Archive for the ‘Not Food’ Category

26 May

He Gave Me Her Name

Posted by Sherry in Not Food. Tagged: , , , .

For the entire month of April, the Lord gave me her name.
I mean, He literally spelled it out loud enough for me to hear!
Several times.  Not just once.
I questioned at first,

What?!!!  Lord, why are you giving me her name?

Then as He remained consistent, day after day, I responded,

Okay, Lord.  You know what you’re doing, even though I don’t.  I’m not sure why You’re giving her name to me, but I trust You do.

Then I wrote her name on a sticky note and dated it: April 14, 2014 at 11:45am.
I put it on my prayer board.

Lord, You know what this person needs right now, and I’m asking for Your Presence and Your Peace to surround her, and comfort her, and offer whatever it is that she needs right now.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

She is someone I don’t know, really, but we have a shared history.
See, she’s my ex-husband’s wife.
Yep.
The one.
The one whom I assigned fault to years ago.
The one whom I placed above myself, in terms of beauty, appeal…
He chose her over me. 
So many years of hurt and feeling inadequate were encapsulated by those tiny three little words.
He. Chose. Her.
Needless-to-say, she is also the one whom I avoided.
At all costs.
Like the plague.
But as time passed, my heart was softened, and after almost ten years, I reached out to her in an effort of obedience.  I was overcome with the need to forgive this woman, and more than that, ask for her forgiveness for all the terrible things I had said, done, and thought over the years.

But now – NOW – here it is about 5 years or so since even then!
Why was the Lord giving me her name?
Hadn’t we said what we needed to?
Wasn’t it water under the bridge?

The Lord became more specific with me, giving me ideas that I thought were just absurd.  Like one afternoon, while waiting for a traffic light to turn green, I thought,

I wonder if she would ever call me?  I wish maybe she would.  Is this crazy?  What could we possibly have to say to each other?
Oh, Lord, I lift her up to You, for whatever it is she is in need of right now.

And then the light turned green, and I drove on to the next traffic light without a second thought of her.

Every time her name was given to me, I prayed for her.  I didn’t know why, but it was being asked of me, so I did.

On the last Friday in April, when I got in my car to leave work, my cell phone was buzzing, letting me know I had a new voice mail.

It’s probably the school lunch room calling to remind me that there is a lunch account balance of negative three dollars.

As I turned onto the main highway, my voice mail announced:  You have one new message.  And then…

Then…

Then…

I was in tears.

She had called.

The tears kept flowing, not because of what she was saying or because she was reaching out – but because I knew instantly that the Lord had been preparing my heart for this moment.  I knew that the Holy Spirit had me praying for this woman, and I was overwhelmed with the thick evidence of His promptings.  I knew that because of Jesus Christ, what was in the past was just that – In. The. Past.  Whatever was between us long ago was done.  Finished.  I knew that now, in this moment, God’s hand on both of our lives was very real, very present, and very powerful.

I could hardly wait to call her back and just let her know that for the entire month, the Lord had been bringing her to thought and that I had been praying for her!

And what did she say?  Don’t you want to know?

The Lord had been giving her my name – He had been urging her to reach out to me!  She had sent  an email on March 20th, about two weeks before the Lord first brought her name to me, asking if I’d be willing to meet with her.  I never saw the email.  It was sent through FaceBook, but because we are not FB friends, her email was delivered without notification, to a folder that I didn’t know about.  She could tell I hadn’t read it yet.  Because I had not responded, she was calling out of obedience. She said the Lord kept asking her to contact me.  On that particular day, the Lord had told her to just call me, and stop waiting for me to see her email.

Nothing but God! That is NOTHING but God! To be the recipients of His very direct orchestration — to see the raw, real hand of God at work to bring us together —

Yes, tears. Absolute perfectly cleansing, wonderful tears!

Heavenly Father, thank you for your love.  Thank you for your guidance.  And thank you for your timing.  Your patience.  And for never letting up when I just don’t get things the first, second or third time in a row.  Father, please continue to use me and to minister in and through my life.  I want so desperately to be obedient to Your will for my life.  Thank you so much, Lord, for a new friendship that I have and for blessing us along this sometimes bumpy life journey.  And more than anything, Lord, I thank you for Your Son, Jesus Christ, who was nailed to the cross and paid for my sins.  Because of that, she and I have no history.  We have no past.  And we can go forward with a new friendship as sisters in Christ.  Praise your name, Lord.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

 

If you are on FaceBook, go to your messages page.  At the top left you will see the word “INBOX”.  These are the FB messages you receive notification for.  Right beside that word, in light gray, you’ll see the word “OTHER”.  This is the folder that FB sends messages to that are potentially junk mail or from people who are not in your FB friends list.  I think it depends on your personal settings.  In my case, I have FB set to only notify me of messages recieved from my friends list.  Anything else gets quietly dropped into the “other” folder.  I might never have seen her email, had she not reached out to me by calling.  However, in this case, it was just more evidence of God’s gentle urging to both of us, wihtout knowledge of His doing so in each other’s hearts.  God is so, so good.  All the time.

