Learning Appreciation

I am learning an entirely new (and long overdue) appreciation for The Word. It all began several months ago. While talking to my dad, he told me that when he first became a Christian at age 19, he prayed for an appreciation for God's Word. Today, my dad knows the Bible better than almost anyone I know. Not only does he know it, but he LOVES it. He appreciates it like men appreciate a nice car. Or a home cooked meal. Or a win from their favorite team.

Seeing the wisdom in my dad's prayer, I prayed the same thing. I prayed, God, please let me appreciate The Word like my dad does. Slowly, day by day, God has been fulfilling this prayer. In the past, I have had random spurts where I read the Bible everyday for a couple of weeks. Always, I leave feeling burnt out and exhausted. This time, it's different. This time I'm reading not because I know I should, and not because I feel guilty if I miss a day. I read because I want to come to my Father and get to know Him better.

I have an app on my iPhone called YouVersion. It's awesome because you can find reading plans on just about any topic that interests you. When Michael and I first got married, we would read a plan together every day. It became difficult reading together every day because the plans are based more on meditating on God's word than talking about it. We found ourselves a little lost for words. So I decided to dive into it alone for now.

While I still miss reading every once in a while, it has become rare for me go an entire day without reading a single verse. I got a Twitter account thinking it would be a great way to motivate others and now find it to be a great way to get motivation (by following the right people, of course). If  I don't read my plan for the day, I at least read 10 verses or so on Twitter. I have also learned to read from another angle. Instead of reading to ingest information, I'm reading to find verses to memorize and plant into my heart. I'm searching for verses that have to do with situations in life so that I can remember scripture in times of need.

I've gotten to a point where I am yearning to read and memorize. All day while I'm at work I'm repeating my verses in my head over and over again. It helps me deal with stress. I write the verses down and I tell others what I'm doing and often they want to learn to verse too. Together we repeat verses over and over again while we work. Talk about bonding time!

To finish off, I want to thank my dad for sharing his story about his prayer. As any good father does, he has brought me closer to my heavenly Father. It is a blessing to grow up in a home where I was encouraged to grow closer to God each and every day. What other lessons did I miss because I wasn't paying attention?



For marriage and relationships: "Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." Proverbs 3:3

For attacks from the world: "When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate. When He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him to judges justly." 2 Peter 2:23

For stress and anxiety: "Cast all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

For Christmas: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

A Dark Day

I believe we have all been shaken by the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I myself spent most of the day at work and didn't get to watch videos from the news until 1 o'clock the evening after it occurred. I'm not sure if it was the terror on the faces of the parents or the calmness of the children interviewed that shook me the most. Did they understand what they just survived? Surely the survivors of the Century 16 movie theatre understand. I think that after events like this occur, most of us ask many questions. Why children? How could anyone do such a thing? What is wrong with him? After we start to digest the facts, scarier questions come to mind. What's keeping such a thing from happening to me? What if someone I know turns out to be just like these guys? What if I receive a phone call from my child's school?

Questions without answers. The truth is, evil exists in this world. True evil. We pretend we're safe, locking our doors at night and always keeping our cell phones on us, but we can never truly be safe. I had to learn a very tough lesson a few years ago. We are not immune to the evil of this world. While we ourselves may resist temptation and cling to our salvation, the consequences of other's actions are not shielded from us. Believing in Christ does not save us from the evil that resists him. In fact, we are more prone to attacks from Satan. (2 Timothy 3:12.) The more important we are to the kingdom of Christ, the more resistance we find. The tough truth is that we should live to expect these kinds of things to happen. We should live not clinging to what little we've been given but clinging to the eternal salvation we have been offered. When we see others attacked, our hearts ache as one body. We pray for the strength of our brother or sister enduring trial. We learn from their hardship and we wait for our turn. Because the only difference between them and us is that they're living in their trial while we're watching.

What makes it worth it? Hope. Hope that despite the overwhelmingly evil world we live in, we have something to live for. Besides trying to keep our feeble bodies alive for as long as possible. Besides trying to avoid masked gunman. We have a hero. We win! One day I have a home to go home to that has no murderers. I have a home that IS safe. I won't have to lock my doors. I won't have to pretend. Knowing that I am living each moment hanging on to life by a thread is not discouraging to me because I know about the peace that is waiting for me. I'm reaching out to the fireman on the ladder, ready to catch me when the ledge beneath me breaks. Stay strong for our brothers and sisters, but let go of this world. And share your hope with others, because not everyone has it. Some live avoiding death with no hope of escape.

The Power of Prayer

On Saturday night I did a community service event at a battered women's shelter. Eye. Opening. To think how easily our lives can be turned upside down to have all of the contents scatter everywhere is overwhelming. The job of my group was to give a much needed break to the moms and watch the kiddos for a little while. I wondered how many of the kids truly understood why they were there. I wondered how heavy the load they carried was. One girl I met seemed still raw with the pain of whatever circumstance landed her there. She was the oldest and, most likely, the one who understood the hopelessness she'd lived in the most. When it was time to leave, she asked me if I'd be back on Monday with the local church. It broke my heart. Not because she wanted to see me again, but because I knew the answer. No, I won't be there. I might never see you again. It's not because I don't care. It's not because I "don't have time". It's because I volunteer with YoungLife, a group committed to introducing teenagers to Christ. And YoungLife meets on Mondays.

I carried this heartbreak with me to church this morning. We've been going through a series called "Justice". It's about the need of God's people around the world. This week our pastor, David Chadwick, talked about genocide. One line stuck out particularly to me. He said something about how even though some of us may not be able to physically help, we can pray. That made me think of my new friend. And I knew. I may not be the one He places in her life to help, but I can pray. So I did. I am. I'm making a commitment to pray for her - pray for her heartbreak, her healing, and her journey towards Him.

If you've read this much, my prayer is that God has opened your heart to her as well. Please pray. I can't give out her name for safety purposes, but God will know who you're talking about. He loves her. He created her out of His image for a unique purpose. He has a plan for her, and it involves healing. Open your heart for her for one moment, just one prayer. There is strength in numbers and power in prayer. And open your heart to others, and maybe you'll make a new friend too.