SelahV Today

FILLED WITH EXPECTATIONS

This time of year there are so many people filled with expectations.  Some children write Santa and make wish-lists for Mom and Dad. 

Yesterday I went to my daughter's to drop off our presents and hide them in her garage till Christmas Eve when we'll all gather together, tell the Christmas story and then open gifts.  Haylee climbed up in my lap and said, "Three more sleeps, Grama, and it will be Christmas!"  She was so excited--so filled with expectations.  She has no idea what she is getting.  She hasn't asked for anything.  She just knows I bought her something and that her mom and dad are getting her something; and she is anticipating the joy.  More than anything she is excited about what she has made her mom and others and is looking forward to giving.  Isn't that a novel idea?

God is so filled with blessings for us.  He wants to give us all we need to be filled with joy in Him.  Yet, all too often we sit around and write our imaginary wish-lists and come to Him like He is Santa.  God is God.  His desire for us is that we live in His presence and allow Him to be God and meet our needs.  God's never late in His timing.  We may get antsy and want to speed things up and, at times, try to help God out in fulfilling our desires.  Anytime I've done that, I've wound up with far less than the best of what God has planned.  Hope in the Lord, and wait upon Him.  He will deliver and reward us with far more than we dreamed possible.  And what we thought we wanted will pale in comparison.  selahV

Calling all Tech Dudes...

Any suggestions on how to convert my son's old videos (home videos) onto DVD discs without having to pay an arm and a leg to professionals?  Isn't there some kind of converter machine and software?  Thanks.  selahV

FINALLY!

Thanks to a group of fresh voices to heaven, I slept for 6 straight hours last night.  Wow!  Now if I can be so blessed to receive that for then next 4 nights, I might be human again by Christmas!  Thanks so much my wonderful blogging buds!  You are such a blessing to me.  selahV 

Anyone Know?

How long can a person go without sleep before crumbling into a heap of twisted thoughts and short-circuited emotions?

CONGRATULATIONS DUE

My friend and sister in Christ, Trish Reilly, graduates from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary today.  Trish has been a blessing in my life and a prayer warrior for my needs.  Anyone who takes the time to further their understanding of scripture and doctrine in this manner deserves more than a post on my blog.  Unfortunately, this is what I can offer.  Though I'd love to hug her neck and pray blessings upon her, I can't be there in Dallas, today.  I am so sorry I was not able to attend this extremely important event in her life.

Students go through many struggles while attending seminary.  The devil seems to want to discourage them and destroy them.  How great it is when the devil loses once again. 

Dear Trish, I so wanted to see you accept your diploma.  I can't even imagine how relieved and proud you must be.  You have every right to feel like crowing with joy.  I'm sure you feel like that about the idea that all the long hours of study, interpretation papers and tests are "over".  The late nights, the struggles.  But I also believe you are very humbled by the fact that your Creator has provided and strengthened you every step of the way.  You've been through some extremely tough times in losing your mother, and two aunts in this last year of your seminary journey.  Many would have settled for less than their best to get through a class.  Not you.  You fought to do all that was necessary to grasp the material you had before you so God could use you in the future.  Well done, my sister.  Well done.  I'm so proud of you.  May God enrich countless others by all the knowledge you've gained and the wisdom He has bestowed upon you in the process.  I love you.  selahV 

THE HUMOR OF GROWING OLD TOGETHER

When I met my husband, his gorgeous, thick hair immediately grabbed my attention.  I fell head over heels in love with him the moment I heard his deep voice say, "Hello".  His dark brown eyes seemed to see right inside my mind.  Today he swears he didn't know I thought he was the most handsome man I'd ever seen.

By the time he was thirty, just about all his hair decided it had fulfilled its purpose atop his head.  By the time he was forty, he had to give up the ghost and start wearing glasses.  This past week we scheduled him an appointment to have his hearing tested; he's having a tough time hearing me these days.  And to be honest, I've been having a harder time hearing him, too.  A friend of mine said that, "As the male grows older, he loses the upper range of his hearing.  As the female ages, she loses the lower range of her hearing.  Since the male has a deeper voice, and the female has a higher voice, they can’t hear each other." 

Do ya think God thinks we've heard enough of one another by the time we've been married 44-plus years? selahV

CHRISTMAS ANGELS WATCHING OVER ME; YEAH!

