A Quiet Heart

Elisabeth Elliot is one of my favorite Christian authors. For those of you unfamiliar with her, she lost two husbands to death. The first was murdered by Auca Indians in the jungles of Ecuador; the second died from cancer. She has written many books and articles, had a radio show for many years, and was a speaker at various conferences. After hearing her speak several years ago, I had dinner with her. At the end of the meal, she and her third husband shared an apple crisp a la mode with me! I think this makes me sort of famous. :-)

One of Elisabeth's books that I return to again and again is titled Keep A Quiet Heart. It is a series of devotionals designed to guide us toward a simpler, calmer, state of being:

"A willing acceptance of all that God assigns and a glad surrender of all that I am and have constitute the key to receiving the gift of a quiet heart. Whenever I have balked, the quietness goes. It is restored, and life immeasurable simplified, when I have trusted and obeyed."

Oh that we (I) could remember this! Think of the numerous ways that we actually foster the opposite of a quiet heart - a heart full of turmoil, anxiety, and fear. Actually, Elisabeth helps even in this regard. Tomorrow we will begin to look at a list she put together entitled, "Several Ways To Make Yourself Miserable." How's that for fun!

Bagging My Respectable Sins

I've been preparing this week to teach the first Women's Study class on the book Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate, by Jerry Bridges. In doing so, I am reminded of the many "subtle" sins that we become so accustomed to in our own lives that we don't even realize we are committing them. Hopefully that will change for all of us as we study the book. It has for me, already.

Recently I was in a line at the grocery store buying chicken for the local food pantry. (See post on "Cluck Cluck") The line was not moving very quickly, and so I glanced over to see what the problem was, and I spotted the culprit. It was the bag boy. He was v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y moving the items into bags. I was really amazed at the speed with which he was (not) working. I became immediately impatient, wondering if someone in management would see him and tell him to increase his pace. Then I remembered the lesson which I had just learned from the book. Right then and there I battled my own sin and instead of thinking "I can't believe how slowly HE is working," tried to change to "God must have his purpose for slowing ME down today." It was not easy for me to shift gears like that. Finally, it was my turn, my chickens were slowly bagged, and I was out the door.

The reward for my small moment of obedience? As soon as I left the store, I ran into a lovely friend in the parking lot, and we proceeded to talk for 15 minutes or so. Had I not been in the line with the slow worker, I would have missed the opportunity to speak to this good woman.

I wonder how many times we miss out on experiences such as these because we insist on our own timing, instead of God's?

A Question from a Reader

My friend Andy (pictured here!) raised a good question a couple of days ago by commenting on one of my posts concerning prayer:

"Candy--your blog today brings up a point I have thought much about over the years. If God doesn't change his mind, then why pray? Typically, I find that folks ask for intervention (I know I do) but God is not going to do anything that he wouldn't already do--i.e. you cannot reason with God to get him to do something. I have thought that given this, the power of prayer is not that it changes God, but it changes you. What are your thoughts?"

There are probably a bazillion books written on this topic of prayer, and I don't presume to be any kind of 'expert" in this field. This in no way, though, stops me from having opinions! :-)

1. I think the main reason to pray is that God commands us to do so. In Luke 11:1-4, Jesus instructs His disciples to pray. He does so by saying "When you pray, say..." If Christ thought prayer was optional, He could have said "If you pray, say..." or "If you feel like it, say..." Likewise, the Apostle Paul says, "Pray without ceasing." Prayer is not just a good idea, it's mandatory.

2. As Andy suggests, prayer strengthens our relationship with God. Imagine a child who was unwilling to talk with his earthly father. How close could they be given that lack of communion?

3. Following a prayer pattern like ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication) causes our prayer to be more than just our request for intervention, and that's a good thing. A simple tool like ACTS can help us pray for more than ourselves.

4. God does listen to our prayers. Of course He will not ultimately change His decrees, but our heartfelt prayer and His willing response may be a part of His decrees. It is best not to second guess Him on this, but to ask, expecting that we will receive. If things don't happen in a way that we might like, we can still trust Him. He must have something better for us.

5. This all makes my brain hurt, but I think that despite the mystery of it all, Andy's point is one of the best ones. It is good to have communion with our God. Praying to our heavenly Father does indeed change us, and that is just what we need.

Why God Answers Prayers (Part 4 of 4)

We've been examining Psalm 27:7 with Paul David Tripp.

Quick review for newcomers:

Psalm 27:7 "Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!"

Why does God answer our prayers? It's because of who He is, rather than who we are. But what specifically about Him assures us of a response?


