Pause...For a Blessing in my Stormy Weekend

A Blessing in the Storm…MD messed up my life and made me whole by Lori Laws has been on my mind to read for quite some time. The moment I saw it had been published as an e-book, I purchased it. Life got in the way, though, and I had not been able to get past the title page.

This weekend, a stormy weekend oddly enough, I had some down time and was determined that this would be my opportunity to start it. Start it? I couldn’t put it down (yes, I printed it out). I finished it. It’s that gripping.

Lori’s memoir, underneath the surface, is not really about her struggle with Muscular Dystrophy, though it is the catalyst for every message in it. It’s mostly about her plight spiritually. She writes in her introduction: “This book is for anyone who is suffering with anything.” I whole-heartedly agree.

Ever wrestled with pride? Self-righteousness? Unbelief? Vanity? 

Have you ever enjoyed a destructive lifestyle?

Do you suffer with chronic pain of any kind, whether it be physical or emotional?

Do you have guilt or dysfunction from your past that clutters your heart and mind?

Have you given in to your circumstances or allowed them to identify you?

Are you convinced that God doesn’t listen or doesn’t know what He’s doing?

Do you have a hope unfulfilled? 

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then Lori’s e-book will encourage you more than you could ever imagine. The instant I read the foreword written by Lori’s husband, I knew that this would not be a book of pat answers for someone struggling with disease. Rather an authentic testimony of hope found amidst the struggle.

And Hope is the paper this story was written on…

Lori is genuine, honest, purposeful and direct with her memoir. It’s filled with day-to-day stories and experiences that have carved her into a beautiful woman of God, one who is still learning how to lean and showing others how to do so right alongside her. Lori writes, “Remember that nothing ahead of you is bigger or stronger than the power of God behind you.” That God-power is what has made her God-strong even with a disease that has the potential to leave her feeling powerless and weak.

My insights on Lori’s testimony and message cannot do them justice. I encourage you to see what God has in it for you. Even if you are not a believer in the God of all hope and comfort, I encourage you to read her story. If you are someone who thinks you have it all together, there could be a jewel in it for you too. If you find yourself not knowing what to say to a friend who is struggling, or if you are a spouse or relative to someone with chronic pain or illness, Lori’s book has the potential to lead your heart to greater insight and perspective regarding these relationships.

Though a Kleenex or two is needed along the way, she will lead you to a place of Hope if you are willing to stop there. She will show you the place where, in her words, “God saw me, and in His great mercy saved me and brought the sweetest peace.”

Click here to purchase or find out more about A Blessing in the Storm. Lori gives 20 percent of the proceeds to her local crisis pregnancy center.

A Quick Wit and A Stiff Neck

Hey all, as you know I've been rather busy lately. Tis the season in my life! ;) Anyway, many of you probably don't even know that I have a totally separate devotional ministry where I send out devotionals and fiction stories from my regular Lovinthearts.com ministry website , so I thought I would post one of them from awhile back. I hope it ministers to you today.

God has gifted me with a quick, dry wit. Constantly, I hear catch phrases that ring in my mind and cause it to answer. It’s a blessing and a curse. Some people are drawn to it; others probably run the other direction as soon as they see me just to avoid it. If you could be inside my mind for one day, I guarantee you would either be greatly entertained or incredibly concerned. Anyway, I’ll get to the point of why I’m mentioning it.

One day recently, I woke up with excruciating pain in my neck. While issues with my neck are common, this day was worse than normal, as it wouldn’t even relent to the pain medicine. Halfway through the day, Wit spoke up: “What a pain in the neck!” I chuckled in my mind. Later in the day, she spoke up again: “You stiff-necked woman!” That one wasn’t quite as funny to me, of course, as it reminded me of the stubborn Israelites.

As I awoke that next morning, the pain woke with me. I couldn’t even move my neck from side to side without a wince. I was thankful for Mrs. Wit’s humor to keep me amused along the way.

What amazes me is that God often uses these little illustrations in life to strike me and remind me of Himself. As I spent time in prayer, the Holy Spirit reminded me of some unconfessed sin in my life. I was quick to deal with it.

Then He brought to my mind some areas of complacency and unbelief. I gave those over.

