BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN

 It’s been awhile since I last posted.  I wish it was because I’ve been on a tropical beach being fed virgin fruit drinks but in reality, I’ve been fighting for my life. 

As God would have it, during this critical health time, He’s been giving me more writing material than I could write down.  I’ve met some new friends, spent time with some dear friends, and made a few new enemies.  I’ve been up, and so down that I thought it was my end. 

I fought financial ruin and emotional breakdowns all with the hand of God on my shoulder to lead me on.  His voice in my ear gave comfort from the pit of death and despair.  His love for me became so apparent and endless that I’m embarrassed as my own shallow impression of it. 

Needless to say, I love Him five times as much as I did last year.  I never believed I could love him more.  My heart hurts when I hear his name and the tears roll when I hear Him call my name.

 I will share more of these experiences and I’m sure He wants with you as the months go by.

I’m reminded of the song Gene Autry sang in one of his famous westerns, back in the saddle again as I write this.  I’ve been off my mark lately but missed the daily routine like a cowboy misses the open range.  It’s good to be back and great to know that God has given me yet another opportunity to write of His glory through my life’s experiences and share them with you, since you are also so special to Him.

So tighten up the reigns of your mind, straighten your back, and put your feet tight in the stirrups of your heart and get ready to ride with me over the plains of my life with Jesus.  I hope you share in the life changing experiences that I’ve had.  I believe you will see God in a different light and your relationship and importance to Him.

THE PLACES I’VE BEEN AND THE THINGS I’VE SEEN

Now when I think about my life, I remember the hardships and the victories. The very mention of some, still fill my soul with dread. I’ve come to appreciate each of these places because I’ve gained wisdom otherwise unreachable without them.

Let me clarify this a bit, because you might be thinking about the places I’ve been like Spain, Jamaica, Cozumel, or the Netherlands and the things I’ve seen there. I’m not talking about t...he fine works of art of the great places in nature or the delicious cuisine I’ve tasted.

No, I’m referring to the places of loneliness, despair, heartbreak, and major illnesses that I’ve been in. I’ve been poor and without, I’ve had friends lie and walk out on me. I’ve had mother and father forsake me. I’ve seen those in the corporate and political arena take advantage of their positions. I’ve seen things stolen right before my eyes and I couldn’t stop it, trying not to offend God by resolving it my way. I’ve been in a courtroom with an angry Judge. I’ve had doctors who could do no more than keep the medications coming. I’ve seen the death angel come and go.

The places I’ve been and the things I’ve seen sent me running and clinging to God. Some places broke me financially and others broke my spirit. I’ve seen circumstances that took all my hope and strength away. But God would step in. 

With confidence, I can stand and say, He will never leave you or forsake you. He will fight our battles, all things work together for the good of them that love God (Romans 8:28). He’s more than the whole world against you and loves us with an unimaginable love.
Let’s not run from those places or things we see, but seek God, rest and trust in Him to direct our lives. These experiences make us the master yodas for this generation. Your experience may not be my experience but the God that brought us through is the same. He’s the great I AM who is all powerful, all knowing, and ever present.

I was young and now I’m old, but I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken nor their seed begging bread (Psalms 37:25). If you’re in one of those hard places, trust in the Lord with all you heart and wait on Him. Your wait won’t be useless but it brings your strength and help from God (Isaiah 40:31).
From the places I’ve been and the things I’ve seen, I’ve been privileged to see God’s love for me. I’ve learned so much about God and more importantly, I’ve learned so much about myself, from the places I’ve been and the things I’ve seen. 

What’s your story? Do you see God in the places He’s brought your through? Have you seen His hand deliver you? Tell someone and remind yourself that we serve a God that is able to carry us through.

NEW YEAR PRESS

As I look back, I realize the weight of facing some of the worst hardships and life altering challenges during the past two years.  I survived emotionally numbing blows in recent years, and because of the holidays, only to relive some incidents afresh.  I lost loved ones and friends dear to my heart.  I saw the true colors of many, left abandoned and like my grandma use to say, up the creek without a paddle, on several occasions. 

It seemed that at every turn, another door was either closed in my face or at my back.  I felt boxed in and forced in a state of bondage.  There were times I called out asking God if He saw me.  I felt as if He was watching me suffer these things as He watched the guards beat Jesus beyond recognition.  I felt my old nature rise and a bit of old Chris resurfaced; the one that jumps into action to take care of Chris and handle people and situations.  I want to keep that old girl under control because she’s dangerous.  The last time I let her have free reign for just 1 hour, it took years and several attorneys to get things resolved.  The reborn Chris just kept saying be still, do nothing, God is not blind nor has He turned His back on you.  It’s God that has brought you to this place and time in life.  Wait on God, my spirit would say.

