This prayer is in response to a Bible study question. I post it, absolutely, as a reminder to Me. But if you find it and it fits you, yay! Be encouraged!

God,

Thank You for making me as I am—–and using me that way.

I’m unique,

NOT odd.

The world needs me as I am—-as You’ve made me.

Thank You.

Your Daughter

When our daughter was young, and subject to ugly teasing, I’d send her out the door with this question:

What are you?

She’d respond with a verse from Psalm 139:

“I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Sometimes, I have to send myself out the door with the same question and answer.

lonnie

When I lived in Esther Hall (business women’s dorm) decades/scores! ago, I loved Friday nights. They were leftover nights–samplings of meals we’d had all week. I still love leftovers– be they food or words. I’m reviewing recently read books and posting quotes as reminders.

Feel free to eavesdrop. Feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to know how lessons/ quick quips strike you.

“I am not suggesting that the church isolate itself as St. Benedict proposed. I am saying that if we are not distinct from the world, we will have nothing to say to the world.”

The Church in Babylon p.24; Moody Publishers 2018; Erwin Lutzer

God,

I’m not too keen on standing out in a crowd. I don’t like being different, but . . . if I am to represent You, I have no choice. Help me.

lonnie

This is the lesson I’ve learned about Mina’s death . . . Too often, even Christians forget that our faith is not primarily for this life. It is for the life to come. We who are still here are the ones who have been left behind. Our real life has not even begun, but for martyrs like Mina, it has.

When you live in Saudi Arabia and give yourself to Jesus, you forfeit your right to live.”

Tom Doyle; Killing Christians, p.146-147; Word Publishing 2015

Rafia woke to hear the Quran being quoted over her and to see a knife poised inches from her face. A second knife suddenly joined the first. They belonged to her uncles. Her death was to be the judgment for her becoming a Christian.

But . . . her death was not to come.

For 10 full minutes her uncles stood frozen above her, knives in hand. But then, as if following orders, they hurried out of the room.

Her young daughter explained why. “Didn’t you see Jesus? He was holding their hands back.”

Rafia was spared. Mina was not; Mina was beaten to death. Rafua struggled with that. Why Mina? Why not her?

Because, as she learned,

She (Rafia) was the one left behind. Mina’s life had just begun . . . in the presence of Jesus.

Living out our faith is getting harder. I believe it will become harder still.

lonnie

That’s what Mom used to say.

Others might say, “You have a lot of room to talk; have you looked in the mirror lately?”

Erwin Lutzer says it this way:

“Remember, it was because of Jonah and not the pagan sailors that the storm blew on the sea.”

Do I hear an ouch?

“Let those of us in our churches not sit in judgment of the world, however, for all too often, we are the world, sharing in our culture’s sins and failures

. . . Too often we are blind to our own darkness. We criticize the world for calling darkness light, but perhaps we do the same.”

I can’t help but think of 2 Chronicles 7:14 NASB

“If MY PEOPLE WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from THEIR wicked ways, THEN I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (emphasis mine)

Our land needs healed! Can we accept that it might not be all the sin around us that is the problem, but the sin WITHIN us?

God, help us–for the sake of so many who don’t know You,

lonnie

Erwin Lutzer/The Church In Babylon p.23/Moody Press 2018

“Only in a world where faith is difficult can faith exist.”

I was intrigued. Of course faith is hard; otherwise it wouldn’t be faith. Right? But who wants it that way? We can order everything else online with little effort; why not faith? I continued reading Lee Strobel’s quote from an interview with Peter John Kreeft, PH.D.

“I don’t have faith in two plus two equals four or in the noonday sun. They are beyond question. But Scripture describes God as a hidden God. You have to make an effort to find him.”

“God gives us just enough evidence so that those who want him can have him. Those who want to follow the clues will.” ( The Case For Faith/ Lee Strobel/Zondervan 2000)

I couldn’t help but think of Jeremiah 29:13-14a

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you . . .” (NIV) That is so full of hope. Yes, effort is required, but “I will be found —- by you . . .”

I’m still intrigued. “Only in a world where faith is difficult can faith exist . . .”

What are your thoughts? Feelings? Stories?

lonnie

Researchers found that both Republicans and Democrats, today, “think that they are driven by benevolence, while the other side is evil and motivated by hate. Therefore neither side is willing to negotiate or compromise.” ( Arthur C. Brooks/ Love Your Enemies p.21/ Broadside Books 2019)

How, then, is progress possible?!

Brooks qualifies this statement with the word “majority.” The “majority” of both parties–which means “not all.”

And herein is where I’m trying to change.

I see facebook posts about wicked or evil Democrats.

I am SO against abortion, more so partial-birth abortion, and even more against not providing medical care for a baby who survives abortion. I hate guns, but . . . I also think it’s dangerous to take firearms away from responsible citizens. My biblical understanding does not allow me to vote for same-sex marriage, nor to approve of all-inclusive and graphic sex education in elementary schools,

BUT . . .

when I’m tempted to lump all Democrats together, I remind myself of people I know and love: friends, family, and co-workers who are absolutely generous, intelligent, compassionate, and fun! People I love to hug and spend time with.

We may, very well, recognize the same problems but disagee drastically on how to solve them.

