Joy in the Journey

  “ I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.” Many people today talk about the lack of miracles in our world. They point to Bible accounts of healing, provision or protection and bemoan the fact that those things no longer happen. I heartily disagree. Miracles happen but far too often they are explained away as coincidence, science or fate. For anyone who needs to know that miracles are still very much a part of our Father's love for us I have a few examples. Nearly thirty-five years ago I was given some tough news about my first born son. A well-respected neurologist told me repeatedly that he was brain damaged and only a miracle (that word spoken in a voice dripping with contempt) would change that....

He has showed you O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 Recently I was blessed to spend some time with an old friend. Although we have remained close over the years our actual face to face encounters have become a bit rare. I looked forward with great expectation to having those few hours with her. Once those hours began I wasn't so sure. My friend and I have very different lifestyles, that is glaringly obvious, but I've always thought we had the same worldview, the same spiritual perspective. We, as it turns out, do not. For a time we were joined by another friend and the subject of church came up. In a few short sentences I realized that form far outweighs function for my friend, that she had relied on the church to give her children any spiritual perspective and that “faith” in her home was really just a prayer at the dinner table, if someone remembered. Th...

  We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 Have you ever heard these words spoken in a tone that suggests insanity and is tinged with disgust? We see some awful evidence of man's inhumanity to man and we ask, in voices dripping with incredulity; “Who does that?” Contrarily and far less often we see people go out of their way for someone else and ask with the same level of incredulity but having exchanged disgust for disdain; “Who does that?” I was thinking about that today while praying for a dear friend, whose name I won't use because she abhors the limelight but I am praying she recognizes herself here. This woman without seeming to make any effort leaves people feeling better than they did when she arrived. She has a knack for making you feel as if your tiny effort were some Herculean task but her Herculean tasks are no big thing. Beyond that she does what she does almost surreptitiously. She is the personification of “if your brother asks you to go wi...

  ...for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6b I am the Vine and you are the branches, if a man remain in me and I in him he will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called the children of God. 1 John 3:1 My life has been an interesting set of ups and downs. I intend to share a bit here, not for sympathy or accolades but to demonstrate the amazing, powerful all-consuming love of God. I am the fifth child of a woman who was not shy or reluctant to say that she only ever wanted two children. I've lost relationships with parents, siblings and some extended family. I've been the mother of four only to be told by more than one child that he would prefer I not call myself his mother. I've had friends walk away and I've done more walking away than I should. On the opposite side of that coin, I have an amaz...

  I don't need my name in lights I'm famous in my Father's eyes Make no mistake He knows my name Francesca Battistelli Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands Isaiah 49:15-16a Courage is an odd thing. I live in a Navy town, so we often think of courage in military terms. Over the last couple of years I've come to see it more and more often in children, precious, tiny children fighting huge, disgusting demons, otherwise known as various forms of cancer. Because we see these awful, debilitating, life altering circumstances as an horrific affront most of feel pulled to do whatever we can to ease the suffering or make the good days brighter. There are many organizations that reach out to children with life threatening conditions and God bless every one of them! One such organi...

  In the same way I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Luke 15:10 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate. Luke 15:24 My granddaughter Faith is currently living with us. Any time she leaves the house and returns she announces, “I'm heeeeere!” She knows that having her here with us is a great source of joy. She knows that we miss her when she is gone and are happy when she returns. She knows this because she is secure in our love. In his book, “The Return of the Prodigal” Henri Nowen talks about the deep love of the Father for all of His children, wayward or not (although frankly I don't know anyone who's never been a wayward child). The story of the prodigal illustrates how our Father actively waits for us. The prodigal returns broken and apologetic but the father isn't looking for apologies. We all wander off, far for an hour, a...

  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Ephesians 6:16   It seems that there are people who in order to prove their point, to demonstrate the validity of their claims find attacking the faith of their adversary the best way to go. Fair enough if the faith of the adversary can be called into question. We all know plenty of nominal Christians who cherry pick the Gospel for their own ends. I am not one of those and yet this isn’t the first time my loyalty to my Father has been questioned. My faith is not hidden. There is no bowl over my light. (Matthew 5:15) Having ignored this type of attack before I was a little taken back at my own reaction the other day when it happened again. The circumstances surrounding the remarks are entirely too ludicrous to explain. Suffice to say that someone didn’t like a choice I made and turned a molehill into Everest. My dear husband and sweet daughter...