Frozen

Brrr, it's cold! Even in FL, the sunshine state, they've been experiencing colder than normal temperatures. I recently heard on the news that the strawberry crops were in danger of freezing. You see, strawberries can evidently handle the cold to about 28 degrees. A slight dip below freezing just makes them sweeter. But once it goes below 28, the crops are ruined.

When the farmers hear a deep freeze is coming, they do something that I found amazing. They turn on the sprinklers! As the water covers the berries, it freezes, creating a personal freezer around each berry - keeping it chilled at exactly 32 safe and sweet degrees. The ice actually saves the berries from colder temperatures.

Do you ever feel like your getting a big freeze? Maybe you think God is giving you a "cold shoulder" letting you go through some times that are hard as ice. I can't say for certain, but I do love the idea that by giving us a small does of a cold, hard time that God is protecting us from further ruin, like the ice protects the strawberry.

I don't know, but just thinking about it warms my frozen heart.

I've Got the Music In Me

Ain't got no trouble in my life
No foolish dream to make me cry
I'm never frightened or worried
I know I'll always get by.
I've Got the Music in Me, Kiki Dee, 1975

Reading the lyrics above makes me think, wouldn't it be nice if life were really that way?

"Ain't got no trouble in my life." Truth is, my life is pretty good right now. My husband & I are nearing 15 years of marriage, and are quite possibly having our best year ever. I adore my kids, and have many, many great friends. I'm blessed! But I've had my share of deep troubles, I have smaller things that trouble me now, and I know that trouble will come again.

"Foolish dreams to make me cry?" Well, I haven't cried lately, but some of my dreams do seem foolish at times. Publish a book? Me? Be a dynamic speaker? Make a positive impression for Christ in people's lives? Sometimes it seems like a foolish dream to me and I can get down. Yet I know that God planted those dreams in my heart and I keep chugging along for His glory!

"I'm never frightened or worried." I have children! Enough said! I worry every day about my kids. I hate when they have to face adversity, mean kids, life's injustices, yet I know they are being made stronger through these things. Just like I am when they happen to me.

"I know I'll always get by." This one is true. I am so peaceful and feel blessed that I have faith in my Savior! Because He is in my life I will always get by! I am an over-comer! Every day brings new challenges, but I am up for the task.

And not because I've got the music in me, even though I do. While music does put a spring in my step, the real reason I know I'll always get by is because I have Jesus in me. I have Jesus in me! I have Jesus in me!!

Making God Laugh

There is an old saying, "If you want to make God laugh, just tell him YOUR plans." The context is, of course, that God's plans prevail. Does God laugh? Yesterday, as I sat praying out loud to God, something funny happened, which made me realize two things. God does have a sense of humor. And we DON'T want him to laugh at us.

As I prayed, I asked God to help me be humble. I am preparing to speak at a women's retreat later this year, and I want to make sure the women see God, not me. But ironically, as I said the word humble, I stumbled on it, making it sound like, "Hummmmummmmble." It reminded me of when a TV character is trying to say something they don't want to. Consider Fonzie on Happy Days trying to say, "I was wrong." So after I said, "Help me be hummmummmble," I laughed out loud at myself.

As I went on to pray, I apologized to God for laughing, then went on to thank him for our sense of humor. I said, "Lord, I don't know if you laugh, but I do know we are made in your image and we have a sense of humor, so I suspect that you do too." After my prayer time, I went on to read my Bible. The day before I had read Psalm 90 - Psalm 93. I thought I'd pick up at Psalm 94. But then, I was drawn to go back and start at the beginning of Psalms. I would read Chapters 1-3.

Imagine my surprise when I read Psalm 2:4, "The One enthroned in heaven laughs." What? Really God! I had literally just asked God if he laughed, as much hypothetically than literally, and there it was in the Bible. Surely God did laugh at my surprise!

But as I studied the verse I realized that here the Lord was laughing in derisive laughter, or mockery. As I did a word study of the word LAUGH throughout the Bible, I realized most times that God laughed it was in mockery of the wicked. I definitely don't want to make God laugh at me like this!

Still, the Bible is clear, there is "a time to weep, and a time to laugh" (Ecc 3:4), and that because of our joy over the great things God has done "our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing." (Ps 126:2) It's okay for us to laugh!

Still, I don't want to make God laugh at me. Rather, I will strive to make Him smile.

Faith Like Noah

The rain fell in torrents as I drove into the parking lot of my daughter’s school. We ran from the car to the doors, but were soaked by the time we entered the building. My clothes stuck uncomfortably to my body, and I felt every bit the drowned rat.

I dropped my daughter off safely in her classroom. As I was leaving I jokingly told the school's director “I’m off to build an ark!” She replied, “Well you better hurry because it’s already raining.”

That caused me to think....

