Monday, February 29, 2016

How's Your New Years Resolution Going?



How's Your New Years Resolution Going?

So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic... For the LORD your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you."                          Deuteronomy 31:6 (NLT)


As I write this, the calendar says it is the very last day of February…and because it is leap year, we got an extra day.  So now, two months, (and a day), into 2016, I have to ask, How’s your New Years Resolution going?  Are you right on track with the diet and exercise program to shed those extra pounds that snuck up on you in 2015?  Are you sailing through the Book of Leviticus in your plan to read the Bible in a year?  Maybe your resolution was to get yourself living on a budget.  Have you done any impulse buying over the last sixty days?  Well, I’ve slipped up here and there too, so don’t beat yourself up over it. 

This morning, while mourning my inability to stick with something for any length of time and I found myself reflecting on the faithfulness of God.  So let me encourage you the way God encouraged me…

God was with me forty two years ago this month when I became a Believer in Jesus Christ.  He took a pathetic sinner full of pride, living a life of self-endulgence, extending mercy and grace—He saved a wretch like me.  He was with me as I discovered who He was, is and always will be.

He was a shoulder to cry on when I was going through a heartbreaking divorce. He was with me in the dark times of sadness and lonliness.  He protected me and kept me from going down the wrong path.  He heard the cries of my heart and blessed me with an amazing husband to love me and my children.  He put up with my tantrums and anger and then taught me His way of doing life as we brought our family up in those emotionally-charged, blended family years. 

My faithful and amazing God gave me favor in my writing, to publish first a book, then dozens of articles, and even write a column for a magazine.  He was with me as I entered ministry through all its ups and downs.   He orchestrated a marriage of ministries between mine and my friends in Uganda.  He has somehow used me—a nobody—to raise up a hospital and child sponsorship program in Uganda.  And when I couldn’t handle it alone, he brought me the help of someone who cares about it as much as I do.  He has used me, a housewife from Arkansas, to share the good news of the Gospel across the U.S. and all around the globe.

My God has carried and even prospered us through financial struggles in our business when we should have lost everything.  My God has blessed my family, multiplied it, (15 grandchildren), and is bringing all of them to faith in Him, one by one—even allowing me to baptize some of them.

And He’s not finished with me or any of us yet.  And he doesn't do good things for one and not for another.  He is not a respecter of people.  He loves you too.  Does it matter if I stay on the diet and lose those extra pounds I determined to lose at the first of the year?  Well, I’m going to keep working at it, but in light of the bigger picture, it is okay if I fail because my God promised to never leave us or forsake us.    And He always keeps His Word.  


  

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

The Winding Road


In recent years, I have joined the ranks of thousands of "Spyder" enthusiasts!  For those of you who think a Spyder is an eight-legged, hairy, creepy thing lingering in the shadows, let me clarify.  The Spyder I am referring to is a three-wheel motorcycle--not a trike.. because two wheels are in the front and one in the back.  Though I never saw myself as a motorcycle person... I'd always been content to ride on the back behind my husband.  But yes, I have been bitten by the Spyder and now I'm riding my own.
Spyder riders are a rare breed of people.  They aren’t afraid to try something new, or they wouldn’t be riding a Spyder.  We like to have fun feeling the wind in our face.   And of course, there’s nothing better than the challenge of conquering the long and winding road and then sharing the experience with other like-minded Spyder lovers.  We are like a big family.
 A friend told me recently that he noticed a lot of people in the Spyder world making reference to their faith in their posts.  He was intrigued by how their faith seemed to be a source of strength for them as they faced some pretty dark roads.  I guess he asked me because I’m a Christian speaker and hold strong convictions.  He wondered what my “take” on these “Faith-Riders” was.
 It’s kind of like this…I remember once, when I was a brand-new Spyder rider, some of us went for a nighttime ride up a very steep and curvy mountain road.  It was pitch black in this thick, wooded area, so the only light was from our headlights. 
 My husband is an experienced rider, so he was leading.  I was behind him and our two friends, Erick and Leira, were behind me.  As long as Harvey stayed in front of me, within my headlight range, I was fine on that steep, twisty road.  I could see him approaching the turns first and followed his lead.   But because Harvey couldn’t resist the challenge of the road, he forgot about me behind him.  Ramping up his speed, he took off up the mountain.  I tried to keep up, but fear (and sound wisdom) finally got the best of me and I just fell back and let him go on ahead.  By now, Erick and Leira were some distance back and I was left alone to find my way in the dark.
I hadn’t realized how much I depended on Harvey’s lights in front of me until they weren’t there anymore.  For an inexperienced rider like myself, it was pretty scary starting into a curve and then see a 30ft drop-off just a couple feet from the edge of the road.  Some of the turns were so sharp and unexpected, at times the road would twist right while my headlights were still going straight.  My clutch was getting a real work-out.
 So what does that have to do with faith?  Well, for a lot of us Spyder lovers the road we’re traveling down is full of unexpected twists and turns; tough times, family problems, health issues, etc.  It‘s in these dark times that we need more than a love for the road to get us through.  We need some light shining on the road so we can see which way to go.  And that’s what our faith in God does.  He is our light. (AKA The Light of the World)
 After a couple minutes on that dark, mountain road, Erick and Leira caught up to me.  Their headlights gave me the added confidence I needed to go on.  Then we all rode together and caught up with Harvey.  When you have a problem, the natural thing to do is look to your friends for support—there is strength in numbers.  If those friends are Christians, your faith is combined with theirs and God’s light is that much brighter.   The Bible says when two or three come together in His Name…He’s right there with them, listening and answering their prayers.  That’s why you see people posting prayer requests.
 We all think we have it together and can handle whatever comes along, but everyone has those times when we come to the end of our own “know how.”  That’s when our faith will get us through no matter how dark it gets or how treacherous the road.  Unlike my husband, God won’t run off and leave us. 
 When we are heading down an unfamiliar road and don’t know which way to go, He didn’t leave us to figure it out on our own.  He gave us a pretty good GPS—the Bible.  It is full of wisdom, instruction, promises, and hope.  And for those of us who have been following this GPS for a while, we can tell you first hand, it will get you where you need to be—without taking you off on a rabbit trail. 
 A lot of us have some pretty bad roads behind us, we’re not perfect and we know it.  But even so, once we decided to get off that road and follow Him, we discovered it is a much better way to go.  And doing it on a Spyder, along with some good friends and the wind in your face, it’s even better.