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Your life will be as bright as the noonday sun. Job 11:17

Monthly Archives: July 2017


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She Didn’t Even See Me

I started this morning kinda hard.  Really hard.  As in face down on some cement.  This is how it happened…

I went out early for my morning walk (trying to make at least three miles each day).  On my way to the walking track my feet got tangled in some orange safety netting.  So much for safety because down I went scraping elbows, palms and worse of all, my knees.  Both of them.  You have to know that I am super protective of my knees.  Osteoarthritis has long plagued both, and as I age, it has gotten progressively worse.  Injuring a knee is the LAST thing I want to happen.

Oh well, so much for wanting because I hurt them – scrapes, bruises and swelling.

At this point I wasn’t sure if I was glad or not that no one was around.  My pride was glad that I was alone, but I surely needed some help getting up because I had to kneel on the cement and those injured knees to stand.  More scraping.  More bruising.  And now some blood, sweat and tears.

Nevertheless, I was able to stand and limp back to my car.  I dusted myself off, grabbed some tissues to blot the blood and searched my knapsack for a bandage.  No luck.  I thought I might still be able to walk (I want to get those three miles in!) if I could just get some bandages and maybe some Neosporin and Aleve.  Close to a grocery store, I drove there.  Not open.  Passed two drug stores.  Not open.  Ahhhhhh, a dollar store!  And it was open.

Still early in the morning, there was only one person working in the store and now me.  At this point my knees were swelling and because of the bleeding my pants were sticking to them.  I said, “Good morning, can you tell me where the first aid supplies are?”  The clerk responded, “Huh?”  I said, “Band Aids” to which she replied, “Aisle 12.”  Now hobbling (Is this worse than limping?  It felt worse.), I made it to what I thought was Aisle 12, but I did not see bandages, Neosporin or anything else that looked like a first aid supply except some cotton balls.  Tears welled in my eyes; I was hurting.  I called to the lady, “Maam” (That’s what we say in the South even though I suspect I was twice her age at least.) “Excuse me, but I don’t see any bandages.”  She snapped, “I said Aisle 12; you are on 13!”  As my grandmother used to say, “I don’t know who licked the red off of her candy,” especially so early in the morning, but I just needed some bandages and to elevate and ice these knees.

Over to Aisle 12.  Band Aids, Neosporin and Bacitracin.  Passing by the cooler, I grabbed a bottle of cold water – to drink and to put on these now throbbing knees.  My elbows and palms had begun to burn.  I stopped at the first register to pay.  The clerk walked past me to the third register and yelled, “Down here.”  My Lord, more steps.  And in the wrong direction – away from the door, the parking lot and my car.  By now I am beginning to tremble (don’t know if it was nerves, anxiety or something else).  Trembling and tearing I fumble into my purse to pay.  The clerk takes my money and throws (literally) my stuff in the bag mumbling, “Come again; have a nice day.”

A nice day?!

She never looked up.

She didn’t even see me.

Yes, she saw a woman come into the store.  If I’d committed a crime, she probably would have been able to report accurately to the police that I am Black, heavyset and was wearing black trousers.  She might be able to add that I wore my hair in a ponytail.  Beyond that, she didn’t see me.  She didn’t see ME.  The hobble (or limp).  The tears.  The trembling.  The need for help.  The need for a gentle response.

Rather than be angered, I thought, “How many times have I not seen people?”  How many times have I been guilty of having a conversation (“Come again; have a nice day.”) without really seeing the person (or meaning the words)?

We are commanded to love each other (John 15:12), to lay down our lives (John 15:13), to give (Matthew 5:42) and to look to the interests of others (Philippians 2:4) all so that we might point others to Christ and so that our Father in heaven may be glorified (Matthew 5:16).  We can do none of this if we do not first “see” people.

In my car, crying and bleeding, I prayed, “Father, open my eyes and my heart that I will never pass another person and not “see” them.”  I am grateful to the Lord for this early morning lesson; I just wish I could have gotten it a little less painfully.  😉

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Punished or Positioned

This is a very personal post, one born of conversations with a cherished friend that ultimately thrust me into a place of deep introspection.

My friend is facing a season of challenge, a season that I told her a weaker woman could not endure. I suspect God would not even call a weaker woman to navigate such a season. We are reminded in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that no temptation overtakes us except what is common to mankind, and God is faithful not letting us be tempted beyond what we can bear and when (not if) we are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that we can endure it.  Actually, He will provide a way for us to surthrive!

John Gill’s commentary on the Corinthians pericope gives greater insight, understanding and, I think, comfort and hope! Gill writes:

“Some, indeed, understand these words by way of reproof, that whereas their trials and exercises which had attended them were very light ones, and comparatively trivial; and yet they had given way to these temptations, and had sunk under them, and fallen by them, for which they were greatly to be blamed; or as threatening them with something more severe than anything as yet had befallen them, signifying that though they had as yet stood, and thought they still should; yet they ought not to presume on their own strength, or depend on outward things; since the temptations that as yet had come upon them were such as men might easily bear; there was no great trial or experiment of their grace and strength by them; they had not yet resisted unto blood; there were heavier and severer trials they might expect; and therefore should not be too secure in themselves, but take heed lest when these things should come upon them, in such a time of great temptation, they should fall away.”

