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Testify
A witness tells what they have seen and heard. A good witness speaks from experience and knowledge. And a witness under oath gives testimony that is deemed worthy to be weighed in the balance of other evidence. “You are My witnesses,” says the Lord, “and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He.” (Isaiah 43:10a NKJV) This verse tells us that the people of God are called to be His witnesses in the earth. We are to witness His good work, His power displayed, and His love in action. And our testimony is of Him, not of ourselves. So what are we witnessing in our…
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How does your garden grow?
My father’s father was a gardener. When I was very small, his garden was a good acre in size. He plowed, dug, buried seeds, watered and tended. I didn’t know then what an arduous and risky business gardening is. What I did know was the quiet joy he seemed to experience in the process of growing things. He grew so many things: corn, beans, peas, cucumbers, okra, tomatoes, watermelons, and a host of other delights that filled the pantries of family members and friends. I spent many an hour with a bowl in my lap shelling peas or shucking corn and many a hot Summer afternoon eating watermelon with my…
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Verity
The word, “verily,” is an old English word, and if you grew up reading the King James version of the Bible, you will recognize it. It means, of course, “in truth,” It also carries the meaning of “certainty and confidence.” Jesus was often saying, “Verily, verily I say unto you….” In other words, this preface indicated His certain confidence of the truth of His words. One of my favorites is John 5:24: “Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” (NASB) And in John…
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Don’t Fight the Current
It is about this time every year that we put a deposit down on a house at the beach for our Summer family vacation. It’s months away, but in order to claim our spot we have to plan this far in advance. So, for a few days in the middle of Winter we let ourselves think about the sandy shore, the hot sun and the pounding waves, and we choose the place, set the date and send our money. That done, we put the tantalizing thoughts of our beach vacation away until early Summer when we will pick up the reins and gallop toward our annual trip to the salty…
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He Makes a Way
Going to an arcade while on vacation is something I’ve enjoyed since I was a young girl. My father introduced me to pinball when I was small enough to need a stool to reach the pull that releases a ball, and I could barely reach the buttons on either side. The ones that cause the levers to come up and save the ball and keep it in play. Matter of fact, I remember he would sometimes have to pull the spring back for me because I wasn’t strong enough, and he would manage the side buttons because I wasn’t fast enough. But once that ball was loosed, and it started…
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Good Works
Here at the beginning of a new year, I’ve been challenged to let the Lord search my heart for what motivates me. Why do I do what I do, say what I say, live how I live? As a believer, it’s easy to give a superficial nod to these questions. Almost by default, to say, “Because He called me, and I answered.” When the reality is there are still areas in my heart where I am, at best, striving in my own strength to accomplish His will, and at worst, straining to self-preserve and self-promote. In Titus 3 Paul exhorts, “Remind them [us]….to be ready for every good work, to…
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Retrospect
In this first Sunday of the New Year, I am finding myself strangely reluctant to let go of the one just finished. I’m not sure I’ve ever come to the end of a year and not been eager and excited for the new one to unfold. It is not so much that I am timid at approaching 2021 as it is 2020 was so full of abundant life and pivotal happenings. I find in retrospect that I have lived and experienced a surprisingly rich and greatly fulfilling year of leaning in to the Father with more and more dependence. The year began with a bit of tumult as I had…
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A Speck
I went to the ER on Christmas Day. Not what I had planned. I had spent a number of weeks dealing with a stye on the lower lid of my left eye, and on Christmas Day discovered what looked like a sack of blood on the inside of that eyelid. It seemed prudent to seek professional help. My dear mother, who had stayed overnight with us, prayed a sweet and powerful prayer over me before we headed out to the truck, and I was grateful for the peace that settled on me. I was nervous, of course. Eye matters can be a little scary. But, I knew the Lord was…
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Adore
Here we are, just a few days away from Christmas. The season of Advent is almost complete. We’ve been on a journey of waiting, watching, repenting and preparing for His coming. Are we ready for His arrival? Will we accept what He offers when He comes? Will we accept Him and offer Him room in our hearts? When He came the first time, the children of Israel had been waiting for hundreds of years, hoping the promises of a Messiah were true, and yearning for deliverance from their oppressors. Yes, they had returned to the “promised land,” but they were under pagan rule, afflicted by pagan influences, and they were…
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Rejoice
My friends and co-workers came to our home for a gift exchange this week. It was a sweet celebration of our growing friendships, and I hope it will become an annual event. Preparing for the event was truly enjoyable for me as I planned the menu, wrote a special card for each one, arranged fresh flowers, decorated, cooked, cleaned, lit candles and put Christmas music on to play in the background. This kind of labor has its own reward, and as my mother is want to say, “Floats my boat and cranks my crane.” Planning and preparing with anticipation is a gift of it’s own, and I believe it is…