Category Archives: worry

Stranded.

This adventure of a lifetime began August 4, 2020 in Paducah, Kentucky. The place is insignificant, it is just where we rented the 32 foot Sunseeker motorhome that would be our home for the next two weeks.

Our plan to see the west was something we had always wanted to do. The RV seemed sensible since I have so many issues with my back. This would afford me a way to move around or even lie down if pain or muscle spasms were causing major discomfort. All in all, it was a good plan!

We headed to Sioux Falls, Iowa for our first night and we were already adjusting to life in the RV. We had a 26 ft. camper when My Three Sons were growing up so we were somewhat familiar with campgrounds, etc. The RV was operating smoothly as we entered The Badlands.

Our next stop in Rapid City, South Dakota, we were able to view the Crazy Horse monument, and then on to what would be the fulfillment of a lifelong dream: to see George, Thomas, Theodore and Abe sitting high on Mount Rushmore.

We were putting miles on this little home-on-wheels like crazy but the views were absolutely breathtaking! Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, Old Faithful, everything was so gorgeous it made you want to stand and sing, America, America, God shed His grace on thee! 

And finally, we were heading to Colorado where we would spend the rest of our second week. Desolate doesn’t begin to describe this area of Wyoming that we were driving through to get to Colorado Springs. Beautiful though it was, there were just miles and miles of nothing and nobody! 

It was along Interstate 80, outside of Rock Springs, Wyoming, that suddenly we heard and felt what seemed like large boulders raining down on our little recreational vehicle! The wind was absolutely insane anyway and we pulled to the side immediately to discover the awning was beginning to come loose and was flapping like nobody’s business. (Side note: most RV rentals do not allow you to use the awning while renting because it is so expensive to replace if a wind gust catches it while it is extended in a campground. We had NOT used the awning at all and have no idea what caused it to come loose and begin its crazy whirlwind dance.)

Now, it sounds like an easy repair, but as handy as The Sweetheart is, and I know he can fix about anything, this cannot be done alone and without a ladder. And we couldn’t leave it to flap away because we were afraid the wind would grab the entire awning and rip it from the vehicle.

So, fortunately, we were a quarter mile from an exit, and driving a gentle, even-I-could-walk-faster-than-that speed, pulled off, but there was NOTHING at this desolate exit except for a state highway salt drop. The Sweetheart slowly pulls in there even though it said, “NO TRESPASSING, NO ENTRY, STATE PROPERTY.” He figured that he needed the salt mound to be a wind break for the motor home injury and said he would talk his way out of it later if need be. It will be.

Pause for effect: The next morning someone pulled up in a truck and we assumed it was our technician. Unfortunately, it was a guy from the State Highway Department who was NOT happy with us being there. He was quite rude, and a little condescending, but we understood he had a job to do as well. Once we told him a state trooper had been out he calmed down a bit but still was adamant that we leave as soon as possible. No one wanted out of there more than we did!

Every renter must pay $35/day for insurance and roadside service, a good thing, correct? Their motto?  “Million-dollar peace of mind with insurance and 24/7 roadside. Real people ready to help with 100+ advisors here 24/7.”  If million dollar peace of mind meant shielding you from the ridiculous number of phone calls, promises, details, more promises, no-shows, state trooper visit, a thunderstorm coming up and nightfall on its heels, I would have been okay with that. But allow me to just sum it up by saying we had to spend the night beside the salt mound, totally dark, totally alone.

We were promised a technician would arrive first thing in the morning. 

To say that The Sweetheart’s nerves were frazzled would have been the understatement of the year. That million-dollar peace of mind was nowhere to be found and the real people ready to help were suddenly totally helpless. 

I began to pray while the love-of-my-life was stuck with endless phone calls. I am a believer in the miraculous, you too? I have seen the miraculous but I admit I wasn’t expecting it at that moment. Can I get a witness? I just knew we needed help and that God cares about the big, the small, the insignificant and even the stranded. Yes, He surely does. 

My prayer was for God to send someone quickly so we could get on down the road. God’s plan was something entirely different. I don’t know if you would call it a vision, I’ve never had one, but what I saw immediately while I was praying shook me and gave me the utmost strength and peace. It was as clear as the ski-slope nose on my face: I vividly saw angels surrounding our motorhome, at least 50 of them, and every single one had a sword in his hand, guarding, protecting and prepared to do whatever necessary to make sure we were alright. 