 

1 May

I’m Not Of This World – Except When I Am

Posted by Sherry in Not Food. Tagged: , , , .

Know what I mean?

I am very much His – saved by the blood of Jesus Christ – given mercy new and fresh every day – afforded grace beyond what I deserve.  I sin every single day.  Multiple times!  Not proud of this, but also not in denial.  And after all of my shortcomings and daily mistakes, my Father still welcomes me.  Wants me.  Loves me.

Praise the Lord, I’m not who I used to be.  And tomorrow?  I’ll be not who I was today.  Day by day, I long to live a life that is completely glorifying of my Saviour.  Sometimes it feels like two steps forward and three back, but I’ve learned as long as I keep Him in focus and ahead of me, I’m progressively being molded into the person He desires.

Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. (Is 64:8 NIV)

 

Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? (Rom 9:12 NIV)

 

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

 

Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. (Lam 3:23 NLT)

30 Apr

I Was In Darkness…And Then I Saw You

Posted by Sherry in Not Food. Tagged: , , , .

Several years ago, I went through a divorce.  The circumstances surrounding my life then left me feeling betrayed, broken and unworthy.  I was hurting.  I was angry.  And I was afraid.  The whole ordeal introduced me to poisonous feelings I had never had before, including some very unhealthy disdain for my ex-husband and his new wife.  Disdain is a nice word.  I used that instead of hatred.  But that’s what I was feeling – raw, destructive hate.  Hate for people I credited for my wounds at the time.  For my broken family.  For my children who were now part of a single-parent household.  For the gossip and rumors.  For the fishbowl I was sure I now lived in.

Years passed.  Those negative feelings, though, really didn’t.  Instead of addressing them, I buried them under busyness and new relationships.  I avoided the two people whom I felt caused me pain at all costs.  Wanted nothing to do with them.  Neither one.

Then one day, almost ten years after my divorce, I became aware of the Holy Spirit nudging me.  I strongly felt that God wanted me to reach out to my ex-husband’s wife, the one for whom I still carried most of the ill-feelings.   The one for whom I had shifted all of the blame to after all of these years.  Absurd as it seemed to me, I ignored this feeling for as long as I could.  I can remember saying outloud in my car once, “You want me to do what?!”  Softly, and continually, an urgency seemed to grow.

I had joined a church close by, one that I spent a lot of time at when I was a child, and had been getting in on bible studies and attending services pretty regularly.  For the first time in my life, I had begun to read the Bible consisitenly, too, actually digging in to understand The Word.  Christ’s ministry on earth had come alive for me and though I had been baptized when I was 24 years old, about 6 years before my divorce, pieces I didn’t know were missing started to click into place as I grew in my understanding of what it means to be a daughter of Christ.  No doubt that this is the reason it had taken me 10 years to finally acknowledge the negative, damaging feelings I had been harboring.  I was being convicted.  I had been committing the same sin for all of these years, day in and day out, and the Holy Spirit was guiding me to do what was right.

You’d think that would be enough, wouldn’t you?  But it wasn’t.

I kept ignoring Him.  I kept arguing with Him.  Debating with Him.  I didn’t want to give in.  I didn’t want to face the very person whom I had hated for all of these years.  I thought I knew what was best.

So God gave me a vision.

It came to me in a dream, but unlike any I’ve had before or since.  I chose to believe it was a vision, because I was stubborn enough and so obstinate — well, it’s like the “big guns” had to be brought out so I could understand what was being asked of me, and why.

