Bringing Forth Gold

I am finishing up 1st Peter in my beloved Bible#5 in my desire to re-read straight through the New Testament by Christmas time.  This has been quite an experience for me because my usual plan is to read whatever "calls" to me at any given stage of my life.  In this manner, I have read my entire Bible(s) at least 20 times, but never in order from beginning to end.  I study as I go, also, so each reading takes several years.  This is how my devotional life plays out and has been very satisfying and helpful to me.  When I have filled all available space in the margins of my Bible, I buy a new one and start again.  As I go back and re-read my notes from time to time, I am able to relive wonderful memories and grow again from past experiences in the Word.  1st Peter has been a wonderful trip down memory lane, reaching back to 1958 when I decided, at Youth Camp, to totally and irrevocably commit myself to God and to the way of holiness.  The 3 years before then I had been experimenting and sitting on the fence between God's way and the way of my friends.  1958 was the dividing line between for me, and I have never looked back since.

This decision to "go all the way" was welcomed by my mentors in my home church and by all my seriously Christian friends in our Susquehanna District of the Free Methodist Church and the adventure began.  In my home, however, a different reaction occurred.  My mom and dad were supportive and so were my brothers, even though they all thought I had gone a little farther than I needed to go with this "religion" thing.  I had mixed reactions from my sisters, including one who decided I had become mentally ill and needed help.  She tried to persuade my parents to get me help, and when that did not work she took things into her own hands.    She would hide my mail or destroy it.  She ridiculed me, argued with me, caused me all kinds of trouble.  We eventually stopped talking altogether.  This went on for about a year, I think.  During this time, Jesus came and personally met with me on a daily basis.  My church people prayed and cared for me, and one friend drove 100+ miles one weekend to counsel and pray with me.  At the end of that year, there was a fire in my home and several members of the family were burned, one very seriously.  This sister was away at the time and when she heard about it all, she wanted to hear all that we had to say about how it all happened.  When she actually listened to my words we were all amazed!  She had evidently had a wake-up call and decided family was too important to discard.  It also helped that of all the family present during the fire, I was the only one untouched by the flames. She later gave her heart to the Lord while watching Billy Graham on t.v.  I do not know how far she went in her experience with God but I have left that to Him.  I only know He made gold from my fire and I have had wonderful joy from it all - and more to come!  The memories came flooding back as I read 1st Peter 4:12-13.  It was a fiery trial at the time, but I wouldn't trade it now for anything!

All this happened when I was 16.  This is such an important time in our lives, and I pray often and diligently for my loved ones caught up in the world and being tempted by Satan to forsake all they have known and heard up to this time.  There just is no better way than God's way.  Those of us who know this to be true must pray hard for our young people.

My Blog is in a Holding Pattern

I have never been in an airplane that had to circle the airport waiting for permission to land.  I imagine that it could be a minor inconvenience, or it could possibly turn into a scary proposition.  I have been feeling, lately, that my own life is in a holding pattern, and so I have been thinking of the best ways to cope until everything gets resolved and we get to land at our planned destination.  Of course, that makes me wonder if we have maybe boarded the wrong "plane" and the whole outcome will be changed - but that is a topic for a whole other blog.  Let's assume that we have made the right travel plans and now the task is just to keep on until this particular leg of the flight is finished.  What does one do to make the time productive as we circle the airport?  I assume that my Air Traffic Controller is God, since He has been in control of my life since at least 1955, so I am at His mercy on this flight.  The pilot of my plane is Jesus, since I asked Him to guide and direct me and have never changed my mind about that choice.  The Stewardess or helper on this flight is the Holy Spirit and also God's Holy Word and other Christian mentors.  So I have all I need for a successful outcome.

The passengers on this flight with me are mostly family, friends, those who care about me and mine.  What we can mostly do is engage each other in conversation about our experiences and where we are headed.  We must encourage each other,  pray with each other, relate our past experiences in similar holding situations.  We must learn emergency procedures (just in case), tie up loose ends , walk around if we can - for our health, listen for instructions from those in charge, remind ourselves why we trust our pilot, be kind to all around us and share.  I guess we should keep doing the next thing to do, and then try to enjoy the view out the window!  

It is interesting to note that a synonym for holding pattern is "doldrums".  Since that is how I am sometimes feeling, my blog site is also in the doldrums - feeling like I have nothing important to share.  However, this morning I decided to write anyway, sharing what I am learning from this situation in my life.  Eventually, all this will become a written devotional, since that is how I operate.  But for now I am just in the outline and research stage - open to comments and suggestions.  This morning I was reading in Hebrews, chapter 3 about how we are warned to listen to the Holy Spirit and be careful to hear His voice today so our hearts do not become set against Him, as the people of Israel did.  They complained and steeled themselves against Him in the desert while He was testing them.  "Their hearts were always looking somewhere else instead of up to me, and they never found the paths I wanted them to follow."  I want to be looking up to Him in this desert time (holding pattern) so that I will be following the paths He has planned for me and not miss His promised rest and reward.

