Here Again by Carolyn

I know my dear sister, boon companion and blog partner, Judy, will probably be posting about the experience she has been through over the past two weeks, an experience that gives her an amazing witness, but one she surely would not have chosen for herself!  But I am going to jump in there briefly and express my thoughts and feelings about the impact of her experience on me. 

To summarize, Judy went to Hong Kong to bring her husband home after he fell and broke his hip. Many of her friends and family prayed and prayed and prayed that God would be with her, that He would never leave her side.  We prayed for her path to be clear, that He would give her strength, faith, courage, energy, stamina, peace, and a clear head.  We prayed for the doctors operating on her husband.  We prayed for his surgery, for his health and healing, for peace of mind, and for medications to ease his pain, so that he could relax and wait patiently until the time came for them to come home.  Then we prayed them home safe, quickly and sound.

Once back here, we knew that they would celebrate the holidays with a huge song of gratitude in their hearts.  And here they are!  Here again!  Within less then two weeks after a catastrophic fall, God brought them home!  How I rejoice with them that they are "Here again!" 

Jesus is our all in all!  He is always and ever faithful to respond to us in one way or another when we remember Him, remember to call on Him, obey Him and trust Him, He is there!  Every day I prayed for Judy and Jack and every day I could see the progress they were making toward their goal of flying back to the U.S.  He stayed right by their side in the doctors, and nurses, in other patients, in their children, in their extended family, in the airport personnel, in business relationships, and so many phone "angels" as plans were carefully made and executed.  It was truly, truly answered prayer unlike any I've ever experienced. 

Many of Judy's emails from China began with the words, "Here again." because she was so busy doing all that needed to be done, but the words were never, ever sweeter, than they were when she called from Chicago to report they really were "here again!"  How filled I was with relief and gratitude.  How sweet the sound of her voice and the words, 'Here again!" 

"I will be with you."  God promises that.  And when we remember that, blessings flow from His fountain of grace!  Thanks be to God that He came into our lives!  Wonderful God!  Wonderful Savior!  Thanks be to God that Jack and Judy are here again!

A time of infamy (by Judy)

Morning, everyone! I know it has been a long time without a posting, and there is no excuse - except to say that several times over the last few weeks, I thought - Ahhhhh... now that would make a good post! The proddings had to do with the beautiful and unseasonable late fall weather, with this Advent season in church liturgy, with the blessings and challenges of family and friends, with the dreaded fiscal cliff, and with the serious personal and spiritual gaffe that Abraham made in the book of Genesis by urging his Wife Sarai to tell Pharaoh that she was Abraham's half-sister. See - good stuff!

However, as I sit at my computer, it is with serious intent. This morning's Plain Dealer reminded me that today is "the day which will live in infamy" that Franklin Roosevelt spoke about after the bombing of Pearl Harbor 71 years ago. Still-resilient local nonagenarians told their story on the front page, and it made me settle as I read, and think. Then on the front page of the local section, there was an equally troubling story about the arraignment of an 18 year old who walked into school in nearby Chardon and blasted many students, causing death, injury and heartache.

Finally, after reading the news, I turned to my devotional, a book of daily readings written long ago by Charles Spurgeon and updated by my pastor, Alistair Begg. In part, this is what the reading said:
”If you will select for me the grossest specimen of humanity, if he is but born of woman, I will still have hope for him, for Jesus Christ came to seek and save sinners. Pebbles from the brook are turned by grace into jewels for the royal crown. Worthless dross he transforms into pure gold. Redeeming love has set apart many of the worst of mankind to be the reward of the Savior’s passion. Effectual grace calls deep-dyed sinners to sit at the table of mercy, and therefore none of us should despair.”

As I put the book down, my soul was stirred and I knew I must write today to share a long-held conviction - the sad young man from Chardon, and those sitting on death row in our country all share something in common - the possibility of being Jesus' reward for his passion, the chance to be jewels in His royal crown. Given time and the work of the Spirit. As long as we humans refrain from intervening in the name of capital punishment. So there you are - not quite as warm and fuzzy as my previous subject possibilities, but one that perhaps will cause you to muse about this time of infamy when capital punishment is the law of the land!

Today!

Grace.  A matter of getting something good we do not deserve.  Mercy.  A matter of not getting something painful that we do deserve.  Judy spoke of grace just a few days ago.  God's grace grants us the right to be with Him through the death and resurrection of His son.  By that same grace, He gives us the desire to intervene where we can to help and bless others as He has helped and blessed us so many times in so many ways.  By His mercy, He expects that we will treat others mercifully; that we can forgive them if they have hurt us, and likewise, that they will forgive us when we hurt them.

