on by inflammation from overworking the muscles and tendons. All that extra walking I had been doing was causing my feet to rebel. It turned out to be a pretty easy fix with some shoe inserts, stretching, and an occasional shot of cortisone. I also backed off the walking just a bit to allow my feet to heal.

But then about mid-summer, my legs started aching. I couldn’t get comfortable anywhere and couldn’t sleep at night without pain medication and sleep aid. It was so painful in the mornings that I could barely move my legs to get out of bed. Thinking I must have something terribly wrong with my legs, I made an appointment with a leg specialist and he told me it wasn’t my legs at all, but my back again. That was weird because my back wasn’t even hurting! A strong steroid pack was prescribed and more therapy worked very well in relieving the pain. After an MRI which showed everything was good with my back and it was feeling better, I told him about another issue that just crept up.

I had woken up a few mornings prior and the tops of both my arms were hurting so badly that I couldn’t hardly move them. Even though I was an early riser, it would be around 11:00 a.m. each morning before I could move well enough to get on with my day. He referred me to the shoulder doctor where I learned that it was impingement from inflammation and overuse. I guess I shouldn’t have been lifting all those weights so soon. More steroid shots, therapy sessions, exercises, and medication were then prescribed for my shoulders.

I’m still dealing with some back and shoulder pain today, but it is manageable. I’m faithful to doing my back and shoulder exercises which the doctor said I could never stop doing and I continue to take anti-inflammatory medications. The issues are still there, but much better, and, thankfully, it’s more of a morning issue than an all-day issue. I keep doing what I now know to do and trust one day the pain will go away completely.

The cause

I’ve asked myself many times. Are these long-lasting trials an attack from Satan to steal the joy I was looking forward to in retirement or were they brought on by God who wanted to humble and strengthen me? Or was it simply a physical reaction to a shift in my lifestyle? I’m not sure. I’m still trying to figure that out. Maybe it’s a combination of all three. My body was re-adjusting, Satan saw this as an opportunity to steal my joy, and God allowed it because I need to learn to depend more on Him.

Joy in trials

One thing I do know is that God intends for us to have joy amid our trials. James instructs us to “Count it all joy when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” (James 1:3)

There are roughly 200 verses in the Bible about joy that tell us we should have it and how to obtain it. Joy is a trait God wants for His children even while living in this fallen world.

Pain and sickness are things that can certainly steal our joy. My husband said that my personality even changed during my worst bouts of pain. I’ve always been a cheerful person, but constant, intense pain can quickly change you from a cheerful person to someone who no one wants to be around.

Despite all the pain I lived in during that first year of retirement, however, I was still able to enjoy my life and had a great year traveling, spending time with family, and doing many of the things I love. Granted, it would have been much better if it had been totally pain-free, but in reality, is life ever totally pain-free? If we’re not dealing with physical pain, we may be experiencing emotional pain.

The antidote

So how do we have joy amid our trials? These three things helped me to continue living a joyful life amid the pain.

A painting that says "choose joy" in bright colors. Paintbrush included. — Photo by Bekka Mongeau on Pexels.com

Joy is a choice

I’ve seen people battle months of horrid treatments for cancer and still retain their joy. How do they do that? They did it by drawing closer to the Lord. Joy is a fruit of the spirit and the closer we get to the Lord and allow His spirit into our lives, the more this fruit will be manifested. I’ve heard many people proclaim that they wouldn’t take anything for the hard trial they went through because it brought them so much closer to God. We always have a choice when going through trials to either wallow in self-pity and dwell solely on our misfortunes or decide to be thankful for the numerous blessings we have. The latter attitude will always produce joy no matter what circumstance we are facing.

Hope breeds joy

Sheer hope brings joy, as well. Paul mentions this in Romans 12:12 where he says “Rejoicing in hope, enduring in troubles, continuing steadfastly in prayer.” I have lots of people praying for my pain and that gives me hope that eventually, it will subside and I will move past this trial. That hope causes me to rejoice. I refuse to believe that things will not get better.

Faith ingites joy

With over 200 verses in the Word of God about joy and how to have it, we can get our joy back by simply reading and accepting those words.