1. His love (previous post)

2. His faithfulness (previous post)

"3. His grace. Grace provides the whole structure and standing of our relationship with God. If it weren't for the grandeur of his forgiving grace, we would have no relationship with him at all. Because of his grace, he is unwilling to rest until the work of transformation is complete. In grace he looks on us and knows that this work isn't done. We've not yet been completely formed into the likeness of Son. Although the power of sin has been broken, he knows that the presence of sin still remains. He hears our prayers because, when we pray, we confess that we still need the grace of forgiveness and deliverance, and in so doing we place ourselves in the center of what he has committed himself to complete - his work of redemption." (p.54 - A Shelter in the Time of Storm)

Imagine that! We are at the center of what God has committed himself to complete. We are the recipients of His redeeming grace. God will not rest until our transformation into holy saints is complete. He will hear and answer our prayers because of the grace that He freely gives to us. God gives us grace, and then because we have this gift, we are enabled to approach His throne with our petitions and requests. What a good deal for us. And Christ paid the complete price.

Remember GRACE: God's Riches At Christ's Expense.

Why God Answers Prayers (Part 3 of 4)

So I've been wondering if anyone out there had noticed that I hadn't finished the 4 part series on "Why God Answers Prayers?" If you had, then you know that I was interrupted by Tears, More Tears, and even Tears in a Bottle. :-)

Parts 1 and 2 began with the premise by Paul David Tripp that God has his own reasons for answering when we call upon him for help. "Prayer finds its hope not in the qualifications of the one praying, but in the character and plan of the God who is hearing." By studying the many attributes of God we can have great assurance that He does indeed listen and respond to our petitions. The first one explored was His love, and the second one today is His faithfulness. Here is what Tripp observes:

"God doesn't change his mind. He doesn't ride the roller-coaster of the rise and fall of emotions. His heart isn't a battle zone of conflicting motivations. He doesn't get bored, exhausted, or distracted. He won't quit what he has begun. He won't forsake those upon whom he has placed his love. He won't harden his heart, shut down his mind, and turn his back. He won't take a break or go to sleep. He will never tell you that you have asked too much or that you have come to him too often. You never have to work to figure him out. You never have to wonder if his response to you will change. He is absolutely faithful to every promise he has made and every provision he has offered. Your hope in prayer is rooted in his faithfulness, not yours." (A Shelter in the Time of Storm: Meditations on God and Trouble)

Whenever I read quotes such as these, I can't help but contrast them with my own attributes - and find that I come up far short of God's level. I do change my mind depending upon emotions, my motivations are mixed at best, and I get tired and bored and distracted and fall asleep. I can't figure myself out sometimes. And faithful in all things? I don't think so.

I am reminded of a cartoon I once saw. In it, a man sees another man walking toward him. "Oh no," he thinks, "...that's Bob, and I told him I would pray for him but I forgot. Dear God, I pray now that you would help Bob." Then the two meet - and the first says "Hi Bob - I've been praying for you!" I laughed when I saw this - but it was certainly an uncomfortable laugh. This is much closer to my level of faithfulness.

Can you imagine if our faithlessness in prayer stopped God from being faithful to His own eternal purpose? Thanks be to God that He is faithful, even when we are not.

Let me go and pray for Bob now.

Tears in a Bottle

Psalm 56:8 is one of the most amazing verses in the Bible:

"You have ... put my tears in your bottle."

How great is it that we serve a God that cares enough about our tears to store them up?

Here is what John Calvin says about this verse:

"David prays that God might put his tears into his bottle. It was usual to preserve wine and oil in bottles: so that the words amount to a request that God would not suffer his tears to fall to the ground, but keep them with care as a precious deposit. The prayers of David, as appears from the passage before us, proceeded upon faith in the providence of God, who watches our every step, and by whom (to use an expression of Christ) “the very hairs of our head are numbered,” (Matthew 10:30.) Unless persuaded in our mind that God takes special notice of each affliction which we endure, it is impossible we can ever attain such confidence as to pray that God would put our tears into his bottle, with a view to regarding them, and being induced by them to interpose in our behalf.

God cares about our heartfelt sorrows - so much so that He would store our tears in a bottle. He helps us with our needs and comforts us in our troubles. But I wonder if there is more to this imagery....

Why would God store my tears? Is this just a metaphor, or does He have a lacrimal sac in heaven for each of us? (See first post for tear biology.) If this is real in some way, what is the point of it all? I don't understand how God might use these bottled tears in heaven, but I do know that this will be for my good and His glory. All that will be revealed then will be abundantly greater than all the tears I have ever shed. How can I not love, serve, and obey a God who counts my every tear?

