Armed with Strength

“Here, Mom, I wrote you a poem,” my youngest daughter said to me as she slipped me a 3 x 5 card with her hand writing on it. And then she proceeded to recite it to me.

I am thankful for my mom.

She is very, very strong.

She can lift a 5 pound weight.

She is very, very strong.

Lately, I find myself often repeating her words in my head, with her little inflections and lisp; they encourage me and make me smile. They remind me of God's strength in me.

Truth is, I can lift more than five pounds of weight, but it is the weight of the world (or the weight of the week) that I struggle with, although I’m not sure why I even find myself trying to pick it up.

Strength. Perseverance. Wisdom. I need it, and I suspect you need it, too.

Thankfully, God’s giving of strength and any other thing we need isn’t dependent on our ability.  It’s dependent on His grace.

My arms may or may not be strong. Fortunately, my heart and soul are stronger. The irony is that when we are weak, then we are strong. For “It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect” (Psalm 18:32).

This is for you, too, dear reader.  We have all we need in life and our service for Him, through Him.

May I pray for you?

Dear Lord, Thank you for loving us and for providing for us everything we need. Thank you for your strength, when we are weak. Thank you for your wisdom when we are confused. Thank you for helping us to persevere when we are weary. Thank you for being our Hope. Help us to reach out to you and not try to do the work that you have called us to do in our own ability. Help us to trust you. In Jesus precious name I pray. Amen.

Talking about Tonsils

I love talking to my kids.  They come up with some hilarious things sometimes.

While driving to school this morning we got on the subject of tonsils.  I’ve had a sore throat for weeks now and am going back in to the doctor today for some tests. We were talking about my appointment and the dreaded throat swab, when a dry wad of cotton is scraped across already swollen, meaty tonsils.  Yuck.

This led to, “What do tonsils do?” “Why do we have tonsils?” “Can we live without them?” “Do you really get to eat any kind of ice cream you want if you have them out?”

I tried to answer the questions as well as I could, having been a Physician Assistant in my pre-offspring life, including that I think you only get the ice cream that the hospital stocks, which is probably one vanilla and chocolate. They were disappointed. I was, too.

And then my eleven your old son said, with a playful smile of curiosity in his voice, “Can they do tonsil transplants? Could I give a tonsil to someone who may need one?”

I love that. I'm still laughing about it. Tonsil transplants. Having worked in the transplant arena with kidneys, pancreases (or is it pancrei? I can't remember) and livers, I am picturing a surgical procedure trying to do a living-related tonsil harvest from one person and transplant it into someone else’s posterior pharynx. Too funny. Well, at least it is to me.

I explained to him that this would not really be necessary (although creative!) as we do not really NEED our tonsils.  It would just be giving someone something that wouldn’t benefit them.

As I dropped the children off and drove away, I started to think about our giving people things they really don’t need -- things like poor advice or false hope.

We think we are helping, but we are not. They are like “tonsil transplants.” It doesn't benefit them.

I’m sure I’ve done it. I don’t mean ill by it, but before I know it, I’m handing over worldly wisdom rather than godly hope. 

I’m going to try and think about this some more and ask the Lord to show me how to give to those I love what He says is helpful for them – something they REALLY need  -- the hope that we have in Jesus.  Perhaps it’s   a meal, a word of encouragement, a listening ear, a book, a scripture verse – only the Lord knows.  I’ll ask Him for His wisdom.

And in the meanwhile, I think I’ll just enjoy some comic relief envisioning a “tonsil transplant.”

(PS -- I opted for no photo today -- I just couldn't bring myself to posting a posterior pharynx. Ugh).

What Would You Pick from that Tree?

Sitting at the kitchen counter this morning, my youngest son and I chatted back and forth about his upcoming day and about his concerns.  He did not want to go to school. Not because he does not like school. He does.  It was because he has a test.

“I wish I had that tree right now, Mom.”

“What tree?” I wondered.