Then a tucked away verse woke up my memory: “Do not be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” That sent me on a trail of trying to figure out what this means to a Christian, and more importantly, to me:

“See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said: ‘Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.’”
Hebrews 3:12-15

Though I’ve read this verse many times before, the Lord showed me this time that it is possible as a mature believer to turn away from Him with sin or unbelief.

Before, when I’ve envisioned “turning away from the living God,” I’ve thought of a BIG turning away, kind of like the prodigal son. I picture a monumental decision to leave the Christian life to seek my own pleasure.

While that is certainly a possibility here, I don’t believe it is the only one. It says, “BUT encourage one another DAILY.” Wow---I can actually deal with a sinful, unbelieving heart on a daily basis?!?!?

One of the things about sin is that it can tiptoe up on us.....it is deceitful. It wants to make us believe that we will be unaffected from the repercussions of a wishy-washy lifestyle, but read on: “We have come to share in Christ IF WE HOLD FIRMLY TILL THE END the confidence we had at first.”

We want to share in Christ, don’t we? Do we still have the confidence IN Him to live rightly BEFORE Him? Micah 6:8 says, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

To walk humbly requires a daily giving over of ourselves. If we’re not careful, sneaky sin can convince us that we don’t have time to do this or that it’s not necessary....we can become a “stiff-necked” people, if you will. So what is the answer for us?

The answer is found in Psalm 95:2-8a:

“Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods; In His hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land. COME—let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care. TODAY, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts....”

Let’s stretch our necks out for Him today, noticing His creation on the left, His blessings on the right, and His provision right in front of us. As He shares this with us, may it cause us to look UP, renewing in us the confidence to hold on firmly all the way to the end.

© Copyright 2007 Laura L. Shaw
All scripture references are from the NIV unless otherwise noted.

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In the Key of HE,

Dorito Brain Damage

Leaving ocean waves behind today to discuss brain waves. And yes, me wants to discuss Doritos.

Ahhhhhh, Doritos...I used to eat 'em by the handfuls after school as a kid. I would start with one, and before I knew it, half the bag was gone. It never seemed to be enough. I wasn't hungry for more, but my taste buds wanted more, ya know?

Even today, the crunch, the munch, the absolute glorious taste of a Dorito chip overwhelms me. I can't eat them often, because as a person with hypothyroid AND as a former binger set free, I can only allow myself these fattening, unhealthy pleasures sparingly.

Yesterday was that day. Oh myyyyyyy, were them goooooood. Cool Ranch too. Yummers. But ya know, with each chip, the thing I noticed was that I couldn't keep from eating one more. "Okay," I would tell myself, "just oooone more, and that's it." I started to get frustrated, because my tongue didn't feel satisfied, but my tummy did, so I kept tossin them in...even tried letting one melt in my mouth to absorb the flavor. Bleck! Not a good idea.

After I finally got sick of the goopy, powdery flavoring on the top, I stopped. I shoved the bag as far away from me as possible and walked away, as if I were putting down a gun or something: "(((EXCUSE ME, PUT-THE-WEAPON-DOWN)))" may as well of been blaring from a loud speaker in my kitchen with red lights and sirens going off.

That's when it dawned on me. I finally figured out why you can't ever eat just a few Doritos. First of all, I have brain damage from all of the Doritos I ate as a kid. More importantly, I figured out their lil secret. They taste good when they first hit your tongue, (I guess it's all the salty, goopy, powdery flavoring on the top), but there is an icky aftertaste, so it makes you want the next one to have the yummy taste again. Make sense? Pretty soon you're shoveling them in one right after the other so you don't have the aftertaste at all.

So no more. I'm reversing the brain damage caused from the Dorito maker's addiction scheme. I'm saying "no" to them.

Because I can't help but make an analogy out of almost everything, I have to say that Doritos are a lot like sin. Often it tastes good at first...but it always leaves a bad aftertaste. And if a Christian gets to the point where she is just sinning one right after the other in order to avoid the aftertaste, well, some real damage is occurring. She'll eventually have to hear, "Put the bag down and put your hands up," if you know what I mean. Each and every day, we need to examine our lives for sin. When we do so, we'll probably find some. Then we confess it, we toss it to Jesus and put our hands in the air, knowing He is the only One who can cleanse us from it. Ask Him to help you see it coming and avoid it, say "No" to it.