There are numerous promises there, but here are just three:

Those who sow in tears will reap in joy.”
Psalms 126:5

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved in various trials.
1 Peter 1:6

Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance.
Romans 5:3

Faith and hope are intertwined. Faith in God produces hope in our situation which brings forth joy.

Other joy stealers

Pain in our bodies isn’t the only thing the thief uses to steal our joy. Betrayal, sin, unbelief, and unforgiveness are some of the tools Satan uses against us. Each of these can also be overcome as we will explore in the coming weeks.

A woman by a lake hands up in the air showing joy and praise. — Photo by Eneida Nieves on Pexels.com

The Joy of the Lord is your strength.
Nehemiah 8:10

How to Handle Disappointment

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The best part of any Christmas is being together with the entire family in one place, enjoying the beautiful Christmas decorations, a festive table, eating delicious, rich dishes that one only gets this time of year, and opening presents from one another. But, without a doubt, the best part is just being together with every child and their spouse, and every grandchild in the house sharing in the festivities. It’s always the happiest of times.

As in years past, that was our plan for this Christmas. We even moved our family celebration to the 26th so that the entire family could be together. My daughter and her family were to have Christmas Day at their home in Texas and then fly in on the morning of the 26th for our family get-together.

But then this happened. Like thousands of others, we had our Christmas disrupted by Southwest Airlines’ technical problems. My daughter and her family discovered when they got to the airport on the morning of December 26 that their flight had been canceled. Since my daughter was nearly eight months pregnant, driving the thirteen hours to Tennessee was out of the question.

Of course, I wasn’t alone in my disappointment this holiday season. My sister-in-law fought back tears as she told me their flight to California, also on December 26, to be with her son’s family was canceled. It had been nine months since she had seen them and she had been looking forward to the trip ever since she booked it six months ago.

We’ve seen the horror stories of people stranded in airports for days, some without their luggage or their needed medications. We’ve heard of the much-anticipated vacations to Hawaii or the Caribbean canceled because the flights could get them there. Some of the stories are heartbreaking.

Making it right

Southwest has long been my favorite airline. It’s always the first place I check when booking a flight. But, they made a big mistake by putting off upgrading their technology, and, unfortunately, it caught up with them at the most inopportune time and their passengers paid the price.

The leaders have taken full responsibility and come out with an apology, which is always the first right thing to to do correct a wrong. And I believe they will make the necessary upgrades to prevent this from happening again. They have gone overboard to refund passengers, take care of their hotel or rental car costs, etc. That is admiral, but the one thing that they can’t refund is time with our loved ones. Unfortunately, that’s gone forever.

The cure

It’s always best to look for the silver lining in every situation we cannot control. We may not be able to change the circumstance, but we can feel much better about our dilemma when we look for the positive.

So what were the positives from something as disappointing as missing Christmas with my grandchildren?

Southwest refunded them the cost of their tickets and also gave them $800 in credits. I’m sure they could use those funds with a baby on the way and having to buy a bigger car.
Besides being very pregnant, my daughter was also suffering from an eye infection at the time. Being home and resting for the week was probably more healthy for her than coming in and having a full week of activities with both our family and her husband’s family.
My husband and I will be traveling to Texas to help them out when the baby is born in late January. We’ll bring all their Christmas presents with us so the two boys will have new toys to play with while she’s in the hospital and caring for a new baby.
They say that anticipation is half the fun, so now we get to anticipate seeing them for another whole month.

Yes, I’m sorry that I didn’t get to hear the pitter-patter of those little feet at my house during Christmas week or spend time with my daughter. I’m disappointed that the two boys missed going to Cheekwood and seeing all the Christmas lights and I’m sorry I missed seeing the joy on their faces as the little lit-up trains made their way through the tracks in the woods. I hate that my daughter and son-in-law missed the annual steak restaurant dinner with their siblings and their spouses.

But when situations are out of control, we have a choice. We can choose to dwell on the negative or think about the positive. Since dwelling on the negative never changes anything, I chose to dwell on the negative for a little bit this Christmas, but then decided it was time to look to the positive. That’s when the joy comes back.