More Tears

Yesterday we explored the world of tears - using various Internet sources such as Wikipedia. We discovered that crying is a fascinating biological process, worthy of the God who designed every millimeter of our bodies. Today we turn to the ultimate source of information on this topic - the Bible. Tears are spoken of throughout Scripture, from the book of Genesis through to Revelation.

In typing out some of my favorite verses below, I am struck by several things:

1. So many references to crying are followed immediately by the promise that those tears will eventually end.
2. Jesus wept. Why did the Son of God weep at the tomb of His dear friend when He knew that He was about to resurrect him? Seems like definitive proof that crying is part of our human existence.
3. The most intriguing verse to me is the one where David states that our tears are stored in a bottle. I found some wonderful commentaries on this verse - which I will post tomorrow. I'm glad that I make the rules around here so I can keep going with follow-ups to this interest of mine!

In the meantime, read these verses and weep with joy that God notices and remembers all our tears...


Those who sow in tears with reap with songs of joy. Psalm 126:5

He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. Isaiah 25:8

Jesus wept. John 11:35

For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. Psalm 30:5

You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Psalm 56:8

Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. Psalm 126:5-6

For behold, I create new heavens and and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. Isaiah 65:17-19

I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.... Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping, The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer. Psalm 6:6, 8-9

For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was not more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Revelation 21:1-4

Tears

I have a new fascination with tears - specifically: where do they come from, where are they stored, and why haven't I lost 50 pounds in water weight over the last couple of years?

So I went to Wikipedia to discover that there are three kinds of tears. There are basal tears, which lubricate the eye and help keep it clear of dust. Then there are reflex tears, filling our eyes when there are foreign substances that need to be flushed out (think onion vapors, spicy foods, etc). Finally there are crying or weeping tears, also known as "psychic" tears. These erupt "...due to strong emotional stress, suffering, mourning, or physical pain."

What's very intriguing is the fact that "...tears brought about by emotions have a different chemical make up than those for lubrication." Isn't that amazing?

Here is how Harvard Health Publications describes the process of crying:

"At the inner corner of each upper and lower eyelid is an opening to a small tube or tear duct. The tear ducts carry tears to the eye so the eye can be rinsed. Your tears are made by a small organ below your eye called the lacrimal gland, and they are stored in your lacrimal sac. Your lacrimal sac is connected by a tube to each tear duct, and to the inside of your nose. Tears spill out of the eyes and into the back of your nose when you cry, although the tears entering the nose are not visible."

My final step was to find out more about this lacrimal sac. According to answers.com "...it is oval in form and measures from 12 to 15 mm. in length; its upper end is closed and rounded; its lower is continued into the nasolacrimal duct." Here is a link to a diagram of all this for those who are interested: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tear_system.svg

Nowhere could I find an explanation as to how the process works that pumps out hours of tears from something that is only 12 to 15 mm. in length.

Those are the physical facts. Tomorrow we'll look at tears from another source. Can you guess which one?

There's no place like home...

I was asked recently to share the story of how Steve and I came to plant the church in Exeter. It actually all started with two Mary Engelbreit tins...

We initially moved to New Hampshire in 1989 to be a part of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashua. We loved this state, and traveled around quite a bit on various field trips. We came out to the Seacoast area often, and one time stopped in Exeter. We wandered around its quaint downtown area. I fell in love with one shop in particular - I think it was called Lilacs and Lace. It was a specialty shop that was very "girlish" and sold Mary Engelbreit products. I purchased the two tins pictured here. The day we visited, the owner was hosting a "tea party" for a mom and her girls on a raised platform in the back of the store. When we came back outside, and were gazing at the lovely gazebo in the middle of the street, I asked Steve: "Wouldn't it be great to someday live in a town like this?"

Years later, Steve finished seminary. We started to pray about where God would have us serve Him. We investigated several options, including planting churches in Salem, NH, and Hanover, NH (home of Dartmouth College). There was also an opening at Magee Presbyterian Church in Magee, Mississippi! I am NOT making this up! But we decided ultimately that since we loved New Hampshire, and there were only a few PCA churches in the state, the wisest course would be to stay and start another one. But where, specifically?