To continue reading, join me over at Titus 2 in Action, where I am a guest contributor every other Wednesday.

Cruel to Be Kind

You gotta be
Cruel to be kind, in the right measure
Cruel to be kind, it's a very good sign
Cruel to be kind, means that I love you
Baby, you gotta be cruel to be kind
Cruel to Be Kind, Nick Lowe, 1979

No one wants to hear what they are doing wrong. That includes me! It's true, I can get defensive when someone points out my faults. I want people to only see the best in me. But the truth is, I mess up! There I said it!

Christians, like everyone else, don't want to hear when they get it wrong. As a matter of fact, when confronting a Christian brother or sister about their sin, you're less apt to get repentance than you are to get told what YOUR sin is in return.

The Bible is clear, we are to speak the truth...in love. That means, when we talk to someone about their sin the first thing we need to do is a heart check. Are we pointing out the issue in anger, in pride, or is it truly love - that we care so much for that person we can't stand to see their sin.

Next, we have to check out our own behavior. You can't point out the speck in your friend's eye, if you have a plank in your own! If you are trapped in bondage to sin, its best to work on your own issues before pointing out someone elses.

Matthew 18 gives clear guidelines on speaking to someone about sin. First, “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over." Just between the two of you! This isn't a time of public humilation. It's a time to speak to someone privately. Matthew 18 goes on to further explain the guidelines if this attempt fails.

Some might think pointing out their sin to them is cruel. To that, we could sing you have to be Cruel to be kind, in the right measure, cruel to be kind, is a very good sign. Cruel to be kind, means that I love you. Make sure that you aren't cruel, but kind in speaking the truth.

Speak the truth in love...In the right measure...It's a very good sign...It means that I love you.

Look Up!

Imagine my surprise the other day, when I glanced out at my bird feeder, to see this little golden finch trapped INSIDE of the feeder. How he got in there, I have no idea. If you look toward the bottom of the feeder, you can see the tiny opening where the food comes out. He somehow squeezed in, but could not squeeze back out. This was a job, for Super Chatty! (that's me).

Have I mentioned, however, that I am not a fan of birds specifically, nor wild life in general? Okay, anything that can be unpredictable. Or poop on you. (I realize I just described small children too, but in general I am not afraid of them.) I mean this was a wild animal! Have you ever seen, "What Happens When Animals Attack?" I was possibly only moments away from a bird mauling, I just knew it!

Still I knew I had to save the bird. So I got a long stick, and while the bird was fluttering madly inside it's Plexiglas cage, I knocked the red roof off of the bird feeder.


What happened next was surprising. The bird did not fly out of the feeder! No, it just kept fluttering madly and banging against the Plexiglas. If it would have just looked up, it would have seen it's pathway to freedom, but instead kept looking at and banging the Plexiglas.

Now I had to take desperate measures. I stuck the stick through the little opening at the bottom. The Plexiglas would not move. So I tried the next pane, behind the bird, and as I pushed the pane rose so the bird could escape. But the bird just kept fixed on the pane in front of it, fluttering away. Finally, with my arm wrapped around the house, holding the pane up with my long stick, I stood in front of the pane the bird was banging on. Startled, he flew backwards, and out of the bird feeder. Mission Accomplished!

I couldn't help but think, "What a stupid bird!" But then I thought about myself. How many times do I get myself into a jam? And then realizing my problem, I keep banging away trying to solve it myself. If I would just look up, look to God, he would provide me direction, and the way to go. But no, I keep banging away.

Sometimes God has to block my path, to make me realize I just need to turn around to find my freedom...in Him.

Don't be like me (or that stupid bird!) Look up, to God, and he will guide you in the right direction.

Proverbs 4:26 -- Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.

When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. - Alexander Graham Bell

All Out of Love

I'm all out of love, I'm so lost without you
I know you were right believing for so long
I'm all out of love, what am I without you
I can't be too late to say that I was so wrong
All Out of Love, Air Supply, 1980

My husband and I recently watched the movie, "Fireproof." (Yes, I know we're about 2 years behind the rest of you). In the story line of the movie, Caleb (the male lead) discovers that he can't truly love his wife, without Jesus in his life. His father tells him, "You can't love her, because you can't give her what you don't have." His father goes on to say, "Jesus changed my life, and that's when I truly began to love...."

Sometimes it's hard to love people. And the time when I find people the most unlovable is usually when I'm so grumpy that I am pretty unlovable myself! My "love tank" gets empty. I find that I'm all out of love. And when that happens I know why. It's because I'm not filling myself with Jesus.

Without Jesus I can't love. "I'm so lost without you." At some point we're all going to have to account for our lives to Jesus. What we've done or haven't done, and how we've shown love. When your time comes, don't be the one saying, "I can't be too late to say that I was so wrong." Commit your life and your love to Jesus. And then you won't be all out of love.