God Bless You!

 

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:

The Lord make his face shine upon thee,

and be gracious unto thee:

The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee,

and give thee peace.

Numbers 6:24-26

You like me, if we have been born again Christians for any length of time, know we are to be witnesses for Jesus and spiritual encouragers as much as we can be. I have found over the last several weeks that it's fun meeting new people to say some lead-in things to find where a person is spiritually. It's been interesting.

Today, I had a new beautician who is substituting for my regular lady who is off on a one month vacation. I had no idea who this lady was, but she was very nice, kind and was good at her work. There is always the get acquainted conversation but I'm interested in where the person is spiritually. Ours is a very small town so eventually, one gets to know most of the town if you attend church or make regular trips to the Dollar Store. She asked how I was going to spend the rest of my day. I told her I had some Sunday school lesson brushing up to do and was going to first go and print our church bulletin. With surprise, she said that she is in charge of the church bulletin at her church. Well, after that, we talked church and some things of the Lord as well.

Got my teeth cleaned this week. I had a new hygienist who did the job. She asked me what I enjoy doing...any hobbies, etc. I told her that I do a lot of reading. She asked if I had finished any good books lately. In my mind I'm thinking, “Okay, Glendarae, go for it.” I told her that I haven't finished my favorite book. She asked how long I had been reading it and I replied that I've been reading it for years. She asked the title of such book. I told her that it's the Bible. She was such a sweet young lady and replied with great excitement, “Oh, I got a new Bible for Christmas and I'm so excited because it's the first study Bible I've ever had. Could you give me some hints as to how to use it?” In between my gagging, we were able to share what that special book means to both of us.

One more....there was a lady who worked a checkout lane at a Walmart in the Austin area. I always watched for her being on duty. On her uniform top, she always wore a pin that spelled out the name, JESUS. It had different colored stones that just made His name sparkle. I got to where I kidded her that I was going to steal that pin from her some day. She would smile and say, “You can't take Jesus from me.” It was always fun when we had people captive...one in front of me gathering bags and one waiting behind me waiting to be waited on. Before leaving for Tennessee, I went in and told her goodbye and thanked her for consistently wearing that pin and being a witness. She said she'd give it to me except she doesn't know where she would find another. I told her with meeting the public, it's a witness everyday she's on duty. She told me where she got the pin...the Dollar Store...and we just laughed.

It's always a personal encouragement when God can bless someone through us. We are also admonished to be of encouragement to those fellow Christians in God's family as well as being a good witness to the unsaved. I'm always blessed if someone waits on me in a store and as I leave, that person says, “God bless you.” I'm trying to remember to say that as well, not for show but with a sincere heart.

When there are those I know with special needs, I try to let them know that I'm praying for them. Saying this can be pretty iffy. By making that statement, we are assuring someone that we are praying for them and need to be faithful in doing it. There are people I pray for who I don't know well or don't know that perhaps comes to me as a request from a friend or relative of theirs. It is such a blessing when someone tells me that they have felt led to pray for me as of late. Not only has someone taken me before the throne of grace but they took of their own time to do that for me. Our time is one of the most precious things we can give to another.

Last Saturday while folding bulletins, just in a quick sentence, the thought crossed my mind, “Fix supper for Lynne and Mike.” They are neighbors, dear folk and Lynne has had many physical struggles and now has lung cancer. I've learned when such thoughts happen, to regard them as promptings from the Holy Spirit. Sometimes this will happen to me when prompted to make a call or send a card to someone, but rarely do I feel I should fix a meal. Went by the store, came home and fixed supper and took it over to them. I was just going to leave the food with Mike and not disturb Lynne but she saw me and asked me to come in. Mike and Lynne are very dedicated members of our local Catholic church. On her coffee table were two books...a wonderful devotional book that I'm acquainted with and her well-worn Bible. I asked her the version and she showed me that it's a New American Standard. Told her that I teach from that version. The Lord opened up a door for us to talk about the Lord and what he means in her life.

I do not intend for any of these incidents to be prideful bragging on my part. It's just been so much fun finding ways to engage people in speaking of their own faith and relationship with the Lord. At times, I come across someone who doesn't have a real relationship with the Lord and that presents a different scenario but either way we can encourage friends in Christ and make a statement to others about the importance of Jesus in ones life. I will never go to a foreign field as a missionary, but there are ways you and I can be a blessing to others and it can be as easy as sending a card, or speaking words of encouragement to whoever the Lord causes to cross our paths. The utmost in witnessing is in speaking to an unsaved person about Jesus. However, there are times that even Christians need to hear from another of God's goodness and blessings. We can do this for God's glory and it can be very enjoyable and fun as well.