This is how it was presented to me:

It’s dark.
Pitch, so.
I can only see the outlines of figures.
It’s so dark and scarey.
I have a feeling the others all around me are not friendly.
They are talking aggressively, in a language I can’t understand.
We are alone.  
In a solitary place.
It’s small, reminding me of a deserted island;
except, there are so many others.
I cannot see trees, or sky.
I only see these agitated figures flailing around.
It’s growing louder.  Their voices.
I still can’t understand them.
Everything is colorless.  Dark.
But I am not dark.
I sense that I don’t yet belong to this darkness, but I am here anyway.
Why am I here?
Who are these people?
I become anxious.
Frustrated, because I can’t understand what’s around me.
The sound is so loud.
Almost like growling.
I feel an urgency to flee, but there’s no where to go.
Then in the rush of fear, I see two people through the crowd of bodies.
They are not dark figures either.
It is them!  
Hallelujah!
I know them!  I know them!
My heart leaps with joy!
I’m so excited over recognizing them.

And then I woke up.

The two people were my ex-husand and his wife.

I understood.  I finally understood.  No matter how much hate I felt for them, it wasn’t enough to keep me from being excited over seeing them in a place like hell.  Not because that’s where I wanted to see them, but because in the midst of all that despair, I was happy to recognize someone I knew.  That put it in loud perspective for me.

The next day, the Holy Spirit dialed my ex-husband’s wife, and before I could change my mind, I asked her out for coffee.

Forgiveness.

It is absolutely required of us, to be forgiven by the Savior.  I’m so thankful for the Holy Spirit.  I’m so thankful for a patient, loving Father.  He wants only what is best for us.  And He doesn’t want anyone to perish without knowing Him and having the chance to accept Him as Lord and Saviour.  I was headed down a very dark, dark path for ten years.  TEN YEARS.  Praise His holy name that I had an opportunity to forgive, and to ask for forgiveness.

Jesus paid a mighty big price for me.

Thank you, God.

He paid the same mighty price for you, too.

He’s waiting.  Patiently.  Is there a nudging you need to yeild to?  You won’t regret it!  The day I was obedient to what was being asked of me is one of the best of my life.  I followed through, and He was glorified because of it.  But the blessing was all mine.  Christ showered me with a joy I had never known before, but one I have known since.  I hope you’ll be obedient to what He is asking of you, too.

 

The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. (Galatians 5:17 NLT)

 

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (Ezekiel 36:26-27 ESV)

 

For if you forgive people their wrongdoing,  your heavenly Father will forgive you as well.  But if you don’t forgive people, your Father will not forgive your wrongdoing. (Matthew 16:14-15)

28 Apr

Avoid A Void

Posted by Sherry in Not Food. Tagged: , , , .

Void.

Noun.

A gap or opening.
Empty space.
Vacancy.

Avoid.

Verb.

To keep away from.
Keep clear of.
Shun.

Avoid a void.
You have one.
It’s a Jesus shaped hole.
Nothing else will satisfy.
Nobody.
No thing.
Only Jesus.
He’s waiting.
Invite Him in.
Void avoided.

26 Apr

Wanted & Pursued

Posted by Sherry in Not Food.

Purity.

For the past few months, I have had the priviledge to meet with some pretty cool 7th and 8th grade girls from our church in a discipleship group that gets together on Sunday nights. We call ourselves “The Hill House Girls”. Most recently, I’ve helped lead them through a study on living a life of purity – the “True Love Project” series.  I co-lead with three amazing women, each of whom I am inspired by and in awe of in regards to their relationship with Christ.   When I found out what type of study we’d be entering into with our group of young ladies, the one on purity, I freaked out.

C A P I T A L   F –  freaked out.

“What do I have to offer these girls on purity?”

“I have three sons, not daughters – how can I possibly know how to relate to these precious young daughters of Christ?”

“I didn’t lead a life of purity when I was their age. I didn’t understand there was such a thing! What kind of example can I be for them?”

“This is a topic I’m really not comfortable talking about. With anyone. I should back out.”

I thought all of those things and more. I complained to my husband that I was not good enough to be a leader for these impressionable teenagers. I complained to a leader in the high school girl’s group that I was uncomfortable with this subject matter. I even told my middle son, who is in the high school boy’s discipleship group, that he didn’t have to continue going to his Sunday night group if he was uncomfortable with this purity subject.

C A P I T A L    W  –  what?

You can say it!  Say it out loud:

 “WHAT?”

I totally get that.  It’s what I say now, reflecting back on how I felt at the time.  Could I have been any more off-mark?

After a few days of consideration, and much debate and argument with God, I accepted the challenge and committed to continuing to help lead this group.  The way I figured, I could either

a) decline to teach, and not accept what I saw as a huge challenge (which would be very uncharacteristic of my person)

or

b) accept the opportunity for God to use me outside of where I’m comfortable.

Decline or accept.

Hide or be seen.

