Category: Posts

I love my son. He\’s just a special guy, extremely intelligent, and loves God with all his heart. In my opinion, he and my husband are two of the smartest guys I have ever known. Josh is involved in a theology discussion board. He freely shares his beliefs, quite often the only person with his particular beliefs. Well, except me and maybe one other person. But he is faithful to his understanding of God\’s Word.

Here are just a few comments he has made:

\”…don\’t become bitter. Somedays you find the edge of bitter and peek over. Just don\’t fall.\”

\”If you have any affection for who you were before Christ, I\’m not sure you can compellingly argue that you\’ve met Christ.\”

\”God is not interested in being our equal partner. He\’s interested in being our Lord, and having complete reign in our lives.\”

\”We are not called the be well-rounded humans. We are called to be radical, ridiculous Christians.\”

\”Not forgiving is entirely selfish. We are saying to God and someone else that we deserve better and we will punish anyone who trespasses against us.\”

\”Be a Christian. Let your life for Christ define the words – rather than the mistakes or shortcomings of others. Don\’t let the culture tell you what a Christian is and then run from that. Say to them, \’No, this is what a Christian is,\’ and then \’Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.\’\” (Matthew 5:16 KJV)

\”Pretty important [to God] does not necessarily equal \”central\” or most important. As long as we think we are the center of God\’s universe, we will never grasp what it is to have God at the pinnacle of our lives. We are to value what God values. If God values us most, then we are to value us most…………. get it? If God values God most, and we value what God values, then we will value God most.\”

Check out Josh\’s website at http://www.joshwood.org.

In past weeks, on one of the discussion boards I frequent, we discussed in great detail one day what would happen to the person who dared to ever hurt one of our children or grandchildren. We held back no contempt for such a one who would commit a heinous crime against a family member, nor did we hold back the description of exactly what we’d do to such a one. And then it happened—in a matter of two weeks, three killings at different schools in our country; a principal killed by a sick young man, a young girl killed by her abuser just as her rescuers broke through the door, and ten young girls tied together so they couldn’t run away from a deranged man who killed five of them and left the other five critically wounded. And the world watched in horror and revulsion.

All of those events were horrible, and family members lost precious loved ones. Yet my greatest focus has been on those ten little girls who were tied together and killed or seriously wounded. They were members of a peaceful, quiet Amish community—children who didn’t know much about the world’s events that weren’t shared by their parents or leaders and who, most assuredly, had no idea of the horrors being committed in schools across their nation. But then it happened to them, as they quietly held classes in their little one-room schoolhouse, on a quiet morning like any other in their community. There are surfacing stories of bravery shown by the girls and peace even in the face of sure death. In shock, I watched it all on the news—the outside world intruding into their lives with ambulances, police cars, crime scene investigators, news reporters and curious onlookers.

Yet what has affected me the most about these losses, and I believe will continue to affect me for the rest of my life, is the complete and total forgiveness shown to the man who killed their children and that community\’s outstretched arms of comfort for his widow and his children. Wow. As I read the accounts of these gentle souls, who washed their own dead children’s bodies and prepared them for burial, yet taught forgiveness and compassion as they did so, I am confronted by my own lack of forgiveness. I am ashamed by my previous words of condemnation on such a one who would dare \’rock my world\’ with violence. I am also challenged to learn the lessons taught by this community and by others who have faced terrible losses, while all I have done is talk about the “what ifs” should I ever lose a family member in such a way.