Unconfessed sin brings about heart damage. It puts a wedge between you and an abundant relationship with the Lord. And that's scarey, because first of all, He is the Lord, and He is holy. But second of all, He is the only One who can truly give us the kind of fruit we need to live a victorious Christian life.

The Lord is the real deal. Yes, He tastes so good, it makes us want more, but He completely satisfies our longings in the process. Don't try to substitute Him for that person, that place or that thing. Lift up your hands and praise the Lord.

Psalm 63:4-5 (NLT)
I will praise You as long as I live,
lifting up my hands to You in prayer.
You satisfy me more than the richest feast.
I will praise You with songs of joy.

In the Key of HE,

Live to Die

Warm tears streaked down my cheeks yesterday. It was the first time I had turned on the radio in awhile. See, music has always been a HUGE part of my life, but the last few years have been particularly noisy and crowded, so I find myself enjoying silence more and more. For instance, if I turn the radio on, then my kids just get louder to talk or play over it. As a result, I sorta quit bothering with it.

My husband likes constant noise. When he's home the radio is almost always on, so it's on all throughout the house and even on the back patio, and certainly in the car. But when it's me alone as of lately, my preference has simply been-----sweet silence.

As I was driving to a meeting last night, I prayed the Lord would help the time to go well, and then I felt led to turn on the radio. Weird! No, I need to pray, Lord. I need the silence. I need to think. The knob, quite frankly, did everything but reach out and grab my fingers. So I turned it on.

Above all powers,
Above all kings,
Above all nature
And all created things
Above all wisdom
And all the ways of man
You were here before the world began

I couldn't find a kleenex, but a fast food napkin would have to do. What is it about that song? It's been out for years, and each time I hear it, it still falls fresh on me. I was drawn to belt out the chorus with my mucky, weepy voice.

"Crucified, laid behind the stone
You lived to die
Rejected and alone
Like a rose trampled on the ground,
You took the fall and thought of me
Above All."

He lived to die.
He lived to die.
He was trampled on for me.
He thought of me.
Above all, He took the fall.
He lived to die.

It was in His dying, that I live in freedom today. I'm so glad He led me to turn on the radio and "give up" my silent moment. It was the most worshipful one I've had in awhile. And this morning, He continued, by leading me to 1 Peter 2:24:

He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.

Today, I want to live for righteousness and die to what my self wants. Just like He did for me. I certainly don't want to trample all over Him again. Not me. Not today. With His help, and my eyes on Him above all, I can live to die today.

Anointed

This is a fiction piece posted especially for Patty Wysong's Fiction Fridays. See her button on the side of this page, click on it, and you'll get to read some more great fiction!

It must have been awkward for Trish to attend the Lifegroup at our church, since her non-Christian husband never came with her. My husband Tom and I were one of five couples attending the group. Trish was the odd woman out, but she found her place by leading us during the worship time.

She would praise so genuinely that sometimes I would open my eyes and wonder if I was on earth or in heaven. Whenever complimented, she would remark, “Please don’t tell me how pretty I sing. Tell God how awesome He is for singing through me.” The one word I would use to describe her? Anointed.

Then she suddenly ceased attending. Meeting after meeting, she would present one excuse after another as to why she could not come.

“Are you okay, Trish?” I asked when I finally got her on the phone.

“Yes,” she tried to assure me, “I’m just busy.” Her voice sounded strange—even fearful. I prayed for her before saying good-bye.

Another “Sorry, I can’t come,” message reached me the next week, and I felt led to pray.

Lord, You know Trish. I’m scared that she’s being abused or something. Help her to ask for help from her friends, Father. Please show us what to do.

Immediately after I rose from my knees, the Holy Spirit prompted me to invite the group to our place the following night. Tom and I had never done so before, as we were embarrassed about how small our house was, but I was going to obey God. Tom will forgive me for not running it by him first, I reasoned.

Jim and Tracy arrived first, and Jim brought his guitar as a result of some arm twisting. “Ok, I’ll do it,” he relented, “IF you guys won’t make fun of my old guitar or my crickety voice.”