I’m sure one thing this debacle has driven home to Southwest and all airlines is that they’re not just transporting bodies from one point to another. They are transporting human beings with their souls, spirits, and relationships, with the joys, sorrows, circumstances, and everything else that comes with the living. And those circumstances always change when we’re not where we’re supposed to be.

Taking down the Christmas decorations this year, I was still thankful for the precious, joyous Christmas we had with the rest of the family, but I had to admit that it felt incomplete. And it’s okay to grieve for a while for something we missed. But now it’s time to look forward to our next visit with them and anticipate seeing the joy on those boy’s faces when they open their Christmas presents at the end of January, and then witness the best present of all when we all lay eyes on that precious little sister for the first time!

Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
Psalms 30:5

Make the Most of Life’s Instruction Manual

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They say that life doesn’t come with an instruction manual, but actually it does! It’s called the Holy Bible.

Several years ago, our pastor felt that our congregation didn’t know enough about the Bible. We came to church faithfully every Sunday to listen to his sermons, but most of us didn’t have a systematic way to read and study the Bible.

He asked us as a church to begin a daily reading plan that took us through the Bible in one year. Today, this discipline has become a part of the daily devotions for many of us and the result has been life-changing as well as church-changing.

Being a Christian most of my life, I’ve studied the Bible and even memorized many key verses, however, reading it from cover to cover unveils a storyline that you don’t get by just reading various chapters out of sequence.

It’s very unpopular today in some circles to say that you believe in the Bible, but I find it ironic that many of those who discount the Bible and say they don’t believe it to be the inspired Word of God, have never read even a small portion of it, much less cover to cover. While we would never purchase an expensive appliance and refuse to pick up the instruction manual to see how to operate it safely and efficiently, many of us try to make it though life on our own without ever consulting the manual God has given us for our time on earth.

Will we understand everything we read in the Bible? Certainly not, but we will understand some of it. The beauty of reading the Word is that we almost always learn something new or see a principle in a new light, even from a familiar passage.

Many people mistakenly think that the Bible should have all the answers to life’s questions, and since it doesn’t answer everything, it’s not valid. But God hasn’t revealed everything to his creation – just what He wants us to know. The Bible, rather, is the story of man, and God’s plan to redeem him from his sins. It shows us how to live triumphantly in this life and how to prepare for the next. It doesn’t tell us everything there is to know about God. That’s for another time and place. Today we know in part, the Bible says, but when we see God face to face we will know fully. (1 Corinthians 13:12)

If you’ve never read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, I encourage you to do so this year. Some of it won’t make sense, but a lot of it will. Numerous Bible Reading Apps online have a scheduled reading plan, and many will read it audibly to you so that you can listen while driving or getting ready for work, etc. This one from Life Church is fantastic, but there are many other options.

Holy Bible

What’s actually in there?

Some verses tell us what to do when we feel weak, anxious, worried, betrayed, or sad. It shows us how to be at peace and joyful instead of stressed and gloomy, and how to love instead of hate. There are verses for when we need forgiveness and when we need to forgive others.

The Bible tells us how to be a good friend, parent, neighbor and child. It teaches us to trust God and believe in something bigger than ourselves. It provides comfort through our sufferings while challenging us to become better people.

We may not always like what the Bible says to us, but everything written there is for our good. There are answers for dealing with the sins in our life and how to get deliverance from them. Not everything we read will make us happy. Biblical truth is sometimes hard to swallow. God’s word claims to be sharper than a two-edged sword and, believe me, I have felt that sword in my own spirit many times. But no matter how it hurts, a reality check is sometimes just what we need.

The Bible truly is a Living Word. Nothing will grow our faith more than the Word of God. It’s a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, (Psalm 119:105) showing us the way on this journey of life. It’s a love letter from God to us, His children, and is more precious than any treasure we could ever find.

Its words bring comfort to us when we are burdened, hope when we are in despair, and joy when we are in sorrow. All the while convicting us when we are doing wrong.

We’ll never master the Bible completely, no matter how much of a scholar we become because it is a living, breathing book, and the more we learn the more is revealed.

