Joy in the Journey

In the same way, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16 Every morning before we go our separate ways, my husband and I pray together. Almost every day one or the other of us asks God to shine his light through us. Of course we want to be beautiful reflections of the love and light of Jesus. Here in this verse from Matthew, however, Jesus asks us, no, tells us, to let our light shine. Each of us has been given gifts and talents. Those were given to us to use for God’s glory, for his kingdom purposes. We are not to hide them, bury them, ignore or minimize them. We are to use them, let them shine. Why? To draw attention to God. When I give gifts I spend a lot of time on them. Whether it’s a purchased gift or something homemade, I think of the recipient. I try to give a gift I know they want or need, something they will use and enjoy. I get very frustrated when after spending time and/or money I never see ...

Judge not, that you not be judged. Matthew 7:1 Tolerance…. It sounds like a good concept, doesn’t it? After all who I am to say anything? Live and let live right? Wrong! That attitude is what is causing great pain, sin and sickness in this world. God does not call us to tolerance. He calls us to love and sometimes love means exposing sin. This verse from Matthew gets twisted and tangled, used and abused. “Don’t judge, it says so right in the Bible.” “You call yourself a Christian? Then why are you judging me? ‘Judge not!’” Oh help! It does say, “judge not” that much is true. It does not say ignore bad behavior or don’t say anything about that blatant sin nor does it say tolerate anything. The cousin of tolerance is acceptance. We have to accept people for who they are. True, but in good conscience, do we allow them to stay there? No! That is hateful. That is not love. That is allowing them to experience the sickness, the emptiness that is a byproduct of living in sin. We are call...

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone: the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17   The Scripture above is very special to me. I absolutely believe that it is true. I am privileged to live with a man who everyday, is evidence of the veracity of those words to me. It is my sincere hope that someone somewhere will see the truth of this verse in me. This verse really came to stay with me on Monday morning, when I received a very sad phone call. Since then this verse has gone over and over in my head. Nine years ago I was blessed with a friendship that began almost immediately, grew incredibly fast and remains steadfast and precious today. The person who is the other half of that friendship is Charlene. Shortly after meeting her, I was introduced to her husband Clem, a sweet man of great integrity. I met a man who adored his wife, was crazy about his children, but first and foremost loved Jesus Christ and was only too happy to talk about him. Mond...

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 13:15 I am suffering today. It isn’t constant. It’s more intermittent. For hours or even days I can go along as if all is well because I feel as if all is well and then it hits. Something has been taken from me through literally no fault of my own. Yesterday morning while praying I realized that even if it is returned to me it would never be the same. Beyond that I realized that I really am an innocent victim and that reminded me of Jesus. This suffering of mine is infinitesimal in comparison to that of Jesus Christ but one thing I share with him is innocence. This loss is truly a punishment, that part has been made quite clear to me. What has not been made clear is why I’m being punished. As I go over and over it I can see that there is no offense, which is why I cannot get an explanation. I am suffering. It hurts and it’s sad. I see no good resolution, which is sadder still. Yet, there is a bless...

The eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemy before you saying, “Destroy him!” Deuteronomy 33:27 My daughter Laura is an amazing young woman. We are blessed to have a great relationship. We’ve weathered some pretty big storms and rocky patches but we always end up in each other’s corner. Most of our angst has come when, being older, being protective and being Mom, I have tried to talk her out of something or shown my disapproval. In those times Laura has sought other counsel, the kind that she knows will agree with her. Hm, sounds like a lot of us, doesn’t it? The other day she called me with a choice she was making and I disagreed. At first it went the same old way. I was honest with her and shared my thoughts. She defended her position and eventually ended the conversation not happy with me. Just as I was thinking that perhaps I shouldn’t have said anything, kept my mouth shut to avoid upsetting her, considering that i...