“The tree you talked to us about the other day.  Remember? The one that you said, ‘What-if you could pick …?’”

Last week, my friend Bobbie spoke at our women’s bible study. After she was done speaking, we discussed questions that she wrote, at our table.  I brought home one of the questions for my children to consider.  The question was this -

Money doesn't grow on trees -- or so the expression goes.  Imagine something unusual besides money) could be grown on trees and you could pick it whenever you wanted. What would you want your tree to produce?

We came up with all sorts of ideas from the silly to the series.  Video games. Candy. Answers to tough questions. Energy. Sleep. Even one of the children wished that I grew on trees so that they could have me whenever they wanted me. J

But on this Monday morning, my son with anxieties high over a history test said, “If I had that tree, I’d pick the answers to the test – all I’d have to do is reach up and they all would be there --  or I’d pick a tree that grew ‘pretend sick’ things so that I don’t have to go to school.”  Apparently, he’d been thinking about this tree …

I guess I do, too, just in a different way.  On good days and not so good days, I find myself seeking answers and reaching for a multitude of things.  I am convinced that I am a slow learner,  but the more time goes on and experience proves, I am realizing that although none of these things grow on trees, the Lord gives willingly when we reach out and seek Him.  He may not choose to give us all we want, but He does give us all we need.

Today, I need courage and I need wisdom – to both sit down and stand up, to speak and to hold my tongue.  That’s what I would pick – it’s what I am picking to seek God about.

What about you? 

What would you want your tree to produce today – what are you in need of? Ask God. He is more than willing and able to give.

The Power of Our Words

Driving to school today, my middle daughter (prone to random questions, just like her mother), said “Mom, is the tongue really the strongest muscle in the body?”

“I’m not sure, “ I responded. “But it is the most powerful one. Do you know what that means?”

We talked about how reckless words pierce like a sword, but wise words bring healing (Proverbs 12:18), and then I asked them, “So, what can this most powerful muscle do in terms of our words?” And this is what they said (I quickly wrote down their insightful thoughts on the back of my dry cleaning slip): Our words can ________.

· Hurt or Help

· Change

· Love

· Teach and Tell

· Give joy; make others happy; make others smile

· Bring comfort

· Break people; comfort others

· Get all tangled up

· Give courage

· Grow others towards Jesus

Upon getting home, and still a bit curious about her technical question regarding the muscle itself, I did some research. The bottom line is that it is debatable whether the tongue is really the strongest muscle in the body. Depends on how you define strength. There is absolute strength (maximum force), dynamic strength (repeated motions), elastic strength (exert force quickly) and strength endurance (withstand fatigue). Is this getting too technical? Stick with me. Some would say the heart is the strongest, others the gluteus maximus (yes, that which you are sitting on), and still others the masseter muscle in your jaw.

However, regardless of which one wins out, I think we can agree that the tongue possesses all the characteristics of strength, through the words that it makes. It has maximum force speaking words for good and for evil and dynamic strength, as we are constantly communicating. It can exert force quickly, by blurting out criticism or quickly encouraging, and it can help others to withstand fatigue through words of faith.

Our tongue – it may not move a heavy object, but it can move someone to tears, to joy, to action or belief. It may not lift a bar bell, but it can lift someone’s spirits. The tongue may not carry a basket, but it can carry the good news of hope. It may not walk a mile, but it can walk along side someone with encouraging words. It may not hold our bodies upright, but it may hold up someone else in a time of weakness. And sadly, it may not knock down a building, but it may knock down a heart; it may not hurt with a punch, but it may suffer a blow to the soul.

Dear Lord: I pray that I would be ever mindful of my words. Please provide me with the grace to speak out when the time is right, and hold my tongue at other times. Help me to use gentle words, wise words, words filled with truth and beauty. Please grant me mercy when I misuse my words, and help me to make amends. Let my words be pleasing to you, Lord. Amen.

Stop! Look! Listen!

