Does The God Of The Universe Care About Me?

Hey Friend,

 

One of the awesome things about writing this blog is that I see how God is able to use the social media to reach the ends of the earth with the good news of the Gospel.  Though I do not know exactly who is reading my blog, I am able to track the countries from which my readership comes.  Admittedly, I have had to Google the location of some countries that I have never heard of.  That, to me, is pretty darn cool.

 

I have a fairly large readership from Russia and Ukraine.  If you've cracked a newspaper, you know about the power conflict and struggle going on in that part of the world.  I have noticed, not surprisingly, that readers from that corner of the world have been missing as of late...no surprise there because they obviously have bigger things going on in their lives. I miss them and I pray for them.  It's become personal to me.

 

It has also made me realize that in God's universe, I am a mere gnat in terms of existence.  The maker of the universe, the God who formed the planets and hung the stars in place frankly has so much to take care of.  If you were to try to capture His job description, do you know how many volumes that would take?  It all seems so immense and complicated.

 

Yet God, in only a way that He could, makes it very simple for us:

 

1 John 4:8 says: "God is love."

 

It does not say "God is love if..."

 

It does not say "God is love when..."

 

Over and over again the Bible tells us that God loves us!

 

It does not say God loves us if...or God loves us when...

 

God cannot deny himself which means that He loves endlessly without stipulations or boundaries. 

 

He loves the pregnant teen mom in poverty stricken Haiti.  He loves the orphan in Uganda.  He loves the postal worker in Germany and the homemaker in Arkansas.  We are all led into false thinking that God has "bigger fish to fry"...that He has world peace to think about so how can he be concerned with the little puzzle pieces that make up my life?

 

I so love Matthew 10:29-31:  "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.  And even the very hairs of your head are numbered.  So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."

 

A God that knows the number of hairs on your head - who knows your thoughts before you even think them - who knit you together in your mother's womb; how can this God NOT care about you?  It is simply impossible.  As Max Lucado says, " If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it." 

 

When you call out Jesus' name in desperation in the middle of the night, He knows your voice because the good shepherd knows each and every one of his sheep by name.

 

When you struggle He will scoop you up and lovingly carry you in His strong arms.  He will lead you to green pastures and still waters.  He will make you to lie down and rest.

 

Why?  Because God is Love... and

          Because God Loves You (period).

 

No matter what part of the globe we inhabit...we have one thing in common - we are loved and cared about immensely by the Creator of the Universe.  He is present in our everydayness.  He is the God who sees.  He sees you right where you are and He truly cares about you!

 

The world or one tiny sparrow...He holds them both lovingly in His hand.

 

You are NEVER outside His love...be blessed.

 

In His love,

 

Bev

 

ps.  I feel a spring give away coming on.  Leave a comment and be entered in a drawing for a DaySpring scripture mug and Starbucks gift card. 

 

 

 

When Will God Answer My Prayer?

Hey Friend,

 

Due to a coffee maker that died (national catastrophe) and a computer that had the hiccups, I am a day late in posting.  Due to a lack of caffeine, my thoughts seem kind of jumbled, but here goes...

 

Have you ever had one of those prayers?  A specific, burden on your heart prayer that you have prayed every morning and every evening not only for days or weeks or even months, but for years?  Have you ever gotten to the point where, not intentionally, but because nothing seems to be changing, your prayer falls off the radar?  I have.

 

Again, I risk being vulnerable, but my ardent prayer for years has been for my son.  I call it my "prodigal prayer".  I raised my son in the church.  I set God's precepts before him.  I have prayed every day of his life that he would have a true relationship with his Lord and Savior.  He seemed well on the right path until, through a series of events, he became disillusioned with Christians - he saw them for what they often are - hypocrites.  Religion, as he saw it, was flawed and pointless.  He stopped seeking God's will and set upon a course of determining his own future.  It's a plan that has not worked out too well and has led him down a prodigal path of self destruction.  In short, it breaks a mother's heart.

 

I have prayed day and night for several years that God would soften my son's heart and lead him back into His loving arms.  I have prayed for enlightenment, restoration - even for God to knock him off his horse if that's what it would take to bring about a change of heart.  I pray and I hope and I wait and yet nothing seems to change.  "When will God answer my prayer?"  I beg.

