I've been thinking about feet lately. It's winter in western PA. That means snow and cold and dry hands and feet among other things. I have several spots on both feet that just plain hurt. My friend Debbie says Super Glue is the best remedy. In case you need to know, careful application of Super Glue to a crack in hands or feet allows the crack to heal from the inside out. It also takes the pain away in about 30 seconds, and I'm all for that!
The Bible talks about feet - beautiful feet and crippled feet. Isaiah 52:7 says the feet that bring REAL hope and change are beautiful. How beautiful ... are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who ... say, "Your God reigns!" Jesus healed people with "broken" feet. Peter and John healed a beggar with "broken" feet. (Acts 3:1-10) King David brought the son of his best friend (Mephibosheth, King Saul's son Jonathan's son) who was "crippled in both feet" to live in the palace and eat with the King. (2 Samuel 9:1-10)
I'm thinking feet have a heart connection. Where my feet go depends on the condition of my heart. Do my feet take me places I shouldn't go? Do my feet reflect laziness? Do my feet take me to people who need a caring touch? I'm thinking that "broken" feet can't go far, but when God fixes "broken" feet then His Gospel can bring REAL hope and change!
Lord, fix my "broken" feet (and heart) today so they can take me to care about people in need with the loving heart only You can give! Help my "broken" feet to carry Your Gospel today!
Dr. Paul Brand talks about feet in his wonderful book Fearfully and Wonderfully Made:
After World War II German students volunteered to help rebuild a cathedral in England ... As the work progressed, debate broke out on how to best restore a large statue of Jesus with His arms outstretched ... Careful patching could repair all damage to the statue except for ... [the] hands ... Finally the workers reached a decision ... The statue of Jesus has no hands, and the inscription now reads, "Christ has no hands but ours." (p. 206)
Jesus has no feet but our feet in the world today! Where are your (and my) feet gonna take us today?
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
A Canine Heart Lesson
Our wonderful black Lab Susie left us two weeks ago. She isn't here, and we miss her terribly. She taught us lots of life lessons. Those lessons live on in our hearts!
Some time ago, I made some notes for this blog related to lessons we learned from Susie.
Susie didn't bark. We don't know if she could or if sometime before she came to us she lost that ability. We know she barked before she came to us. Perhaps she was so happy that she didn't feel the need to bark. Susie communicated with her eyes, her tongue and her "stance." When she wanted a treat she would "lick her lips" - it was a clear message. When we took her out to walk, she would "bound" down our driveway and keep looking over her shoulder to be sure one or both of us were following. She loved for me to run with her.
The night she died, she just kept looking straight into my eyes. I knew she was telling me something; I just didn't know what the awful truth was she was communicating. She was dying very soon. I think she knew that. I think she wanted to say, "Thank you for a wonderful life." I think she wanted to say, "I'm going away." All of a sudden her head fell and she collapsed. She was gone!
After she got so sick, she didn't bound down the drive any more. She would very painfully get up and get down very slowly.
One day not too long ago, I was walking her down our steep driveway. All of a sudden her ears stood straight up. I glanced down the drive to see a bunch of deer running across our drive much further down the drive. She didn't bark. But she knew and remembered younger days when she might have gone in chase of those deer.
Susie taught me a "heart lesson": There are people in my world who also have no voice. They may be almost "invisible" living in the shadows. Many of these are people affected by some disability - emotional, physical, mental and certainly spiritual. Susie taught me that I can "hear" and "see" those with "no voice" when God opens my heart! Susie taught me to watch for communication even when there is no voice.
That's what we are doing in ministry to individuals and families affected by brokenness. God is opening our hearts to hear and see - even the unspoken need. Who would think we could learn such a powerful lesson from a dearly loved old black lab?
William Cowper was disabled by severe depression and other emotional brokenness. He spoke in and through his pain in his wonderful hymns. In 1774 he penned these lines:
God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines of never failing skill
He measures up His bright designs and works His sov'reign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.
... Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain.