The yellow school bus bounced along the highway, while the noise of 50 children bounced off the walls of the bus. It was a busy field trip to the local zoo with kindergartners and first graders. Lots of excitement. Lots of joy. Lots of noise.

The bus driver had her rules, and the children were expected to obey them. Sit in your seat. Keep your hands inside the bus. No eating or drinking AND when she approached a railroad crossing, at her signal of two fingers held high in the air, the children were to stop talking until she looked, listened and crossed over the tracks. Once it was safe, then the fun and laughter could resume.

STOP! LOOK! LISTEN! It’s a law. When a bus approaches a railroad crossing, the driver is to stop the bus, open the doors, look and listen for a train. If all is clear, the driver carries on. I suspect it came from a load of bad experiences. I don’t even want to go there in my mind. The level of tragedy is too great for me to handle today.

Each time we stopped though, and I heard the noise level go from a roar to almost complete silence, I was reminded that I need to stop, look and listen.

When we come to a crossroads, a place of potential danger (and let’s face it we do, in big and little ways each day, on this bumpy journey called life), we approach crossings where we must make decisions. Our physical, emotional and spiritual lives may be in danger. Sometimes (not all times), tragedy can be avoided, when we are wise and seek God.

At these junctures, we can STOP -- stop what we are doing, and make a conscious effort to quiet ourselves and prepare to LOOK and LISTEN for God. We need to look at our circumstances and our thoughts in light of what God’s Word and His will. We need to ask Him to help us make a decision, chart a course, or turn the other way. We need to ask Him to help us to see when and where danger may be coming down the track, and make sure that we avoid it or let it pass us by, not collide with us. We need to listen to His voice, the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, and discern what God is calling us to do.

We are such a busy people, aren’t we? We have a lot of loud background noise bouncing off the walls of our hearts and minds. Places to go. People to see. Pain to process. Influences of the world pulling at our way of thinking. Lists and lists of things to do. We need to slow down and STOP, LOOK and LISTEN to what God is revealing to us in every part of every day. If He cares enough about the sparrow (and He does!) then He certainly cares enough about us, but are we taking time to look and listen for Him?

I know I need to be more aware of it. Oh, sure, in the crisis times I call out, but it is in the mundane of every day that I wax and wane. I’m working on it. Maybe you are, too. Let’s continue to encourage one another on this journey.

“Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him” (Deuteronomy 30:20).

Have a blessed weekend!

The Laundry of Life

I woke this morning with a mass of thoughts and emotions turning over and over in my mind, like laundry in a dryer -- round and round, mixing together, touching one another, flopping and plopping.

It must be on my mind a lot (I wrote about “dirty laundry” in the previous post) -- maybe because laundry is before my eyes every day. I can’t seem to get it done, always more resurfacing from beneath a bed or stuffed in a back-pack. There is no such thing as “laundry day” around this house. Every day has it’s more than fair share of laundry to be dealt with. Loads and loads of it. Piled high in disarray. All shapes, colors and sizes.

Time and time again, I unload items from the dryer. One piece at a time, I shake them out and smooth them down. Some pieces need inside outing (I guess, because the outside is in? It’s confusing …) I fold them up and place them in a pile where they belong. Piece after piece, each different than the last and the next, I work through the load.

Life is like laundry in the dryer sometimes, I think. On good days or difficult days, we can find ourselves in a state of feelings and thoughts being tossed about. Mixed together, they flop and they plop, round and round they go -- loads and loads of them.

The reality is, we need help and we need truth; the Lord is faithful to provide both.

Imagine this, the Lord standing by you as you unload your dryer of “stuff.” You take out a piece and show it to Him. He helps you shake it out. Smooth it out. Inside (outside?) out it. He guides you as you fold it and place it in just the right place. He knows the perfect pile, and He knows if it is something that you need to wear (deal with) today, or if it can be put up on the shelf for tomorrow.

