Don't Quit

Several months ago, I felt inspired to share the following poem with my brother to encourage him during what I sensed was a troublesome period for him. He hadn't shared with me that anything in particular was going on, but my siblings and I are pretty close and sometimes I can sense when they are discouraged or troubled.

So many, including myself, allow pride or shame or just the feeling that no one will understand to prevent us from opening up even to those closest to us. Instead, we put on a fake smile and attempt to tough out the storm alone.

But we are not alone. We are connected to each other and even more so to God, who I believe is the one who inspired me to reach out to my brother without him asking. My brother was deeply touched and encouraged by this poem—it was a timely word for him. I hope it will be the same for you.

Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, 


When the road you're trudging seems all uphill, 


When the funds are low and the debts are high, 


And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, 


When care is pressing you down a bit, 


Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns, 


As every one of us sometimes learns, 


And many a failure turns about, 


When he might have won had he stuck it out; 


Don't give up though the pace seems slow— 


You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than, 


It seems to a faint and faltering man, 


Often the struggler has given up, 


When he might have captured the victor's cup, 


And he learned too late when the night slipped down, 


How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out— 


The silver tint of the clouds of doubt, 


And you never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems so far, 


So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit— 
 


It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

- Author unknown

A Psalm of Hope and Encouragement

© Olgasharan | Stock Free Images
& Dreamstime Stock Photos

We live in difficult times, but we don't have to let the difficult times live in us. The following Psalm of hope was dedicated to the sons of Korah, who because of their rebellion in the wilderness had been prohibited for 100 years from praising God, and in turn had endured many hard days. It's verses still offer hope and encouragement in these times.

Psalm 42 (NIV)

¹ As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.
² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
³ My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
⁴ These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng.
⁵ Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
⁶ My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
⁷ Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.
⁸ By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.
⁹ I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?”
¹⁰ My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
¹¹ Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Live the Amazing Life

"Life's a b**tch, and then you die," so say the cynics and pessimists.

But no matter what you are going through right now, no matter how difficult, challenging, painful or even deeply tragic your current circumstances, there is one truth you simply must hold onto: You are meant to have an amazing life!

You are meant to have a life of abundant love, joy, peace, friends, health, and assorted other blessings—material and spiritual. So if you find yourself in a hard place right now, simply repeat the following to yourself over and over and over again with all the conviction and enthusiasm you can muster (shout if necessary):

I am meant to have an amazing life!

I know it isn't easy (oh boy, how I know!). Throughout the day we're often inundated with bad news from all corners of the globe: earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding, wars, health scares, collapsing  economies and rising unemployment. And in your own life, it can sometimes seem that everything— career, health, family, relationships, finances, even your mind—is falling apart. Or maybe it's just one thing that makes you want to pull the covers over your head when the alarm sounds in the morning.

Again, no matter what's going on around you, repeat this one truth until it permeates your spirit:

I am meant to have an amazing life!

Now go be amazing!

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. –Winston Churchill
If you don't think every day is a good day, just try missing one. –Cavett Robert

God of Our Fathers

Happy Father's Day!

You could say that I'm a bit of a daddy's girl. Named after my father, I suppose you could say that to some degree he dotes on me. But truthfully, my father dotes on all three of his daughters. We're very dear to his heart as are (were) my three brothers. We are the reason my father rose up very early every morning (around 4 or 5 a.m.) for about 30 years to go to jobs he didn't really enjoy so that we could have food, proper clothing and a nice home. We are also the reason he spent much time on his knees in prayer before God—even until the early hours of the morning just in time to go to work.

My father had a difficult life growing up, and he wanted better for his children. He was born in a small, rural town in Alabama just a few years before the Great Depression to a family of tenant farmers. One of 15 or so children born to my grandmother (one of 26 and still counting sired by grandfather—turns out grandpa was a rolling stone), my father started working at age eleven to help out his family. When my father talks about having to walk 15 plus miles to school barefoot or having to put up with racial slurs to his face to preserve his life, he isn't exaggerating. He endured racism and segregation, poverty, World War II, and an absentee father. He could easily have given up and followed in my grandfather's footsteps, but he found a better example to lead him into manhood and then fatherhood.

Ordained as a minister in 1950 (just before my oldest brother was born), my father's deepest desire has always been (and still is) to live a life that honors God, which includes being a good father. I recall my father once saying in a sermon that any man can provide seed to make a baby, but a true father, a real father, follows the example set by God, the perfect Father. He loves and encourages his children. He leads and teaches them. He protects and provides for them. He chastens them when necessary and he also comforts them. But most importantly, he prays for them to help establish their destiny.

To be a Godly father—that is the call my father aspired to. Has he always hit the mark? No. He will tell you himself that he's made countless mistakes in his life as a husband, as a father, as a minister, as a person. He will also tell you that every success he's ever achieved as a father and as a man, he owes to his perfect Father, God. My father has tried (and still does) to be the best father he can be and to demonstrate God's love for us. And whenever he missed it, he went to God for forgiveness and answers.