Today I am deeply thankful for both.  Just a few short days ago I wondered what to do when God is silent.  David was my example in Psalm 22.  In the beginning he was lost, alone, forsaken, hopeless.  By the end of the Psalm, he was praising God and proclaiming God's name to future generations!  God changed David in the short space of a Psalm.

Today my heart is bursting with thankfulness for God's grace, mercy, love and our changed circumstances.  A few days ago my family and I were in a scary place; frightened, anxious, worried, wondering.  Ours was a normal human response to difficult news.  But God, by His Spirit came along side in a supernatural way just as He did with David and changed our point of view to wait, to pray, to praise, to trust and to rest in His peace that passes understanding. 

Today our precious little Annie Lou has a whole heart!  A whole heart!  And it is with our whole hearts that we are thankful beyond words!  God granted the surgeons the skills they needed.  He granted the nurses and all those who worked to repair this child's heart all the wisdom, the experience, time, desire and effort to fix her up!  And now we are trusting Him to heal her quickly, and bring her back to health. 

Today, after this experience, we look to her little brother's future with great hope; supernatural hope, based on experience and faith.  Her 2 year old brother, as those who read a previous entry know, has a life-threatening illness.

This is God's amazing gift; whether all my family recognizes it is of God or not, in their own ways, as a result of this experience, they are seeing things happen that are out of their hands.  Some of us only need to see the night sky to realize that we did not put those stars in it.  And some need more.  When God takes things out of our hands, out of our control most of us pray.  We turn to Him.  And when those prayers are answered we give thanks.  And sometimes, suddenly, quite unexpectedly, we may realize for the first time in our lives, God exists.  That is a fine beginning!

And something else...just this moment I received the joyful news of the birth of my second grandchild; a brand new, beautiful baby girl.  How I praise God for His grace and mercy and love...TODAY!

Grace (by Judy)

I know that Carolyn only recently posted an entry, and I don't want to be a Blog Hog, but tonight my fingers are itching to talk about the word "grace." Of course it is a beautiful name, the middle of my little granddaughter's identity. It is also a description attached to a ballerina, or a swan. It is that small, quick prayer that we all sped through as children before a delicious dinner. And it is, as Wikipedia says, "... the love and mercy given to us by God because God wants us to have it, not because of anything we have done to earn it. It is understood by Christians to be a spontaneous gift from God to man - "generous, free and totally unexpected and undeserved."

That is the grace that consumes my mind as we look out to tomorrow's election. This definition speaks about God's offer of grace to us, but since we aspire to be godly people, we Christians are called, in the name of God, to offer it to others. But do we, can we, should we? We must! If not, than what difference is there between us and the world we hope to sway for Jesus. Today I read of a Christian leader who challenges us to vote biblically. What does that mean exactly - besides agreeing with the agenda of those offering the challenge?

I am not going to spell out what the Bible says on a diversity of issues. That is up to those who aspire to indeed vote biblically. As our pastor says, "You are sensible people. Do your homework." Don't accept what others say about certain passages in the Bible. read it for yourself. All of it. How many of you have heard (and read) of the prophet Micah? That man from the misty recesses of time said, "What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Good counsel this chilly November pre-Election Day evening.

In the New Testament, there is this dialogue between Jesus and a Pharisee,  “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself." As we all vote tomorrow, it will be wise to consider these words - in which positions do we see justice, mercy, humility, loving our neighbor? Of course half the electorate will probably see it one way, and half another. Still, at the heart of everything decided tomorrow lies that word "grace." A gift from all of us to each other - love - generous, free, unexpected, undeserved!

Help for the Helpless by Carolyn

I have a very old hymnal.  When I visit my ladies in the nursing homes, especially those with conditions that do no permit them to speak, or understand speech, I often rely on God's Word expressed in the hymns, new, old or somewhere in between.  In light of Hurricane Sandy when I came across this one, it made me think how important, how critical it is to offer a personal, helping hand in addition to all that government is doing.  Here it is.  I hope it moves you to whatever action you've thought about taking, or reinforces a decision you've already made to help the victims of the storm and the cold weather to come.  It has no title and was written by the Reverend Robert Davis in 1908.

"I thank Thee, Lord,
for strength of arm
To win my bread,
And that, beyond my need,
is meat for friend unfed:
I thank Thee much
for bread to live:
I thank Thee more
for bread to give.

I thank Thee much
for snug thatched roof
In cold and storm,
And that, beyond my need,
is room for friend forlorn:
I thank Thee much
 for place to rest,
But more for shelter
for my guest.

I thank Thee, Lord,
for lavish love
On me bestowed,
Enough to share with
loveless folk
To ease their load:
Thy love to me
I ill could spare,
Yet dearer is Thy love I share.