I was expecting the phone to ring at any time with a technician telling us help was on the way. That didn’t happen. God wanted to let us know that no matter what we were facing, He was there! It meant that even if we had to stay in our dilemma, even if we were in the midst  of our own fiery furnace, God wasn’t about to leave us by that giant salt reminder of Lot’s wife! He wasn’t going to leave us afraid and unable to sleep. 

In fact, we slept pretty well, considering! We got up early, made breakfast, thanks to our generator, and cleaned up the motorhome. 

Pastor Ken Gurley said in a devotion this week, “An answer delayed is not an answer denied!” Help will come in His unhurried time and while we are waiting, He will give perfect peace and strength to endure the trial.

Were we ever in any real danger? I may never know but we may have been. Reflecting this morning I wondered why the angels all had a sword? Were they expecting a battle? Did they know something we did not? Are they always prepared with their sword in hand? I see so many places to go with these thoughts but this is already way over a comfortable word count. 

Even though help did not arrive until almost 2:00 in the afternoon, 22 ½ hours from the time we pulled off, we were safe, we were in the hands of the Creator of the universe who loves us enough to let us know HE is in control and as the song goes, “I know You’re able, and I know You can, save through the fire with Your mighty hand, but even if You don’t, my hope is You alone. I know the sorrow, and I know the hurt, would all go away if You just say the word, but even if You don’t, my hope is YOU alone!” 

Even if You don’t answer when I think You should, Lord, You know what’s best, You have a better plan for me, a way to show me Your power and might and if I never find myself in difficult situations, I would never know Your power or see Your glory! 

Anxiety comes knocking loudly at your door when you are faced with something out of your control. Then, the enemy will magnify any test or trial, or just circumstances of LIFE, and make you think things are ten times worse than they are. He wants you to worry, wants you wringing your hands and unable to think or sleep. 

But my God wants you to know that if you are stranded, spiritually or physically, or going through a test or trial you don’t understand or may not see an end to, don’t give up! God knows where you are and He has not abandoned you. There is nothing our God cannot do. He knows the end from the beginning, He sees down the road and whatever obstacle is in your way He can either remove it or use it as a stepping stone in your walk and relationship with Him. He always has you as His number one priority!

Now, I wrote this several days ago when it happened and have not had WIFI to finish it until tonight. Do you know why? Because I am STRANDED again!!! I am not kidding you, friend, we now have engine trouble, three hours from turning this back over to its rightful owner. We are in a much better area, a shopping center parking lot, surrounded by restaurants, yay. But, once again, “Thank you for calling, ____________, we promise to give you million-dollar peace of mind….tomorrow.” True story, tomorrow. 

I wonder what my God has up His sleeve for tonight? He may send 50 angels, He may send a mechanic, but He will always send peace that passes all understanding. The same is true for you, friend. He may send angels, He may send a next door neighbor but He will always BE THERE FOR YOU. 

All in His good time; and He is always, always good.

Here is another great true story of how God kept us during a real and harrowing storm while we were overseas. Where was Jesus in MY storm?

For the kingdom

But Lord, I thought You loved me?

#FiveMinuteFriday two weeks in a row?! Yes! Today’s word prompt was perfect for my week: LOVED. I realize this is way too long for a #FMF post but hopefully it will be a blessing and I won’t be kicked out with “But Lord, I thought You loved me?!”

Mention The Dentist and everyone has a story. Some of them you want to hear, others you could go your entire lifetime without having to picture their nightmare in your mind. Then some are clueless altogether:

“My dentist told me I needed a crown and I was like, ‘I know, right?!'”

I have had so little to smile about or laugh about when it comes to my teeth the last couple of years. Everything that can go wrong has done just that. I have spent thousands of dollars and still don’t have a million dollar smile. But yesterday was the worst day ever.

Just a couple of weeks ago I had two root canals and three new crowns put in. While we were waiting on the permanent crowns, one of the temporaries fell off in my mouth in the middle of the night, breaking the remaining tooth with it and requiring a special post to be put in before the permanent crown could be attached. So far, that is holding well.

I woke up yesterday morning with something floating in my mouth again. This time it was the other permanent crown, completely broken off at the gum line! I was beside myself and called the dentist who got me in right away. I assumed they would do the same thing and make another post but they said there wasn’t enough to attach it to and I would need to have that remaining tooth pulled and a bridge and another crown put in!