Then I remembered the lovely town of Exeter that we had visited years earlier. Being the county seat at the time, it was a great location geographically for a new church. We moved here in 1994 to begin Exeter Presbyterian Church. Soon thereafter I headed downtown to find Lilacs and Lace, but alas, it was gone. I was so disappointed. I wanted to have tea parties there with my daughters and buy more Mary Engelbreit stuff. *sniff sniff*

Fast forward 4 or 5 years. We were having a wonderful dinner with some dear saints who had recently become members of Exeter Presbyterian. They asked how we decided to plant the church in Exeter. I told the same story as I've just recorded here - about the great store with the tins and the tea party. Leila and Ted were amazed. The store had been owned by Leila! It was only in operation for a year or so, and they never really understood why God called them to start this store and then have them close it down so soon after. Leila cried, and said that "...if the only reason for the store was to lure us here to Exeter to start the church they had just joined, then that was good enough for her!" She seemed relieved that finally she had some meaning to her labors.

SO: there you have proof that "...God works in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform." A month from today we will celebrate being in Exeter for fifteen years. Through a lovely store and two small tins, God somehow directed us to the place where we were apparently meant to be!

Why God Answers Prayers (Part 2)

I was tempted the other day to write this as my Facebook status: "Candyce has totally depleted her brain of topics for her blog." But, voila, (my high school French classes are finally kicking in!), I then concocted this brilliant plan to say in 3 shorter posts what I could say in 1 very long one. As it turns out, most readers prefer shorter posts, so I will continue as planned.

The premise outlined yesterday is that we can have a confident expectation that not only will God hear our prayers, but that He will ultimately answer them as well. We then can lift our voices to God, as David did in Psalm 27:7:

"Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me."

Again, as a reminder, Paul David Tripp argues that God will answer us, not because of any goodness in us, but because of "...the character and plan of the God who is hearing." He continues this essay by listing some attributes of God that guarantee that He will respond to our pleas. Here is the first:

"1. His love. He's the ultimate wise, patient, kind, gentle, and forgiving father. He delights in his children. Because of his great love, his eyes look out for us and his ears are always attentive to our cries. Because of his love, he invites us to bring our cares to him, and he assures us that he really does care for us. He is never too busy or distracted or too tired to hear and answer. He doesn't refuse to answer because of our weakness and failure. He doesn't get impatient because we have to come again and again. He is love, and he loves to exercise his power and glory to meet the needs of his struggling children."

Instinctively we know this is true. Think of our relationships with our own children. Doesn't the above description sound like a pretty good parent? Don't we delight when our children come to us seeking help? Don't we really care for them and desire to meet their needs? The problem, of course, is that we are not ultimately patient, kind, gentle, or forgiving. Sometimes our love becomes conditional when we see repeated weakness and failure in them. We are too busy and tired and impatient to be fully attentive to them. And even the best of parents don't have the power or resources to solve the myriad needs of our children. What to do?

We can pray. We can pray to the One who is all of the above, and more. God has the wisdom, the power, and the love to care for His children. He has the eternal perspective that works out all things for our good and His glory. He is Love.

Why God Answers Prayers (Part 1 of 4)

I read something amazing again from the Paul David Tripp book I noted in an earlier post (A Shelter in the Time of Storm - Meditations on God and Trouble). The ideas that he presents in this collection of essays on Psalm 27 are so good that I am planning on referencing many of them from time to time in the coming months. In fact, I'm going to spend the next three posts just on Psalm 27:7:

"Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!"

But why should God be gracious? Why should He answer us? Surely we have no 'right' to demand a response from the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. He is the Creator of all, we are the creatures. Even those who profess faith in Him are continually returning to Him asking for forgiveness for the same old sins day after day. We have no bargaining power. We don't have anything that He needs. So where does our hope come from? Tripp has a good answer to this question:

"God is his own reason for answering. Prayer finds its hope not in the qualifications of the one praying, but in the character and plan of the God who is hearing. He answers because of who he is... Your hope in prayer is never found in you; it is always found in him."

Tripp then outlines several particular attributes of God that help us to understand why God WILL answer us. See you tomorrow with the first one.

Until then, let's start meditating on this awesome God we serve.

Great Quote #5

Hearts on earth may say in the course of a joyful experience, "I don't want this ever to end." But invariably it does. The hearts of those in heaven say, "I want this to go on forever." And it will. There is no better news than this.

J.I. Packer

53 Years Ago Yesterday...

On the Occasion of Mom and Dad's 53rd Anniversary:

I found the one whom my soul loves.
-Song of Solomon 3:4

The best things in life aren't things.
-Mary Engelbreit

Love does not consist in gazing at each other
but in looking together in the same direction.
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery

There is no more lovely, friendly, and charming relationship, communion, or company than a good marriage.
-Martin Luther

What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined together to strengthen each other in all labor, to minister to each other in all sorrow, to share with each other in all gladness, to be one with each other in the silent unspoken memories?
-George Eliot

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
-1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Happy Anniversary! I love you both very much!
-Candyce DuPont Magee

Wrestling With God

One of the most fascinating Scriptures to me is the account at the end of Genesis 32 of Jacob wrestling with God:

"The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip."