I'm looking for God's wonders today! I want to hear His voice! I have learned that God's voice sometimes thunders and sometimes it's just a still, small voice. Either way my heart needs to hear and respond!
Some time ago, I made some notes for this blog related to lessons we learned from Susie.
Susie didn't bark. We don't know if she could or if sometime before she came to us she lost that ability. We know she barked before she came to us. Perhaps she was so happy that she didn't feel the need to bark. Susie communicated with her eyes, her tongue and her "stance." When she wanted a treat she would "lick her lips" - it was a clear message. When we took her out to walk, she would "bound" down our driveway and keep looking over her shoulder to be sure one or both of us were following. She loved for me to run with her.
The night she died, she just kept looking straight into my eyes. I knew she was telling me something; I just didn't know what the awful truth was she was communicating. She was dying very soon. I think she knew that. I think she wanted to say, "Thank you for a wonderful life." I think she wanted to say, "I'm going away." All of a sudden her head fell and she collapsed. She was gone!
After she got so sick, she didn't bound down the drive any more. She would very painfully get up and get down very slowly.
One day not too long ago, I was walking her down our steep driveway. All of a sudden her ears stood straight up. I glanced down the drive to see a bunch of deer running across our drive much further down the drive. She didn't bark. But she knew and remembered younger days when she might have gone in chase of those deer.
Susie taught me a "heart lesson": There are people in my world who also have no voice. They may be almost "invisible" living in the shadows. Many of these are people affected by some disability - emotional, physical, mental and certainly spiritual. Susie taught me that I can "hear" and "see" those with "no voice" when God opens my heart! Susie taught me to watch for communication even when there is no voice.
That's what we are doing in ministry to individuals and families affected by brokenness. God is opening our hearts to hear and see - even the unspoken need. Who would think we could learn such a powerful lesson from a dearly loved old black lab?
William Cowper was disabled by severe depression and other emotional brokenness. He spoke in and through his pain in his wonderful hymns. In 1774 he penned these lines:
God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines of never failing skill
He measures up His bright designs and works His sov'reign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.
... Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain.
I'm looking for God's wonders today! I want to hear His voice! I have learned that God's voice sometimes thunders and sometimes it's just a still, small voice. Either way my heart needs to hear and respond!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Ending or Beginning?
NOTE: Restoration Heart has been on an extended "vacation" due to neglect and the tyranny of the urgent! I'm back....................... !
There are many "endings" in life and it seems their "tribe" increases:
- Too little money and too many bills
- Loss of a job
- Loss of a home
- Lies, deceit, slander from "friends"
- Rejection by family and significant others
- Reaching the threshold of heaven personally or with a loved one
- Foolish choices and their consequences
- Growing old(er)
- Depression
- Disease and disability
- Taxes and the IRS
- Too much to do and too little time
- Unrelenting pain of all kinds
- Fear of the future
- Dillusion with government and alarming changes in society
All these circumstances and heart-breaking "milestones" happen and more beside! It may even seem like the end! You may wish for the end!
In the last two weeks, we reached "the end" with our beloved Susie. Susie was our black lab - 13 years old - and one of the greatest gifts we ever received! We never expected her to leave us so quickly and so suddenly. Exactly two weeks ago today our wonderful vet told us that "nothing matters any more." We went to the appoointment with a list of food and snacks wanting counsel on changes we should make or not. We left knowing it wasn't going to matter. Dr. Jim grabbed John's and my hands as we turned to leave the exam room with Susie. He prayed with us thanking the Lord for our wonderful Susie. She was sick beyond healing! No food or care was going to change her plight. Dr. Jim couldn't even hear her heart beat due to all the fluid that was in her chest and belly.
On a scale of 1 to 10 expecially up against the list above, losing our sweet Susie seems way down the list. BUT when our hearts are involved in the pain and loss we experience, the loss - the "ending" - the depth of the pain is HUGE!