Where did the Amish community find this ability to forgive? Why, the same place we all can find it—in the Holy Bible. Jesus told us to forgive others as we would have them forgive us. He told us that if we did not forgive others their sins against us, God would not forgive us for our sins. With His own dying breath, He forgave those who had conspired against Him and murdered Him. **

How many times have I held unforgiveness in my own heart? Too many. How can we, who call ourselves followers of Jesus, stand in our righteous indignation and decide that we cannot forgive one who hurts us? Certainly, some of the hurt is real; but much of it is pure pride. My husband, a pastor, was chided by a church member several years ago for constantly preaching past the noon hour. My husband smiled at told the member that he didn’t much watch the clock as long as the Holy Spirit had a message to convey through him, and that if the member felt he needed to leave exactly at noon, then he should feel free to do so, no hard feelings. The church member perceived my husband telling him he wasn’t very spiritual and quit attending church for a while, until my husband visited with him and apologized for any perceived affront to his character. Do you know what this lifelong church member told my husband? “Well, I’ll have to think about it—I may never be able to forgive you.”

Yet when one community suffered the horrifying loss and wounding of ten of their precious children, they took God’s Words seriously—they forgave, and they leaned upon God for their comfort. No threats of lawsuits, no angry words of recrimination, no raging at God.

How can I ever do less, now that such a standard has been set for me? May God forgive me for my past spirit of unforgiveness. May He renew my spirit with a desire to be more Christ-like, no matter the situation. May we all accept the challenge set before us by this community of people who refuse to hate.

**scripture references: Matthew 6:12, 14; Luke 23:34

© October 2006

Recently I was on a discussion board, and we were chatting back and forth about churches in general. It seemed the consensus among most of the folks was that churches are beginning to fall away from our original calling–to glorify God with our lives and lead others to know the Savior, Jesus Christ. The discussion got very personal for some who have been disillusioned with their local body of believers and the silly things we find to argue about. As a pastor\’s wife, I\’ve been witness to the many ways we find to argue and the things we find to argue about. For instance, we had a family leave the church because we decided to paint the wall behind the choir loft from brown to white. We\’ve had church folk leave because the vote went against them as to the color the new carpet would be in the sanctuary. We even had a fella leave the church–I am not lying here–because we moved classrooms around in our educational building! All the while, our unchurched neighbors failed to hear the gospel of Christ being told by us. My comment to the group was this–\”What difference does it make what color our sanctuary carpet is? Someday we will walk on streets of pure gold. But if we don\’t get busy and start acting like real believers, our neighbors won\’t.\”

Not all things about church are bad. Some of the best times of worship for me have come while involved in corporate worship in our sanctuary. I get an opportunity every single week to be involved in the lives of a number of teenagers and hopefully to effect eternal changes in them. Some very fine people attend the local body of Christ (we are the Church; the building is where the Church meets). They are self-sacrificing, hard working, honest people. And I love them.

In every family there are problems–people who refuse to deny themselves for the good of the whole body; \”eggshell\” people who get upset if you look at them wrong/don\’t look at them at all/and on it goes. Those folks won\’t be pleased EVER, until they get their lives in line with what Jesus expects of us–stepping out of ourselves and forgetting what we want so that the good of the body can be accomplished. But that\’s no reason to stay away.

God made us to need each other. I find the best place for me to find like-minded believers is in my local church. The benefits of being involved in each other\’s lives so that we can lift each other up far outweigh any negatives that might occur. I\’ll take the church, faults and all.

Life comes at you fast sometimes. Just yesterday we lost two church members. They had both been ill for some time.

The lady who died, Lois, was very active in the nursery ministry at church. When we first started attending the church, she was in the nursery every Sunday. Our grandson Nate loved her. About two years ago, she began experiencing some heart problems, and from there her health just deteriorated. She had a stroke a couple of weeks ago, and yesterday she went HOME. Face to face with the Savior. What an occasion!

Same with the man who died. His name was Ken. When we met Ken, we found a quiet, gentle, compassionate man. He loved the Lord with all his heart. He cried for the lost. He prayed for their souls. Ken and Dave became good friends and prayer warriors over the last five years. He was totally evangelistic in his approach to life. In November, he was given about six weeks to live, at best. But he fought to live at least through his 50th wedding anniversary, which was in February. He was able to witness his granddaughter get married, as well as one of his sons. He always kept a positive attitude and never forgot to witness about His Savior. Yesterday, he went to sleep for a nap, and he just never woke up. Well, he did wake up, but when he did, he was in a new body. No more pain for this dear man. And he was also face-to-face with the Savior he loved so dearly on the earth. I\’d have liked to have been there for that reunion.

