May 6, 2018 - Memory Verse

Focus this week on 

ASSURANCE

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise,

as some understand slowness.

Instead he is patient with you,

not wanting anyone to perish,

but everyone to come to repentance.

II Peter 3:9 NIV

Look at the last line first as you memorize this verse. What is God’s desire? That everybody would have eternal life.

But everybody wont be saved, will they? Some will drag their feet. Some will change the subject. Some will avoid Him altogether. But what does He do? He waits. Hoping that people will accept Him.

And then we complain because we feel like He is taking forever to act. In actuality we are the ones who are slow and He is patient.

Thank God today for His patience with you and with the world.

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Shattered

Saturday, May 5, 2018

written by Patience Nave

Mother was in the process of moving from Florida to North Carolina when she wrote this blog entry.

I stumbled across it this week and thought my readers might enjoy it. 

Shattered 

Thursday, December 30, 2010

The ordeal of packing and moving things continued for two days. I packed. They moved. Orderly. Uneventful. Then the quiet apology came. "That table with the marble top? The marble broke as we were putting it down in the car."

I felt a twinge in my heart. I have several marble-topped pieces, and each has its own sentimental value, each given by or inherited from a special person. Whichever one, some memory was just shattered.

But the men had been so careful, so meticulous as they worked, and I could not be angry about this accident. I assured them that the marble was just a "thing" and that we would not allow ourselves to fret over a broken thing. So we continued with our work, but as I continued wrapping and packing, my thoughts went back to the broken marble. Broken is broken! No repair restores broken marble. It was gone.

And that's when God began to talk to me. In fact, that is usually when he talks to me most clearly--when I am contemplating something. He has a way of turning my thoughts to something that at first seems totally irrelevant. This time I remembered a t-shirt a friend had been wearing--one of those t-shirts with a message: "Justified! Just as if I never had!" My thoughts moved from the marble to the message, and I began to thank God for the incredible fact that his work in my life through Christ actually allows me to stand before him "justified," sinless through the finished work of Jesus! Sins taken away and buried in the deepest sea! Forgotten because Christ bore them for me on Calvary. Suddenly tears of joy began to fill my eyes! How wonderful to be so sure of my Lord's absolutely perfect work for me and of my position before Almighty God!

But how did I get from broken marble to praising God? Then he showed me. The table would never be the same. Broken is broken! That's the way of "things." And that is also the way of human life. Sometimes life gets broken, too. Sometimes it seems hopelessly shattered, unable to be mended or glued back together!

"Not so," said God to my heart. My friend's t-shirt was absolutely right. When Jesus mends a broken heart, a broken life, the result is just as if the break had never happened! The sin confessed, the hurt forgiven, the disobedience erased restores the life as if the infraction had never occurred! Jesus does not put broken marble back together! He does better! He puts broken lives back together--my own the perfect example!

I may not try to have the marble glued back, keeping the broken seam as a reminder that were it not for Christ's perfect finished work on that cruel, mean cross, I'd be as hopelessly broken as the table! I think I'll cherish the scared table more now than before the break! 

Weeds or not?

Friday, May 4, 2018

I created this little patio a few years ago using stepping stones from our previous home. A friend of mine suggested using sedum to fill in between the stones with various shades of green. Little by little the plants have spread out to take up more and more space. It’s not a very level surface but I like it. 

I have to work to keep the weeds out. Can you tell which plants are weeds and which ones aren’t?

I think I counted seven different varieties of sedum in the patio area. 

I’ll tell you how I know which plants are weeds. They are the ones I didn’t plant. I have no idea what they are and I really don’t care. I just know I don’t want them there. And since I know what the real stuff is, I know what to pull out. 

The Christian life is like this sometimes. God plants beautiful things in our lives. Inevitably, though, other things creep in where they are not supposed to be. And they need to be removed. How do we know what to pull out of our landscape? 

We need to know what’s of God and what isn’t — and get rid of the ungodly stuff. This we do by being familiar with Scripture and by listening to the Holy Spirit — by responding to His guidance in our lives. 

Lord, we want to bloom where we are planted. But unlike the flowers in our back yards, we tend to invite weeds into our lives. Help us identify the things that will choke us if we’re not careful. And help us to let you remove them. 

I am a C....

Thursday, May 3, 2018

I am a C . . . .

I am a C H . . .

I am a C H R I S T I A N . . . .

And I have C H R I S T 

in my H E A R T

and I will L I V E 

E T E R N A L L Y !

Do you remember that little jingle from Bible school? If you do then you probably now have it stuck in your head for the rest of the day? Sorry about that!

I'm not exactly sure why I started singing it the other day. Perhaps it's because my Sunday School class has been spending a little time each week talking about how to become a Christian. We've written out our own salvation experiences so that we can see them in black and white. It has been a good exercise.

When was the last time you did that? Here is how I instructed my class. This should not be any more than one page long. It should cover the circumstances around when you gave your life to Christ. Tell how you recognized your need for the Savior and how you committed your life to Him. It should be short and to the point. 