What an amazing story - Jacob physically wrestled with God - and survived. Jacob then displayed such boldness by refusing to let go of God until He blessed him! Wow!

I remembered this passage because yesterday was such a difficult day for me. I really felt that I was "wrestling with God" in my own way. It started with a terrible night's sleep - thinking through all the logistical details of preparing to facilitate our first GriefShare class without knowing how many participants would come (if any). How should I arrange the room? Do I use tables or not? Did I have enough books? Then we had various tech problems setting up to show the DVD. Nothing was easy...

But the hardest part of the day was processing my many doubts and insecurities about even teaching this class in the first place. I had continuous thoughts like "How do you think you will be able to help people when you are still such a wreck yourself? What were you thinking when you came up with this plan to become involved in grief counseling? You can't do this!" On and on I was hit with arrows from Satan and my flesh. I was miserable.

And so I wrestled - crying out to God all day long for relief. My thoughts and confusion and sorrow and fatigue were lifted up to God - thanks to many friends interceding for me. But the end of the night is here - it's now 10:55PM, I have returned home from GriefShare, and God has indeed blessed me. 12 hurting people showed up, and 3 more called to say that they were prevented from coming because of illness. I had an incredible time of meeting new friends and sharing their terrible sorrows. Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow.

I am limping, but I have been blessed.

And The Winner Is...

Quite a while ago I began the search for the next Women's Study book. This process took much longer than originally anticipated. I felt a little bit like Goldilocks when she was choosing the perfect porridge, chair, and bed: "...too hot! she exclaimed. ...too cold! she said. AHHH, this is just right, she said happily."

Well, this is roughly what happened with my book choices. I looked over the three that were in contention, and then chose a fourth, because "...it was just right."

The winner is Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate, by Jerry Bridges. A good friend lent this book to Steve, and he left it on the living room table amidst all the other contestants. I would occasionally glance at it, but never gave it a serious thought. Then as I was struggling with the runner-up book, "liking it very much," but not feeling like it was the "one" - I noticed Respectable Sins again. I began to read it and loved it. Here is the author's summary of the book:

"This book, as the title announces, is about sin - not the obvious sins of our culture but the subtle sins of believers, the target audience of this book... The motivation for this book stems from a growing conviction that those of us whom I call conservative evangelicals may have become so preoccupied with some of the major sins of society around us that we have lost sight of the need to deal with our own more 'refined" or subtle sins... I also want this to be a book of hope. We are never to wallow hopelessly in our sins. Rather, we are to believe the gospel through which God has dealt with both the guilt of our sin and its dominion over us."

Doesn't that sound great? It is a wonderful book, and I would recommend it to all - not just the ones who will be able to participate in the two groups that will begin in a week. The first third of the book lays the foundation for the author's opinion stated above, and the rest of the chapters deal with specific sins: Judgmentalism, Impatience and Irritability, Lack of Self-Control, Anger, Sins of the Tongues, Anxiety, and many more.

The good news for the women in my church is this: you get to read this book over many weeks and deal with the conviction that I hope you will receive from each chapter. The bad news for me is that I had to confront all these sins in the space of just a few days. YIKES! And HURRAH for the gospel!

GriefShare

This coming Monday, September 14th, starts (continues?) a new chapter in my life. For the past several months I have been preparing to be a facilitator for the GriefShare ministry, a grief recovery seminar and support group. Each cycle includes 14 weeks of teaching and discussion on a wide range of topics that affect those grieving the loss of someone they love. We are offering two sections of this per week - Monday nights and Saturday afternoons - to accommodate different schedules. Steve and I attended GriefShare in another church last fall, and found the materials to be very helpful.

I am humbly submitting three prayer requests to those of you who would like to be part of this mercy ministry:

1. Please pray that God would bring into these sessions the ones that He would like to see helped through their journey of grief.

2. Please pray for me. I have had plenty of doubts and feelings of inadequacy as Monday approaches.

Mostly, though, it is our desire to live out 2 Corinthians 1:3-4:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."

3. Please pray that by God's grace we will be used to bring comfort to hurting people, and in doing so, we will continue to be comforted ourselves.

Cluck, Cluck

On Monday of this week I felt particularly miserable. I found myself crying more than usual, I couldn't concentrate enough to read, I was too tired to clean, I even had a hard time making simple decisions. My solution? I ran out of the house and went to the store to buy chicken. Yep, chicken, and lots of it.