Allow me a little personal thought right here:  if we are in this holding pattern above "earth" so long that (or because) we are not destined for the airport but for a higher and better place, let me be a little excited.  That would be another satisfactory conclusion to this whole thing.  If not Red Cloud, then Heaven!  Who could complain!  Do you think I will have permanent curls in Heaven?  I do!!!

June Journal Thoughts, Part 2

Tomorrow, June 2012 comes to a close with an extra second added to our clocks.  We are always asking for more time in a day and now we will get it!  I doubt it will help me any, but maybe you.  Meanwhile, back to June notes so I can rest and enter July with a clean slate, so to speak.
     June 14th: Flag Day but our flag is in Nebraska...Today I remembered the thought that a man's reach must exceed his grasp, else what's a Heaven for.  I will never be really happy here in this life - I am always reaching higher - and I will LOVE Heaven when I get there because all will be fulfilled, all will be right :)  Reading in Acts 1 today.  They prayed for 3 days before the Holy Spirit was given.  I remember the power to witness that I felt when the Spirit was given to me, both at salvation in 1955 and at sanctification in 1972.
     June 15th: Happy Birthday, Joyce!  I am in Isaiah 41 today just for a change of pace.  Verse 4 is great!  God is the one who has directed the affairs of mankind.  He is the first and the last - PTL!  Verses 9 and 10 say, "I have called you back from the ends of the earth...I have chosen you and will not throw you away.  Fear not, for I am with you.  Do not be dismayed.  I am your God.  I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you with my victorious right hand."  Okay!!!!   Got a 2003 Red Plymouth Voyager minivan today - God is good to us.
     June 17th:  Dan turns 40 today.  I am old - and it is Fathers Day.  Our 6th one post heart attack!  It's a good day to be alive, to be me, and to have God in my life :)  Isaiah 43, "When you go through (weary glen) I will be with you...you won't drown...the flames won't consume you."  Verse 19, "I am doing a brand-new thing.  See, I have already begun...a road through the wilderness..."  Verse 20: "...yes, springs in the desert...my chosen ones...can be refreshed."  This so very much for me in June 2012!
     June 18th:  I am singing this morning, "God has blotted them out, I'm happy and glad and free. God has blotted them out - I'll turn to Isaiah and see.  Chapter 44, 22 and 3 - He's blotted them out and now I can shout for that means me!"  One of the first camp songs I ever learned.  And now I see in Isaiah 43:25-26 that though He never thinks of our sins again after He blots them out, He says here to remind Him of His promise of forgiveness.  "We must talk about your sins.  Plead your case for my forgiving you."  So, it is okay to ask forgiveness anew each time these sins come to mind again - I can grow through that experience.
     June 19th:  It's another good morning!  Sunny, food to eat, a warm bed, wonderful husband, great God and Saviour, good neighbors, family safe and sound, Dan and Stacy in a good place, financially stable, nice "new" vehicle, Jenni's baby well so far.....And then to Isaiah 46:13 - "I am offering you my deliverance; not in the distant future, but right now!"
     June 20th:  Got my new Study Bible - won't be writing in it.  Need to get a new Living Bible in Red Cloud.  I need one I have room to write in.
     June 21st:  Wasted a piece of toast at 5:35 a.m.  It flipped off the plate and desk and onto the floor, buttered side down.  Ah, well...
     June 22nd:  Confession time - told Rol that I had made every breakfast mistake I could, so far, but not once did I repeat a mistake.  "Perfection" eludes me...  Made appointment for perm.
     June 23rd:  Sermon notes on Isaiah 52: Problem - we have fallen into sin.  Pain - we can't get up.  Provision - Someone has responded to help us with forgiveness and cleansing and healing.  He did it voluntarily, vicariously, and victoriously!  My husband preached such great sermons and he did it so well!
     June 24th:  Really bummed out about this 4:00 service thing (worship today) but I am trying to get over my upset over minor inconveniences.  "Why is everything always about me?  Let me truly worship you today and find ways to make your day glad!"
     On June 26th I got curly hair again!  Then 27th through 29th, reading in Jude about our responsibility as Christians: Develop our faith, Devotion, Discipline, Destiny, Duty (have compassion on doubters), Decision (pull others from the fire), Despise the sin they are in and Doxology (praising God only).  On the 29th, Sandra's friend Jasmine Floyd and her pre-schooler were hit by a Jeep in town and life-flighted to Rapid hospital.  They will be okay.