 

I do believe in Proverbs 22:6 which states: Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old he will not depart from it.  I cling to the hope that this is only a venture off the path and he will return to the God of his youth.  I  see examples like Billy Graham's son Franklin who rebelled in his youth, but finally turned around and became a great spiritual leader.  With God, all things are possible, right?

 

I believe in God's promises about prayer:

 

Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.  (Hebrews 4:16)  I have approached with confidence.

 

"If you ask anything in my name, I will do it."  (John 14:14)  I have asked in Christ's name

 

"Whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you."  (John 16:23)  Again, I have called upon the name of Jesus, my Savior.

 

Now this is the confidence we have in him, that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. (1 John 5:14)  Surely praying for my son's reconciliation with his Father would be in keeping with his will?!

 

"If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you."  (John 15:7)  I do abide in you Lord and your words abide in me...

 

I believe that God hears my prayer and that He will answer it!!

 

Lord I believe, help my disbelief.

 

I have come to some conclusions about why my prayer has not yet been answered (this is my own speculation).  I would certainly entertain other insights!!

 

*  God always listens.  Perhaps I'm not listening to Him?  I've been so busy talking that I haven't had time to truly listen. Maybe He has already spoken and I've missed it?

 

*  I am not God...He is.  He is sovereign and in control.  How do I not know that perhaps He is working behind the scenes in ways that I am totally unaware of?

 

*  Sometimes God is silent in order to get our attention.  Many times throughout history, God has been silent in order to gain the full, undivided attention of His followers.

 

*Maybe He is putting my faith to the test.  God does not always give a definitive "Yes" or "No"...sometimes He says "Wait".  Oh the dreaded "wait"!

 

God weaves a beautiful tapestry of our lives and I have found that the dark threads of trial and of waiting on the Lord provide such a distinctive backdrop to the radiant light and beautiful threads of answered prayer. 

 

What a wondrous tapestry God wove in the life of Job.  There was a man who learned how to wait, yet he rose up to profess:

 

"Though he slay me, yet I will trust Him."  (Job 13:15)

 

I don't pretend to have all the answers and I am certainly guilty of stale prayers.  At the very moment I typed the scripture from Job, the sun burst forth from behind the clouds into my kitchen window.  God speaking?  Maybe so!  I pray that I will go forth with renewed confidence in my prayers.  God is listening and He is faithful!

 

Praying for you as you wait upon prayers to be answered.  Please feel free to share a prayer request in the comments and I will be sure to pray for you!

 

In His love,

 

Bev

 

 

 

 

 

 

Combatting The Negative Voice In Your Head

Hey Friend,

Well, the wedding and the honeymoon are over and my new husband and I have set upon the task of feathering our nest...aka moving his stuff in.  Translated, that means moving, lifting and unpacking boxes.  I began the task weeks ago with the vigor of a twenty year old.  Unfortunately my 50+ year old back caught up with me.  Long story short, I wound up in bed literally unable to move without being in intense pain.  The pain only continued to get worse until finally in an act of desperation I sought the help of a physical therapist.  (Thank God for those in this profession!). 

One day, however, I stood in the shower with the hot water running over my sore back and the enemy, as he does so well, began to kick me when I was down.  The negative stream of consciousness in my head ran something like this:

"Your husband sure got the short end of the stick.  He's had to do the lion's share of the moving and unpacking while you've laid in bed.  If you weren't old and out of shape this wouldn't have happened.  You are not a worthy helpmate for your new husband who loves you...and why should he love you?  You are not worthy or pretty.  In fact you are useless and not very pretty and you're overweight.  If only you looked better and were a better wife.  And what do you do...you don't even work.  You are a homemaker who doesn't keep a very good home.  You call yourself a writer...you are a dime a dozen.  Anyone could do what you do and do a better job at it.  Just who do you think you are anyway?  You tell people about walking the Christian walk and you are a poor excuse for a Christian.  God is certainly disappointed in you........."

On it went until I was in tears.  What do we do with these thoughts when they come streaming into our brain?