Turn away or face.

Ignore or obey.

IGNORE or OBEY.

IGNORE OR OBEY!

See, when I stopped wallowing in my own thoughts, which were very limited, and started seeking what God wanted, the decision became clear.  Crystal clear.

C A P I T A L   C –  clear.

I don’t want to miss an opportunity to be obedient.  And it was no accident I was invited to be a part of this weekly discipleship group.

Thank you, Jesus, for your patience with me while I struggled through my selfish insecurities. 

I might be a co-leader for this group, but above this, I am sitting right there with all the other Hill House Girls every week – His daughter – seeking, searching and being soothed by all I’m learning about His love.

In reflecting over my teenage years and young adulthood,   it’s clear to me how desperately I needed to feel wanted and pursued.  It was a need that I tried to satisfy on my own.   There was this emptiness I carried.  A void.  I filled it temporarily with people who seemed to satisfy this need – those who wanted me, those who pursued me – but the satisfaction never lasted.  Eventually, that “to be wanted and pursued” need would resurface,  unfullfilled.

It wasn’t until I met Jesus – yeilding to His love and studying His word – that I realized I AM wanted and pursued.

JESUS is my Pursuer.

Luke 19:10
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

JESUS loves me and JESUS wants me.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world,that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

JESUS is jealous for me.

Deuteronomy 4:24
For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.  It is only JESUS who satisfies!

I have made some poor choices in my life, and I have not always sought HIM or known that I was being sought by HIM.  But PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME, “I was lost but now am found.”  Through Jesus, it is never too late to live a life of purity, regardless of any past mistakes.  I can walk in His love, hand in hand, without feeling broken, like used goods, or unworthy……for His love is vast, with depth that is unimaginable, and is endless, limitless.  Jesus sees me as pure and clean and whole.

WANTED and PURSUED.

Sons and daughters – YOU are wanted and pursued.  You are!

My precious, precious 7th and 8th grade Hill House Girls and co-leaders – YOU are wanted and pursued.  You are!

It is never too late to walk in purity with Christ.

Accept His love, profess Him as ruler over your life.

Abide in Him.

Receive all of the blessings He’s waiting to shower you with.


I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.   Romans 12:1-2

 

14 Apr

Gettin’ Ready

Posted by Sherry in Not Food. Tagged: , , , .

Why is it that I need to…

  • Fix my hair before I go to the salon for a cut and style?
  • Mop and vacuum the floors before the cleaning service comes to my house?
  • Get “healthier” before I can go to the doctor for a check up?

Doesn’t make sense, does it?
        The stylist is going to fix my hair for me.
        The cleaning service is going to clean my house, including my floors.
        The doctor is going to help me with getting healthier.

I was just thinking about this on the way to work today.

What do I need to do to “get ready” for Jesus?  Anything?  Or am I ready now?

How about you?

13 Mar

Jesus at the Stoplight

Posted by Sherry in Not Food.

The intersection of Second Loop and Irby Street.
8:00am.
Facing east’ish.
At the stoplight.
Car number one in the left lane, with car number one in the right beside me.
The sun is shining so brightly this morning, in clear, cool skies.
I drop the sun visor to sheild my already shaded eyes from the glare.
The car is quiet.
In reflection now, I know why I never turned on WMHK this morning like I usually do.
Can’t really say where my thoughts were.
I’m sure they must have been somewhere.
The car beside me lets off the brakes and ever so slightly rocks forward.
Without looking at the light, I let my foot off the brakes, too, and start to proceed.

WAIT A MINUTE!

I’m thankful for 4WD and the excellent grip of the brakes.
And for the little voice that said, “look up”.

Jesus reminded me in that split second of how easy it is to go along with the flow of this world.

There have been many times that I let what was immediately around me influence my own actions (or rather, reactions), instead of being lead by The Master Himself.

“Keep Me in the forefront, because when I AM, you will react to this world in step with My will for your life.”

It sounds simple, doesn’t it?

Keep Jesus present in the present.

Keep Him at the helm of all movement.

This morning, in the stillness of my car, I was distracted.
I still don’t recall what I was thinking about.
Maybe it was of the coffee I was about to enjoy when I got to the office.
Maybe it was about the task list for the day.
Maybe I was thinking about how much I’d like to still be in bed.
Whatever it was, it was enough to distract me.
And intinct was to do what the car beside me was doing, instead of doing what I should have done.
Instinct.
Ouch.
That hurts my toes.
But you know, failing to focus on the right things when you are driving can be catastrophic.
Failing to focus on Jesus can be, too.