I started to imagine my situation.  My spirit was feeling as if I’m standing in a paneled room boxed in with no visible way of escape.  Each wall of this room is touching me on the front, the back, and the sides.   I wait with my hands folded behind my back.  I kept hearing a familiar clicking sound.  Familiar in that I know I’ve heard is somewhere before, long ago.  Then I remembered our old camper.  The cabinets and closets in it didn’t have handles and the surface look streamlined and you had to know where to press them to get them to open.  I had trouble with a few of them, just couldn’t seem to get the press right to make it open until several tries. 

Then I heard God say to press with my hands behind me, and a door opened.  I stepped back and God began to give me insight into why things happened this year.  No great mystery, it was His will and it was what was best for all involved.  He showed me how the past two years were a proving year for me.  He showed me how much He loved me and had invested in me.  It was a year during which I was being branded for His purpose for my life, to write of His glory, as John was banished to the Isle of Patmos to write the book of Revelations.    One mistake was to believe in the word of people and depend on them for help and not look to God first then He would send the help I needed.    

 I found myself back in that paneled room and I was instructed to press again on a place in front of me.  As I did, a door opened.  As I stepped out the way wasn’t clearly marked and a bit foggy and unstable in places.  God whispered, if I trust Him, He’ll lead me and show me the way.  To be successful, I’d have to get rid of the useless baggage from the past year that would hold me down or cause me to fall.

Beyond the love and investment God has placed in me, I take away from this image that even when people and situations seem to have us boxed in, all we have to do is look and wait on Jesus; then press, and He’ll open a way of escape.  If we trust Him, He will lead and guide us through our day to day life.  To be successful, I must press the door closed on the past and focus on today with Christ. 

For 2016 join with me in my resolve, like that of the Apostle Paul described in Philippians 3:1-15, to forget those things which are behind, and reaching for those things ahead, then press the mark, for the prize, which is the high calling of God, in Christ Jesus.  Let’s do a New Year Press.

CHRISTMAS 2015

While I sat in the garage looking at the boxes of decorations and Christmas tree in a box, a flood of emotions swept over my soul.  I look back and painfully remember all the people and things so dear to me that I lost.  I began to sink in my spirit because the loved ones I shared my life and heart with are no longer here to bring me joy on Christmas morning.  Christmas was always my favorite holiday.  It’s a time when memories are made and family and friends gather near.

As I drove through the neighborhoods and saw the beautiful decorations and listened to the holiday tunes on the radio, emptiness came over me.  I didn’t feel the same when I watched Charlie Brown or White Christmas on television.

Many of the traditional things that marked this season, my personal favorite, the Christmas tree, will not be observed this year.   The old traditions are no longer significant and I am forced to create new ones.  There will be no smell of peach cobbler cooking in the kitchen or that secret present to open on Christmas morning.  There won’t be a fire in the fireplace as we sing merry Christmas baby or jingle bell rock.  I asked all my loved ones to let me be alone this Christmas to seek God’s face, who alone could heal and help me this holiday.   The worst emotion to me is to be in a room filled with people but still feeling all alone in the world. 

The song, Silent Night, Holy Night came on the radio and my heart began to burn.  How selfish and blind I had been.  Christ is the reason for the season.  He is the gift that keeps on giving.  

There was no Currier & Ives setting around the manger where Christ laid and He wasn’t welcomed with opened arms.  His mother and father were on the run from an angry King that sought to kill Him and hid in a manger where He was born.  There was no smell of spices and rum cake; there was the smell of sheep and oxen in their nostrils. 

Yes, I had lost loved ones and my life is forever changed, but the real reason for Christmas is Christ who loves me the best and has never left my side.  He has shown me an undying love by giving me the gift of redemption. 

Let’s regain the real meaning for Christmas, by first putting Christ back in our celebration.   We look for gifts to give our loved ones that would enhance their lives and bring them joy.  What better gift than to give them the gift of the knowledge of Christ, their Savior.  Share with them the true story of Christmas.  When times get hard and the storms of life begin, the X-box game machines and diamonds won’t bring them peace or help solve their problems, only a relationship with Christ will accomplish this.  Deck the halls then go tell it on the mountain and over the hills that Jesus Christ was born.