Step 1:  Determine whose voice you are really hearing

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I have come that they might have life and have it to the full (abundantly)."  (John 10:10)

If the voice you are hearing is filled with negativity and criticism it is NOT the voice of God.  Satan, the enemy, wants nothing more than to tear us down, destroy our confidence and render us useless in God's Kingdom.  If the voice is critical and condemning it is the voice of the enemy.  God uses only those words that build us up and grow us in His love.  His correction is never harsh or cutting.  It gently turns us in another direction. 

We need to measure the negative talk through the filter of God's truth.

Does what we're hearing in our head match up with the truth found in scripture?  One litmus verse I use is Romans 8:1:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

The truth is that a condemning voice is not from God!

Step 2:  Take captive every thought

When that negative voice comes a yammering (and it will), God promises to rescue us if we will take those thoughts captive and bring them to Him.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.  (2 Corinthians 10:5)

Negative thinking is a mere pretension...a lie in the face of the knowledge of what God says about us.  I literally picture myself dropping a net over the negative thought, wrapping it up and carrying it to Christ's feet where I drop it and ask him to take it from me. 

God gives us the power and authority, through His son, to kick the enemy to the curb.

In Christ's name I can tell the "creep" to GET LOST!!!!

Step 3:  Replace the negative thought (lie) with God's truth

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.  (Philippians 4:8)

Psalm 139 is a great psalm to meditate on whenever the enemy is attacking your self worth.  I keep an "emergency kit" of scriptures that speak to God's truth about me for whenever the enemy begins to push my "hot buttons" of self doubt.  Reading those helps me refocus on the truth about me.

Sometimes I will put on worship music because it is hard for the enemy to drag us down when we are worshipping the awesome God who created us.

"Worship is an act of War against the enemy of our hearts."  (Holley Gerth) 

I'll leave you with two images (can you tell I am a visual learner) that help me to do what I need to do when the enemy comes a calling.

I picture the enemy on the other side of my front door.  He's knocking and trying to push his way in, but in God's power I need to slam the door on the enemy before he can even get a foot in the door.

This one is from my mom.  She used to say, "If you let the camel get his nose under the tent, before you know it, he's all the way in."  Anchor your tents friends...thanks mom.

Seriously though, the battle with negative thinking can be a fierce one.  But, remember, greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world.  Call on the Lord to fight this battle.  He wants to fight for us...we just need to ask.

May God's great love for you bless you abundantly today...

In His love,

Bev

Waiting On The Lord...How and Why?

Hey Friend,

I know that I will date myself with this story, but some of you may remember this.  Others will get a glimpse into a different place and time.  I remember, as a kid, studying the back of cereal boxes.  Why?  Often they had a special, must- have kind of toy advertised that you could send away for.  All you needed to do to get the prize, was send in three or four cereal box tops plus a nominal amount of money ($1) and in 6-8 weeks it would arrive in your mailbox.

Now think about that for a moment.  In order to collect three or four box tops, that was a lot of bowls of Wheaties or Cheerios that you had to gobble through.  Then came earning the money to send away for said toy.  THEN to top it off you had to wait 6-8 weeks for it to arrive.  That, my friends, is a lot of waiting!!  Children in this day and age would never wait that long for gratification or satisfaction.  It would be unheard of. 

What children (and adults) are missing out on these days is the joy and hope found in expectancy.

Because we live in a "gotta have it right now" world, we miss out on the gifts found in waiting.

God asks us over and over again, in the Bible, to wait.  Not so that He can frustrate us, but for a cause much greater - to build our character and to bestow His gifts upon us.

I would like to share some of my favorite scriptures on waiting and what gifts the discipline of waiting brings.  God offers the gift of:

Strength:  (Isaiah 40:31)  But they who wait for the Lord will renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not be faint.

Hope:  (Psalm 130:5)  I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.

Blessings:  (Isaiah 30:18)  Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.  For the Lord is a God of justice;  blessed are all those who wait for him.

Goodness:  (Lamentations 3:25)  The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

God's blessings, for those who wait upon Him, are endless.  But, when you are in a painful place, waiting is one of the hardest things you can do.  Let's face it, it is often nearly impossible to wait.  The world tells us that having to wait is bad.  Actually, the opposite is true.  Learning to wait and learning how to wait is, in fact, good for us. 