“Deal!” I vowed.

Tom continued to greet the others at the door while I served the snacks and tried to find places for everyone to sit comfortably. It’ll have to do, I assured myself.

Trish was the only one who wasn’t there. Where’s Trish? How are You going to help her if she’s not here, Lord?

“Well, guys, welcome to our humble abode,” Tom announced.

Trying not to show my disappointment, I added, “I had hoped that Trish could come, but since I didn’t hear from her, I’m concerned. Could we pray for her?”

Keith White took the lead. “God has laid a prayer burden for her on my heart for some time, so I’ll pray.” We all bowed our heads, and I prayed with my mind with as Keith asked the Lord to “find a way to bring Trish back to us.”

A beautiful chord sounded, and then Jim sang, “God will make a way, where there seems to be no way. He works in ways, we cannot see….” *

As his finger strummed the strings of that old guitar, I was surprised how rich it sounded. After the song, Tracy said, “I’m always amazed when such a magnificent sound comes out of that ugly thing.”

Jim retorted, “Hey! Who you callin’ ugly?” That sent us into a wave of one-liners and laughter, until we suddenly noticed Trish standing just beyond our circle. She had walked through the front door without our noticing. Her eyes were filled with emotional tears that looked like they could flood our entire home if permitted to flow freely. Her voice broke through the silence, “God made a beautiful sound through that old beat-up guitar--and it made me realize that maybe you guys will still love me even when you find out that I’m even more beat-up than it is.”

I said, “Trish, of course we will still love you. What is going on?”

A wave of shock shot through my heart when she sobbed, “I’ve been having an affair. I’m such an ugly sinner!” The floodgates opened. “But I need help. I don’t want to do this anymore.”

I couldn’t breathe. We all stood stunned, but just for a moment.

What a nightmare, God. Please show us what to say and do.

We took turns praying over her, each of us committing to help her walk through the steps of restoration as stated in Scripture.

It could have killed our group, but it made us stronger instead. I was blown away by the power of God in our living room that night. The word Trish uses to describe our Lifegroup in her restoration testimony now? Anointed.



*God Will Make A Way—Words and music by Don Moen

Hunting Wabbit

Every time my family goes on a walk at dusk, our dog loves to chase the bunny rabbits in the neighborhood. And there are bunches of them.

Last night, I watched my dog Abby come to a screeching halt in the middle of a pretty good pace. Her ears perked up, the hair on her spine stood straight out, and she morphed to a hunting dog in a nanosecond. She saw a rabbit gnawing on some grass, unaware of her presence.

The extreme amount of self-control and patience that Abby showed while sneaking up to make her "kill" was nothing short of amazing. I wish I could be that graceful.

But I also noticed the rabbit, who began to sense that something was not right. It froze. It's eyes were the only thing moving, watching for any sudden movement. It's ears were perked, listening for the slightest crunching of the grass.

As crafty and skilled as Abby is at hunting, the rabbit always gets away before Abby's leash is extended to its maximum length.  Hard telling what would happen if we let her off her leash. Yikes.

The Holy Spirit in me showed me a direct parallel between this scene and 1 Peter 5:7-8.

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 

Be self-controlled and alert. 

Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion 

looking for someone to devour. 

Resist him, standing firm in the faith...

Just as that rabbit is fully alert and prepared for anyone 'hunting wabbit,' so I should be the same in my faith walk. Not only that, but I must rely on my Lord to help me do so. As I ask Him for protection, He will most certainly provide it.  Because He cares for me. Satan is not allowed to harm me as a believer in any way without the Lord's permission. His leash is controlled by the Omnipotent Ruler of the universe.

That's why God gave me these verses. He wants me to do my part. Trust Him, exercise His fruit of self-control, stay aware of the evil and sin that looms around me, and resist it--by standing firm in my faith. 

I'm going to do that the only way I know how...by praying right now.

Lord, You have opened my eyes and ears to a message You wanted me to see and hear. Now give me the legs to walk in this Truth. I love You and want to resist the devil's schemes and traps. I trust You to help me do so. Thank You for caring for me enough to keep me safe.

In Jesus' name, Amen.