If you need a blessing from the Lord today and want some encourage, head on over and read Denise’s current post at Refine Me. She posted reflections about friendship.
Refine Me…True Friends Leave Footprints
Five Minute Friday – True Grit
When I first saw this week’s word “Grit” the movie True Grit came to mind. I remember the scene of John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn riding his horse across a meadow with guns blazing.
Grit…now that’s a rather interesting word.
Some people are like gritty sandpaper in my life. God uses them to buff out and polish off some of the rough not so pretty parts of my personality or character. The key is, to having the perspective that God is using them in the middle of those difficult days with difficult people. It doesn’t feel too good, but in retrospect I see how God uses them.
In fact I have one of those sandpaper people in my life right now. I find myself saying, “Lord, I don’t understand?” The other day when I was bemoaning the latest offence the Lord impressed upon me that perhaps I should ask, “Lord, what lesson do You want me to learn in this?”
Before I get too cocky and think too highly of myself, I need to remember thatI may be someone’s gritty, irritating sandpaper person.
Here’s one of the definitions of the word grit: firmness of mind or spirit : unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger.
Now I rather like that! I would like it to be said, “Now she displayed a lot of grit.” But I want to be a godly woman of grit. Not one that is self-willed and unyielding, but one who can stand firm because I know my God, who He is and what He can do and because I know Whose I am.
This post is being linked to 5-Minute Friday courtesy of The Gypsy Mama, where you simply write for 5 minutes without worrying if it’s right or not. Head on over and take the challenge today. It’s kind of fun!
Who do you belong to?
Anyone need an encouraging word and reminder just Who’s your Heavenly Father is?
A Fragile Life
As we near home
I’m overcome with sadness
Thinking about how fragile life is
Memories of loved ones
Long since gone
Flood my mind
Time with them will never pass this way again
A chance to say I love you is gone
As soon as death shuts that door
Sickness and pain
Touch each life
Death is a certainty for us all
May I not take you for granted
Each day, tell you I love you
Hold you as if it may be the last time
Susan Wachtel
February 12, 2012
Five Minute Friday…Delight In the Lord
As soon as I heard the word delight, Psalm 37:4 came to mind. “Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”
I also thought of a quote from Michelle at “A HeartSurrendered”, “God will never introduce anything into your life that is a substitute for Him.”
I’ve been the recipient of God’s goodness and grace when He answered my lifelong prayer to be married by bringing Chris Wachtel into my life. God has given me the love of photography, writing and music. How easy it is in my sinful nature to replace God in Whom I delight with the gifts and blessings He bestows upon me.
Whenever I get unbalanced in life and my love for the Lord wanes He has a way of getting my attention. When that happens I remember that I need to guard my heart and keep my mind it stayed on the Lord.
How easy it is to fall into the trap of replacing God with people or things or work, none of which is bad in and of itself. But when taken to excess and when my heart, mind, time, attention and affection is focused on anyone or anything else other than God first, I’ve failed to delight myself in the Lord.
Oh Lord, teach me to guard my heart and keep You first place in my heart, mind and soul.
This post is being linked to 5-Minute Friday courtesy ofThe Gypsy Mama, where you simply write for 5 minutes without worrying if it’s right or not. Head on over and take the challenge today.
Five Minute Friday – Trusting God
When I saw today’s word for Five Minute Friday was trust, I was pleased because that’s a subject I’m familiar with.
I guess I could go into all sorts of reasons psychological and otherwise why trust is hard for me, but at the end of the day I still need to learn to trust. I need to be able to trust people and more importantly I need to trust God.
Obviously, any obstacle to trusting God is within me and not related to God. When I’ve felt it was hard to trust God, it’s not because He’s changed or that He’s not good, or that He has selfish motives behind what He’s doing in my life.
Trusting God has been a twofold process for me. The most important and influential piece that has helped me to trust God more is to know the word of God. To read the Bible on my own, participate in an in-depth study and sit under the teaching of Pastors who are scripturally grounded and unafraid to preach the word, in season and out of season.