I can look back over my life and I can clearly see that is was in the times of waiting that God drew close to me.  When we can't "work" the problem and simply have to be still and wait, God comes and abides with us and pours out His gentle love upon us.  I love the following quote:

"Teach us, O Lord, the discipline of patience, for to wait is often harder than to work."  (P. Marshall)

Furthermore, God not only tells us to wait, but He tells us How to wait.  Okay, God, now you're really asking us a lot...He says to wait patiently.  Patiently meaning free from anxiety and worrying.  Patiently?  Really?

Psalm 27:14:  Wait patiently for the Lord.  Be brave and courageous.  Yes wait patiently for the Lord.

Psalm 37:7:  Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.  Don't worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.

The last verse I will reference is my "Life Scripture" which you can find under headings.  There was a time that I had to wait through excruciating depression and anxiety (we're talking years) until I was able to be restored to find joy in living.  I Know, full well, how difficult waiting can be especially when you don't see anything (seemingly) changing.  Take heart, God is always behind the scenes working.  That's why He calls us to be still and let Him do His work in us.

Psalm 40:1-3:  I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry...(I'll let you look up the rest)

Three things I have learned in my waiting:

He (God) is worth waiting for.

Waiting is good for us.

God blesses those that wait.

Sometimes the blessing is not realized in this earthly realm, but if we are believers, we can know that we will be blessed beyond belief in eternity.

My prayer is that I would become better at waiting patiently.  Patience is not my middle name.  I also pray that my children will grow in the discipline of waiting patiently.  Last of all, I would pray that you would find love, joy and hope in the expectancy of waiting.  God makes good on His promises because He is good and He loves you!

In His love,

Bev

ps. If you need prayers in your season of waiting, feel free to leave a prayer request in the "Comments" or email me with your request.

When The Answer Is, "I Don't Know."

Hey Friend,

I was recently wed on January 18, 2014.  It was a day full of joy and life and hope.  Right after the ceremony an impromptu receiving line of sorts formed.  Not surprisingly among the first to greet me, to greet us, was my best friend, Cindy, from high school.  She had traveled from New York City to little Cary, NC to share in my special day.

Squeals of joy erupted as Cindy grabbed my two hands and held them over my head as if I had just won the gold medal in finding love.  "Can you believe it?  You're married," she beamed.  Her beautiful eyes danced with joy as she enveloped me in a big bear hug.  This was Cindy - always bubbly and effervescent in her view of life.

This was my friend with whom I had shared my deepest secrets, heart throbs and heart breaks, hi jinx and escapades...Life.  It was no accident that Cindy and I would have several opportunities to interact that evening.  It was almost like God kept drawing us together. Not, unlike how He had drawn us together so many years ago.

That's why my heart ripped in two and I fell to my knees when I got the phone call that eleven days after my wedding, Cindy had collapsed due to cardiac arrest while attending a charitable fundraiser.  She went into a coma and had passed away less than a week later.  "O God, NO!" was all I could manage to say over and over.  Only weeks ago she had been fully alive and exuberant at my wedding.  This couldn't be.  It didn't make sense.

Cindy had her first cardiac arrest at the age of 27.  Three more defibrillator surgeries later, she was still seizing life and fighting for the underdog.  I remember emails from Cindy as she and her husband spent eight weeks in Xi'an China volunteering at the Starfish Foster Home.  Starfish's goal is saving lives of Chinese orphans with special medical needs. See www.starfishfosterhome.org

I could tell from her writing that they were falling in love with one particular little girl who lay there in her lonely crib with a large sac on her head and spina bifida.  This little angel was undernourished and under loved. There were only so many arms to go around.  It came as no surprise to me that Cindy and Pat decided to adopt this little girl and provide her with the life saving surgery that she so desperately needed.  This was so in keeping with Cindy's golden and loving heart.

Cindy lived the scriptures and mirrored the heart of God, who holds dear, orphans and widows.

Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.  (Psalm 82:3)

"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."  (Matthew 25:40)

Surely the life of this woman who looked after orphans in their distress was one to be saved?!

