The Waiting Heart

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. --Psalm 27:14

Thank you, Joni, for this wonderful blog today!

Worth the Wait

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. --Psalm 27:14


Waiting on the Lord means putting his desires before our own, believing that he will meet our needs with generosity and love in his good time. But it's difficult sometimes. You may find yourself mightily tempted to do something on the spur of the moment. It may be an important decision. A desire you want gratified. A choice you don't feel like putting off, or something you just want now. Your itchiness to have things your way has you ready to settle for something of lower quality or less value. It could be a special purchase. Or a choice in jobs. Or a relationship. It could be a crossroads in your ministry. And the truth is... you really don't want to check in with the Lord, discern his mind and his desires, and wait for his green light.

Ah, but while we may regret a hasty decision a million times over, we will never regret waiting on the Lord. You can never go wrong as you wait and pray and still yourself in his presence, seeking his mind and heart. He'll end up giving you something better. He will give you wisdom as well as himself. And when you have apprehended him in a new, fresh way, it will all come clear. The choice will be obvious. The waiting will be worth it.

What you might provide for yourself by your effort, in your wisdom, and in your timing cannot be compared to what God has for you in his plan and in his timing. Are you at a crossroads of decision in your life? Are you dealing with a desire that's pushing you to hurry? Fight the temptation to run ahead of him. Lay your desires and petitions at his feet, and wait for his peace (Philippians 4:6-7).

Father, how could I not trust you-you who gave your own Son so that I might become your child? I bow before you today, yielding up my hopes, dreams, desires. I know you will give me what is best.

Blessings,

Joni and Friends
www.joniandfriends.org

Divine Distastes

And he could bear Israel's misery no longer. --Judges 10:15-16

God has a strong distaste for suffering. His tenderness is aroused by human anguish. But what all of those natural disasters? you wonder. If he's so touched by suffering, why does he allow events like that terrible tsunami that swept across the shores of Asia in 2004? The suffering and loss of life were beyond comprehension.

I can't begin to explain the unexplainable. But I know this: If Adam had never fallen, if the Creator could rewrite the story, he would have never allowed suffering out of the cage. "For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men" (Lamentations 3:33). But sin did leave the cage and, consequently, the curse fell. And ever since man's rebellion in the Garden of Eden, our world has groaned under wars, floods, earthquakes, disease, and much more. Like you, I shake my head at the mysterious plans and purposes of God. Tragedies like these either drive people away from God... or draw them to him. Calamities either harden people's hearts... or soften them as they run to the Lord for help and hope.

And beyond all else, I know this about my Father's heart: "God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him." And again, "God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son" (Romans 5:8, 8:32, The Message).

No one could ever accuse God of "sitting back and watching" while people suffer. How could anyone look at the cross and say anything like that?

Tragedies, great and small, happen every day in your community! How can you become God's hands and feet, his tender touch and his encouraging voice to those who suffer in your city-and in your world? Ask him to express his compassion toward hurting people through you.

Father, may I simply trust your heart, even today, when I can't trace your path.
Blessings,

Joni and Friends
www.joniandfriends.org
Taken from Pearls of Great Price. Copyright © 2006 by Joni Eareckson Tada. Used by permission. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

Thank you, Joni, for this blessing today!

"Whenever I Feel Afraid ... I Whistle A Happy Tune!"

The financial world seems to be shaking. It's about someone named Fannie and her boyfriend Freddie or something. Obviously I never heard of Fannie and Freddie until a week or so ago. Then there's AIG and Lehman, mega-insurance and global banking firms. I hear and read things about bailouts and so many dollars the words are meaningless.

The political world seems to be shaking - rumors and lies fly around, speeches and ads stream incessantly from the TV, national legislators are passing token bills that seem to address problems but are actually meaningless. Newscasters are falling all over themselves to interview candidates and the mud is flying.

The world in general is shaking - with hurricanes and terrorists and evil of every sort! Hurricane Ike even shook my own backyard this past weekend!