My precious husband, their pastor, will be doing two funerals this week. Ken\’s funeral will be especially tough on him, because they were good friends. But it will give him an opportunity to echo Ken\’s words once more to Ken\’s family as they gather for their final goodbyes. That\’s exactly what Ken wanted, and that\’s exactly what Dave will do.

I wrote a poem once that went like this:
Someday my life will be no more
And I wonder…
Will anyone knock at my door
to mourn my passing?

Even more than that, will they have anything to remember about me that\’s eternal? Did I do my best for the Lord? Did I witness when I had the chances to do so? Was I a wise counsellor? Was God given the glory because of the witness I left? These are important questions for me. My ultimate goal in life is to glorify God with all I do. May I not let Him be put to shame because of me.

I can tell you that He was glorified by the two lives who met Him face to face yesterday. If the sky looks brighter today, it\’s because of the glow off the crowns they received from their Master.

“Grandma, can I hold you?”
“Sure, baby, climb up here on my lap, and you can hold me as long as you want. Mmmm, I love for my little buddy to hold his grandma.”
…
“Grandma?”
“Yes, sweetie?”
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“Hmm, let’s see. I think, hmm, I think I want to be a grandma when I grow up.”
“You already are a grandma!”
“Oh, that’s right! Well, then I guess I got to be what I wanted to be.”
“You’re silly, grandma.”
“No, you’re silly!”
“No, you’re silly, grandma!”
“And what do you want to be when you grow up?”
“Spiderman.”
“Wow, that’s pretty neat. So you can help people?”
“Yeah, and fly around and make webs and catch the bad guys.”
“I’m glad you want to be the good guy.”
“And I’ll take care of you and granddaddy and mommy and Phil and A.J.\”
“I know you will, darling.”
…
“Grandma, can I live with you forever?”
“You can live with me as long as you want.”
…
“Grandma?”
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too, buddy. I love you too.”

My friend and co-worker said to me today, “Isn’t it strange that someone so involved in the church has so many difficulties in their life?”

She was talking about me. I had just finished a tirade about the abuses of one of my family members against the rest of their family. I was tired and stressed, and I uncharacteristically “blew a gasket.” I apologized for the outburst, but I could see the thoughts about it all written on her face. To my friend’s way of thinking, it just seems odd that I, who have been a Christian for so many years and have devoted my life to serving Christ, should have so much difficulty in my life.

Several years ago Billy Graham’s daughter, Ruth, wrote a book titled In Every Pew Sits a Broken Heart. As I read her book, I personally identified with her sentiment. It also caused me to look around at the people in the pews in my own church. Yep, there’s that sweet little 90-something couple who have been married since they were 16 years old. They are still sweethearts after all these years. Because of the cancer eating away at her body, she probably has less than a year to live. In that row sits a mother who lost her young adult daughter a couple years ago and is now raising her grandchild. The teenagers in that pew—wow, the daily difficulties they face in their home lives and other relationships. The list goes on, pew after pew. And still they show up, week after week, worshipping God and finding what they need from their relationship with Him and their fellowship with other believers.

How do we who are “so involved with the church” continue to function, considering the difficulties we face in our lives? For me, the answer is my relationship with God. When I accepted Christ as my Savior at the age of 18, I never once looked back. I’ve never regretted that decision, and I’ve found the strength I need in that relationship for every challenge I have faced over these many years. The life I live is most certainly not the life I requested. However, the God I serve is everything He ever promised He would be.