You see, we cannot take care of all this crazy laundry without Him. It’s too much to make sense of and cope with, and let’s face it, it is never all done and neatly put away. Every day has new laundry, some from the previous day, and some pulled out from some hidden place of the past. We can attempt to make sense of it and make wise choices with this mess, but without Him, we can’t do it.

So, how do we do all this shaking out, smoothing down, inside outing and folding? Call out to the Lord. The Lord is near to all who call on Him, who call on Him in truth (Psalm 145:18). Ask for His help; He is the all-capable helper. He’ll help you handle what is going on. It may take time, and it always takes faith. We must believe that He is helping while we look at each thing – our feelings, our thoughts, our worries -- and then trust that He will help place it in the perfect pile to either be dealt with today or some other day.

Loads and loads in life, we all have them. I can do my laundry at home on my own (although, I’d rather not) but I cannot do the laundry of life on my own. I need the Lord to help me, and I am thankful that He cares enough to do so. Next time you are doing your laundry, ask Him to help you sort through the laundry of your life. Bring the Lord in to the process and trust Him to help you today.

Safe and Sound

I looked out the window of the restaurant near the top of the John Hancock building in Chicago. I just completed lunch with my daughter and her friend, and we were making plans to head home. I peered out over the landscape and contemplated taking an alternative route. It surely appeared that the road heading north along the shore would bring me right where I wanted to go. We descended from our perch on high, loaded the car, and drove off along the route that I was certain would be best.

It really didn’t take all that long for me to realize that I was wrong. I thought it looked as if I could go north for quite awhile, but found myself with no other option than to go west. Before I knew it, I was weaving my way through all sorts of neighborhoods in the northern parts of Chicago, traveling west, north, south and east, again and again. I kept a close eye on the store fronts and intersections, hoping that I was not crossing in to more tenuous territory, but I was getting concerned. I was lost and had no idea where I was or even how to get back to where I had been. I did not have a map. Looking at the digital compass in my car was not helping. I did not have a GPS to plug in my destination point. I was in trouble, and I was feeling foolish.

Then I remembered -- OnStar. I had Onstar in the vehicle! Other than using it to unlock my doors when I had locked my keys in the car a half dozen or more times, I had never used it; I was desperate to try.


And, sure enough, it worked. I pushed the button and within seconds a friendly voice greeted me using my full name and introducing herself. “How can I help you today, Andrea?” I could feel my blood pressure lower just at the sound of her voice and the knowledge that she even knew my name!

I explained to her that I was lost and went through the story. Before I could even finish, she gently interrupted with, “Oh, I see just where you are. You are on “such and such a street” and should be crossing over “such and such a street.” No problem, Andrea. I can get you to just where you want to go. Don’t worry. I’ll stick right here with you and guide you along the way.”

And she did. Each intersection along the way she indicated where I was. She would tell me when I was approaching a new street or landmark, how long until I would need to turn, which lane I should get in to, which way I was to turn, and exactly when I was to turn. She stayed present in the vehicle with me until I was safely on the highway that I needed to be on, that would lead me home.

“Is there anything else I can help you with today, Andrea?” she graciously asked. I was tempted to ask for a cup of tea to calm my nerves, but then I realized that she had already done that. Her knowing who I was, where I was, and how and where I needed to go in order to get back on track was a great comfort to me.

So many times I have thought of this story. It happened a year ago, but it comes back to my mind when I find myself not so much lost in the car, but just lost in what I am to do next. Sometimes I get off track, I think I know the best way to go, but I don’t, and I need some help. Sometimes, I am just plain old perplexed. The road signs are all boggled up, and I need direction. Sometimes, I am hurt, or scared, or sad, or overwhelmed or just confused.

Thankfully, the Lord is ready, able and present to help. Psalm 145:17-19 says, “The Lord is righteous in all His ways and loving toward all He has made. The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; He hears their cry and saves them.”