A couple months ago I was actually in a chapel when the world literally started shaking. It was July 29, 2008 in Augoura Hills, CA. I was at Joni and Friends International Headquarters. My husband and I were sitting in the very lovely ("free-standing" as in hanging or appearing to hang) chapel when the world seemed to shift. It wasn't any huge deal, but it was a little reminder that there is a God in heaven Who made it all, Who controls it all, Who knows it all - from the beginning of time to the end! He is the same yesterday, today and forever! Pretty awesome! To top it all off, He is the One Who also loves enough to send His one and only Son to die on a Roman cross and rise from the dead to validate His power over sin and death. Now that's a truth to hang onto when the world is shaking!

It is a song from the "The King and I": "Whenever I Feel Afraid" talks about "I hold my head erect and whistle a happy tune so no one will suspect I'm afraid." It goes on "You may be as brave as you make-believe you are." That "pose" might fool some people and even come "to fool myself as well" but it's not much in the dark hours of the night. The only thing that works in those dark hours is knowing the One Who loves me (Jesus Christ) and died to bring true restoration to my heart so I don't have to be afraid when my world is shaking!

Fit for the King

I have a recipe called "Cabbage Fit for a King." It's pretty good with cheese, cabbage, sausage and tomatoes. It's a great dish on cold winter evenings that is delicious enough to serve for company or take to a special dinner.

This morning I was reading Joni Eareckson Tada's devotional from her book Pearls of Great Price*. (I received a copy of that book when I was out at Joni Headquarters this summer. It's even personally signed by Joni.) Joni's devotional today has to do with being "ripe for the Kingdom" related to bananas. I could totally track with her description of how she buys bananas. I too buy green bananas. Unlike Joni, I can't stand bananas but other people here like them so I buy them green. I too don't consider them fit for human consumption after they turn all mushy with lots of spots - yuck!

Joni relates the statement about the Scottish Covenanter pastor Richard Cameron who was martyred in 1680 for the bold stand he took against the earthly king of England in defense of his loyalty to the heavenly King of Kings. The statement was that Richard Cameron was "ripe for glory" (aka: "fit for the King"). Cameron and his small band of warriors against the crown fround themselves faced by a far superior force. They were quickly overrun. Cameron prayed just before the final battle that ended his life, "Lord, spare the green and take the ripe." (Apparently Cameron believed God "shops" similarly to how I choose bananas.)

One thing I learned when my dear brother Ed went to heaven is the truth of Job 14:5. Ed was a vital recently retired Marine who had lived an exciting career doing what he loved as an officer in the USMC. He never got a serious scratch from his service to his country as far as I know. Just two weeks after he retired he was out bush-hogging a hillside on his North Carolina farm. The tractor turned over on him and crushed his chest. "(Ed's) days were determined; you (God the King) have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed." (Job 14:5, NIV)

It was not an accident that Saturday afternoon when Ed left the bounds of this earth for heaven. He was "fit for the King"! One of my questions for God when I get to heaven is why was God's clock wound just that way, but the fact remains that it was. Ed's time had been set before the foundations of the earth were laid and he could live not a moment longer nor die a moment sooner.

Ed had learned (sometimes through hard process) to live and love each day in the beauty of God's restoration of Ed's heart. When Ed went to heaven, he was fit for THE KING! His heart is now completely restored.

Living here in our world isn't always easy. It often isn't fun, but God calls us to live each moment ready to live and ready to die (aka: "fit for the King")! It's the way of the restoration heart!

Then at just the right moment - when God Who sees and knows all decrees - we become "fit for the King" in a moment. That's the moment of true and final restoration as well!

*If you would like to read Joni's devotional, go to "Joni and Friends Home Page" and search for "daily devotional" for August 15, 2008.

In the Grip of Grace

Yesterday I read Joni Eareckson Tada's "From the Heart" letter in her April issue of "Joni and Friends Newsletter." She describes how she needs help (helping hands) because her hands don't move. She's been a quadriplegic for over forty years. She needs the hands of others to dress, to reach things, to eat, to hold books and on and on. She has a team of friends who serve her daily by coming and getting her up and dressed and ready for the day.

