Hands and Feet of Christ

My family and I have been the recipients of Christians showing up to be the hands and feet of Christ in the last few weeks.  With some upsetting and unexpected news in our family, we have been overwhelmed with people that sit with us, pray with us, and show up just when we needed them.

It has made me look differently at how to help others.  There are times with illness hits, accidents happen, life comes along and we are not sure what to do or where to go.  Can I offer some advice?  Take food - sometimes it is needed at the hospital, not when they get home.  Get to know the kids that are involved - take them away for lunch, bring them special snacks or toys as a distraction.  Is there a lot of driving involved - take them some gas or parking money.  Gift cards might be the best thing - then they can get what they need, when they need it.

The other thing that has overwhelmed us in the last few weeks are the number of people that have shown up from the past to reconnect.  This speaks volumes to the way they have affected by the lives of my parents.  My folks have always had time for other people and have always gone out of their way to help others.  This doesn't come because they were looking for something, but because they genuinely care for and love others. I know this is an outpouring of the love they have for Christ and a way they can serve Him.

So what can you do this week to be the hands and feet of Christ to someone in your life?

And how are you affecting the lives of those who come in contact with you - for a moment or a season?

How is the love of Christ overflowing onto those around you?

He Knows My Name

This week has been a doozy. Isn't Spring Break supposed to be relaxing? In addition to the usual kid fun chaos and celebrating two boys' birthdays, God brought us two lost dogs to give shelter and care.

Tuesday evening these two beautiful, friendly dogs came bounding down the street, straight up on our driveway where the kids were playing basketball. With no owners in sight, I invited the dogs into my backyard, and they came. I gave them some water because they were obviously thirsty, and went back out front, expecting their owners to be coming down the street shortly to find them. As it was getting closer to dark, I took 3 flyers with a picture of the dog out to hang on the street posts. I stopped and asked several people if they recognized the dogs. I gave the dogs some food. I called the animal shelter. At bedtime, I moved them inside to our laundry room, with pillows and blankets for bedding. Surely someone would call the next day.

Wednesday, I called our vet, I posted more flyers. I posted on Facebook. I hoped the phone would ring. It was the boys' birthday, so I couldn't devote too much time to them.

Thursday, I was going to do everything I knew to do. I took the little female into our vet to see if she was micro-chipped. No. I posted more. I called several local vets. I contacted some local dog groups. I bought them collars, so that we could take them on walks. And for the first time, I wondered what their names were.

These beautiful dogs are nameless. They have gone three days without hearing their name called. They have gone three days without their family. They are lost.

Because it was the boys' birthday, the situation reminded me of the day we officially adopted P2 in court. Even though we had him from the time he was 4 days old and we called him by his name, as far as the law goes, that day in court the judge said, "On this day, I declare Baby Boy X to now and forever be named [P2] Taylor."

There was a day, long, long ago, when I felt God's pull on my heart and asked him to forgive my sins, when I accepted God's redeeming grace and acknowledged Jesus Christ's sacrifice of dying on the cross and then rising again on the third day, when I asked God to adopt me into his family. I had gone many days without hearing my name called. I had gone many days without my Father. I was lost. But that day, I was found. And God said, "Welcome to my family, my beautiful Child. You will be known as Christian now and forever."

I am not forgotten. God knows my name. Does he know yours?

If you have been adopted into God's family, you are his child. You are royalty, an heir to God's kingdom. Child of the King. Beautiful Princess. On the hardest days, remember who you are. Be still and listen. You will hear him calling your name. God loves you so much. You are not forgotten. God knows your name.

We have taken to calling the dogs Bo and Angel. You really can't love someone (even a foster dog) without calling them something. I pray God points their owner to one of our fliers or to one of the vets/shelters that has our information. I pray these dogs find their home soon. In the meantime, we are blessed to give them a comfortable home. We are blessed to take care of the least of these.

1 John 3:1 NIV

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

PS - If you recognize these dogs, please let me know. I know they are anxious to go home.

Proverbs 31

This spring, our ladies' bible study has been studying the Proverbs 31 woman.  I have always been intrigued by this chapter of Proverbs but, honestly, it exhausts me to even think about trying to be this woman.  If she truly does everything listed in this chapter, there is no way she has time to sleep!  And what about relaxing and enjoying life? 

What I'm learning though is that all of the qualities this mythical lady possesses are an ideal - what every mom wants her son to look for in a wife.  In fact, this chapter was probably written by Bathsheba to Solomon as he was looking for a queen.  However, if you remember, Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines so he obviously couldn't find everything his momma wanted for him in one women - it took a thousand! 

 What I am also learning though isn't that we should work 24 hours a day to keep our husbands and families happy - it is that we should go about our daily work and lives with joy in our hearts.  It is all about our heart attitude, not how much we get done.  If we are happy, or at least trying to be, it makes even the most mundane tasks like laundry so much easier to get done.  Conversely, if we begrudge doing the laundry or dishes, it will make the task much more unpleasant and will probably even take longer to finish! 