Some of you know that I am the official "Chicken Lady" of our local food pantry here in Exeter. I am entrusted with purchasing enough chicken to be disbursed during the four times per week when needy clients come in to receive food for themselves and their families. It is a fun volunteer job. I look for the best deals each week, trying to save money for the pantry. The only items that the pantry pays for are hamburg meat, hot dogs, butter, and chicken. Everything else that someone might need to run a house is given through donations by individuals, churches, and businesses. It is a very wonderful ministry, and I'm privileged to be a part of it.

So the following day I was reading 1 Peter 4, and it turns out that there is a Scriptural command to run out and buy chicken when distressed. Do you think I'm kidding? HA - I'm not. Verse 6 states: "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you." Peter concludes this chapter on suffering with Verse 19:

"Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good." (emphasis mine)

See? When we are suffering, when we are afflicted, and when we are in pain, we should focus on others and their sufferings, their afflictions, and their pain. In doing so, we can expect to be blessed by God.

Now I just have to hope that I will not be asked to wear an official chicken-lady outfit while doing good. :-)

What's Your One Thing?

King David of Israel is the author of Psalm 27. He had many struggles in his life to pray about. So do I, and I suppose you do, too. But look at what he writes in verse 4:

One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.

Paul David Tripp makes a very insightful application of this verse to our lives:

"It does beg the question, 'What's your one thing?' What is the one thing that your heart craves? What is the one thing that you think would change your life? What is the one thing that you look to for satisfaction, contentment, or peace? What is the one thing that you mourn having to live without? What is the one thing that fills your daydreams and commands your sleepy meditations? What is your one thing?" (from A Shelter in the Time of Storm: Meditations on God and Trouble.)

In this Psalm, David confesses what is foremost in his heart. Despite all his sufferings, he was not looking for deliverance from his situation, he was looking for God. How great is that? How many of us could truthfully say the same? Instead, most of us look to everything but God. We seek answers to desperate prayers, we long for relief from pain and suffering, we want improved relationships, financial security for ourselves and others, and on and on and on. We want everything on our list of prayers to God, but do we want Him?

"Gazing upon the beauty of the Lord" is the one thing our hearts were meant to do. Why do we neglect such a wonderful gift?

Commenting Made Easy

Many of you have communicated to me the difficulty in posting "comments" on particular articles here on this blog. I share your frustration - I don't know why blogspot makes it so difficult! I have contemplated switching to another blog host, but I thought that before I do so I would try to lay out the procedure for doing it "blogspot's way." Those that have figured it out say that it's very easy once you get used to the procedure.

I have also changed one of the settings that I think was the source of the problem. After hitting "submit" there was a "word verification" box that needed to be completed in order to keep spammers away. I have deleted this step until spammers find this blog...

1. Click on the word "comments" below the post on which you wish to comment.

2. Enter your comment in the box below the words "Post a Comment." Include your name or initials at the bottom of the comment if you want to identify yourself in some way.

3. Select the "profile" you want to use as your on-line identity for this particular comment. If you do not have an on-line profile with any of the tools listed, and you don't have your own website to use as an identity, choose "Anonymous" from the list available to the right of the "Comment as:" label. (Remember, this does not mean that your comment has to actually be anonymous, since you can identify yourself in any way you wish within the comment itself.)

4. Click "Post Comment" and you should see your comment immediately.

I hope this helps - and I would be delighted to get lots of comments saying: "Yeah, it worked!"

I Can't Think of a Title...

So today is the one-month anniversary for this blog! It's been interesting... I have learned a lot since my first post on August 7th. For instance:

1. It's fun and not fun to do this. The fun part is hitting "save" when I have completed something. The not fun part is the ungodly panic over what to write.

2. I've learned that it takes about 2 hours per day to keep this up. Sometimes the easiest part is the writing; it's the image and title that can take longer.

3. In one month, there have been 1,501 page hits (I'll keep updating this number until I go to bed tonight).

4. I have learned that my brother Chet is probably responsible for half of those numbers! He is my mentor, and he rebukes me every time I forget to include a title or image. Thanks for the help, brubby.

5. I have the best consultant ever. I won't mention Steve's name because I know he would be embarrassed if I did that. Oops...

6. It's easy to delete hours of unsaved work with just one misplaced finger on the keyboard. OUCH - that happened twice.

7. Mostly, though, I have been humbled by the encouragement many of you have given to me in the last month. As soon as I think "...nah, maybe I'll just give up this silly project" someone new mentions to me that she enjoyed reading one article or another, and that does help keep me going.

