Tag Archives: hands and feet of Jesus

Peonies, Surgeries, Seasons and Mother’s Day

I’ve heard it pronounced several different ways. Depending on where you are from, you might say, “Pee-OH-nee” or I have even heard “Pie-nee” but I have always called them “PEE-uh-nees”. It doesn’t matter how you pronounce it, I will know what you are speaking of if it is early May in the South or a bit later up North!

I will immediately be transported back in time to a bank on the side of the road at my Mamaw Cammie’s house. She had rows and rows of the gorgeous bushes that just beckoned you to sit and fight the ants for a chance to drink in the aroma. My grandmother had pink peonies, white peonies and the gorgeous dark pink, almost a raspberry peony.

Simply a rare treat that only came once a year and much to my dismay, only lasted a short while. In Indiana, where I am from, they were wise enough to make the peony the State Flower. Go Indiana! I discovered that it was also our national flower until 1929 when it was replaced by the plum tree. Someone obviously didn’t have a Mamaw Cammie or a row of peonies from their childhood to remember!

Peonies and Mother’s Day go together like peanut butter and jelly. I have always enjoyed the entire season. Florists around the globe are saying that the peony is still the number one flower in a Mother’s Day bouquet. And, with the admission from another future princess-bride-to-be, that the peony is also her favorite, Meghan Markle, who will soon marry Prince Harry, will push the love of peonies over the top in 2018!

This may well be the first season I will miss smelling a peony, holding a peony or chasing ants that have invaded my kitchen table because of a peony. I have been house-bound since having major back surgery April 4. I had a lumbar spinal fusion of my L4/L5 and L5/S1 with lovely instrumentation (my ortho surgeon says not to call it hardware as it sounds as if I went to True Value for a quick fix!) 

If that wasn’t enough, the day I was to be discharged from the hospital I decided to break out with shingles! That is another blog post for another day. Drama, drama and more drama!

I have been overwhelmed with help from family and friends. In fact, this week is the first time I have really even been alone for the last 35 days! My wonderful church family brought meals the first week, my mother has been here twice from Indiana. My sister stayed ten days and my sister-in-law also drove from Indiana and cooked up a storm! My daughter-in-law Alicia and grandbaby Lark came and stayed several days to help even though she was fighting morning sickness herself (Baby Elkins is due 11/16/18!) My good friend and Norah Jayne’s other favorite Nan-Nan, Tonya, also came and spent a weekend taking care of me while The Sweetheart was out of town. Rachel, Kyle and Norah Jayne have been here constantly. If she wasn’t cooking a fabulous meal she was cleaning and I am forever indebted to them all.

And of course, that same Sweetheart has babied me and cared for me the last five weeks even when I might have, possibly, been a little difficult. Ahem.

Needless to say I have not been around a peony bush or bouquet this year and I can hardly believe this season will pass and I will not experience my favorite thing about spring. But sometimes we don’t get everything we want, things do not go our way or life just hands us difficulties we hadn’t planned on.

Missing out on peonies? Bummer.

Missing out on what God was trying to show me the last five weeks? Tragic.

This is a season, just like the peony. It came and it will also go. The pain will eventually subside and I am trusting I will be walking and moving like I haven’t been able to do in years. And in this season of pain, as the song says, Through it All, I’ve learned to trust in my God. I’ve cried His name in the middle of the night and He has been there for me. When no one and no medication could help, He was my comfort and my strength! Sometimes the pain would remain but His presence brought peace and sleep. He has been faithful.

Mother’s Day is also a difficult season for many. Some of us look forward to the celebration and remembering of our mothers who may have gone on to be with our Lord. But there are precious friends and family around us who dread the day because their hearts are broken and empty. Whether it is the unbearable loss of a child, the emptiness from not being able to conceive, the death of their own mother or possibly their childhood was not a happy one and their relationship with their mother was not one they even want to remember, not everyone is looking forward to this Sunday. (Read my post What if it isn’t a Happy Mother’s Day)

God knows when our hearts are hurting and He is One that can heal the hurt, fill the void and send comfort and peace, which sometimes comes on the feet of another. Be that one! If you know someone who dreads Mother’s Day, don’t ignore their hurt and pain. You don’t have to say anything if you aren’t good with words but a squeeze of the hand or a hug if appropriate, goes a long way in letting that precious soul know you care.

We face seasons all throughout our walk with God. Some we delight in, like the blooming of the peony, others we do our best to stay away from such as surgeries, shingles or the approaching Mother’s Day celebration. But whether it is sunshine or hard times, our God will always be there. We whisper His name and He is present and that surety of His presence is better medicine than any flower He has ever created.

Until next year, dear peony, until the next season, until the next trial, Amen.

Because sometimes God has skin

The Church The bodyToday we begin a short series on The Body, The Church. We will learn what it means to be a part of the Body of Christ, its benefits and responsibilities. Join us!

Most have probably heard the story of the little girl who was afraid to sleep in her own room and kept running to Mom and Dad, begging to sleep with them. They would assure her all was well and back to her bed she would go only to return in a few minutes. Finally, her parents tried to comfort her by saying that God was with her and watching over her. That wasn’t quite what the child wanted to hear for, as she put it, “Sometimes I need God with skin on!”

Sometimes God sends someone with skin on. The Body of Christ wasn’t meant to sit on a church pew and soak up endless teaching and blessings, hoarding them to ourselves.