Last night I watched a video - "When Disability Hits Home" - which features interviews with Chuck Colson and R.C. Sproul. Each man opens his heart about how his own pain over his seriously disabled grandchild "crashes" into his theology of the sovereignty of God and the ways of God. In the video Joni Eareckson Tada helps tell their stories as well as being living evidence of her own loss and pain. Joni, Chuck and R.C. all affirm their confidence in God!
Most people in our world would consider such devastating circumstances and heart pain clear evidence that God is absent and not benevolent or benign! NOT TRUE!
The truth is that no matter now final the end seems - no matter how pain may drive us to wish this is the end - It is NOT THE END! God is still God! God is still on His throne! God did walk into our world and put on our skin and live in our neighborhood in the Person of Jesus! (John 1:14, The Message)
The end hasn't come. It may be just around the next curve or miles down the road. That doesn't matter! For those who know and love Jesus the end is not the end anyway. It is the beginning of restoration of all that is painful and broken!
Jesus came to meet people - all kinds of people at his or her point of need. He acted to comfort the broken! He didn't just pat them on the head or shoulder and wish them well. He knelt to wash dirty feet. His healing hand touched blind eyes, mute tongues, crippled feet and hands and broken minds.
My heart prayer for you today is that God will reach into your brokenness - that brokenness that seems so final - and bring you restoration. Your brokenness and pain may seem beyond repair or escape. Hang on to Jesus! He WILL take care of you! He still kneels to wash dirty feet and touch blind eyes! Your broken heart matters to Him! Remember this isn't the end when it's the beginning of restoration. That's something ONLY God can do!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Gnats of the Heart
Gnats, gnats, more gnats! I don't know how the Egyptians stood the plague of gnats (Exodus 8:16-19)! For weeks now I've been battling gnats in our house. I looked on the web and discovered there is such a thing as a fungus gnat. Since we have orchids and I have been keeping them especially healthy with regular feeding, I thought that was the cause. So I scooped some of the dirt off the top and put sand to smother the gnats. Good plan only it didn't work!
There were gnats all over our bedroom window and our bathroom mirror. I sprayed with insect killer and more died every day but they didn't go away.
FINALLY I made an amazing discovery. I found some "hidden" potatoes and onions that had turned to soup. They didn't smell so I didn't find them, but - lo, and behold - when I opened the plastic bag, I smelled them then and a cloud of gnats escaped.
Not a very flattering parable of life but it got me to thinking about the "hidden" pockets in my heart (and yours). Some of those pockets - if I can be honest with myself - are no better than the plastic bag of rotten potatoes and onions and the gnat "fall-out" goes on and on.
God, find those "hidden" pockets of sin and self in my heart. Expose and clean them up and make me what You want me to be. Please, please don't leave me swatting at gnats! Set me free! In Jesus' name. Amen.
There were gnats all over our bedroom window and our bathroom mirror. I sprayed with insect killer and more died every day but they didn't go away.
FINALLY I made an amazing discovery. I found some "hidden" potatoes and onions that had turned to soup. They didn't smell so I didn't find them, but - lo, and behold - when I opened the plastic bag, I smelled them then and a cloud of gnats escaped.
Not a very flattering parable of life but it got me to thinking about the "hidden" pockets in my heart (and yours). Some of those pockets - if I can be honest with myself - are no better than the plastic bag of rotten potatoes and onions and the gnat "fall-out" goes on and on.
God, find those "hidden" pockets of sin and self in my heart. Expose and clean them up and make me what You want me to be. Please, please don't leave me swatting at gnats! Set me free! In Jesus' name. Amen.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
What's a Haman Heart?
I'm teaching a women's Bible study this fall on the Old Testament book of Esther.
We studied Esther 3 today. That's the chapter where Mordecai (who raised the orphaned Esther) refuses to bow to honor Haman. The King promoted Haman to special status in the kingdom. Everyone is commanded to bow when Haman comes around. Everyone apparently bows except Mordecai.
And then the trouble boils over in a raging tumult!
Haman is enraged that Mordecai dares to defy him and refuses to honor him.