Now, I will very carefully move my index finger far away from the 'delete' button and toward the 'save' button... :-)

Underground Reading

I rarely, if ever, ride subways anymore. I used to commute from the East Bay into the city of San Francisco quite regularly when Steve and I were first married (29 years ago yesterday, by the way!) I always liked to have a book or newspaper (remember those?) with me - for the obvious reasons of wanting to relieve the boredom and a desire to redeem the time. What I really enjoyed, though, was sneaking peeks at what others around me were reading. Part of the fun was trying to actually read the title and author of other people's books - not so easily done with a moving target. Another game was trying to guess, from the person's appearance, what kind of book he/she would be reading. Did this look like a sci-fi fan, a biography reader, or perhaps a lover of the classics?

I read an article recently in the New York Times entitled: "Reading Underground." This researcher "... spent 12 hours crisscrossing four boroughs (of New York City) underground, asking people what they were reading and why." The results were as expected - very diverse, very eclectic:

"Reading on the subway is a New York ritual, for the masters of the intricately folded newspaper... as well as for teenage girls thumbing through magazines, aspiring actors memorizing lines, office workers devouring self-help inspiration, immigrants newly minted — or not — taking comfort in paragraphs in a familiar tongue. These days, among the tattered covers may be the occasional Kindle, but since most trains are still devoid of Internet access and cellphone reception, the subway ride remains a rare low-tech interlude in a city of inveterate multitasking workaholics. And so, we read."

The author actually talked with a group of children enrolled in The Tremont United Methodist Church day camp. These are kids aged 5 to 8 who travel with counselors going from one field trip to another. "According to a church rule, Tremont campers must read whenever they win a seat on the subway. Each day, campers select a book from the church library or bring one from home. They practice reading in short increments — 20 minutes here and there — and keep reading journals to document their progress." What a great idea!

One last point from the article: It turns out I am not alone in my "sneaking-a-peek-at-the-book-next-to-me" behavior: "And then there are those reading the readers, imagining their story lines." The author of this article tried this out - guessing beforehand the occupation or reason behind the choice of reading material - and she was never even close to guessing correctly.

So maybe I was wrong 29 years ago in many of my guesses about people and their books, but I know I'm right about the many benefits of reading. It's funny how we need to be forced into an internet-free underground subway to rediscover a joy that is available to all of us above ground if we would only open a book and read. Do it!

The Rock

Sometimes I read an essay that is so wonderful that I want to quote it in its entirety. I also recognize that shorter is usually better, so I will condense what I read yesterday to a summary in small nuggets.

I found it in a new "favorite" book entitled A Shelter in the Time of Storm: Meditations on God and Trouble by Paul David Tripp. I have loved his writing for years, and this latest work, published in 2009, is a gem. The whole book is a treatise on Psalm 27.

He begins this particular chapter will the assertion that "All human beings are on a search somehow someway to find that solid rock on which to stand." Is this true? I think it is. Some of us turn to our careers, our possessions, our kids, even our churches, to fill the innate need we have for security. But are these solid enough to withstand the storms that inevitably come into our lives? I don't think so. And neither does Tripp:

"So here is the dilemma of your humanity; you are clearly not in control of the details or destiny of your life, yet as a rational, purposeful, emotional being, you cry for a deep and abiding sense of well-being. In your quest, what you are actually discovering is that you were hardwired to be connected to Another. You weren't hardwired to walk the pathway of life all by yourself.... You were designed to find your "solid rock" only in a dependent, loving, worshipful relationship with Another. In this way, every human being is on a quest for God; the problem is we don't know that, and in our quest for stability, we attempt to stand on an endless catalog of God replacements that end up sinking with us."

Ouch. That hurts because it's so true. Ponder, as I have, what those replacements are for you. It's not a pretty picture if we're really honest with ourselves.

The solution? As always, it's God's solution:

"He will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock." (v.5)

The wonder of these verses is that God IS the rock, and unlike the rocks we know, He moves and loves and protects and saves. Back to Tripp: "Our inability to find security for ourselves is so profound that we'd never find on our own the One who is to be our rock; no, he must find us. The language of Psalm 27 is quite precise here: 'He will lift me high upon a rock.' It doesn't say, 'I will find the rock and I will climb up on it.'"

Such mercy, such love, such compassion. Rock climbing to safety in the midst of a terrible storm is not only foolish but unnecessary. God will do all the work by lifting us high and placing us safely on solid ground.

Advice for the Anxious

During my usual reading time today I encountered the same Psalm in two different books. Hmmm... Maybe God has something for me to learn here.