Sometimes people follow a simple formula: ABC. Admit that you're a sinner, Believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to take away your sin, and Commit your life to Him. That pretty much sums it up. 

Not only would I challenge you to write out your conversion experience as my class did, but also to think about how Christ has changed you since that time. How have you been different since Christ has been in your H E A R T ?  And how have you been prepared to live  E T E R N A L L Y  with Him?

Lord, some of us were mere children when we decided to give our lives to you. And for some of us it was just yesterday. Help us to ponder how you have affected our lives and how different our eternity is because of you. And, Lord, for those of my readers who have never made the commitment to follow you, touch them in a special way today. Bring someone into their lives to show them the Way so that they, too, may spend eternity with you.

“I Am a C” video  

Weeds or not?

Friday, May 4, 2018

I created this little patio a few years ago using stepping stones from our previous home. A friend of mine suggested using sedum to fill in between the stones with various shades of green. Little by little the plants have spread out to take up more and more space. It’s not a very level surface but I like it. 

I have to work to keep the weeds out. Can you tell which plants are weeds and which ones aren’t?

I think I counted seven different varieties of sedum in the patio area. 

I’ll tell you how I know which plants are weeds. They are the ones I didn’t plant. I have no idea what they are and I really don’t care. I just know I don’t want them there. And since I know what the real stuff is, I know what to pull out. 

The Christian life is like this sometimes. God plants beautiful things in our lives. Inevitably, though, other things creep in where they are not supposed to be. And they need to be removed. How do we know what to pull out of our landscape? 

A Needle In the Haystack

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Have you ever hunted for a "needle" in a "haystack?"
Have you ever found it?
Have you ever found something else even more unexpected while searching for such a "needle?"

This happened to me yesterday after work.

I went to work early yesterday morning like normal and went back out to my car at the end of the day like normal. Only this time, my car (which is apparently smarter than I am) knew I didn't have my key fob with me (keyless entry and push-to-start). Wait! What? How did I get to work if I didn't have my key? Well, clearly I had it when I drove in that morning. But what happened to it? It lives in my bag. I don't take it out. But it clearly wasn't there. It had vanished into thin air.

I was talking to my sister at the time that I realized I had no key fob. I mentally walked through my day and decided that the only real possibility was that I had left my key in my scrub pants when I returned them to the OR scrub machine at 6:30 yesterday morning. Great. So I hoofed it back to the hospital and to the OR to see if anyone had a key to the return bin. Sure enough. I got access to the bin.

I wish I had taken a picture of what was inside the bin when I opened up the big door. I'm guessing there were probably 1000 scrub pieces in there -- tops, pants, jackets -- all but two were worn by someone else. How on earth would I find mine without it taking forever?

Well, I happened to know that the scrubs get emptied at about 5:30 each morning and I added my shirt and pants at 6:30am. So mine would be at the bottom of the pile. I pulled all of the scrubs out into the floor except for about 50 on the bottom. One by one I started there, feeling each of the pockets.

I probably went through about 40 or 50 articles before I heard the little jingle of my key. Hooray! I found it! But do you know what? I found some other things while I was looking: a grocery list, some chap stick, and two 5 dollar bills! I shoved all the scrubs back into the machine, locked it up, and promptly went to wash my hands! And to celebrate!

How important are we to the Lord? Much more so than a silly key fob. I sure did hunt diligently for that thing. But don't you think God searches much more persistently for us when we find ourselves lost in a giant heap of dirty clothes? He needs us much more than I need my car key. And He even blesses us with a few little serendipitous finds along the way to help us celebrate being found.

Lord, thank you for helping me think through where my fob might have been yesterday. Thank you for giving me the patience to go through that huge bin of dirty clothes. And thank you for the little prize I found in the process. But most of all, thank you for delivering me from my haystack and for bringing me to you. I once was lost but now I'm found! Thank you.


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Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

So you are destined to be separated from your loved ones for weeks on end. What happens to your love for each other?

• it gets colder
• it gets deeper
• it gets complicated
• it gets distorted

Well, I think that any of these things can happen. It depends on the type of relationship you start out with and the commitment of each person to that love -- and how much you are able to stay connected via electronics/social media.

So what are some things you can do to protect your relationships while you are gone?

(1) Communicate. Sometimes a real-live-honest-to-goodness card or letter is pretty nice. Flowers speak volumes. 

(2) Pray for each other. 

(3) Pray with each other, seeking God’s will. 

(4) Don’t dwell on the loneliness. Fill your life with meaningful and wholesome things. 

(5) Don’t try to substitute something else for your relationship. 

(6) Celebrate everything possible. 

(7) Trust in the Lord with all your heart. 

Finally, brothers and sisters, 

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 ‭NIV‬‬

Lord, sometimes we have to be apart from those that we love. Help us to nurture our relationships in spite of the distance. Show us how to effectively communicate with each other. And help us to dwell on the good stuff. 

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