I went to the mall with my granddaughters yesterday so they could play in the play area.  On the way into the mall, I pushed the button on my keychain to lock the car.  We were inside the mall about an hour and a half.  When we came back to the parking lot, my trunk lid was open.  Wide open.  I took a quick intake of frigid air and my heart leaped in fear.  All my shopping trips for Christmas gifts were inside my trunk.  Immediately I realized I had probably popped the latch on my trunk when I locked the car on my way into the mall.  I went to the trunk and took a quick inventory.  Not one item was gone.  I thanked God for watching over my car.  There were all kinds of cars around mine.  Anyone could have taken anything they wanted and walked it over to their car and put it in their trunks.

Some folks may think this a fluke.  I credit the Lord for protecting over my trunk.  He probably had a shield of angels around my car.  selahV

PRESSURE COOKER SITUATION

I don't work well under pressure.  My stomach knots up.  I'm easily annoyed and impatient.  A timed situation is a weight on top of my head that pushes my brain into my shoulders with each tick-tock of the clock.  I need time to do things well, or I don't want to do them at all.  Friday night my granddaughters, hubby and I built a gingerbread house out of graham crackers and icing.  It's an annual event at our church.  My granddaughters revel in the experience each year; they mark their calendars as soon as we find out the date so we can all work on it together.  It's a blast.  Each family group is only given bowls of icing and graham crackers.  We each bring all the decorative candies or cookies we want to dress it up.  No two houses are ever alike; designs range from log cabins and traditional homes to dog houses and sugar-cube castles.  My problem comes from being alloted one short hour to assemble this house and decorate it.  Pressure cooker crafting does not mix with my character.

Friday night I was annoyed with several things.  Mostly I was annoyed at myself for my inability to figure out how to get my roof to stay up on the walls we assembled.  We covered the graham crackers with chocolate icing and stuck peanut brittle on it to resemble a stone home.  Then we placed the crackers up against nutty butter wafer cookies.  The cookies worked as our brace.  The walls went up beautifully.  For the first time ever, we managed to get them to stand without falling over.  But our woebegotten roof sagged and sat precariously upon its walls.  It was so frustrating trying to keep it from caving in.  When the girls added the mini-M&M's to the roof as Christmas lights, it came close to collapsing.  When we finished, gaps in the roof clearly revealed that our roof needed critical re-roofing and an engineer's assistance.

I realized tonite that I'm a lot like that gingerbread house.  The Lord gives me the Foundation of my faith to stand erect like the walls of my house by the salvation through His Son, Jesus.  He provides the glue to keep me from falling apart by the direction of His Spirit and the promises within His scriptures.  When I allow myself to get all caught up in the things of this world to decorate, or embellish my faith, I'm certain to crumble beneath the weight of man-made grace, progressive liberties, weak-kneed doctrine, and legalistic viewpoints.  The world may pass off its logic and reason to try and batter my faith, but the foundation remains strong no matter how many times a roof caves in from the weight of embellishments. selahV

DINNER IS OVER, LET CELEBRATIONS BEGIN

Thanksgiving at my daughter's house was beyond wonderful.  All she let me do was peel a few potatoes and carve the turkey.  She did everything else.  Stuffed the big bird, rolled out all the pie crusts and baked all the goodies.  My granddaughter, Bethany, made stuffed eggs and homemade clover-leaf yeast rolls.  Then we ate.  And ate.  And ate.  After a day of photo-shoots, football games, family video-viewing, and several hands of Rook, my granddaughter packed up her two little boys, and she and her hubby headed back to Mississippi.  We're hoping they'll be back for Christmas.

This week is filled with various plans for celebrating the Christmas season.  Gingerbread House Competition.  (We never win, but it is so much sticky gooey fun.)  I bought candy canes, and peanut butter cookies to brace the walls made of graham crackers.  I need to go get the colorful little sugar-coated chocolates to use as lights on the roof.  I have a plan this year for our Gingerbread House.  I plan to try and build it to withstand the weight of candy decorations.  Hopefully my plan will succeed.  I've told my 18-year-old grandson that I think he should join my construction crew this year.  Don't know if his mom and dad will allow him to defect, but I'm gonna try.   Will let ya know how that goes.  ho ho ho.

I have one open-house party to attend with my hubby.  And I need to decorate my daughter's house before Saturday night.  She's having her Sunday School department over for a party.  I won't go overboard with decorating.  At least I'll try not to go overboard.  Never know what will happen with me when I get in the spirit.