Haman then spins his diabolical plan to kill Mordecai and also to annihilate all the Jews in the vast Persian Empire.
Haman manages to convince King Xerxes to actually give his own signet ring to Haman and thus authorizes Haman to broadcast across the empire the date and time for the execution of all Jews in Persia. It's all scary and very terrible!
Haman's heart is a very dark place filled with sin, anger, hatred, and disdain for both God and others. It would be so easy to look so much darkness in the face, take a step back and feel better or something.
The problem is that this "Haman heart" beats within my own chest and yours as well. None of us is as bad as we might be but the potential for great hearts of darkness exists and thrives! It is a sad reality of life in a world gone wrong!
The radical solution for a Haman heart is heart transplant surgery. Only Jesus Christ can give a heart of flesh in exchange for Haman's heart of stone! Only God's amazing grace can change Haman's heart and mine and yours!
We studied Esther 3 today. That's the chapter where Mordecai (who raised the orphaned Esther) refuses to bow to honor Haman. The King promoted Haman to special status in the kingdom. Everyone is commanded to bow when Haman comes around. Everyone apparently bows except Mordecai.
And then the trouble boils over in a raging tumult!
Haman is enraged that Mordecai dares to defy him and refuses to honor him.
Haman then spins his diabolical plan to kill Mordecai and also to annihilate all the Jews in the vast Persian Empire.
Haman manages to convince King Xerxes to actually give his own signet ring to Haman and thus authorizes Haman to broadcast across the empire the date and time for the execution of all Jews in Persia. It's all scary and very terrible!
Haman's heart is a very dark place filled with sin, anger, hatred, and disdain for both God and others. It would be so easy to look so much darkness in the face, take a step back and feel better or something.
The problem is that this "Haman heart" beats within my own chest and yours as well. None of us is as bad as we might be but the potential for great hearts of darkness exists and thrives! It is a sad reality of life in a world gone wrong!
The radical solution for a Haman heart is heart transplant surgery. Only Jesus Christ can give a heart of flesh in exchange for Haman's heart of stone! Only God's amazing grace can change Haman's heart and mine and yours!
Friday, October 9, 2009
Rain and Rainbows
Two Sundays ago, I heard a sermon on Noah, the ark and the rainbow promise. It started me thinking about rain and rainbows.
Recently I read Tullian Tchividjian's blog thoughts (Blog: On Earth as it is in Heaven) on "Trusting God When We Cannot Trace Him" which pressed me further in my thinking about rain and rainbows.
Tullian reminds me of the lines from J.I. Packer's book, Knowing God (p. 97) about understanding "the unexpected and upsetting and discouraging things" that happen.
Paul Brand wrote an entire book relevant to this topic, Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants (now released as The Gift of Pain: Why We Hurt and What Can Do About It). The bottom line to his over 300 pages of really good stuff is that we need pain to survive. From his years as a doctor to leprosy patients in India and in the USA, Dr. Brand has seen up close and personal what painlessness does in harming the human body. Pain is actually a gift in that it motivates us to stop and seek help. It's a matter of self-preservation!
Twenty years ago I heard Dr. Brand speak at the Medical College of Virginia. He talked about his work with lepers and his conclusions about the benefits of pain sensors in the body. When he finished, my husband and I went up to speak to him. At that point in time, I was experiencing some pretty extreme physical pain. It was interesting because Dr. Brand stopped, looked me straight in the eyes and said, "You know about pain, don't you?"
George Mattheson wrote the compelling hymn, "Love That Will Not Let Me Go" after he lost his sight and his fiancee walked away from their commitment due to his blindness. Through his tears and pain, Mattheson penned these awesome words
O Love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; ... O Joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to thee; I trace the rainbow through the rain, And feel the promise is not vain, That morn shall tearless be.