Now, I know it’s just teeth. I know some would consider this a first-world-problem. But I don’t have thousands of dollars right now and I am also stressed to the max with dental woes. I’m tired and weary of shots and bite blocks and drills, oh my! So, when they told me what needed to be done and how much more it would cost, I couldn’t stop the tears that trickled down my face. (Thankfully they were applying the cost of the crown that broke toward the new crown and bridge which helped a bit.)

My dentist is a woman and she is super sweet and kept apologizing, brought me a box of tissues and said they would give me a moment alone to think about it.

Thanks.

The immature Christian in me laid my head back in the patient chair, closed my eyes and prayed, “Lord, I thought you loved me?” Okay, maybe not those exact words but the thought was in my head I am sure. Every time I have had to go to the dentist the last five months, and it is a lot, I have asked God to intervene, to make a way with the financial side, to work a miracle that I wouldn’t have to have the painful and expensive things done and every time, every single time, the opposite has happened. My bill just keeps climbing.

So these thoughts were running through my aching head: “Lord, I thought You loved me. I thought you would intervene here. You know we need a new(er) car and yet my dental bill IS a car payment! Nothing is working like I have prayed, Lord. I thought YOU loved me!”

Can you imagine what our God was thinking? He loves unconditionally. He loves whether my teeth are in or out of my mouth. He loves REGARDLESS. I know that. I knew that yesterday too and I remembered the three Hebrew men who were thrown into the fiery furnace. They made up their mind ahead of time that it didn’t matter what was going on around them, it didn’t matter their circumstance. They knew that their God COULD deliver them, but if He didn’t, it was okay, they were still determined, they still believed He was in control and they were still going to serve Him REGARDLESS. This is their reply to the King: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty.  But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-18 NLT

They could have felt like I did and even asked God, “I thought you LOVED me?! Why would You put me in this situation? I thought my life was to be nothing but dark chocolate, cold brewed coffee and shopping sprees?”

But they didn’t. They knew that they lived in a fallen world, that bad things happen to good people and sometimes it’s just LIFE.

Yes, God DID deliver them! Yes, it was a mighty testimony of His delivering power and the King was amazed. 

God does love us. Sometimes we walk through valleys and think we are alone and the answer is not what we were expecting. But eventually we see that He walked WITH us, He never left us, He gave us a testimony, encouraged us through others and encouraged others through us!

God does care about the big and little things in our lives. How do I know there won’t be a bigger miracle down the road in regards to my teeth? And what if it isn’t about the money but about how I react to the situation? That maybe the people in that office are watching me and I could show them Jesus even if I am upset? That every time I have had to go in there I was bringing Jesus with me. Maybe it isn’t about me and my teeth at all! Maybe someone there needs to know Jesus loved us all. He still does and He reaches continually for the hurting and the broken.

Even if He doesn’t answer the way we think He should, it doesn’t mean He doesn’t love. It means He is working in ways we cannot see and will use US to reach others even if it means enduring some temporary pain in this life.

For the kingdom

 

Fasting together: Rebuild and Restore

Fasting together: Rebuild and Restore  (For all of my regulars, yes, the blog is a fright and under construction but will be fixed very, very soon! Thank you for your patience.)

Happy New Year! Ringing in the New Year with The Sweetheart who has been so very sick this weekend. Boo. But 2018 can only get better! Today, we begin our Fasting in January series and we must start at the beginning. I am sharing the introduction from my book, The Daniel Fast, A Devotional, just because we need to get some basics down on the first day. I will blog every day with devotions, tips and even Daniel Fast recipes if you are following that fast. Obviously it is the focus but the devotions and encouragement are for any fast, no matter how long or short! Remember, there are no rules, just commit to sacrifice and see what God will do.

How many times do we go to bed with the worries of the day on our minds; wondering how we are going to fix all of the problems in the world?

  • Will the bills get paid?
  • How long before our company shuts down?
  • Is the cancer going to return?
  • Will our children get back together?
  • Is that divorce going to become final this year?

Night after night we toss and turn, trying our best not to let the sin of worry overtake us.

We are all guilty of it; we are human.

Back a few years ago, I had struggled with this and could not shake it. Many things were troubling me. I was trying to fix them all in my own mind but couldn’t and it was getting me down. I finally decided enough was enough and, in desperation, I finally did something I had always wanted, and needed, to do.

I went on an extended fast.

You might say that the Bible says our fasting should be a secret. No. Jesus said when you fast to not be like the Pharisees who want others to know they are fasting. They walked around with long, drawn looks on their faces and said things like, “Woe is me! I am fasting!” They wanted to appear more holy, godlier and more spiritual than others. That is not the purpose.