Lord, I love you and thank you for the quiet, strong way you teach me…every day.  I thank you for your patience, as I am certainly not an A+ student.  More like a C- most days.  Some, worse.  Father, I need your help to change this sinful, quick-to-follow-the-world heart into one that instead reacts to this world in a way that is pleasing to you.  I don’t want to be like everyone else.  I dont’ want to blend in.  I don’t want to take the easy way and go along with the crowd.  Father, I want a heart that is noticably changed and different and daily growing in obedience to you.  I can’t change my heart Lord, but I know that You can.  Please take mine and refine it so that it reflects You in all that I do.  Praising Your Name, sweet Jesus, for being with me at the stoplight today, even if I wasn’t with you at first.  Amen.

11 Feb

Kitchen Window

Posted by Sherry in Not Food.

Gray. Overcast. Uncertain.
Unthreatening.
Encompassing.
Unexpectedly calm.

That’s what today is.
The outside is a reflection of my inside this morning.

It’s the kind of day that when I approach the throne, I’m unable to pour out my heart in prayer or praise, becasue I don’t know how to verbilize what’s inside this mess of a daughter.  Thank goodness the Holy Spirit intercedes on my behalf when I am weak (Romans 8:26).

A couple of weeks ago, when I first noticed this uncertain feeling coming over me, I knelt before the throne, head bowed, and waited.  I stopped giving excuses for not knowing how to pray on this particular day, and I simply waited, expectantly, for the balm that comes from the Savior.  He never fails.  Never.  And this is what He said to me:

“Keep ME in the forefront,
because when I AM,
you will react to this world
in a manner that is in line
with MY will for your moments.”

His on-point response – His salve – was an affirmation and directive that cut to the chase.  It went straight to my heart.  It was a response to the culmination of things in this earthly life that were weighing on me, but I couldn’t even recognize.

I lose sight of Him so frequently.

My excuses have gone something like this:  “But Lord, I have to tend to things right here, right now!” and “Lord, this world is so demanding!” and “Oh Lord, I’ve got this.  I have a plan.”

He says, “Keep me in the forefront”.

Why?

“Because when I AM, you will react to this world in a manner that is in line with MY will for your moments.”

He did not say what is in line with His will for my life.  He said “moments”.

Picture Jesus.
Picture Him right there with you.
Now.
In the car.
Waiting at Five Points.
When you are rushing around the house getting ready for school and work.
When you are at the doctor’s office.
Picture him standing with you when you catch the cat going potty in the laundry basket.
Sitting beside you at work.
When you get home and realize McDonalds forgot to put your apple pies in the bag.
With you on the phone with your spouse.
With your ex-spouse.
When you’re in a parent teacher meeting.
When you are sitting on a church pew.

I let stuff in my immediate moments get inbetween me and Jesus.  I do.  I admit it.  The mess of this world interferes.  Or rather, I allow it to interfere.  I get so focussed on what’s before me that I forget that My Lord and Savoir IS with me, in every moment, in every circumstance, in every situation.

My oldest son is going back to his home overseas today.  As this day has been approaching, I have focussed on the tasks that were obvious.  Those things that needed to be done to ensure a timely, efficient, and didn’t-forget-a-thing-while-packing departure.  Busyness.  Oh, how satan loves busyness.  No doubt it’s a tool he uses more than any other.  It’s a distraction.  It’s something that easily shifts my focus from Jesus, WHICH is exactly why I have been feeling so gray, I’m certain.  And then there’s selfishness.  Who desires for their family to be spread across the globe?  To have had our entire family together for the last several weeks has been blissful.  I don’t think I’ll ever see the day when I’m happy for our son to leave.  And then there’s worry.  Oh, hello worry, my old friend.  I should really call you my nemesis.  Worry over travel.  Safety.  Well-being.  Finances.

But here’s the thing – If I keep Jesus in the foreground, then He’s helping me pack.  He’s showing me selflessness.  He’s got my worries under His feet.

I have great neighbors.  David and Gigi.  When I am standing at my kitchen window, I can look outside and see directly into their kitchen window.  Our houses are very close together.  David says to me all the time, “We were looking at you and flipping the lights on and off trying to get your attention, but you just didn’t notice us.”

You know why I didn’t notice?  Because in that moment…wait.  Let me say that again.  Because in that MOMENT, I was so consumed with the dirty, messy sink full of dishes that I failed to look beyond the heap of distraction to see my friends waving at me.