THE FALL SEASON

As a native Michigander, I have learned to embrace the four seasons.  Each of them brings a certain attitude and set of survival skills.  In the summer, you must have sun screen and an air conditioner.  In the winter, you must have boots and a shovel.  In the spring, you must carry outfits for all four seasons, since the weather could go through each season within an eight hour period. 

 I love the special characteristics that go with the fall season.  Fall is the only season I know that has two titles; it is also known as Autumn.  I wonder if they began to call it Fall because the temperatures begin to fall during this time of year.  The daylight falls shorter than the previous seasons.  To accommodate for this, the time falls back for daylight savings efforts.  I seem to fall into a nesting state and become like the bears preparing for hibernation.  The leaves begin the fall from the trees after they give us a beautiful array of colors to decorate our landscape. 

In the Fall, we prepare for family gatherings to give thanks for this year’s blessings.  Wouldn’t it be great to fall back into some of our better spiritual habits?  Let’s fall in love with the Word of God again.  If you’re looking to nestle up to a good book, I have a suggestion, a long time best seller; the Bible.  It’s filled with stories of murder, illicit affairs and scandal, mystery and suspense.  Let’s fall back on our knees in prayer and seek the help of God in these trying and troubling times.   Let’s reconnect and fall in love with God all over again.

Join with me in making this the best Fall season every by reflecting on the love of God and how it’s impacted our lives.  The temperature may fall and the leaves may fall from the tress, but let’s not let our service, worship, and praise fall short for our God who deserves our best.

LONELY LIFE OF A WRITER

-John on the isle of Patmos

The life of a writer can be lonely.  Anyone who is serious about pursuing their dream of writing will quickly learn that they are in a world to themselves; you see things differently.  You have to steal away to a quiet place sometimes for hours or days until you can express a thought in your head.  Others around you are watching television and enjoying the simple things of life but you carry a burden until your piece is completed.   You become disciplined and committed to a deadline even if the deadline is in your own mind.  There are things that you write about that may be very personal, controversial or far-fetched.  Imagine the looks Albert Einstein got when he wrote about the theory of relativity in 1905.

Not everyone can sit in silence; some people have to be doing or saying something.  It is more than just not talking; it’s getting into a place to ponder the ideas that come to mind; never being without pad or a pen.  It’s a place where there are no horns, no grass cutting, and no music or weed whackers; no running water, phones, or slamming cabinet doors, nothing but the trees blowing in the wind. I love it when it’s so quiet you can feel it.  

Some suffer from writer’s blocks where they can’t fill the blank pages in front of them.  My writing has been based on my experiences with God so I have an abundance of material.  My hurdle comes when writing through pain or a heartache or the joy of deliverance; expressing it all in under 600 words. 

God has been faithful and has answered miraculously when I’ve faced adversity. That’s when I learned writing is one of my gifts, because God moves quickly on my behalf so I can get back on task.  Writing serves a dual purpose for me; it keeps me sane and I get to tell how real God is.

Now I thought the best scenario for me to write in was peace and quiet but in reality, my best stories have come while I was under pressure in the midst of confusion and stress.

I considered the writers of the books of the bible and the conditions under which they wrote the New Testament.  They were beaten and imprisoned for expressing their beliefs. They were killed all but John the Apostle.

He was the only apostle to die of natural causes. He still suffered for His beliefs and writings about Christ.  John, the Apostle was a cousin to Jesus and one of  His inner circle.  When he wouldn’t stop writing and talking about the things he had witnessed about Christ, he was put into a cauldron of boiling oil and flung in a sling shot of sorts to the Isle of Patmos where he was banished.  God kept him alive so he could write the things in the book of Revelations.

I think of the accidents I’ve faced and the tragedies I’ve survived and know that God is keeping me alive to write about His glory.  He delivers me so miraculously because He knows I’ll write about Him to encourage someone else.  He places me in the camp of the enemy so that while I suffer I will call on His name and write about how He delivered me.  I think about the family and friends that have betrayed me and turned their back on me and write about how grateful I am to have Christ on my side.   He never promised it would be easy but He did promise it would be rewarding (Matthew 16:27).

God has placed great gift in all of us to edify or encourage each other.  He says and I’m a witness that your gift will make room for you (Proverbs 18:16).  From my soul to the paper in front of me, I write about the God I love and serve.  Take up your pen and write of His goodness to you.