There is much to be gleaned from the Scriptures. Everything from how to eat, how to manage your money, to how to treat your neighbor. There are numerous ancient prophecies through those pages that have now been fulfilled and other prophecies showing us what’s to come next in our world.

Why not give God’s Word a try this year and commit to reading it through just to see what it has to say to you. I think you’ll be impressed and blessed!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1

Combating the Evil Within

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We don’t like to admit it, but we humans are inherently evil. All of us are born selfish and must learn to be good. Don’t believe it? Just legalize the killing of unborn children and see how many of us jump on that bandwagon. Sixty-three million to date in America have chosen this option since the Roe V. Wade supreme court decision. Before 1973 an unborn baby was protected by American law. I wonder if the Supreme Court Justices thought abortion would come to these great numbers when they legalized it. I doubt it. They probably were thinking that such a procedure would be a rare occurrence in the case of extreme poverty, rape, or incest. After all, what stronger bond is there between a mother and her child? But what they failed to remember and what we often forget as well is that we humans are all selfish, sinful creatures. “There is none good,” the Bible tells us, “No not one.” Romans 3:10

What if all murder became legal today? If there were no consequences would it increase? If the history of abortion tells us anything about human nature, it certainly would. And if putting one’s elderly parents to death was legalized, how many children would choose to end their parent’s life? As absurd as this sounds, the Bible tells us that this will be a common practice in the last days. (Matthew 10:21)

Recently, we witnessed what happens in cities where there are no consequences for breaking the law. Felons who are released without bail or before serving their full term, often go out and rob or kill someone else. They’re not always grateful that they were given a second chance and suddenly decide to clean up their act. Their nature is to kill and steal because they’ve never been taught otherwise.

Children who grow up without a father usually exhibit more behavior problems and more often end up in prison. It’s not because of race or economics, as some would suggest, in many cases it’s because they haven’t had a father to teach and model for them the difference between right from wrong and how to live productively in a civilized society.

That nasty sin nature

Yet, before we start feeling self-righteous because we don’t steal or commit murder, we have to admit that we’re all prone to sin. Even as Christ’s followers, we’re always pushing the limits. When the speed limit is 60, we drive 70. When it’s 70, we often drive 80 and sometimes push 95 unless we see a state trooper sitting on the side of the road. And these are just our minor transgressions!

Even the apostle Paul struggled with his sinful nature. He said he often did what he shouldn’t have done and left undone what he should do. Can anyone relate to this? I certainly can!

It’s pretty scary to think about the atrocious acts any of us can commit given the right circumstances and without God intervening in our life.

What can we do?

God has graciously given us laws to help us. Scriptures throughout the Bible, teach us how to keep safe and provide us a way to a life of peace. One of these is in Romans.

The mind covered by the flesh is death, but the mind covered by the spirit is life and peace.
Romans 8:6

Just reading this verse makes me want to relax, take a deep breath and listen to what the Holy Spirit may be speaking to me.

Be Safe/Stay Safe

These have become bywords today. But when we tell someone to stay safe, do we really know how to tell them to do that? There are numerous scriptures regarding peace and safety in the Bible and each of them points to trusting in God and obeying His commands for that peace to occur.

Man with a pencil in hand studying the Bible — Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

Is God Pro-Choice?

Absolutely! Not in the sense that He thinks it’s perfectly fine for a woman to destroy a growing child inside of her, but that He has given us free will. God created a human race that could choose to love and obey him. We aren’t robots programmed to praise the Lord continually and always make the right decisions to never do anything wrong. It’s a great gift, but with this gift come consequences. Our decisions and our choices matter.

Joshua reminded the Israelites of everything the Lord had done for them through their years in the wilderness, like how He had defeated their enemies. Then he told them, you can choose to worship those other gods if you want, but for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. He wanted to choose the blessings of God for his life and the life of his family. (Joshua 23-24)

Doing the right thing is not always easy and because of our sinful nature, obedience will be a life-long struggle. But the more we learn to trust God we will see that His ways are always for our good. As parents, the rules we impose on our children are never to harm or keep them from enjoying life. They are to keep them safe and help them grow into responsible adults. It’s the same with God’s rules for us.

If you’d like to share some of the consequences of right or wrong choices you’ve made, let us know in the comments below. We can all learn from each other!

But whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.”
Proverbs 1:33

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Loving Communication

I often find myself scrolling through Facebook and thinking “Oh how cute!” when I see a friend’s child’s or their grandchild’s adorable picture; or “How fun that looks like it would be!” when I see a post from someone’s amazing vacation. But I don’t always take the time to respond with my comments or even give it a simple thumbs up.

Every now and then I find myself thinking about how much I care for this person or the other. But guess what? Thinking it is not communicating and if I never tell them how much I love or appreciate them, they will never know.

Now Facebook wasn’t a thing back when Paul wrote Hebrews, but I still get convicted when I scroll through a Facebook post and don’t bother to acknowledge an accomplishment from one of my friends. Not that God wants me to be constantly on social media, but He does tell us to communicate. The wording here even says to sacrifice in order to communicate.

Communication takes effort. Even a short comment on a social media post takes time and thought. Talking takes energy and writing a hand written note takes special effort, but it is worth it.

When we are communicating we are focusing outwardly on another person. When we’re not communicating we’re focusing inwardly on our self. There are times God wants us to focus and meditate on Him alone, but to serve him always takes some type of communication.

God is always communicating with us either through his Word, teachers, the Holy Spirit, others, and even nature. While we may not be able to physically see God in this dispensation, we can definitely hear him if we are listening.

This verse is a good reminder for us to slow down and take some time to let others know what we are feeling and how much they mean to us. Just as we as parents are pleased when we see our children getting along, God must be pleased when he sees His children uplifting, encouraging and helping each other.

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The Beauty in Stillness

I can still hear my mom saying to me when I was a squirmy little kid. “Will you just sit still!” In some respects I believe that has been God’s message to the world over the past several months of COVID. We’ve all been forced to slowdown to some extent. That part of COVID is perhaps a silver lining.

For in order to really know God, we have to turn off the distractions and get into his Word and listen for His voice. His character is revealed through those inspired passages and much of His will for our life is uncovered there.

God through the Holy Spirit also speaks to us in a still quiet voice. Seldom does He shout. Our world is loud and our lives are busy, but God won’t complete for our attention. Rather He tugs lightly on our heartstrings so that we usually won’t even hear him unless we are attentive and listening. Thankfully, God can be persistent though, always gently drawing us to do what He’s desiring of us.

As the pace of our lives begins to pick up again, let’s not neglect time to be still, pray, read the Word and listen for His still small voice to guide us. In doing so we will live life to the fullest and experience the most wonderful adventure He has planned for us – now and in eternity.

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Guiding light

When I was a little girl I’d often spend the night with my cousins who lived with their grandparents. They had an outhouse for a bathroom. I can remember us little girls taking a flashlight after dark and following the path down the trail to that creepy toilet which was in a field behind the main house. It was always a little scary to us because we never knew what was lurking in the darkness.

This verse is a picture of what the Word of God does for us as we travel through life. It guides us through our journey and helps avoid both perceived and real dangers along the way.

The Bible remains the number one selling book year after year! Unfortunately though, many people haven’t discovered the jewels of inspiration, wisdom, and hope that are recorded there.

Some say they don’t believe the Bible, yet have never even read it. If that’s you, I’d say now is the time to dive in and discover it’s truths. The creator of the universe has given you a manuel for a successful life here in earth. Aren’t you curious to know what’s in it?

Dave Ramsey says that everyone should read the proverbs for their incredible wisdom even if they aren’t a Christian. I agree. That book alone will provide you wisdom for relationships, finances, health, and life in general.

There’s a big movement within the church today for believers to get more into the study of the Word. Many are participating in one or two year plans to read it through cover to cover. This is good because even though it isn’t written chronologically, the Bible is actually a story. It’s the story of man from his creation to eternity and God’s plan for his redemption. Reading it cover to cover allows the story to unfold.

It’s exciting to see the church gaining the wisdom presented in God’s word. As the days get darker before the return of Christ and Christian persecution intensifies, we are going to need the strength the Word of God brings more than ever.

My greater desire, though, is for those who aren’t believers to begin to search it out. For not only will they find help, wisdom, and guidance for these moments in time, they will find the keys to eternal life as well.