I’m afraid I do entertain conspiracy at times. There ARE evil people in the world. They have selfish and evil agendas. BUT they aren’t all Democrats; NOR can I say that none are Republicans.

“A January 2017 Reuters/Ipos poll found that one in six Americans had stopped talking to a family member or close friend because of the 2016 election.” p.4 plus footnote/ Love Your Enemies

I, sadly, lost a friend over 2016 election issues.

A friend of mine lost a Long-Long-Time friend.

The interesting piece is that this last friend is Democrat and I’m Independent/Republican. That being said, other than her ranting about Trump, and me listening, we don’t talk politics. There ARE other things to talk about. But someday, I hope we CAN put our thoughts on the table. If we can’t come to an agreement, that’s okay. That’s what voting is for. But I hope we can come away with greater understanding and I hope that we can come away with a new discovery: a sliver of middle ground.

lonnie

If you haven’t memorized Proverbs 3:5-6, you’ve likely heard it quoted many times. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding . . .”

One day, I discovered verse 7 and found it inseparable from the rest. I wondered how people could leave it out.

“Do not be wise in your own eyes;

fear the Lord and turn away from evil.” (v. 7)

I frequently pray all those verses for President Trump. Appropriate don’t you think?

But “I” need those same things. I need direction. And frankly, more times than not, I lean on my own understanding BECAUSE I am “wise in my own eyes.”

That I would, fairly consistently, put President Trump’s name and my own on the same prayer request just seems odd. Our lives and influences couldn’t be more opposite.

Yet so many times, when I begin praying for a flaw in someone else’s life, I find it in my own. Perhaps that’s why Jesus tells us to take the log out of our own eye before trying to help someone take the speck of dust out of their’s.

Just As I Am . . .

lonnie

I shouldn’t pretend I’m going to “look” unless I have no form of money on my person.

Yet

Four books later: 59 cents, 79 cents, 99 cents and $1.00. How could I pass those up?

Yet

I won’t live long enough to read all the books I own; UNLESS . . . I turn off the TV.

But

I can’t crochet and hold a book at the same time.

But, but, yet, well . . . drink more coffee, away from home.

Senior coffee–50 cents works; and an occasional Happy Hour cookie; salted caramel, of course.

One of my buys, today, was Lee Strobel’s “A Case For Faith.” Strobel interviewed Charles Templeton, a one-time evangelist; a pulpit partner and close friend of Billy Graham. Strobel had questions–lots of them. Why would Templeton walk away from God to become an agnostic?

Templeton explained that he could not believe in a God who allowed such suffering, like Alzheimer’s and people (children!) dying just for the need of rain. He couldn’t believe in a God who had every power to intervene, but did not.

And Yet . . .

When Strobel asked Templeton what he thought of Jesus, Templeton declared Him to be the greatest man that ever lived. With tears racing down his face and shoulders heaving up and down, Templeton said, “I . . . miss . . . him!”

How about you? Do you miss Jesus? Maybe you will join me in reading this book. Strobel began as an athiest, so I look forward to reading why he continues to live for Jesus.

lonnie

” . . . the worst slum I’ve ever seen,” Sheila Walsh wrote of a slum in Cambodia.

And yet—- the slum was right beside a recently built temple, of luxurious proportions with a gold-plated roof. Sheila asked her translator why some of the money wasn’t used to help these people living in the stench of a dump.

“He told me the priests believe that the poor should not be helped as it’s their fault that they are poor. If poor people take the little that they have and give it to the temple priests, they might be reincarnated in a better situation next time.

They call it karma.

No mercy,

no grace,

no hope.”

Did you catch the word MIGHT?

Sheila reminds us that, “Grace is a gift unique to those in relationship with God. No other religion offers grace.”

Did you catch the word GIFT? Not earned. But, ours for the receiving.

“God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

We are God’s masterpiece . . .”

We are God’s masterpiece! We are valued! That’s a long way from living in the trash because you “deserve it!”

If you have the gift that Jesus offers, share it.

lonnie

“Even as an earthly parent loves the child long before the child ever begins to love the parent, so our heavenly Father loves us before we loved him. As the Apostle Paul stated—he loved us while we were yet sinners, unworthy of his love.” (Dr. Clifford M. Drury/ We Believe in Prayer p. 94; T.S. Denison and Co. 1958)

I remember telling our two children that I would love them no matter what!

As I recall, it was a difficult time when I told our son. I only knew part of the story that was playing out. And what if . . . we just never know, do we?

Look at some of the ugly stories on the news. Did those parents ever think their sweet children could rob, rape, or kill?

I knew I was taking a risk when I declared forever love. But all that changes is that I love him more.

Our daughter and I had a rough go of it for a while. I’m more aware, now, of what a BEAUTIFUL daughter I have.

Our grand-daughter told us she was transgender. We had to tell her that we didn’t agree with her, but we would ALWAYS love her. That dynamic is tricky sometimes; no doubt, on her side as much as mine. But . . . I love her.

Facebook permits me to see the joy my nieces and nephews feel in their babies.

God loves us like that—and so much better. As with us and our children, God loved us before we knew what love was—and before we knew what it cost.

For the asking, we are forgiven.

Without asking, we are absolutely and fully loved—FOREVER.

In honor of my Father,

lonnie