However, if we do not share our experiences, how will we learn? How will we grow? How will we bless one another?

This fast was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life but also one of the most victorious and liberating spiritual battles the Lord has ever helped me win.

His Word says some things only come about by prayer and fasting. “And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could we not cast him out? So he said to them, This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” Mark 9:28, 29 NKJV.

The devil was tormenting me. Satan had been whispering in my ear for way too long, and unfortunately, I had been giving him credit by believing what he was saying.

Worry is one of his most successful tactics. It rates right up there with fear. The wringing of your hands type of worry is his specialty.

But fasting puts Satan IN HIS PLACE.

The Bible says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7 KJV.

He has to obey when you quote the Word, obey the Word and live out the Word!

When you add fasting into the mix, you are breaking YOU. You are humbling YOU. The chains begin to fall; he has no power left. You begin to hear God’s voice, His whispers. You understand His Word, feel His power, and trust His promises.

The one single passage of scripture that jumped out to me while I was on this fast was the fasting message we might be familiar with in Isaiah. Finally, after all of these years, I understood what the Lord was saying here, and it is so beautiful.

First, the Word. It’s a little lengthy, but stay with me. It’s worth it.

‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen?

Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’

‘In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure,
And exploit all your laborers.
Indeed you fast for strife and debate,
And to strike with the fist of wickedness.
You will not fast as you do this day,
To make your voice heard on high.

Is it a fast that I have chosen,

A day for a man to afflict his soul?
Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush,
And to spread out sackcloth and ashes?
Would you call this a fast,
And an acceptable day to the Lord?

Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the heavy burdens,
To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,

And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;
When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then your light shall break forth like the morning,
Your healing shall spring forth speedily,
And your righteousness shall go before you;
The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’

If you take away the yoke from your midst,

The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
If you extend your soul to the hungry
And satisfy the afflicted soul,
Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,
And your darkness shall be as the noonday.

The LORD will guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 
Isaiah 58:3-11 NKJV.

The Jews had the proper form for their fasting, but they were messing up everything else that went with it. They were finding pleasure in their fasting time instead of using it to draw closer to God. They were “driving hard all of their workers”, meaning that even though on fast days there was no work done, on the day before and the day after they worked them even that much harder to make up for it.

They were quarreling and fighting, and their fasting was making them irritable with one another…a good sign they were NOT spending time with their Maker.

They were “hiding from their own flesh”; they were not helping their own. They were being selfish during fasting time. This is another “Woe is me” attitude about fasting: avoiding helping others because you are suffering.

Verse nine says they were oppressing one another by placing yokes, or unnecessary burdens, upon their brothers and sisters. They were also pointing fingers at each other, spreading rumors and lies about their fellow Christians.

Again, they had the method right, but their hearts were in bad, bad shape. They were upset that the Lord had not noticed that they were in sackcloth and ashes. They had fasted, but He had not noticed.

So the Lord speaks and tells them they have it all wrong. He says, “Is not this the fast that I have chosen?”

And here is where I have always looked at it differently:

“To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free…”

I would hear this part preached and taught and get all excited that God was going to do this for me.

But look at what He says next…

“And that you break every yoke?”

That WE break every yoke? I thought He was going to do that? He can and He will, but here He says WE are to break every yoke!

The fast that the Lord is pleased with is when we loose those bonds of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens we have placed on one another, let the oppressed go free and break every yoke!

What else does He say?

We are to share our bread with the hungry, bring the poor to our house, cover the naked that have no clothing, and not ignore those that need our help. Also, stop pointing our fingers and spreading vicious rumors. Those are pretty important.

That is the fast that God has chosen.

He says that when we do those things something will happen:

“Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward.

Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noon day:

And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.”  Isaiah 58:8-12 KJV.

Look at all of those precious promises! Your health will spring forth, righteousness will go before you and the glory of the Lord will be your reward. If you call on the Lord, He will answer, He will always be your guide. Another version says that you will be “known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes.”

All of this when you choose the right fast: God’s fast!

When your heart is in the right place.

When you are doing it unto the Lord and not to be seen.

When you are breaking yokes and setting people free by forgiving, restoring, clothing and feeding then …

God will also restore you.

Join me again tomorrow, and every day in January, as we fast unto the Lord! If you don’t have a copy of The Daniel Fast Devotional you can get it here. 

 

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