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How to be humble without being a push over

Most of us tend to get a little more humble as we get older. Maturity and understanding along with some hard knocks in life bring that about in our character.

Yet, as always God’s word brings a challenge. This verse is no different as it instructs us to be completely humble and gentle. That makes it a little harder because, honestly, how can we be anything one hundred percent of the time?

Some think humility means being timid. It does not. Nor does it mean one must be a door mat and let people run all over you.

True humility is simply honoring God and others

Think of someone you know that you consider to be a humble person. Chances are you see them showing kindness and respect to everyone they come in contact with on a daily basis.

According to Jeff Boss, a former contributor at Forbes magazine, humble people retain relationships longer because they are more likely to help out their friends and are better listeners. They are curious, eager learners always realizing that although they may be smart, there is much they don’t know. They aren’t afraid to ask for help. Humble people always take the time to say “Thank you” to whomever is serving them and start sentences with “You” instead of “I.”

The humble are not weak, they are actually confident because they know their self worth. They don’t feel the need to boast about themselves because they believe their actions speak for them.

None of us will be humble one hundred percent of the time, but it’s something we can practice at each day by simply putting others ahead of ourselves – and that will make life more pleasant for everyone.

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How to have peace in turbulent times

It was our bi-weekly Wednesday night Bible study the day after the 2020 presidential election. Naturally, the conversation turned to the election results which were, of course, still being tallied. But it was looking grim for our candidate – the man that we thought would be best to lead our country over the next four years. We were all speculating on what would happen to our country if the other candidate won. There was concern about the kind of nation we would leave to our children and grandchildren. We were undoubtedly anxious.

We ended our session with prayer and someone asked for God to give us peace.

Peace

We haven’t seen a lot of that in 2020. With Covid-19 ravaging the nation causing much sickness, numerous deaths and widespread fear, as well as prompting shutdowns, cancelled events, mandatory. business closures, illegal church services and an incident of police brutality leading to riots, chaos, attacks on police, violence and burning cities, peace has been in short supply to say the least.

How can we possibly have peace in our hearts with so much going on, especially now with the uncertainty of what a new administration might bring.

Then I was immediately reminded of this verse.

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trust in you. Isaiah 26:3

What a beautiful promise this is for us. We can’t control everything in our world, in fact we can’t control most things, but we can choose to dwell on the Lord and if we do, he promises to bring us peace.

What can we control?

We can control our thoughts and choose to lean into Jesus, thanking him for all the goodness and blessings in our life. This will bring peace and contentment to our soul.

We can read his word to learn his ways and the promises it holds for those who love him. This will bring peace and encouragement to us.

We can fellowship with other believers in order to help each other stay focused on God during tough times. This will bring us joy and peace to each other.

And we can attend church and worship even though we may have to do it virtually for now. Worshiping God and hearing the Word of God motivates us to become more devoted to him which ultimately brings us peace.

All these things will help us keep our mind on the Lord.

Even if we get through this 2020 crisis unscathed, more turbulent times are coming. But God’s promises still hold true. He will never leave us or forsake us. (Joshua 1:5) and that’s a good verse to dwell on for sure.

Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

God’s handiwork

We can’t do it by ourselves. We didn’t create our human bodies, fill them with a soul and spirit and place ourselves on this earth. We had no say in the matter – neither the era in which we were born, the family into which we were born, nor what race or other physical characteristics we acquired.

So why do we think we have to do life on our own? When we struggle with sin and failure we often turn from God instead of asking him to help us.

But this verse in Philippians tells us that God is always working in us both so we can do his will and for his good pleasure.

“He’s not mad at us, “ As my friend, Dave Ramsey says, “He misses us.” God wants every person to live forever with him. That’s the reason he sent his son to die for us. If he didn’t care about us, he would have just let us all die in our sins.

Don’t let guilt and shame keep you from God. He understands the struggles we have on this earth for Jesus had those same temptations. We will never be as perfect as Jesus, but God will help us become more like him each day if we allow him.

Solomon’s choice

If there’s anyone in the Bible I’d like to shake and say “What are you doing,” it’s King Solomon.