In studying the Bible, I see what the Lord does in the lives of other people and what happens when people choose to sin or to remain steadfast and obedient to God. I see the realities of life: sickness, pain, death and sorrow will touch each life and I can be certain that I won’t escape them either. It would be unrealistic to expect that God will or should exempt me from the difficult things of life.
The second thing that has helped me learn to trust is to walk with God over time. I see mercy God’s goodness and faithfulness to me. I see His and compassion even when I don’t deserve it. I reap the consequences of my poor sinful choices and know that my heavenly Father disciplines me.
Trust for me has been both a learning thing and a faith thing.
This post is being linked to Gypsy Mama’s 5-Minute Friday where you simply write for 5 minutes without worrying if it’s right or not. Head on over and give it a try!
An Offering
This evening at Bible study we sang a song called “We Are An Offering” by Dwight Lilies.
I had never heard the song before. But as we sang the lyrics I was thinking, if we looked at our lives and everything we do as an offering to God would it change what we choose to do and say?
If I lift up my voice as an offering to God, then it won’t be raised in anger or to tear someone down. When I lift up my hands to God as an offering, then I won’t lift up my hands to strike someone.
Oh Lord, teach me to daily live my life as an offering to You.
We Are An Offering
By Dwight Lilies
We lift our voices, we lift our hands
We lift our lives up to You
We are an offering
Lord use our voices, Lord use our hands
Lord use our lives, they are Yours
We are an offering
We lift our lives up to You
We are an offering
Lord use our voices, Lord use our hands
Lord use our lives, they are Yours
We are an offering
Verse
All that we have, all the we are
All that we hope to be
We give to You, we give to You
Chorus
We lift our voices, we lift our hands
We lift our lives up to You
We are an offering, we are an offering
Tough Love
They call it tough love
Because in the best interest of the person
I have to say “No!”
To tell you the truth
I think it’s harder on me to say no
Than the person on the receiving end
Another desperate phone call
What is it this time?
How long before I hear another anxious plea?
Intentional or not, there’s manipulation
It’s a no win situation
Feeling a lot like a puppet these days
I don’t even pick up the phone anymore
Just let it go to voicemail
I’ll listen later and ask, “Lord, what should I do?”
Everyone needs a little help now and again
But when you don’t learn to make better choices
It’s time you hear the answer “No!”
As an adult
You need to be responsible and independent
Not always expecting a handout
If I give in to your latest request
All I’m doing is shielding you
From reaping the consequences of bad decisions
So my friend
The answer is “No!”
But I will bring you before the throne of grace in prayer
Susan Wachtel
February 6, 2012
This poem is not about the person going through truly desperate times right now, through no fault of their own. This is about the person whose made receiving a handout a lifestyle. The person who never heard or respected the word no.
When talking with a family member tonight and asking for advice, she reminded me that at times God says no to our pleas for help. He does it for our good and sometimes the best and most responsible thing we can do is say “No!” and faithfully pray for the person.
Five Minute Friday – Real Sad
When I looked up the word real, some of the synonyms were “actual, factual and genuine.”
When I think of my brother Patrick Bunts who has been missing now for about six or seven years now, I feel genuinely sad. The last time I remember speaking to him was at Christmas time, when he called my mother’s room at the assisted living facility at Brighton Gardens. I didn’t think his phone call was motivated by real good intentions.
In the intervening years, I’ve done searches for him and found information that indicates he is alive. But my attempts to contact him have returned void.
Patrick was in possession of our family picture albums which I would love have to have back. I believe he also may have a Christmas apron that belonged to my mother, which I would love to hold in my hands once again.
Sometimes when I think about those missing picture albums, I ask myself do I miss them more than I do my brother? While I do long to see them once again, there is never a day that goes by in which I don’t think about Patrick and wonder where he’s at. There’s not a day that I don’t pray for his salvation. There’s not a day in which I don’t pray that the Lord will bring someone in his life that will speak the truth of the Gospel message to him.