THURSDAYS WEREN'T MADE FOR TURKEYS

As a child, I never looked forward to Thanksgiving.  For weeks before school break, we'd draw pictures of turkeys, corn, and pie.  We learned about Pilgrims, and Indians coming together and giving thanks for what they had because of how harsh conditions were in early New England colonization of America.  Classmates talked about Thanksgiving like they were going to have some feast like the Pilgrims.  They were all going to grandma's house.  For some kids, that was far away.  Thanksgiving fell on Thursday every single year.  Why Thursday?  I hated Thursdays more than any day of the week--worse than Mondays.  Thursdays guaranteed our family a big white porcelain bowl filled to the brim with bean soup.  It was tradition.  Don't ask me how that got started.  I can only speculate.  Family traditions are weird sometimes.

When I was growing up we never had Thanksgiving on Thursdays.  [READ MORE]

MORE THAN THANKFUL

So many of you have stopped by through the past few years and have supported my efforts on this blog.  "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you..." Philippians 1:3  I appreciate, more than you know, for the emails and comments and prayers.

Thank you for your faithfulness in reading my blog; thanks for sharing it with others.  I am grateful for each one of you and pray God blesses you so much today.  I pray your family and friends have a wonderful Thanksgiving. selahV

ABSORBING Lessons From a Broken Chopstick--REVIEWED part 2

I'm haunted by images Mary Anne Phemister described in her book, LESSONS FROM A BROKEN CHOPSTICK.  If any woman has ever had a reason to throw a pity-party for how she was forced to grow up, Mary Anne is that woman.  But she doesn't throw a pity-party.  That action would be inconsistent with the brave and courageous Mary Anne whose persevering spirit defied life's hardships to break her emotionally, and destroy her spiritually.  There are times I longed to reach inside the pages of her book, wrap my arms around her, and shelter her from the turmoil, upheavals, and uncertainty.  Other times I wanted to grab her--whisk her away from her forced exile in a strange land.  I wanted to join her, to walk alongside and simply be her friend.

Mary Anne touched a chord inside my soul.  As I wrote a portion of a review of her book [link], I felt a need to say something more.  I didn't know quite what.  Between the lines that Mary Anne offers in her manuscript of memories, were spaces in which my thoughts and emotions ran rampant with questions.  Questions for God.  These questions led me to consider how God fills all the empty, loveless spaces of our lives with His unfathomable grace.  Mary Anne's accounting challenged me once more as Job; how dare I question what God allows to those He calls according to His purposes?   

You need to read Mary Anne's contribution to missionary life.  See how our Sovereign Lord pours out His grace upon her and leads her to forgive, to love, and persevere.  Perhaps you'll find, as I, God's unforsaking, unrelenting, all-sufficient power to carry a child through the difficulties of life when questions have no answers.  May you find it as absorbing as I did.  selahV

LESSONS FROM A BROKEN CHOPSTICK, by Mary Anne Phemister, Published by Hannibal Books.

"Lessons From A Broken Chopstick" REVIEWED

I've always been fascinated with stories shared by missionaries.  Often I am challenged in my own walk with Christ as I read the personal sacrifices missionaries make to serve God around the world.  I've sometimes wondered how missionary kids (MKs), handle cultural changes, and how they grew in faith as a result.  Mary Anne Phemister is a missionary kid.  Her book, LESSONS FROM A BROKEN CHOPSTICK, surprised me.  Reading her "memoir of a peculiar childhood" saddened me; at times it angered me.  This book is a sobering revelation of how some missionary children can be the most sacrificed in a missionary's effort to reach a lost world.

Mary Anne chronicles snatches of her childhood memories that may break your heart.  The book seems a therapeutic endeavor, a search to understand her past and how it connects her to her present.  She survived a seemingly loveless relationship with a father, whose quest to share the gospel with an idolatrous world did not allow room to enjoy the blessings of God.  She cradled isolation, abandonment, and insecurity, as companions throughout a childhood fraught with hardships.  Shuffled from school to school, and left to the care of other missionaries and natives of China, she and her siblings adjusted to separation after separation from her mother and father, as her parents worked as missionaries in Asia.  These were not occasional separations; they were years of separation.

How did she cope?  The author shares several anecdotes that give insight into the diversions she had, and people from whom she gained strength, and comfort.  It reminded me of the verse: "Though your father and mother forsake you, the Lord will lift me up." Psalm 27:10

The author touches upon her mother's skewed understanding of a wife's biblical role as a helpmate.  She gives the reader glimpses into how her mother suffered spiritual and verbal abuse as a wife.  Phemister shares how her father ignored his missionary board's urgings to leave China when communists were taking over their province; this resulted in his family being placed under house arrest for 16 months.  Years later, he refused to follow the board's policy to leave Vietnam and was fired.  He literally abandoned his wife and family to preach to the lost in an Asian world. 