Amen

Amazing Grace by Carolyn

This week our family had to digest some really bad news.  It can happen to anyone, but this news truly is 1 in a million.  Our nephew and his wife discovered their two year old son has a disease known as plasminogin deficiency.  He developed what appeared to be conjunctivitis on July 4th while we were all  vacationing in Michigan.  But it would not yield to the usual treatments.  Surgery was recommended to ease the condition.  Two surgeries later his eye was worse than ever.  Last Friday doctors finally recognized this genetic illness which affects approximately one child in a million.  It can be life threatening as it can affect any of the mucous membranes in the body.

His older sister is 3.  She is already facing surgery next month to repair a hole in her heart.  This is very serious, but not complicated.  She would be in surgery for six hours, then three days in the hospital, two weeks at home quietly recovering and then...back to normal.  But, she has a one in four chance of having the same genetic deficiency.  If she has it, the surgery will be postponed.  They will know next week.  Their world has suddenly been turned upside down. 

I bring all this up because the Lord provided just the right message for us today in church.  We opened our Bibles to Psalm 22.  I was unfamiliar with it, but I had written many notes on it in my old Bible. 

"Where are you?"  David asks God.  "Why are you so far away?  Why are you silent?"  David feels alone.  He feels deserted and abandoned by the One he loves so much, by the One he knows loves him.  He is wasting away.  He says in verse 15, "You have laid me in the dust of death."  He is alone, discouraged, desperate.  One author says he is "throbbingly alienated."  He is separated from God.

What do we do when God is silent?  Where do we turn for help?  David shows us quickly in verse 4.  He says, "In You our fathers put their trust.  They trusted and You delivered them.  They cried to you and were saved, in You they trusted and were not disappointed."  God asks us often to remember how He has helped us in the past.  When we look back and see what He has done, it helps us cope with the current challenges.

There are several verses that follow where David cries out to God.  He describes his thoughts and his situation.  He appeals to the God he knows for help.  He is perplexed.  He doesn't understand.  He is confused, isolated and tormented by his enemies.  He continues to appeal and begs God for immediate intervention.

Then, in verse 19 there is a change in David's tone.  He grows stronger and stronger as he recites who his God is and what He can do.  "But You, oh Lord, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me.  Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life for the power of the dogs.  Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen."

Immediately following that he tells the Lord in verse 22, "I will declare Your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise You....revere Him, all you descendants of Israel!"  His spirit is lifted higher and higher as he is picked up out of the pit of despair by the God who loves him.  He concludes by saying in verse 30, "Posterity will serve Him; future generations will be told about the Lord.  They will proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn-for He has done it."

What a difference from verse 1!  How did this happen?  What changed?  David changed.  God changed David. 

My family is still where David was.  We are crying out to God to help and to heal these dear, precious children.   At any moment He could intervene and show us His way.  At any moment He could intervene and turn that upside down world right side up!  At any moment He could change us.  We will wait upon the Lord and trust Him... for His amazing grace.

Marmion to Moses (by Judy)

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”  Most of us know that quote, right? And we assert forcefully that it is Shakespeare – but we are wrong. It is written by Sir Walter Scott, in his epic poem called “Marmion.” Regardless of the author, we get the meaning, don’t we? Lies beget lies. The further lies we tell to try and cover up the previous ones cause us to entangle ourselves in deception.

What an analogy – the spider’s web, and telling lies. And by extension, the poor, maligned spider. There is truth of course, and lessons learned. I struggle with the temptation to tell a little white lie, because it protects someone. Then I remember Frank Sinatra’s line in “Little White Lies,” “The devil was in your heart, while heaven was in your eyes, the night you told me those little white lies.” The best motivations do not negate the fact that lies are lies, a tangled web of deceit.

Recently I heard another story about a spider web though – one that turns my thoughts to God, and His five word promise repeated throughout the Bible: “I will be with you.” There are many ways that God says the same thing: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” from Hebrews; earlier in Deuteronomy, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." Perhaps the most familiar words in the Bible from Psalm 23, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.”

So what does this have to do with a spider’s web, you may ask.  Here is the story. A soldier was being chased by the enemy, until finally, exhausted, he took refuge in a cave. He prayed to God to deliver him, but he saw was a small spider, beginning to weave a web across the entrance to the cave. The soldier scoffed at a God who would offer the protection of a flimsy web – until he heard the voice of his enemy passing by, speaking to a comrade – “No need to examine this cave. No one has entered, for look, here is a spider’s web completely across the entrance.” And they went on.

I began to think about spiders and their webs because I passed one, decked out in early morning dew. I then began to consider godly applications, for we find God everywhere. My mulling took me to sin, and lack of trust, and the end of where every mulling takes me, given enough time – to God’s faithfulness. And his promise, the one he first made to Moses, and to each of us – “I will be with you.”