When I think of Patrick, I feel real sad. Not only do I have a brother that’s missing, but I have a brother who is lost.
This post is being linked to The Gypsy Mama’s 5-Minute Friday where you simply write for 5 minutes without worrying if it’s right or not. Head on over and give it a try!
Lazarus’ Prayer
God’s love for you is certain
His love cannot be measured by time
Your prayers will be answered
His blessings will be made visible
In a package well-disguised
In God’s perfect time
by Susan Wachtel
January 28, 2012
Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” John 11:1-7
Five Minute Friday – Tender Heart
What came to mind when I read today’s word “tender” was the scripture verse Ephesians 4:32, “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”
I want to have a heart that is tender towards God. He wants me to have a tender heart towards others.
In my life God has used trying and difficult circumstances to make me more compassionate towards people. He’s also used my failures and sin to help me be more understanding and compassionate towards others.
When I’m prideful and think, “Why I would never do that!” you can be sure I’m going to have a major fall in very short order. After that fall, the Lord in His mercy and compassion, forgives me of my sin and helps me to learn from experience, what I failed to pay attention to and learn from when reading the Bible.
I want to have a heart that is tender to the Lord and to incline my ear to hear His voice through the pages of scripture and the Holy Spirit within.
This post is being linked to 5-Minute Friday courtesy of The Gypsy Mama, where you simply write for 5 minutes without worrying if it’s right or not. Head on over and give it a try!
I want to have a heart that is tender towards God. He wants me to have a tender heart towards others.
In my life God has used trying and difficult circumstances to make me more compassionate towards people. He’s also used my failures and sin to help me be more understanding and compassionate towards others.
When I’m prideful and think, “Why I would never do that!” you can be sure I’m going to have a major fall in very short order. After that fall, the Lord in His mercy and compassion, forgives me of my sin and helps me to learn from experience, what I failed to pay attention to and learn from when reading the Bible.
I want to have a heart that is tender to the Lord and to incline my ear to hear His voice through the pages of scripture and the Holy Spirit within.
This post is being linked to 5-Minute Friday courtesy of The Gypsy Mama, where you simply write for 5 minutes without worrying if it’s right or not. Head on over and give it a try!
Five Minute Friday – Vivid Memories
What do a couple of raggedy old oven mitts, stray pieces of silverware and an old pink mixing bowl have in common?
Any one of these would be junk in anyone else’s eyes, but to me they are a treasure because they remind me of my mother. When I see these objects I have vivid memories of her.
The oven mitts may have been my grandmother’s, but somewhere along the line they ended up with my mom. Even though they don’t guard against the heat too well these days, I still use them. When I see them, I think of my mom.
Odds and ends, that’s all that’s left now, of the silverware set my mom gave me when I got my own apartment. For a number of years I had shared a place with friends, but then I moved out on my own and my mom bought me a set of silverware. If I had known what vivid memories the silverware would evoke one day, I would have taken better care and been careful to not lose any of it.
The mixing bowl is so old, the color has faded and one would hardly even know it’s pink. But I remember. I remember the bowl holding Halloween candy for the trick-or-treaters…a tradition I carry on to this day.
It’s funny what brings back memories. Ordinary days with everyday household items that bring back vivid memories of my mom.
This post is being linked to 5-MinuteFriday courtesy of The Gypsy Mama, where you simply write for 5 minutes without worrying if it’s right or not. Head on over and give it a try!
The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry
My husband Chris and I had the pleasure of watching “The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry” this evening. We give it a big thumbs up. It’s a wonderful movie for the whole family and it has timeless lessons for everyone.
Listening to God
Do you ever go through those seasons where God seems distant?
David Fisher at Pilgrim Scribblings recently had a post “Powerfully Present” in which I related to his quote: “If God seems absent tonight…He’s not! Maybe hidden but NOT gone!”