Joni dove into the Chesapeake Bay at age 17 and broke her neck. She wouldn't have survived the accident except that a crab bit her sister's toe causing her sister to turn around and call to Joni. Then she saw Joni floating face-down in the water.

Joni describes in her writings (her books) the emotional and spiritual and physical sturggles she encountered and endured in the aftermath of her accident. There were many times she wanted her life to be over as living seemed just too hard.

One of her stories is about a friend who snuck into her dark hospital room, lay on the floor facing up so Joni could see her face (as Joni was lying upside down in a Stryker frame) and sang hymns to and with Joni.

Once a friend - my sister - did something similar for me. She came into my hospital room and slept on the tile floor to be with me. It was a dark time! Her presence was a gift of love that still wraps my heart in warmth.

God was faithful to Joni. He brought her through the pain to be a shining testimony of God's grace. Joni is a living example of being kept in the grip of God's grace! In the painful process of learning to live with a body that doesn't move, Joni received a heart transformed by God's grace and love. Today she heads the fabulous ministry - Joni and Friends International.

After my husband, a young teenage friend and I went to one of Joni and Friends Family Retreats last summer just to observe, our young friend came home and told her mother, "O, Mommy, you could just feel the love of Jesus there everywhere!" This coming summer nine people from A Restoration Church will be spending an entire week at a Joni Family Retreat being hands, feet and a loving heart for a person or family with "a special way of being."

Pittsburgh's Terrible Towel and Disability

Yesterday a Pittsburgh legend died - Myron Cope. Myron Cope was a legend.

• His unique voice and broadcasting style became the voice of Pittsburgh Steeler's football games.


• His ingenuous idea of the "Terrible Towel" will live long into the future. The Terrible Towel is essential gear for Pittsburgh Steeler fans! It is a small yellow towel printed in large black letters - "Terrible Towel." The Terrible Towel is twirled by loyal Steeler fans at memorable moments or just any old time during Steeler games or Steeler celebrations.

Reading Myron Cope's biographical information yesterday gave me some further insights into the man. I learned that he has an autistic son Daniel who lives at Allegheny Valley School here in Pittsburgh. Myron Cope donated all the royalties and rights from the sales of the Terrible Towel to the Allegheny Valley School.

What strikes me most about Myron Cope isn't his fame as a sports announcer or even his invention of the Terrible Towel - what impresses me about Myron Cope is that behind his fame was a family dealing with disability. And Myron Cope had a heart to help other families dealing with disability. He donated all the rights to the Terrible Towel to the Allegheny Valley School.

I went to the web and read about Allegheny Valley School. At just one of their locations here in Pittsburgh, they take care of 184 residents in five residential buildings and six group homes. Daniel Cope is one of those residents. I was stunned to read that those residents range in age from 15 to 87.

The "disabled world" is a large people group in our culture. Many families impacted by disability struggle with all the challenges their loved one and they face. There is a lonliness in that struggle.

There are some wonderful ministries stepping up to bat to reach out a helping hand. One of them is Joni Eareckson Tada's Joni and Friends Family Retreats held all over the country for a week just for the entire family of a disabled person to come and be specially loved for that week. My husband and I had the opportunity to observe one of those camps last summer. I will never forget what I saw and learned. I saw a level of love in action that was beyond incredible!

What strikes me most about Myron Cope is that he knew the pain disability brings to a family as well as the joy of loving that disabled person. I wonder if many people knew this rest of the story about Myron Cope.

We aren't Allegheny Valley School, but A Restoration Church is just beginning in the South Hills of Pittsburgh because we too realize that there is a world of brokenness in many forms. We want to reach out a loving, helping hand to bring God's love, grace and mercy to that brokenness wherever we find it.

We welcome you to be part of God's story as we pray, work, worship and reach out with God's love!