The first book is one I have referenced before: Running Scared: Fear, Worry, and the God of Rest by Ed Welch. His belief is that 'worriers should be experts in a handful of passages,' and Psalm 27 is one of them. It starts with this famous opening:

The Lord is my strength and my salvation -
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life -
of whom shall I be afraid?

Welch, in commenting on this portion of the Psalm, writes the following:

"Let's say you are playing Who Wants to be a Millionaire and you are stumped by a math question. One of your lifelines is The Math Whiz, so you have no worries." That makes sense. He continues, "Perhaps you are lost in the Australian Outback, but your traveling companion is Crocodile Dundee. Even if you don't know him, his name brings calm." Again, that seems reasonable. Then he comes back to the point: "When you are afraid, you call out to the Lord who is light, deliverance, and strength. Even better, he is 'my light,' 'my salvation,' and 'my stronghold,' and all is well."

All these words bring comfort: strength is preferable to weakness, salvation is better than bondage, and stronghold sounds like a safe place of stable protection. Welch states that this Psalm is "thoroughly God-centered. The focus is not so much on my deliverance but my Deliverer. Only when I know more of God will my faith grow."

He then offers a point of practical theology. When we still feel anxious, we should pray, but with the right priority and focus: "When we pray we usually jump right in with requests. The homework: to postpone them until you have remembered the character of God." That's great advice.

The second book today was.... oh wait, maybe I should l split this into two parts - and get two days of posts out of this. Brilliant!

In the meantime, I'm going off to play "Who Wants to be a Non-Worrier?" Care to join me? We have some great lifelines available to us. :-)

Strength Enough To Be Useful

Tuesday night we spent a delightful evening at the home of Steve's brother Mike and his wife Trish in Connecticut. We stayed up ridiculously late (for our age, that is!) and so it was well after midnight before I started to contemplate what the next day's post would be. YIKES! In the morning I related to Mike that one of the benefits of basing a blog on what I'm reading is the option to just find a good quote when I'm too busy to write something more substantial. I'm guessing that most of you have caught on to my pattern already? :-)

At that point, Mike left the room and came back with a book that he authored in 2002 entitled: The Book of Choices: A Treasury of Insights for Personal and Professional Growth. Mike organized this book into 77 'life choices,' which serve as general categories for 780 corresponding quotes. It is a marvelous collection of insights into the decisions that we face every day. For example: will we choose to be balanced or frenzied, will we opt to be superficial or deep, will we decide to serve self or others? Here is a sampling from the section on Useful-Useless:

Find a need and fill it. Ruth Stafford Peale

Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something. Henry David Thoreau

There's no labor a man can do that's undignified, if he does it right. Bill Cosby

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well. Martin Luther King Jr.

On the day of his death, in his eightieth year, Elliot, the 'Apostle of the Indians,' was found teaching an Indian child at his bedside. "Why not rest from your labors now?" asked a friend. "Because," replied the venerable man, "I have prayed God to render me useful in my sphere, and he has heard my prayers; for now that I can no longer preach, he leaves me strength enough to teach this poor child the alphabet." S. Chaplin

My verdict on Mike's book? He definitely was useful by finding my need for good quotes and filling it!

Great Quote #4

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

C.S. Lewis

Hamlet on Blogging

To blog or not to blog: that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler to suffer the whole day searching for a topic, image, and title, and when completed, rest content, OR relinquish this self-imposed pressure, and watch endless Netflix movies. Ay, there's the rub.

But seriously, folks, on those days when I haven't been able to come up with something for the morning post until late the evening before, I ask myself "WHY exactly am I doing this?" The main reason I don't like to write is that I don't like attention. So why do I write? Part of me feels like Emily in Emily Climbs (part of the New Moon trilogy) when she is relating what her teacher says about writing:

"Oh, if I could only put things into words as I see them! Mr. Carpenter says, 'Strive - strive - keep on - words are your medium - make them your slaves - until they will say for you what you want them to say.' That is true - and I do try - but it seems to me there is something beyond words - any words - something that always escapes you when you try to grasp it - and yet leaves something in your hand which you wouldn't have had if you hadn't reached for it."

Hmmm. I like that. I like that a lot.

I think that I have also discovered the real reason I started this project in the first place. I was sick of hearing myself say: "I wish I could be a writer... I would like to be a writer... If only I could write... whine... whine... whine..." So I finally gave myself that famous ultimatum - "put up or shut up!" So now I am "putting up" these posts and "shutting up" those whines.

There - another post, and it's even completed before 7PM. And look! There is something in my hand that I would not have had if I hadn't reached for it!