 And, if we have exude joy as we go about our days, think about the affect it will have on our kids, our husbands, our friends - even the people we pass in the grocery store.  I know all too often I am met by one frown after another as I push my cart down the aisles at Tom Thumb.  However, if someone smiles at me or says "Hello", it brightens my whole day.  Also, if we get up in the mornings and greet the day with a smile, think about how much easier it will be to get the kids out the door to school.  Hmmm - they might even have a better day themselves, just because we didn't frown and scowl at the coffee pot, wishing it would hurry up!  (A hint here - if you need some help improving your morning mood, try getting up 15 minutes early and spending the time in prayer and bible study.  It's hard to be crabby when you start your day off with God.)

 There is so much more to this chapter in the Bible but I will save that for a later blog.  Until then, remember it's all about YOUR heart attitude, not how much you accomplish each day.

God bless you all!

Gina

Waiting

Two months ago today, my husband and I stood before a judge in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and promised that we would care for our daughter forever. We promised to make her ours.

Today, two months later, we still wait to bring her home. In Ethiopia, you are required to make two trips in an adoption. The first visit is for court. The second is for the U.S. Embassy appointment and to bring the child home. We are still waiting on that second trip. We have had various delays--her medicals not being completed in time one week; an x-ray that was needed the next week; and then last week, a letter that the Embassy has requested. As each week passes, our emotions build as we desperately long for our daughter to come home and join our family. We wait and wonder what God could possibly be doing when we know that He has already promised her to us. Why would He delay? And the answer, simply put, is I. have. no. idea.  I don't know why we're waiting. But, I know that there is a reason, and I know that whether I ever know that reason or not, it is part of God's plan.

In the Bible study I am in, we are studying Genesis this year. Today we were talking about the life of Isaac, and I heard it said that when Isaac prayed on behalf of his wife, Rebekah (who was barren), he was praying in accordance with the promise that God had already made. He was praying for God's will.  Though it was 20 years between Isaac and Rebekah's wedding day and the birth of Jacob and Esau, it was the plan God had promised. And it was fulfilled.

I would imagine that Isaac and Rebekah did not intend to wait twenty years before their babies were born. I would guess that Isaac's prayer did not include the words, "Please let us wait for a really long time before Rebekah is able to have children." But that was God's plan. And even though it wasn't what they expected,--and probably not the timing they even hoped for--they trusted the Lord and remained faithful to Him as they waited.

The Lord has made a promise to my family as well. He has promised us this child. And I know that when the Lord makes a promise, He always keeps it. "The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it." (I Thessalonians 5:24). It hasn't been fulfilled in the timing I would've liked, but it will be brought to fruition. Our daughter will come home--and it will be worth the wait.

What has the Lord promised you that you are waiting on right now? Do you believe He will do as He says? Like Isaac, are you willing to pray in accordance with God's will, even if it means that the answer to the prayer may not come for twenty years? What do you need to lay at His feet even now, trusting that He will answer at just the right time?

I know it isn't easy.  The past two and a half years--and especially these last few months--have been the hardest wait I've ever experienced, but my God is the same God through it all.  He loves me. He loves you. Will you trust Him in the wait?

Friends

My family just returned from one of our favorite weekends of the year!  Every February, we spend a weekend at a cabin in Broken Bow, OK with some dear friends.  What a great time we have not doing anything at all!  We all look forward to the time we have together - that is what it is about.  

We do not live close to these friends anymore, so this is a time that we have come to treasure, to catch up, and to encourage one another.  We are able to share our lives and our faith and be real with these friends without the pressure of everyday life or the need to go somewhere or entertain anyone.  Our kids have grown up together and are old enough now to monitor themselves.  I love that because of our shared faith (which is what brought us together to begin with), we can continue in our shared lives.

I have thought quite a bit about this recently.  It is so important to have friends that you can share life with.  These friendships don't come quickly or easily sometimes.  It requires sacrifice.  It requires vulnerability.  It requires giving.  It requires acceptance.  It requires time.  It requires effort.  If you are willing to do these things - and sometimes they are hard - you will develop friendships that will last the years and the miles.

If you don't feel like you have friendships like these, or if you are in the hard times of developing friendships, let me encourage you to keep at it.  Do the hard thing.  Invite people over.  Give to people.  Do this as a family!  Family friends are the best and will bond you for life!  They will be the ones that are there for you when life gets hard.  They will uphold you in prayer when you need it the most.  And before you can have a friend, you will need to be a friend.  There is no greater treasure in life!

Proverbs 17:17  A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity

John 15:13 Greater love has no one that this: to lay down one's life for one's friends

Hymnation

See? I still have it!

 I think that it's time for me to admit.

I am a recovering gold star junkie.

All through elementary school, I just had to have them.
And I had to be the one that got the gold star FIRST.
And I had to meet the requirements for maximum amount of gold stars... FIRST.

I memorized the Lord's Prayer in a week, so I could get all of the gold stars possible the first time instead of doing it verse by verse. Took everyone else four weeks.

I didn't eat any desserts for a month so that I could win the Healthy Heart challenge at school. Each time we turned in our points and they were below a number then we got a gold star. I won it.