Lord Jesus...Thank You for the opportunities You send my way to speak of You to an unsaved person. Thank You for those times I can be an encouragement to a fellow believer as well. I praise You for the encouragement You are on a daily basis in my own life. In Your precious name....Amen

Whiter Than Snow

For as the rain cometh down, and

the snow from heaven, and returneth

not hither, but watereth the earth,

and maketh it bring forth and bud,

that it may give seed to the sower,

and bread to the eater.

Isaiah 55:10

Many of us have been going through a season of snow. There are places in our country where I don't think folks have seen their lawns in several weeks. I have loved the snow we have gotten here in Eastern Tennessee. It's been a real throw back in my memory of many snowy days in Southern Illinois that I loved as a child. We would, of course, build the proverbial snowman in the front yard. It was also a time to get the sled out. We would take our sled to Kolesar Hill where the street was blocked off for kids who had the sledding bug. My dad would tie my sister's and my sled to the back bumper of his car. With packed snow on the streets, he would drive very carefully giving us a wonderful ride on our sleds.

I stood with a Kansas farmer one day after a big snow. I asked him if the snow, as deep as it was, would do harm to his fields, especially if a crop had been planted. In Kansas we could have snow sometimes through March. He thought for awhile and said that most farmers would rather have snow than a huge rain storm. He explained that a driving rain can tear up the soil and much of the water can just sit on top. However, he said that snow melts ever so slowly so it wonderfully soaks deep into the soil without doing the surface any real damage.

That lesson from the farmer that day also taught me something about my own personal Bible study. I was at a stage at that time where I would go for days not reading my Bible and then after feeling guilty would take my Bible with me for an afternoon and read by the hour, much like allowing rain beating on that farmer's field. I've learned since then that the most valuable Bible reading and study I do is on a regular basis, not too much and not too little. I would read enough and still do, to allow the Scriptures to do a slow soak into my heart and spirit. Those times of reading as I recall were so meaningful and beneficial, while the surfacey reading was more out of guilt. No matter what methods I have used, the slow-seeping-like-snow method has always been such a blessing.

I remember when in grade school that it wasn't unusual to hear a singing advertisement on the radio (no TV yet). This advertisement touted the benefits of Rinso laundry SOAP. They would sing and declare that Rinso laundry soap produced the whitest clothes possible. Today we don't have soap...no bubbles...and the companies aren't really interested in white clothes. Their detergents today are just supposed to remove stains. Rinso was meant to be sudsy, producing the whitest of clothes.

Do we really know how white snow is? When we took a drive through the mountains yesterday, the sun came out. I had to quickly reach for sunglasses. The combination of bright and white were more than my eyes could take. Snow can be beautiful, scenic but we've all notice how unlovely it can be in the melting process with mud and animal tracks in it.

Guess what? As often as God cleans us up, we still get dirty again. Oh this “dirty” isn't the loss of salvation but in this world, we brush up against the soil of this world all the time. I love David's prayer in Psalm 57, verse 7:

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall

be clean: wash me, and I shall be

whiter than snow.

Purge: purify

Hyssop: a plant in the mint family. It's familiar to us because of the passover event in Egypt. God's people were given instructions as to how to survive the coming of a death angel who would kill the firstborn in every house. They were to take hyssop that had stiff stems and hairy leaves that worked very well in spreading the blood of a lamb on the doorposts and lintels of the door of a house.

You and I are purified still by blood...the blood of Jesus. No need for blood over our doors. His blood cleans us like nothing else. David was confident in asking to be washed by God. In that request he knew that his heart would be whiter than snow. I don't know about you, but I so want my heart to have that kind of purity...whiter than snow. The next good snow take a good look at it, notice it's whiteness and then praise the Father that He can purge and clean us up compared to the whiteness of that snow. There's no Rinso that can make anything that white. There's a hymn that I dearly love:

Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole,

I want Thee forever to ransom my soul;

Break down every idol, case out every foe;

Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Whiter than snow

Yes, whiter than snow.

Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

...James Nicholson

...William G. Fischer

Father...I do long to be whole, idol free and fit for serving You. Wash me, scrub me, purify me no matter how You have to do it. For Your glory, I want to be whiter than snow. In Jesus precious name...Amen

I Thirst

 

For I will pour water upon him

that is thirsty, and floods upon

the dry ground: I will pour

my spirit upon thy seed, and

my blessing upon thine offspring.

Isaiah 44:3

From a visitors center in our national park there is a 2 mile trail one can walk into the nearest and very popular tourist town. It's a beautiful trail through the woods and mostly follows the beautiful roaring stream. Brian and I have walked that trail several times with no adverse effects in the process. The last time we walked the trail, however, and as we neared the visitors center, I suddenly became very tired and weak kneed. I sat down on a wide, rocky bridge railing and Brian decided to go get the car. Before he left we learned through conversing that I hadn't had my usual fluids to drink that morning and hadn't brought a bottle of water with me. Brian went ahead and got the car but also brought a bottle of water from the visitors center. I slowly but methodically drank the water in the bottle and immediately felt renewed physically. I was thirsty to the max and hadn't realized it.

As I've looked at the subject of thirst in God's Word, there were some who like me thirsted for natural water. Noah wasn't one of them, by the way.

God's people were returning back to their homeland from slavery in Egypt. Moses was doing all he could to keep all of the people happy. As a former social worker, I have often admired Moses for his patience and ability in dealing with a whole lot of people who were disgruntled most of the time. In chapter 17 of Exodus, we find the people griping. Moses had camped in one particular place where there appeared to be no water. Thousands of people...thirsty...murmuring, griping were almost threatening. It was all worked out thanks to God's intervention.

There are other places in Scripture where people found themselves really needing actual water to drink. I don't think there is anyplace in Scripture that I find as heart wrenching as when we see Jesus on the cross. In John 19:28, He called out, “I thirst.” Imagine all He had been through the hours previous to that moment. The last we know of His eating or drinking anything was the evening before prior to His arrest. He was beaten and abused and I can't imagine the blood loss let alone sweat loss. He had to have been completely dehydrated. As if His pain and agony wasn't enough, He made a simple statement in the hope that someone would respond...He was thirsty, that very basic physical need that had probably gone far beyond just having a dry mouth. His body was pleading for fluids. The Romans weren't of the mind to be kind or accommodating and never did give Jesus exactly what His body was craving.

If we are physically thirsty, it's as simple as can be for us to pour ourselves a glass of water, open a bottle of water, pop open a can of soda or go for a glass of juice. We know how to satisfy our thirst. But for we Christians, there is a thirst that goes beyond the physical. Psalm 42:2a makes a strong statement:

My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God....

Think of one of the thirstieth moments you can remember facing...after mowing the lawn on a warm summer day, after having a huge ham dinner (ham can create a killer thirst), when having been exercising, when arising in the morning after a long nights sleep that leaves us with “dry mouth”, and on and on. Under those circumstances, I am thirsty and want a good drink of water. I have to ask myself though, “What is my thirst level for God...for the living God?” Do I have a thirst for Him that drives me to Him for spiritual satisfaction that only God can meet.

Remember in John 4 where Jesus meets the woman at the well and asks her for a drink of water. They got into a conversation, Jesus explained to her that there is another water other than what comes from a well. In verse 14 Jesus said:

But whosoever drinketh of the water

that I shall give him shall never thirst;

but the water that I shall give him

shall be in him a well of water springing

up into everlasting life.

What a wonderful invitation Jesus extended to that dear lady and also extends at the same time to us as well. Notice His water is not force-fed. It's a choice we make. We can have as much of Jesus as we want to have. No need for dusty Bible reading...no more parched and dried up times of prayer...dehydrated attitudes and emotions a thing of the past.

I have been digging into Psalm 63 as of late. In it, David speaks of a yearning for more of God in His life and declares his thirst for God as well. His deep desire for God is so wonderfully expressed in verse 1:

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee:

my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth

for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where

no water is.

I so want more of God and less of me. I have the thirst and longing but know I can't do this on my own. For me, it will mean consistent and regular intake of that water that Jesus supplies and to recognize my need of it. I never want to lose my longing for Him and all He wants to provide for me in the good times and difficult ones. He stands ready to satisfy my spiritual thirst. I pray you and I will often drink deeply of Him and all He offers for our spiritual strengthening. We should have no hesitancy in going to Him and simply saying, “I thirst.”