I’m going through one of those seasons right now. I continue to read God’s word, pray, attend church and participate in Bible studies. But God seems distant from me.
But there have been moments when God has quietly spoken. Such as when I start my day and I’m tempted to dive right in because there is always so much to do. But I feel God calling me, “Susan, don’t you want to hear what I have to say to you before you start your day?” I feel His call to pick up my Bible and read from the scriptures and read from my devotionals.
In the past, I’ve tried to keep a journal, but it’s always been something I started only to stop within a few days. A couple of weeks ago, I felt God leading me to jot down in a notebook when I’m reading through the Bible verses that stand out to me, or record what’s going on with me that day that I’m struggling with or rejoicing over.
As I’m going through my day I’m on the lookout for Jesus. When I have those encounters I’m writing them down in a small notebook. It may be the Holy Spirit bringing to mind something I’ve studied, or it might be something I hear while listening to a radio program or an encouraging or convicting word that some speaks to me.
During this time when God seems distant, I feel led to ask the Lord is there some area of sin in my life that is displeasing or dishonoring to You? Is there something that I need to repent of? Do I have a wrong attitude or is there an overt action that I need to repent of?
May my heart be tender towards the Lord and may I be sensitive to His Holy Spirit.
Five Minute Friday…Awake!
Oh my goodness, here I am awake again. It’s going to be morning before I know it. I have to get up and go to work. I have a meeting and I need to be able to focus. What time is it? 12:15 am and I’ve been lying here for over two hours.
Lord, please help me to sleep. What time is it…1:00 am. With each passing minute I feel more stressed.
Okay Lord, whom do you want me to pray for? Help me to focus so I can at least make this time productive.
It seems like the sleepless nights are too frequent. I’m awake and cannot go to sleep, no matter how tired I am. I find when I fret, I just get more stressed and stay awake longer.
However when I take the approach that perhaps it’s a divine appointment that the Lord may have me up so that I can be praying, it takes the stress out it. At least the time is productive and I’m not keeping my husband awake too.
The Lord will bring different people and situations to mind for me to pray about. I also ask that the Lord will help me to make it through that day despite precious little sleep.
This post is being linked to 5-Minute Friday courtesy of The Gypsy Mama, where you simply write for 5 minutes without worrying if it’s right or not. Go ahead…head on over and give it a try!
October Baby
Five Minute Friday – Roar
When I read the word roar, the first thing that comes to mind was the scripture in 1 Peter 5:8 that tells us that Satan goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
One day there will be a thunderous roar in heaven when Jesus stands up and says “Enough!” and comes to get His bride the church. Oh how I look forward to that day. I long for it. There is not a day that goes by in which I don’t think of Jesus’ soon return. With each passing day, it seems as though it’s eminent.
There was day 2,000 years ago, when the crowd roared “Crucify Him!” and the roaring lion thought he had won the victory. Little did he know that three days later, Jesus Christ would emerge from the tomb, not a vanquished foe, but a triumphant Victor. A Victor over sin and death.
Now that ought to elicit a loud roar of praise from my lips…Thank You Jesus!
This post is being linked to 5-Minute Friday courtesy of The Gypsy Mama, where you simply write for 5 minutes without worrying if it’s right or not. Head on over and give it a try!
Cry Out to God
Today the Lord strengthened and encouraged me through His word, in His perfect timing.
16 As for me, I call to God,
and the LORD saves me.
17 Evening, morning and noon
I cry out in distress,
and he hears my voice.
18 He rescues me unharmed
from the battle waged against me,
even though many oppose me.
Psalm 55:16-18
NIV
Courageous: What’s Your Resolution For 2012?
Rock Harbor’s India Team & Harvest India
Our friend Rachel has gone to India along with others from Rock Harbor Church on a missions trip. Each day they are sharing a blog post about what they did that day. I would encourage you to follow their missions trip and see what the Lord is doing in and through them.
Please watch the video below to see the lives being touched through Harvest India.
Harvest India from David Trotter on Vimeo.
Susan's Blog 