Chapter after chapter left me with questions.  As I waited for the happily-ever-after ending, I found unanswered questions and Mary Anne's resolve, "Many things in life I cannot fix, nor should I even try."  There is wisdom in that statement, and an unbreachable peace.

Today, Mary Anne Phemister is the wife of noted concert pianist, William Phemister.  She is a nurse, author, mother and grandmother.  In 150 plus pages, Phemister opens a place inside her heart, and reveals her struggle to understand memories lost, and memories never created.  She exemplifies a lady who rose above hardship, and grew stronger in her Christian faith as a result.

HOW GOD GROWS THE FAITH OF A CHILD

Four years ago, I took my granddaughters over to my daughter's house to swim.  While looking in the pool filter drain, we found a tiny Red-eared Slider paddling around in circles.  The girls were elated.  "Can we keep him?  Please, Grama; please."  My first thought was, of course.  Hubby had some misgivings, but 8 year-old Brooklyn was so excited, it didn't take much to bend Grampa our way.

We found Snappy the year after my granddaughter had lost her daddy.  When she begged to keep the turtle, I thought of what my son would have done had he been there.  He would have gone to the pet store, gotten the best of turtle-homes, the right food and taught his little girl how to care for the turtle.  So that's what I did.  And Brooklyn took Snappy home to live at her house.

One day, Brooklyn called and told me she'd lost Snappy.  They'd been playing with him and left him on the bed when they went to eat supper.  When Brooklyn returned, she couldn't find Snappy.  She was crying.  She thought her dog had eaten him.  They looked high and low for Snappy to no avail.  I felt so bad for her.  She'd taken such good care of the turtle for months.  To some this would be a silly thing, to worry over a turtle.  But a child's pet is important to them.  Brooklyn was also mad at herself for leaving Snappy on the bed and not putting him back in his bowl.  She blamed herself for his loss.

I assured her that I didn't think Ali (her chihuahau), could have eaten Snappy. "He's probably hiding somewhere."  He was only the size of a quarter and would be easily missed on her dark brown carpet.  She couldn't grasp that in light of Snappy's absence.  "But we've looked everywhere."  I told her I'd pray for her.  A little while later, she called me back.  She was so excited.  "Grama, I prayed for God to help us find Snappy and about two minutes later, Mommy found him under the bed in the corner.  God helped us find him.  He answered my prayer."

I couldn't tell what excited her more--the fact that God answered her prayer or that Snappy was safe.  Today, when Brooklyn holds that quarter-sized Snappy in her palm, he completely covers it.  He has grown 4 times the size.  Occasionally Brooklyn will remind me of that story.  God has faithfully grown Brooklyn's faith time and time again through the years since He answered her prayer.  Snappy is just a tiny bit of visible proof for her to hold in the middle of daily difficulties.  Maybe God planned it that way from the moment we rescued Snappy from the pool drain.  Who is to say?  selahV 

THIS OUGHT TO GO VIRAL

NO MATTER WHAT, GOD IS MY REFUGE

So many folks I know today are enduring hardships, loss, and illness.  I'm sure you know lots of people who are coping with the same things.  It isn't easy to endure, to persevere.  It isn't much easier to watch our friends and family battle, cope, and keep faith in these situations.  We stumble and search for words to offer; we want to comfort where comfort can only be brought from God. 

All things turn back to our salvation in Christ.  That solitary fact--salvation.  Though thieves of life want to rob us of sleep, peace and security, we still own security.  We have security in the salvation of our Lord.  Nothing can separate us from the hand of our Lord.  Famine, joblessness, nor death...we still have our salvation.  That is our glory.  That is worth more than anything this world offers us or takes away from us.

We feel so weak, so faithless in the darker moments of our struggles.  But our refuge is in God.  He is the Rock--the foundation, the strength we need to make it through the fire, flood and storm.  When the world casts doubt, we trust.  Each day, every moment, at all times, we trust Him to see us through.  We know we cannot rely upon ourselves, which is why we falter in our faith.  We must remember to pour out our heart to Him and let Him know we trust Him.  He knows we are battered.  He knows we are weary.  He knows we are broken.  He is our refuge, our healing place.  He says, "Come unto Me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden."

"In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah"  Psalm 62:7,8

Leave the burdens of the world--the crushing weight of despair, discouragement, and weariness.  "Come."  selahV

IT JUST DOESN'T END

Day after day.  We lift our eyes unto the hills from whence cometh our Help.  Day after day a perpetual avalanche of trials roll down upon us.  Sometimes I wonder if we will ever dig our way out of the mound above us, around us, beneath us.  Just when we break the surface and our fingertips feel a ray of sunshine, we're covered again.  The earth seeks to swallow us whole.  It just doesn't end.