Lost wondering what to do next, dear reader? Confused about a circumstance in your life? Feeling off track and in need of guidance? Wandering around and not seeing any familiar landmarks? Not sure where to go or how to respond to a difficult situation? Frustrated with yourself over wrong choices you may have made? In need of wisdom and direction? Call out to the Lord and listen to His voice. He is present. He knows your name. He knows where you are and He is faithful to direct you in the way you should go, safe and sound.

On Asking God for Wisdom

There are times in life when the answers to what we are called to do, come easily. Other decisions are much more complex, and we must seek the Lord prayerfully, and carefully and earnestly for wisdom. This wisdom often looks different than that which the world supports. But it is the wisdom of God, as a lover of God, that we must seek.

And God will give. When I come up against these times, I need to remember some things about asking God for wisdom. This is what I have discovered in God's Word --

"...if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding and if you look for it as for sliver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand that fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." (Proverbs 2:1-5)

So, IF we -- accept, store up, turn our ear, apply our heart, call out, cry aloud, look, and search ...

"Then you will understand what is right and just and fair -- every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you. Wisdom will save you ... " (Proverbs 2:9-12).

THEN, we -- will understand what is right and just and fair and have wisdom in our hearts. We will have knowledge that is pleasant to our soul and discretion that will protect us, along with understanding that will guard us and wisdom that will save us.

But, most importantly, in our searching and our finding, it is all BECAUSE of who the Lord is.

“For the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.” Proverbs 2:6-8

Yes, BECAUSE, God is the giver of wisdom and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding, we can be confident that He holds the victory and is our Shield. He guards our course and He protects our way.

These are truths in God's Word that we can trust, and so as we begin a new week and come up against trials, let us seek God for the wisdom in the way that we are called to walk.

Children of the Son

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Matthew 7:13-14

This is the verse that is written on the bottom of the painting that graces my kitchen and is shared with you in the header at the top of this page. Titled Children of the Son, it is very special to me, as my 75 year old friend, Mary, an impressionist painter, created it for me. The oil painting is very large, set in an ornate antique gold frame. It is of my five children, walking on the narrow path through a field of sunflowers (my favorite!), making their way to a church, that represents the Lord Jesus.

Mary is truly a remarkable woman of God. The Lord has used the suffering in Mary's life that He has asked her to bear, to create beautiful pieces of art. All of them are given a scripture verse, and are painted in prayer and an awareness of what God would want her to do, to glorify Him best. Mary has walked through many valleys. Her 4 month old son died in a car accident, and then years later, her only remaining child, a daughter, died of cancer. This summer, Mary was widowed. She knows what it is to suffer and struggle, but she shines with the love of the Lord and encourages me daily by praying for me and reminding me of God's truth.

As I mentioned, it represents my five children and their walk with the Lord. As a mom, it reminds me to encourage my children, to walk with the Lord, along the narrow path, trusting Him alone. As a woman, it reminds me also, of the same, during times of prosperity and times of adversity. I think that we sometimes forget, that in fact, it is a narrow road, with a small gate, that we must walk on. In the painting, the road is broad and the gate wide, that leads to where we do not want to go. But the narrow road is the one that we must stay on to experience the fullness of life that we have in Jesus. It is not easy to stay on the narrow road. It is less defined to the naked eye, and we must pray and trust the Lord to reveal each step to us. We know that it is difficult, because if it was easy, many would find it, but God's Word tells us that only a few find it.

To stay on the narrow road requires alot of faith, perseverance, endurance, wisdom and prayer. We must seek the Lord daily, accept the paths that He is asking us to walk in, and then trust Him for the direction and the end point.

As we come in to the New Year, my hope for all of us is that we would persevere in seeking the narrow road, and not give up and walk without hope and purpose on the wide road. I know that Jesus will meet us on the road that He has asked us to walk, no matter how weak or weary we may be.

"You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence." Acts 2:28. May you experience joy in the Lord Jesus this New Year, as you walk closely with Him, in all circumstances, even the darkest and most painful.