Gill continues suggesting that “the words are spoken by way of comfort to the saints; intimating that as no temptation or affliction had befallen them, so none should, but what either came from men, or was common to men, or which men by divine assistance, and under divine influence, might bear; and therefore should not distress themselves with the apprehensions of it, as if it was some strange or unusual thing, and as if they must unavoidably perish and be destroyed by it:

Okay. There are really just two questions the first being, “does God ever give allow us more hardship than we can handle?” (The short answer, of course, is “yes!”) The second question, one which my friend has asked, is “why?” (The only slightly longer but still short answer is “so that we will rely on God and not on our own understanding, strength or power.”

Just as I have when I have encountered seasons of challenge, my friend commented that she felt she was being punished – especially because this season has come about (as so many do) through no fault of hers. Haven’t we all been there? Minding our business, doing right…then BAM! From seemingly nowhere, unexpected and not even deserved (according to us) – a major challenge. A hardship. A struggle. A complication. A setback. Call it what you want, we don’t want it, and we wonder, “why?” Specifically, “why me?”

I will offer you the same question that I offered my friend. Are you being punished or positioned?

I will not attempt to retell but rather will redirect you to the story of Joseph, ask you to read it and consider the question (see Genesis 37). Was Joseph punished or positioned?

If you are at all familiar with the Scriptures, you know there are many others. God positions us for His purposes; every hardship is not about us. Again, look at Joseph. Though he had to endure being sold into slavery, the unwanted advances ad then lies of Potiphar’s wife, imprisonment, being forgotten and more, he was positioned to save his family – including those who authored his hardship.

When (not if) you face a season of struggle, consider you may be being positioned to be used mightily by God. Count it all joy when you fall into various trials (James 1:2-18); your Father is at work! Aren’t you excited to see just what He will do?


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Better Than a Burning Bush

In Exodus 3 we read:

 1-2 Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the west end of the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. The angel of God appeared to him in flames of fire blazing out of the middle of a bush. He looked. The bush was blazing away but it didn’t burn up.

3 Moses said, “What’s going on here? I can’t believe this! Amazing! Why doesn’t the bush burn up?”

4 God saw that he had stopped to look. God called to him from out of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

He said, “Yes? I’m right here!”

5 God said, “Don’t come any closer. Remove your sandals from your feet. You’re standing on holy ground.”

6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father: The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” (Exodus 3:1-6, The Message)

Did you get it? The angel of God appeared to Moses. God saw that Moses had stopped what he was doing to look at the burning bush. Then…God called to Moses from the bush! He called him by name! Not once, but twice – “Moses! Moses!”

I know that I can’t be the only one that has ever wished that God would speak to me as clearly as He spoke to those in the Bible – that He would send an unmistakable angel and then call me by my name – Debbie! Oh, Debbie!

The Scriptures seem replete (aka brimming) with stories of when God spoke directly to people –

  • Cain (Genesis 4:6)
  • Noah (Genesis 6:13-21, 7:1-4, 8:15-17)
  • Job and his friends (Job 38:1-42:6)
  • Abimelech (Genesis 20:3-7)
  • Isaac (Genesis 26:24)
  • Jacob (Genesis 28:13-15, 35:1, 9-12)
  • Joshua (Joshua 6:2-5)
  • Samuel (1Samuel 3:4-14, 15:10, 16:7)
  • David (1Samuel 23:2, 23:4, 30:8; 2Samuel 2:1, 5:19, 5:23-24)

 

Okay, so those were the big names. But he also spoke to:

  • Jehu (1Kings 16:1-4)
  • Elijah (1Kings 19:9-18)
  • Isaiah (2Kings 20:4; Isa 6:8-12, 8:1-11)
  • Ahaz (Isaiah 7:10-25)
  • Manasseh and his people (2Chronicles 33:10)
  • Jonah (Jonah 1:1-2, 3:1-2, 4:4, 4:9-11)
  • Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:3)
  • Hosea (Hosea 1:2-5)
  • Haggai (Haggai 2:10-23)
  • Zechariah (Zechariah 1:1-17)

 

So why not Debbie?

I have questions, decisions to make. I want to be wise. I want to please Him. I want “my ways” aligned with “His ways.” Oh, how I have wanted a burning bush! Or at least a little sky writing!

Well, the truth of the matter is that He does speak to us. Perhaps not through bushes, fires and pillars of clouds, but He speaks.

He has indwelt us with His Holy Spirit – His Spirit who comforts us, brings us peace and helps us recall what we know about God so that we may accurately share our faith (John 14:15-27).

His Spirit Who counsels and guides us in our everyday lives (John 16:8).

His Spirit Who helps us when we pray by interceding for us (Romans 8:26).

And His Spirit through Whom He speaks to us! Yes, there are other ways that God speaks (e.g. through the counsel of the Godly, through Scripture, through other Christians), but a primary way is through His Holy Spirit that He has sent to live within us performing all those aforementioned functions – comforting, instilling peace, counseling, interceding AND speaking directly to us.

God wants to speak to us and, in fact, has to speak to us because He promised in Psalm 32:8 to instruct us and teach us in the way that we should go.

During Old Testament times the people had no choice but to rely on signs and the messages of prophets; they did not have the personal, intimate, indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit.

If you ask me, this indwelling is better than a burning bush!

Need to hear Him? Open His Word, get still and listen.