When my natural inclination is to stay in bed curled up in a fetal ball and give in to depression, the Lord stays near and gently whispers His love into my spirit. When the only place that seems acceptable to me is lying on the floor for lack of personal strength, the Lord sits beside me and strokes my head until I am able to gather the strength He gives and pick myself up. God did not guarantee me that I would never have problems. He just vowed to never leave me, and He never has.

T.D. Jakes calls it “living through the dying places.” I believe that says it very well.

In early fall of that year, one phone call and two words changed our lives forever. The storm clouds that had been building in our lives for the past two years had finally burst and nothing would ever again be the same. Our precious child, the \”sparkle\” in the family, was pregnant. This dear child had ignored all the teachings we had ever drilled into her and now a little life was on its way. We were devastated, deeply wounded and rubbed raw with emotion. My husband and I clung to each other for comfort. We walked around for days as if in mourning over a loss. Indeed, it was a loss–the death of nearly every ideal we had carried with us through our married life; the death of believing that if you do everything as right as you can, it will all turn out \”good.\” And now the consequences this child had screamed at us that would be hers to carry were ours to carry as well. The consequences of our baby’s behavior affected every single member of her family, and still do to this day.

For years my husband and I taught our children about the umbrella of protection in their lives. We drew an umbrella and explained to them that God was the cover of the family; under that was the husband, appointed by God as the head of the family; next came the wife, who was under the authority of the husband; and then came the children, who were under the authority of their parents. We cautioned them to stay safe under the umbrella, to obey God\’s order of family \”government.\” Safety could be found under that umbrella. But if any member should step out from under the authority of God and change the order of things, devastation could occur.

At about the age of 16 our daughter began stepping out from under. We spent hours wondering where she was. We grounded her, and she found a way to sneak out. She lied about where she was going; she laid out of school; she did most of the things that a child in rebellion against God does. Of course, much of this we found out after the fact. Our discipline did not deter her; she always found a way around it. And then, the month before she left for college, she spent a few days with a friend in another town and during a drunken spree, it happened.

That phone call was only the beginning. Today that precious child of ours has three children. She continues to live in our home, and we spend large amounts of time and money to help her support her little family. Why do we do it? Are we stupid? Maybe. But, more than stupid, we are children of God, forgiven by His grace, recipients of His mercy. We cannot find it in our spiritual belief system to throw our daughter out, because not only her life, but the lives of three precious beautiful little boys would also be affected.

Has she returned to the roots of the Christian lifestyle we taught her as a child? No. She resists God, because even though He promises He WILL, she can’t imagine Him ever being able to forgive her. She has not reached her “woman-at-the-well” desperation point yet. So we hold on, praying that God will be able to get through to her because of our love and the love of our church folks.

We have given up our “empty-nest” years and have become fully involved in the lives of our little buddies. The only real man they have on a daily basis is their grandfather—and he is a real man. He has taught them things their birth fathers should be teaching them. It is he who spends hours playing outside with them, telling them stories, and showing them how to be a man. I am simply grandma—the person they run to when all else in life seems too harsh for them. The arms of this grandmother are their comfort zone, and believe me when I tell you many evenings these arms are full with all three of my buddies. They even have their “side” they usually sit on—the 6-year-old on the right, the 3-year-old on the left and the baby in the middle (I have to get a bigger chair!).

On more than one occasion I have held my heart in anguish over the lives that have been affected because of one individual in our family who decided to experience life out from under the umbrella. The consequences of the actions out from under are lived by our precious daughter first, next her darling little ones, and then those who love her and help her as God would have us do. It’s not an easy life. Some days we are angry at our lot. When we are able to discuss it together, though, my husband and I always come to the point of acceptance that we have so much to learn and share from these circumstances—circumstances that will make my husband a better pastor, and me a better encourager and comforter.

Will it also make our daughter better in the end? I believe God keeps His promises and in time we will see this come to pass.

This one thing I do know—God is good, all the time. He will be glorified by these circumstances. This I believe.