I earned a hymn book with my name on it before anyone else by memorizing two or three hymns a week, singing them for our choir director, and relating all of the pertinent copyright information.

The Lord's prayer has come in handy a few times when everyone feels the need to say it together, or whenever someone brings up "how to pray" in church. I think that the dessert-less month might have scared me more than helped because I have spent the last year trying to "detox" myself from sugar.

But the hymns. Well, that's a different story.

The hymns are with me... all the time.

Mainly when I unload the dishwasher. Probably because that is when I remember my mom singing them. And when I say hymns, yes, I also mean songs by Jesus Culture or Chris Tomlin or Michael W. Smith. After all, the definition of a hymn is a song of praise or thanksgiving to God, and I'm purty sure that those songs qualify. Ha!

But, I'm specifically talking about the old school stuff...

Jesus Paid It All.
Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing.
Great Is Thy Faithfulness.
It Is Well.
There Is Power In The Blood.
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.
When I Survey The Wonderous Cross.

Written on my heart as a child, those hymns ministered to me. Sure, gold stars might have motivated it. That, and my constant desire to want to make Mrs. Ware smile- our childhood children's choir leader... I can still picture her brilliant smile.

As I learned more hymns as a kid, the more I wanted to learn. And the more my mind would revert to those scripturally-based hymns, the more I realized that I needed to learn more. Because I could remember them and their truth when no scripture would come to mind.

Even this past week as I attempted to fight off the cake balls that I made for my husband's birthday, I said "Oh God, I need your power right now" and what popped into my mind instantly, "There is power, power, wonder working power... in the blood... of the lamb. There is power, power, wonder working power, in the precious blood of the lamb!"

And as long as I was singing that song, I was able to resist those cake balls.

Music I learned as a child... purposefully taught to me by adults that knew the benefit... still ministers to me as an adult. Cause, sometimes music ministers when sometimes something else can't. I went to this Fusion thing at our church sometime last year and an executive for PraiseCharts named Debby Berry spoke (side note: she was uh.maz.ing. if you ever get a chance to hear her speak). And one of the things she said just stuck with me (and I can't find my notes so I might be a smidge off of exactly how she said it):

"Music transcends the mind and goes straight to the soul."

And when I think back on the "soundtrack of my life", sure there are plenty of songs by people and bands like Lionel Richie, Whitney Houston, The New Kids On The Block, Michael Jackson, The Black Eye Peas, Beyonce, etc. But the songs that have played through my mind during those times of trial and success have been the hymns... the "God songs"... taught to me as a child.

Soooooooo...

Learn a hymn.
Teach a hymn.
Write a hymn.
Listen to a hymn.
Internalize a hymn.

BE a hymn... a song of praise or thanksgiving to God.

Rise up, O Lord, in all your power. With music and singing we celebrate your mighty acts. Psalms 21:13

Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; celebrate his lovely name with music. Psalms 135:3

Be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. Ephesians 5:18-19

I will praise you with music on the harp, because you are faithful to your promises, O my God. I will sing praises to you with a lyre, O Holy One of Israel. I will shout for joy and sing your praises, for you have ransomed me. Psalm 71:22-23

All Things Work Together for Good

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 NIV

This is the verse God has given me and my family in the last year. We are clinging to it like a lifeline. Challenge after challenge. Trial after trial. Lesson after lesson.

During the holiday season, a series of illnesses and "life" moments kept me away from church on Sunday mornings, until December 23. I was determined to go that day and help lead KidzWorship, knowing it would be a fun, Christmas carol filled morning. And that morning, along with several Christmas songs, we sang, "All things work together for good to those who love God ..." I knew God was smiling down on me. Just a little reminder. Just a gentle hug. Don't lose faith now. I'm still here, working all things for your good and the good of your family.

I didn't know then how much I needed to hear that. I needed to hear it, grasp it, claim it, marinate in it. More than once, in the weeks since Christmas, my human heart has questioned the verse. How? How can this, this thing, be worked for my good or my family's good or my child's good? Show me. I need to see the map. I need to see the future.

After a particularly difficult night last week, the following morning on Facebook, at least 5 different people has posted some version of this verse. Okay, God. I'm still listening. Teach me again.

It's hard; isn't it? Have you been there? Are you there now? Friend, I give you this verse, as many have given it to me in days past. Hold onto this lifeline.

And we know ... not "we hope," not "we think," not "we pray" ... we KNOW.

that in all things ... yes, all things ... ALL.

God works for the good ... God works. It's nothing you or I can do. God is working. And he is working for the good. GOOD.

of those who love him ... do you love God? Honestly, wholeheartedly LOVE him? How do you show him your love?

who have been called ... beloved, God is calling you. He is calling you to his side. He is calling you to his work. Are you heeding his call?

according to his purpose ... So, here it is. Do you know and understand God's purpose for your life? Are you living according to his purpose? Have faith and be encouraged. God has a purpose for your life, and he has designed you perfectly for that purpose. He also has a purpose for this time of trial or pain or challenge that you are going through.

He will work all things, yes all, to your good.