To finish off June, our daily devotional ends with this prayer: "You know the struggles that we face, Lord.  You know just what we need to endure them.  Give us the confidence to trust you because of your goodness  and to walk by faith.  Amen. "  The author reminds us that God knows where we are and that He is very much aware of the difficult situation we are in and provides the confidence and strength needed to live for His glory.  Help is on the way!

June Journal notes

June 2012 has been a really different experience for me and I have really enjoyed my daily journal writings, but my Blog site has been neglected.  So I thought that today I would take a few moments to mention the Journal highlights for those who may be interested.  Since this site originated because of my diabetes experiences, I should note that June has not been totally friendly to my blood glucose counts!  I have had many readings of 94, and that is excellent.  There have also been many readings between 105 and 130, which are acceptable.  It is the other counts that have caused my recent "repentance" and promises to be good.  I seem to be more human than previously thought and thus subject to earthly temptations, such as ice cream on a hot day!  Well, we will get this under control and July will be a stellar month (surely!)

Well, back to June.  We have no internet connection at Lisa and Rudy's, and no provision for t.v. reception. I am thinking that this is probably all good for me, but we will see...
     June 3rd: Found my first or second (or whatever) lesson for today in John 18 - Jesus says to "put away (my) sword of bitterness" over the District's actions and leadership and "(fully) drink of the cup the Father has given me." This speaks to me and blesses me.  I am learning and growing so much already from this experience (this turning point), and since God answered my prayer and sang my song back to me.  About church today:  the music is sadly lacking.  Not live, only several recorded hymns hard to sing and unrelated to the message.  The people are friendly (only 30 there).  The liturgy is Methodist so we knew it all.  The next couple weeks services will not be usual times or regular order of things.  Of the 30, 6 were visitors.  No one wore a dress but me.  Pastor's wife was not evident - he does both Edgemont and Pringle so maybe she only attends one. This church is yoked with a UCC church in Edgemont, which gives me pause!
     June 4th: Matthew 25:21 notes that because of faithfulness, we will enter into the joy of the Lord.  So joy is the result of faithfulness and is given by God.  This verse was referenced in John 16 in a wonderful study we did in June of 1996.  I am enjoying the notes of that study as listed in my Bible #5.
     June 5th: Last night's power outages lasted 3 hours or more and took out our water, toilet, lights, clocks, dryer, coffee maker - but it all ended well as we slept.  Lisa re-started the dryer with my clothes in it, made my coffee for the next day, etc.  We awoke to a normal world!  Lisa has a real ability to make do, to make lemonade of lemons and to make it all turn out okay.  I am learning new stuff about her everyday.  In John 19:17, "So they had Him at last..." and I do, too, but in a good way!  John 19:20 the place where He was crucified was "near the city" where I always long to be :)  and the two others crucified had Jesus between them.  If (when) I am crucified, I want Jesus beside me, too...
     June 7th:  John 20 has Jesus asking Mary, "Why are you crying:  Whom are you looking for?"  She answered, "They have taken away my Lord and I don't know where they have put Him."  And later on, "How wonderful was their joy when they saw their Lord!"  This was me after the District's actions in Custer. Several times in the past I have let "them" take away my Lord - but I did not come desperately searching early enough.  I cried and nursed bitterness for far too long before I sought my "song" and it was much harder to see Him.  Those times occurred in the midst of spiritual plenty and productivity, but this one was in a time of spiritual malaise in me.  I do believe God is using this in triumph over Satan and in mercy for my soul, and maybe Dan and Stacy's, and maybe others.  I do praise His name today!
     Later that day:  a storm with ping pong ball sized hail totalled our car outside the place where we now live.  Massive damage in the rest of the trailer court and much in our own place.  My mind was elsewhere and when I set the coffee on auto that night, I forgot to put coffee in the basket!  Oh, well...
     June 7 was a very tiring day and my BG was 178!  Scary!
     June 10th:  Six years I have been given, so far, since Rol's heart attack!  If ever we need to be praising God, it is today!

So, I am one third of the way through June's Journal and I have left out lots but this is getting too long so I think I will quit and do something else.  What I see, however, is that God is faithful and if I ask, He will be my all in all and will teach me in wonderful ways.  Life is still so "daily" as Gloria Gaither puts it, but it sure is not boring and there is meaning even in this holding pattern that we currently find ourselves in.  The rest of the journal looks interesting but maybe another day...