God had literally given him everything he could ever hope or wish for. He had riches beyond belief. The very goblets that he drank out of were made of gold! He had so much of the precious metal that he regarded silver as virtually worthless.

But God didn’t stop with material possessions. He gave Solomon wisdom well beyond his years. Kings and leaders from other nations would come and sit with him for hours while he answered their questions with his incredible wisdom. Today, centuries later, King Solomon is still proclaimed as the wisest man who ever lived.

Perhaps best of all, the Lord gave Solomon peace. In a land that has known little through the years. he lived and reigned for forty years in complete peace. It allowed him to construct the fabulous temple out of the riches God had provided. He lived a truly blessed life.

All God asked of Solomon was to stay true to him and follow his commandments.

But, unfortunately, Solomon choose to not always do that. Instead of one wife, Solomon wanted hundreds and he took them from foreign lands that worshiped idols, going against God’s direct command. In the end they led him astray and were his downfall.

In his later years looking back on his life, Solomon realized all he had was vanity. He had learned the hard truth that without God, all the riches and wisdom didn’t mean a thing. Instead of continuing to grow in the Lord Solomon had choosen another path and it cost him dearly.

While I want to shake Solomon and say “What were you thinking,” in reality, I often do the same thing. How often have I not obeyed the Lord knowing full well whatever he has for me is always what’s best.

We’re all faced with choices each and every day. Some lead to life and some to death. Right choices usually enhance our life and wrong ones often bring us trouble. Most days are a mixture of both.

No one is perfect and we don’t always get it right, but my prayer is that as I grow in the Lord I will make more right choices than wrong ones.

What about you?

I don’t want to miss out on anything the Lord has for me, especially those pearly white gates, streets of gold and an eternal life in God’s presence that comes with life’s most important choice of accepting Jesus as our savior for the forgiveness of our sins.

That’s one choice I hope we all get right.

2 good ways to love your neighbor

I just called a lady stupid. We’ll actually I said what she was doing was stupid, but I clearly wasn’t living out this commandment to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

If there’s anything in abundance and growing in our land today, it’s dissension and hate. It seems like our society is collapsing all around us. Lawlessness is abounding and immorality is not only accepted but encouraged and actually celebrated. Those that don’t agree are often labeled bigots.

As Christians it’s hard not to be angry toward those that we feel are causing the disruption.

Yet, God commands us to love even when we don’t see eye to eye, or we think their attitudes and decisions will cause harm to others. We can’t always condone every action of our neighbor, but we can still love the person. And admittedly that’s hard, really hard.

While it may be difficult to fight for what’s right and just and still love, we don’t change people by hating them or calling them stupid. They can only be changed by showing them the love of Christ.

So how do we love the unloveable?

We love people by telling them the truth. But if that truth isn’t delivered in love, we might as well just keep our opinions to ourself. Still our words may or may not be accepted, but that’s not up to us.

Standing up for what we believe is right may cause angry push back from those who disagree. But there’s always a way to disagree without viciously attacking someone’s character and inciting more anger and hate. A soft answer turns away wrath. (Proverbs 15:1). Try it next time your in a heated debate and watch the angry person calm down and pay more attention to what you are saying.

We love people by being there when they are hurting or in their time of need. There’s no better way to earn the right to speak truth into someone’s life. No one wants to listen to some Bible thumping obnoxious, judgmental stranger shoveling a Bible in their face and telling them they are going to hell. That tactic may have worked in times past, but it’s a big turnoff to unbelievers in our society today and, frankly, unless God has already prepared that person to receive, you won’t get very far with them.

People do respond to kindness. Especially when they are grieving the loss of a love one, battling sickness or just having a hard time. What better way to open the door for an unbelieving co-worker than to say. “Hey, I noticed your struggling and are having a hard day. Can I pray for you or get you something? They will seldom decline and when you have an opportunity to share your faith, they will be opening to listening. Even something as cup of cold water given in love can change a life. (Matthew 10:42)

This verse sounds so easy. “Just love your neighbor as yourself.” Yet it is so incredibly hard. But Jesus never promised us easy. He just promised he would always be with us