Unlike those Roman soldiers at Jesus' crucifixion, He is happy to meet our every physical and spiritual need.

Lord Jesus...You have said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” So here I am...I'm coming to You because I'm thirsty. I want more of You in my life than I have ever known before. I love You. In Your precious name. Amen

Smiling At The Future

Strength and dignity are her clothing,

and she smiles at the future.

Proverbs 31:25 (NASV)

Our Southern Baptist ladies magazine “Journey” for February has an article in it with a verse that really stirred my spirit. That verse is from Proverbs 31. Had never noticed this verse before and was so grateful it being drawn to my attention because it reminded me of some wonderful people who have meant much to me. It will probably remind you of some special people as well.

I was reminded of my sister Kay. In her church, she always sang in the choir and was known for being the alto with the smile. I've never seen anyone in a church choir who smiled like she did. She called me that she was seriously ill, I went to the hospital in southern Illinois to see her. I was greeted with her smile. I saw nurses come and go and they all got a wonderful smile from her. I believe Kay knew she was dying upon the time of my first arrival. She did step into Heaven within a couple of months. I was with her as were her daughters on the last Sunday morning she attended her church. She couldn't sing in the choir but was with her when she took her choir folder into the choir room and gave it to the minister of music. He gave her a big hug...both were teary, tears that worked their way around Kay's smile. It was her last church service in a church she had served in and loved. She sat with that smile absorbing every moment. I believe Kay was smiling at the future.

I have a little granddaughter, Madelyn who is a smiler. She wakes up in the morning with a huge smile and has since she was old enough to know how to smile. She goes to bed at night with a smile. During the day, her smile is more than frequent. She doesn't know all of the cares of this world like you and I might know but she can smile in the most insignificance of things, be it a beautiful flower or making a little snowman with me while in the mountains. Her smile is no accident. She has a smiling mother who herself has known adversity in various situations, especially with health concerns. Madelyn has a mother who always smiles at her. That infectious smile has become more a part of that little girls life than she will ever know...her smile is a reflection of her mom's smile.

If I may say so, I'm jealous of ladies with beautiful smiles. I didn't grow up with a smile. I chipped a tooth next to a center front tooth and that chip turned black that seemed immediate. My mom used to tell me to not smile very big or that tooth would show. That's when I was about five years old. For many reasons as I grew, I didn't smile very much and am so sorry I didn't know how to overcome those reasons in order to develop a smile. I continue to work on it, reminding myself at times to smile because with Jesus Christ in my life.

I have stood at the bedside of many very sick ladies, ladies with cancer who were in their last days of that horrible disease. They radiated God's glory with the brightest of smiles even though it would seem they had so little strength with which to smile. I have been at funeral homes more times than I care to think about and have watched ladies in the depths of grief who had lost a husband, but were so steeped in the things of God, that they couldn't help but greet friends and family with a smile...a smile that looks to the future where Heaven will be a sweeter place because of their present loss. I remember a family whose house burned and they were left with a horrible mess. That dear wife and mom told me with a smile through her tears how God would provide for their family. She refused to take her eyes off of the Lord. He did provide and that family's faith was strengthened in a wonderful way. I recall a friend of mine who was in a horrible car accident. We didn't know at first if she would make it or how she would make it. She fought for every inch of improvement in her condition. I told her she had to get well because I was going to be moving and she was my pick to teach my Sunday school class. No matter who visited her through those weeks of rehab and healing, she greeted every visitor with what I would call a “smile of faith” for she truly smiled at the future.

We can always smile at the future when things are going well. It's in the difficult days that we might not feel very “smiley.” Our smile mustn't be dependent on the circumstances of life or the seasons thereof. Our smile isn't to be inappropriate, pasted on our faces or appears when someone smiles at us. However, people cannot be judged by their smiles or lack thereof, but they are certainly a blessing and encouragement to others. Different personalities respond in different ways to different situations. Let's determine to allow the glow from God radiate from us through smiles or pleasant looks. Let's determine to smile at the future, no matter what it holds and greet it's coming as God brings it to us however He deems best.

Dear Father...You've given me every reason to smile on the outside and inside of my life. Thank you for Your every benefit in my life. Help me to be more of a smiler as I look to the future...smiling with a confidence that comes only from You. In Jesus name...Amen