My example on Mother's Day

So, in re-reading some of my older posts I see that my own mom has been sadly neglected on this blog.  I think about her so much of the time that maybe I feel she is always with me and don't realize that I hardly ever verbalize that fact.  My mom and I are (were) so much alike.  We looked a lot alike and we thought a lot alike. She was very short, very quiet, very conservative, very loving, and very much a worrier.  She began working outside the home when our family  moved from the farm to the city when I was about 2 years old.  She had 9 children at that time (one in Heaven) and would soon have #10 and a hysterectomy.  She began cooking at a local Chinese American restaurant a few blocks from our home.  She worked evenings Tuesday-Sunday as head cook.  I especially remember stopping off there many afternoons after school and watching her as she prepared live lobsters for dinner guests.  I remember her saying that she gave them a meat cleaver to occupy them until she was ready to drop them live into the boiling water!  I also remember that many movie stars of the day stopped there to eat and she had all their autographs.  I wonder where those went?  Lots of little kitties would end up at her restaurant doorstep looking for food and make their way to our home later on in her coat or sweater.  Many mornings my younger sister and I would awake to find several new little kitties sleeping at our feet!  That is a precious memory that will be forever in my heart.  Another special memory is waking up at midnight to find my mom greasing our chests with Vick's Vaporub and taking our temps because we had been sick with a cold before she went to work that evening.  She never failed to kiss our sleeping bodies and wish us a good night.

My mom had Mondays off and us kids would take turns pretending to be sick on a Monday so we could stay home with her and thus be taken to the local grocery store in her little red wagon because Monday was grocery day and she had no one to leave us at home with.  She always got us a comic book and some candy to take home and make our day go better!  We always had to be in bed before my dad arrived home from work about 2:30 p.m. because he said if we were home sick we had to be in bed or else we weren't sick.  Looking back, of course, I now see that my dad was in on our plot all along, but he never let on and always scolded us for not being in school on a Monday!  When there are 10 kids you have to take time with your mom however you can get it - and that was our method.  Oh how we loved her and treasured our times with her, and she with us!

Mom always had high blood pressure and bad headaches but she was quite healthy, otherwise.  She began to have mini-strokes in 1979 and I began to mourn her, even though she did not die of them.  A couple of years later she was properly diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease and would deal with that until 1995, when she did pass away of heart failure.  We had been in Nebraska most of that time and then in Oklahoma when she died and were not able to be with her much during those years.  One summer we took time to sit at her feet, so to speak, as she dictated her favorite recipes to me so that I would always have that part of her.  She baked and cooked instinctively and I think she had no equal in those categories.  Those recipes are still with us and Dan will probably keep most of them.

When Mom died the sisters caring for her elected to have her body cremated because they said she had expressed that wish to them.  Because of that, and the fact that we were all scattered and not able to come home for a funeral, we missed the chance to gather and talk and celebrate her life.  That was very hard and so in 1997 when my sister Marion passed away, we were able to go back to New York for her burial and a wonderful time of dinner and talking afterwards.  Thus, the healing began, though late in coming.  I think of her almost constantly and wish she was here to talk to.  I have tried to model my mothering after her example and probably will never know how well I have done - until I meet Jesus face to face and thank Him for her and listen for His "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."  I am so thankful for my mom today and so thankful that God has allowed me to me a mom also.

Tough Times Require Prayer

I have been thinking for weeks that it is time to update this blog.  Today is just one more day in what has been a rough couple of months for me and mine.  The first big event was the announcement that the Dakota District is closing our Custer Wesleyan Church.  Lots of tears, some anger, lots of questions, much prayer...and here we are into April and nothing really settled.  That is just the first thing, though.  Second was a growth that appeared on my face overnight in March and scared me half to death!  After a few days of praying and psyching myself up, I went to the doctor and had it removed.  Praise God that it was benign and now all I have to do is figure out how to pay the bill - but that is better than the alternative!  The third problem is that we need to figure how to take care of Wildcat.  Once Dan and Stacy are moved on, there will not be enough money coming in, nor will there be enough staff to do the work.  We all have ideas of how things can be made easy, but it looks like God will have to undertake for us.  We cannot accomplish any of this on our own.  If  we pray 24/7, there are probably not enough days to get it done.  But our God is a big God and He only needs to speak the Word and we can breathe easier.  We know He has a plan for all of us and we are asking that He continue to implement that plan without interference from any of us.  All we ask for is patience, grace, wisdom, and (kind of) to please hurry up?  Well, then today we spent a tense afternoon looking for funds to pay Lisa's house payment, which was our fourth big problem.  We got to where all we could do was say, "Help!" and some of us could not even get that much out!  But with some creative shuffling and a little extra help and more prayer, the payment was made.  We still need some more by Friday, but we are breathing a little easier.  There are many more problems yet to be solved because of this decision of the Dakota District.  It is affecting many people, in many different ways.  We are all impacted and we are all making changes.  We can only pray that we will react well, and that we will learn from all this what God  wants us to learn.  He has a future for all of us and it is one of hope and promise.  It is also probably not what we were expecting when we moved into 2012. If the last 69 years is any indication, this future will be even better than we had expected!  My response is still, "God is good - all the time!" and  "All the time - God is good!"  That does not mean it will be easy.  "God give us strength to finish this race well."