Never.

We are to GO and DO and BE Jesus in this world. We are His skin, so to speak.

because sometimes God has skin

I saw a video clip this week of a young man who was having what he thought was a bad day. So much to do, so little time to do it and he admitted he was simply in a bad mood. He walks out of a store to see a lady in her car, maybe early 60’s, bald and obviously waiting on someone. To pass the time she was reading a book.

The young man gets in his car and is immediately struck with the impression to go back in the store and get the woman a bouquet of flowers. What?! “I’m busy, I’m aggravated and I just don’t want to, Lord.” But, being obedient, he goes back in and brings the flowers to her car window where he stumbles over his words and says something like, “I know we don’t know each other but I felt impressed to give you these flowers and hopefully encourage you to smile.”

Naturally, the lady burst into tears…the man quietly walks back to his car, broken, humbled and all of his troubles put into perspective in an instant. He will never know what she was going through or what the flowers represented to her but, rest assured, she needed to hear from the Lord that day.

God comes to us in so many different ways; His Word, a thought, prayer, worship and music, creation and nature and other believers. He even spoke through a donkey in the Old Testament to make a point!

Jesus, God manifested in the flesh, came with skin and walked among His own. He loved, He shared, He pointed the way. He WAS the WAY.

HE IS THE WAY!

Even though we may not see the physical Jesus in the flesh, sitting on a throne here on Earth, we see The scripture says,  “For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in…” Matthew 5:25. He expects us to treat those around us as we would treat Him. So how do we do that? How do we become Jesus with skin?

  • Be sensitive. That comes through prayer and the Word.
  • Be engaging. When you are sensitive and the Lord leads you to someone, don’t just stand around wondering if He means YOU. He does! So step in and go in faith.
  • Be real. Don’t hide your testimony and don’t pretend like you have it all together. Let others know you NEED Jesus every. single. day. You aren’t above mistakes and you still mess up but you serve a God that not only forgives but supplies you with what you need for each new day.
  • Be faithful. If you say you are going to do something, do it. If something needs to be done, don’t ask if you can help, just help! Be a friend, be a mentor, be a confidante and do them all well. Don’t gossip about your friend or their problem, pray to the One who can actually do something about it.

Jesus with skin? That’s you, me, the Body. We were put here for a purpose and that is to share the love of God in order to help others come to know Him. And when they do? They will then do the same!

For the kingdom
Sharing with Living Proverbs 31, Modest Mondays, Making your home sing, Good morning Mondays, Mommy Moments

Be the Hands and Feet of Jesus!

Be the hands and feet of Jesus!

 “No man is an island.” ~ John Donne

“Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you…For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a  drink…when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’”  Matthew 25:34-40.

Jesus has always called us to reach to the “least of these”, to serve the needs of others as He did.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.” John 14:12.

One of the greatest examples of the apostles being the Hands and Feet of Jesus in the early Church is found in the third chapter of the Book of Acts. Peter and John were on their way to the Temple to pray like they did every day at around three o’clock. There was a man who was lame from birth being carried in. Every day he was put beside the Temple gate, the one they called the Beautiful Gate, so he could beg from the people going into the Temple.

When the lame man saw Peter and John, he asked them for money too, but Peter said, “Look at us! I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazarene, get up and walk!” Acts 3:4-6 NLT.

According to the Word, and the Name of Jesus, the man’s feet and ankles were instantly healed! He jumped up and began to walk and the Bible said he went “…walking, leaping and praising God…into the Temple with them.” Acts 3:8 NLT.

Peter and John were being the Hands and Feet of Jesus. Jesus had already ascended into Heaven. He had told the disciples to wait for the Promise of the Father, the Comforter, which He would send. And He did. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, according to Acts 2.

And The Church is born.

Such as I have

And the only way we can continue to write that 29th chapter is to be the Hands and Feet of Jesus.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.Matthew 5:14-16 NIV.

Jesus entrusted us to be the Light when He left us in charge of things here on this earth. Here we find ourselves in the Endtime. It doesn’t take a scholar or a theologian to realize that things are winding down. Jesus is coming back for His Church, His Bride! But that doesn’t mean that we are to sit back and just wait for Him to catch us away. We are to be about our Father’s business. We must be the Hands and Feet of Jesus.

We are responsible to reach out as much as we possibly can, to touch as many as we can with the Good News that Jesus is alive and lives to give eternal life to all who want to partake of it.

“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!’” Romans 10:14, 15 NKJV.

The story is told of a small town in Italy that had a beautiful statue of Jesus in its town square. One day there came a horrific hurricane that devastated the city. The statue was toppled and when the clean-up crew finally came around they found that the statue was mostly intact except that the hands and feet were missing and crushed beyond repair.

It was finally decided to erect the statue back to its original place and a plaque was put up that said, “Jesus has no hands and feet except yours…”

Those words are true for us today. We are His hands and feet in this world. The Sweetheart says this so often in his sermons, “He didn’t save us just to save us. We are here for a bigger purpose. He saved us to reach others.” He means that after salvation we aren’t just to sit down and fold our hands and wait for Heaven. Jesus told us to go into all the world and share this truth; we have a responsibility!

Let us do all we can today to reach our world with the Good News, the Gospel that Jesus Saves!

For the kingdom