I pray.  I seek God only.  I know there is no one other than He who can help.  The problems are too insurmountable.  If only we could catch a breath of air between the pressures.  But it seems we are meant to be crushed.  We do not know what to do.  We cannot do anything that is not circumvented with the rising of another sun.  Does God have someone He meant to send to us and they did not hear His voice?  Does someone hear His voice yet ignores Him?

There are no ships to come in.  The tunnel ahead is dark.  I still cling to my Lord.  When will the snow melt?  When will Spring begin, my Sovereign?  selahV

SEEKING YOUR PRAYERS

When parents discover they are going to have a baby, it is a time of great joy.  Then they wait.  They wait with expectancy.  Will it look like our other 4 girls?  Will it be another boy to play with our Michael?   One never knows.  But it is fun to speculate.  When each of five children are blessed with good health, it's hard to imagine their sixth baby might have complications.  But such is the case for Tony and Camilla Sisk.

Tony emailed me tonite.  He wanted to tell me about his unborn daughter who is expected to be born on March 17th, and a tough decision they are facing--one that must be made soon.  They would truly appreciate the prayers of everyone.  Tony wrote:

"Our baby has been disgnosed with spina bifida. I don't know if you know what that is, but it is a condition in which the spinal column does not close properly around the spinal cord. It can happen at any level of the spinal column, but in our baby it has happened near her lower back, right above the cheeks of her bottom. This will have various effects on her, effects we won't know for sure until she is born. Most likely she will have difficulty walking and may be somewhat cognitively delayed. It could be much more severe.

She will have surgery immediately after she is born. We may participate in a clinical trial to see if they can correct the problem while the baby is still inside the womb. This will not correct the problem but will keep it from getting worse. We have to make this decision very soon."

Tony pastors in Waynesville, North Carolina and use to be a co-contributor with me on SBC Impact.  Please put Tony, Camilla and little"L" on your prayer list at church.  Thanks.  selahV 

CAPTION THIS... for Friday-Fun

 

GETTING OVER IT

There is a story of General Robert E. Lee going to a southern state after the Civil War. A lady came out of her house and showed him a mangled tree in her yard. "The Yankees did this with their constant shelling. They thought nothing of my safety or my property."  On and on, she shared her bitterness about the Yankees disfiguring her once beautiful tree. She would not stop, and after what seemed a very long time, she asked General Lee what he thought about it.

Lee said something like, "Lady, just chop down that tree and forget about it."

Do you know someone who clings to the negative things in their past?  They won't let go of those things. There are things folks allow to linger in their minds from childhood that affect how they feel about things as an adult.  Some experiences actually play a part in destroying goals they have or decisions they make.  They're so embittered, they judge all people by the stick of the "Yankees" who shot up their tree.  They cannot see past that experience.  They blame others for all of their problems and find little good in their world.

Today we can do the same thing.  We can take our problems, the rejection, the assaults, the criticism, and think that tomorrow will only be more of the same.  We can think that the world is no different anywhere we go.  We can think that life will only get harder and no matter how much we've endured, the tree in our yard will always be mangled and remind us of the hatred and disregard others had for us.  There are things in our lives we should forget about.  We should get over it, and move on.  It's over.  That may sound harsh. 

And many people are struggling in the freshness of pain.  They do not need to hear it quite this way.  There were times in my life that people told me to "grow up", to "get over it", to "forget about it", and I felt the sting of those words as clearly as I felt the pain I felt from the situation.  I've learned to show more compassion.  I usually say, let go and let God heal you.  Let go and let God take you further.  Let go and let God keep you and hold you in the midst of the storm; let Him lead you into the sunlight.

I have a little epithet by my bathroom mirror:  "Though childhood may have been rough, it is over."  I placed it there to remind me that many things from my childhood could not be changed--that when I was tempted to throw myself a pity-party over the unfairness of life, I was to remember, today is a new day.  Today is my opportunity to right wrongs in the world, to live above the unkindness of my past, and to love where I had been neglected or rejected.  Today is the day that the Lord has made; I will forgive and let God handle yesterday.  I will love and let God be my refuge and strength. 

Do you know someone going through a difficult time?  Someone who is being unfairly attacked or maligned?  Listen to their heartache.  Help them cut down their tree.  But do it slowly, one whack at a time.  Pray with them and love them through it.  selahV

Another word of encouragement you can find here at Devotional Christian

WHY?  at dailyIMPACT

WITHOUT REVENGE  at dailyIMPACT

When Fears Come Knocking, Have Faith in God