So, Why? Why did my dear friend pass away when her daughter was only six and she was doing such wonderful works to champion the cause of these little helpless ones?  My mind searched and I couldn't find an answer that made sense.  For days I've alternated between spells of crying and prayers of seeking and searching for answers.

I wish that I could offer you some definitive answer, but honestly the real answer is simply, "I don't know."  I can't pretend to know the vast mind of God.  His ways are so much bigger than our ways.  The one thing that came to mind when I prayed was Proverbs 3:5:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

When I don't understand the ways of God, I need to know the heart of God.

God is good all of the time and all of the time, God is good.

Above all...God is Love!

This is what I cling to when life doesn't make sense.  God is Sovereign.  God is in control.  God is good.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.  (1 Corinthians 13:12)

On this side of Heaven's gates we only see in part.  One day we will have the answers to all our questions, but for now, we must trust.  I must trust.  I will have to sit with the not knowing.

This I do know...when I reach Heaven, Cindy will be among the first to greet me.  She'll grab my arms and hold them victoriously in the air and she'll beam as she always does.  Then she'll squeal with joy, "Can you believe it...we made it?"

Not goodbye...but till we see each other again.  I love you and miss you my dear friend...

In His love,

Bev

ps. Just a reminder that if you read my blog, know that I pray for you every morning and every evening.  May you be blessed...

Divorce is Brutiful

Hey Friend,

For those of you who follow my blog, you know that I was married on January 18th to wonderful and godly man who truly cherishes me.  This has been a dream come true.  God truly blessed the broken road that brought me to this point!  In our darkest times...He is faithful.  He promises to bring us through our trials and not leave us stuck in them.

This week I offer you a special view into my wedding through the writings of my daughter, Nicole Duncan.  Like her momma, she finds power and comfort from putting her thoughts into words.  I hope you will click on this link to read Nicole's thoughts on divorce and hope.  She also shares her maid of honor speech she gave at the wedding which brought me, not surprisingly, to tears.

I give you Nicole:  http://nicole-duncan.blogspot.com/2014/02/divorce-is-brutiful.html

In His love,
Bev

When You Are Chosen

Hey Friend,

At some time we probably have all experienced what it is like not to be chosen.  For me, it was often in gym class when pick up teams were being chosen for dodge ball or softball.  I knew all too well the dejected feeling of being the consolation pick at the end.  I knew I didn't have a very good throwing arm and so did the athletically inclined girls in class.

But, what about the thrill of being chosen?  I get super excited if my name is drawn out of the hat for the door prize because I rarely win those types of things.  Maybe you know the thrill of being chosen for a team? a date? an award? a job? 

I went to a high school with over 3,000 students.  I thought, at the time, that the pinnacle of being chosen was to be selected all four years for the cheerleading squad.  I practiced hard for those tryouts and I endured the looks (you know the kind) and the catty comments.  This was surely what being "chosen" was all about...

That was until I caught on to what being "chosen" was all about in God's vernacular.  Worldly choosing is about luck or looks or athletic prowess.  God's choosing is based on love.  Worldly choosing is based upon competition.  God's choosing is based upon being called.

You are chosen by God:  "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, (Hebrew translation for the word knew is chosen) before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5).  God was speaking to Jeremiah.  He also is speaking to you and me.

God set His people Israel apart to be His own: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9).

The Bible says that God's choosing is not based on anything we do to earn or deserve His love.  He loves us and chooses us to be His own because the very definition of God is love.  It's really pure and simple.

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).

Know that the Lord as set apart the godly for himself; the Lord will hear when I call to him.  (Psalm 4:3).

God chooses you simply because He IS love and you are the object of His affection.  He chooses you to be in relationship with Him...to be the beneficiary of His great love.  He chose to send His son to die for you.

The emphasis here is not on the one being chosen, but rather on the One doing the choosing. 

In worldly choosing it is the survival of the fittest.  In God's economy it is being chosen because the creator of the universe loves YOU that much!  He loves you just for being YOU!

While we were yet sinners, God chose to love us.  He sets us apart and draws us into Himself and wants to wrap us in His love and whisper to us, "I choose you."  I pray that you will welcome being chosen and that you will accept God's gift of unfailing love.

In His love,

Bev