J.I. Packer observes: "We may be frankly bewildered at things that happen to us, but God knows exactly what He is doing, and what He is after, in His handling of our affairs. Always, and in everything, He is wise: we shall see that hereafter, even where we never saw it here ... Meanwhile we ought not to hesitate to trust His wisdom, even when He leaves us in the dark." (Knowing God, p. 97)
Tullian blogs: "Faith trusts God even when it cannot trace him. God is doing something in your life, in my life, ... that is above and beyond anything we could ever ask for or imagine. ... God promises that the best is yet to come. Think big. ... "
Remember the song "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head"? Raindrops and deluges fall on all of us. The question is how to get through the rain to the rainbow. The rain may be God's gift to get us to the rainbow where we see and experience God's utter faithfulness!
The challenge for my heart is to not get stuck in the rain but rather to trace the rainbow through the rain! Only God can lead me through the rain to the rainbow!
Recently I read Tullian Tchividjian's blog thoughts (Blog: On Earth as it is in Heaven) on "Trusting God When We Cannot Trace Him" which pressed me further in my thinking about rain and rainbows.
Tullian reminds me of the lines from J.I. Packer's book, Knowing God (p. 97) about understanding "the unexpected and upsetting and discouraging things" that happen.
Paul Brand wrote an entire book relevant to this topic, Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants (now released as The Gift of Pain: Why We Hurt and What Can Do About It). The bottom line to his over 300 pages of really good stuff is that we need pain to survive. From his years as a doctor to leprosy patients in India and in the USA, Dr. Brand has seen up close and personal what painlessness does in harming the human body. Pain is actually a gift in that it motivates us to stop and seek help. It's a matter of self-preservation!
Twenty years ago I heard Dr. Brand speak at the Medical College of Virginia. He talked about his work with lepers and his conclusions about the benefits of pain sensors in the body. When he finished, my husband and I went up to speak to him. At that point in time, I was experiencing some pretty extreme physical pain. It was interesting because Dr. Brand stopped, looked me straight in the eyes and said, "You know about pain, don't you?"
George Mattheson wrote the compelling hymn, "Love That Will Not Let Me Go" after he lost his sight and his fiancee walked away from their commitment due to his blindness. Through his tears and pain, Mattheson penned these awesome words
O Love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; ... O Joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to thee; I trace the rainbow through the rain, And feel the promise is not vain, That morn shall tearless be.
J.I. Packer observes: "We may be frankly bewildered at things that happen to us, but God knows exactly what He is doing, and what He is after, in His handling of our affairs. Always, and in everything, He is wise: we shall see that hereafter, even where we never saw it here ... Meanwhile we ought not to hesitate to trust His wisdom, even when He leaves us in the dark." (Knowing God, p. 97)
Tullian blogs: "Faith trusts God even when it cannot trace him. God is doing something in your life, in my life, ... that is above and beyond anything we could ever ask for or imagine. ... God promises that the best is yet to come. Think big. ... "
Remember the song "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head"? Raindrops and deluges fall on all of us. The question is how to get through the rain to the rainbow. The rain may be God's gift to get us to the rainbow where we see and experience God's utter faithfulness!
The challenge for my heart is to not get stuck in the rain but rather to trace the rainbow through the rain! Only God can lead me through the rain to the rainbow!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Restoration "Epiphany" !
I just came home from teaching our day women's Bible study. The study is "Beauty and the Beast: A Study of Esther, A Restoration Story."
I had an epiphany of sorts while I was teaching. 42 plus years ago John and I had 2 Corinthians 5:18 engraved inside our wedding bands: "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation (restoration)."
How amazing to realize that A Restoration Church is part of that vision that began so long ago!
Our God is so awesome even in such details of life - gently leading and guiding and bringing us to His place of commitment and service! What incredible, amazing grace!
I had an epiphany of sorts while I was teaching. 42 plus years ago John and I had 2 Corinthians 5:18 engraved inside our wedding bands: "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation (restoration)."
How amazing to realize that A Restoration Church is part of that vision that began so long ago!
Our God is so awesome even in such details of life - gently leading and guiding and bringing us to His place of commitment and service! What incredible, amazing grace!
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