A Prayer of Renewal

 Dear sweet Lord, I come today with a heart of apathy. I can grow hardened to your word, and distracted with the world around me.  I am burdened, tired, and even forgetful to pray. Take away the busy-ness. Remove my need to rush through a devotional. Forgive me for the times that I have glossed over, passed by, or totally ignored Your holiness, wisdom, and sovereignty.

Make my heart stitched to yours. Keep the fruits of the Spirit alive in me as I move through my day.  Help me to be in a constant state of prayer all day, and to acknowledge your presence everywhere!  Keep me in awe of your glorious creation around me. When circumstances, feelings, technology, and responsibility threaten to veer me off course, fill me with your Spirit again to remain mindful of your sweet presence.

Yes, Lord, fill me to the greatest capacity possible. Make me a useful conduit of your love to all I am in contact with. Help me to ward off any dullness or lack of enthusiasm with time spent with you. May I remain devoted, focused, and on-fire for You and Your ways, in spite of the circumstances that surround me, each and every day.

Amen! 🙏

“Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.” ~ Psalm 139:23-24

Forgotten Miracles

 A decade ago, our family learned that my mom had pancreatic cancer. That diagnosis is often accompanied by a very grim outlook, for good reason. We were plenty concerned and as time progressed, she had  numerous treatments, then referrals to Johns Hopkins, and eventually surgery to remove her whole pancreas. Those were uncertain times. We prayed like never before, and were prayed for by so many.  We were given a miracle, and my mom is alive and well today.  God is soooo good!

You know what has happened in those 10 years since? Some days—-even strings of days, have gone by that I neglect to thank God for her recovery. That’s just so HUMAN of me. We go into a crisis, then emerge, forgetting the intensity and urgency of our prayers. Forgetting that Mimi could have been gone long ago. Life moves on, and we allow it to blur the goodness and mercy God has shown us.

She and I were chatting yesterday about the older grandkids getting older and possibly moving onwards from long-held traditions, like her yearly egg hunt.  She said, “When I was very sick, the one thing I prayed for was that I could see my grandkids grow up.  It’s okay that they are.” And yes, it is okay! She is here- hallelujah!

But, if I can tie this conversation in to tomorrow— Easter- let the analogy be clear.

As you and I walk this Christian life, let not the goodness and mercy of God be lost in our very hurried, busied, distracted days. In everyone’s lives, I like to think we will all have a few trials and a few triumphs.  We just need to be sure to revisit the times where God blessed, answered prayers, or even provided a miracle. Perhaps on the days when life is heavy or just mundane, thanking the Lord for his provisions in the past is what can spur you on to tomorrow.

Christ’s crucifixion & resurrection still is the world’s greatest victory, and YOUR ultimate triumph. It was His most loving act of mercy, His most powerful blessing yet. Would you put yourself to death for your neighbor? Your best friend? Your rival?  Jesus did. He knew the depth of our sins, and still wanted us to be with Him for eternity. 

This REAL event, can grow to be undervalued, especially if you have heard it hundreds of times. Just like Mimi’s miracle, it’s worth thinking on over and over. 

Many often quote John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. So that whosoever should believe in him will not perish but have eternal life.”  But the next verse is so precious, and just as monumental…. John 3:17 reads, “For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its savior.“  God sent Jesus because of LOVE, not condemnation.  

‭‭

Forget not all the miracles of God.  Celebrate His goodness often! Jesus’ ultimate triumph over death is yours as well. Happy Easter, friends! ✝️

Dear Lord, give us reminders to praise you for your goodness. Your love is evident in so many ways when we stop and remember all you have worked out in our favor.  Give us time to contemplate the risen Christ, our greatest triumph. Amen.

Growing

The past few months have been a season of loss for my husband’s family. In a span of just 4 months, they have said goodbye to their Grammy and Grandpa. Both lived full, long lives. Both were loved much and lengthy is our list of treasured memories.

With that kind of finality, it feels like I have naturally begun to take stock of my own life. Transition is in the air. The start of 2024 was a somber one to us.  I have been taking extra long glances at my children, just to try and remember them as they are now. Life, it seems, is moving on rapidly. I can see them growing before my own eyes. My daughter is losing teeth and learning to read. My son, almost taller than me, is wearing contacts and going to middle school next year.  I have taken notice of my husband’s new grays, and my own fine lines, too.  We are all growing.  I can’t do a thing to stop any of it.

I know I haven’t felt something new or different from any other mother who walks planet Earth. We grieve the stages we leave behind sometimes. 

But, I am reminded of a passage in the Bible that reads,”Do not love the world or anything that belongs to the world. If you love the world, you do not love the Father. Everything that belongs to the world—what the sinful self desires, what people see and want, and everything in this world that people are so proud of—none of this comes from the Father; it all comes from the world.” 1 John 1:15-16.

Now, next to these verses, I wrote in the margin a while back, 

1. Riches
2. Career
3. Sports
4. Materialism
5. Etc…

That “Etc…” seems to include my current feelings.

There is NOTHING we should cling to so tightly in this world that would keep us stuck here. Stuck in toddlerhood, elementary school, teenage years, or middle age— none of those sound pleasant! As pathetic as we are,  God understands our emotional attachments to songs, clothing, and stages of our little ones. But the earthly enjoyment of all these things pales so very significantly to what awaits us who are in Jesus.

God’s design is growth and change, even if it feels difficult to move on from the familiar.   But, truly, my desire is to appreciate everything from the hand of God now, and in the future. I can trust Him to lead us in the growing, however sweet or challenging it may be. The dread I tend to associate with growth can really be translated as fear, which can also be translated as not trusting the One over it all.

Yes, transition is in the air. Isn’t it always? 

One last thought from Paul gives me hope, “For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16.  The fine lines may indicate aging, but my inner spirit is newer by the day. Amen! 

Thank you, Lord, for the growing seasons.  We become comfortable and familiar with them, just in time to see them change all over again. Help us transform to mature appreciation, and approach all our new eras with the peace of your presence, clinging only to You. Renew us and grow us in Your likeness.