I'm very thankful for my father. Besides giving me my name, he taught me the value of education, hard work, and perseverance.  Above all else, he taught me how important it is to trust Father God. He never abandons or neglects His children, and He can love me in a way that my natural father cannot. Psalm 149 says that God delights in me (I take His word very personally).

My prayers for fathers on this day and every day is that they will be all God created them to be— leaders, providers, protectors and priests of their households—for their sakes and the sakes of their children. The world needs good fathers.

"The righteous who walks in his integrity–blessed are his children after him!" - Proverbs 20:7 ESV

The Message

I've said this once before, but it bears repeating: The Message version of the Bible is fast becoming my favorite version.

Intended for 20-somethings, I think, The Message uses contemporary English to engage people in reading the Bible and to help them more easily understand what they read. And since it was translated directly from the original Greek and Hebrew manuscripts, it maintains the integrity of the Scriptures.

I like it's rhythm and flow and that it's easy-to-understand. The Message is absolutely transforming my Bible study, giving me new insight into passages of Scriptures I've read dozens of times before, like the following:

"God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us." – Ephesians 3:20

I got excited reading this passage, which I suspect was Paul's intent when he wrote it—to inspire excitement about God and His Word.

While I'm sure there are some who will think The Message not very reverential, for me, being excited about God's Word is never a bad thing.

Stumbling in the Dark

"Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season,

if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold

that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise

and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ..."

–1 Peter 1:6-8

When I began this blog several months ago, I made a conscious decision to be as transparent as I could be about my spiritual journey—sharing my current experiences and even past ones—in the hope that I might encourage others. Even in the face of the most difficult challenges, I've always believed that it helps to at least try to maintain a positive, hopeful outlook—to believe that somehow God is going to come through and it will all work out. However, lest you be deceived into believing that I find living by faith easy, a continual joy fest, I am compelled to share that it isn't. 

There have been moments, many of them, where everything in my life seemed to go wrong all at once, and despite my best efforts, every decision I made seemed to make the problems worse not better. I have felt at times like I was stumbling through life in the dark—not knowing whether to go left or right or to just stand still—and the still, small voice of God that I desperately longed to and needed to hear, if for no other reason than reassurance, was strangely silent. I wish I could say that during such moments I manage to remain at peace and full of faith, and that I don't get anxious or depressed and cry like a baby. That I'm not overcome with fear. That I don't struggle to resist the seemingly endless stream of negative thoughts: "give up," "God has forgotten you," "you're on your own," "nobody cares," "you can't do this," etc. That I don't doubt or question God's love and His goodness toward me. I wish I could say these things, but I can't.

As someone who likes to be able to see where she's going and have all the answers up front, learning to trust a God who doesn't always show His hand is tough. Some days it seems downright impossible, and there have been times where I've totally blown it.

Thank God for friends who come along to remind me of what I already know in the inner most part of my being: that God is good, that He is faithful and He is totally trustworthy. Regardless of how I may feel about Him from one moment to the next, I know His love for me remains constant. There is nothing that I can do, nothing that I can say, that will make Him stop loving me. He's given me His Word on it and that Word is forever settled in heaven and earth. I also have God's Word that because He loves me, He will always provide the help that I need. 

Difficult as they are, the moments where I'm stumbling in the dark allow me the opportunity to learn to fully trust God. Sometimes, He brings us to the end of our own wisdom, knowledge and plans to save ourselves, so that we'll cry out to Him and no one else but Him. I wish it were easier; I wish that I could always see clearly the path in front of me. But who needs faith for what they can already see? It's in the darkness that we grow in faith and God gets to show Himself to be God.

A Meditation #3

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God." - Psalm 42:1 (NIV)

You see me. In all my fear and anxiety. In all my failure and weakness. Wherever I go. Whatever I do. You are there. To lead me. To comfort me. To strengthen and restore me. From the depths of my soul I cry out to you Jesus. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Forever faithful. Forever true. Loving Savior, comforter, friend, deliverer, healer. My heart is yours.

My Beautiful Savior

"I just wanna wait on You my God.

I just wanna dwell on who You are.

Beautiful, beautiful. Oh I am lost for more to say.

Beautiful, beautiful. Oh Lord, You're beautiful to me."

Beautiful by Kari Jobe 

© Integrity Music 2009

I'm in a season of rediscovering Jesus. Daily, he's been revealing to me His true nature: a loving, compassionate Savior full of grace and truth who gives rather than demands, saves rather than condemns, teaches rather than judges, restores rather than tears down, comforts rather than admonishes. He is steel and velvet. Meekness and majesty. Servant and Lord. 

My heart's desire is that the more I grow in intimacy with this Jesus, the more His grace, His love and His beauty will radiate through me to others. Then I will truly be His witness.

“Preach the Gospel to everyone and use words if necessary.” - Saint Francis of Assisi