Do you have a dirty, messy sink that’s getting in the way of your view of Christ?  I do.  And it doesn’t stay in my kitchen.  I carry that thing around with me all day long sometimes.

“Keep ME in the forefront”, Jesus says.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your everlasting, all-encompassing, never failing love.  Father, I’m so unworthy, yet you cover me with grace daily.  Thank you.  I’m easily distracted, Lord, and I know this does not come from You.  Please help me be blinded to the distractions in my home, in my workplace, in my neighborhood, in my church, in my community……….please help me focus on You.  Father, I desire to be in line with Your will for my life.  More than anything, I want my life – my moments – to be pleasing to you.  As I go through this day, I give you complete reign over my minutes, Lord.  I need you to sustain me and to keep my focus where it should be.  It IS a great day, Lord, and I will rejoice and be glad in it, because YOU are the reason we have this day.  Empty my heart of me, Lord.  In Jesus Christ’s name, Amen.

15 Jan

All Creatures, Great and Small

Posted by Sherry in Not Food. Tagged: , , , .

4:19 a.m. this morning.
My heart was awake before the rest of me, slowly stirring me to rise.
Rhythmically the urgency to wake grew stronger, with every beat becoming more distinct in it’s plea.

There is a fine man I know of whose life hangs in the moment.  A moment that has been stretched for more than 7 days now. A moment that has felt a continual rush of prayer.  A moment that has seemed out of focus.  A moment that has created questions and raised emotions.  A moment that has felt stagnant and permanent; whilst at the same time, ravaging and final.  A moment of uncetainty.  A moment unwanted.  A moment.

Dr. Anderson has spent his life dedicated to the health and well-being of our animals.  Our livestock.  Our investments.  Our domesticated pets.  He has also cared for animals without a voice, and without a home.  He’s cared for those abandoned, mistreated & abused, brutally trained and illegally used.  His hands – his gifted, precious hands – have stitched, administered and provided preventative care to our furry and feathered friends for decades.  In private practice, in public shelters and homes.  On roadways.  In backyards and on farms.  Before families.  Before courtrooms.  His efforts have always stayed true to His calling – the care of God’s creatures, great and small.  I’m not just talking about animals.  Dr. Anderson’s spent a lifetime caring for families with animals, as well.  His speech has always been soft and unassuming – a characteristic he has shared with every client, passerby, person in need.

A week ago, Dr. Anderson was attacked by several dogs.  He wasn’t “on the job”, as he retired a few years ago, but it is without a shadow of doubt that I know these dogs were not threatened or provoked by Dr. Anderson.  This attack was nothing short of the result of our world – our fractured, broken world – and it has left him fighting the battle of his life in a hospital.  The road ahead is long and uncertain.  Dr. Anderson has been kept in a medical coma during this past week, to enable his body to fight it’s hardest and allow for maximum healing.  I can only imagine how difficult this must be for his family.  For his wife.  For his children and grandchildren.

This morning, God reminded me that in the moments that seem to linger, and when our uncertainty is overwhelming, He is never, ever apart from us.  This moment while we see a man’s body fighting and trying to heal, I have no doubt Dr. Anderson rests in the company of our Savior.  While doctors and medical personnel care for the flesh, Our God in Heaven is holding Dr. Anderson, preparing him for this part of his testimony.  His story.  I know this, because Dr. Anderson is a child of God.  He accepted Jesus’s calling and has shown the world the Light of the Son.  Dr. Anderson’s story has already been scripted, from beginning to end.  This is the promise of our Father God.  Right now, in this moment – this lingering, numbing moment – we can’t see the rest of the story God has planned, BUT KNOW THIS, God works all things for good for those who believe in Him.  All things.  Every. Single. One.  And as messed up and difficult this moment is today, we can take refuge and comfort in knowing that Dr. Anderson’s witness – his life, his legacy, his passions – will forever be for God’s Glory.

Please pray for Dr. Anderson and his family.  Pray for our community.  Pray for the lives that have been touched by Dr. Andrson, and those that will be.  His story is far from over.  How about yours?

To know Jesus Christ and to have a close and personal relationship with Him, is to recognize that you are a story He is author of.  Have you submitted your life to Christ?  I beg you, please, do not let a moment in time for you be one without hope.  Our life here is very fragile, and everything  you find comfort in of this world is only temporary.  Dr. Anderson didn’t know in advance that he’d be in this moment, this battle.  And no one would ever have imagined the gentle hands that have cared for so many animals over the years would one day be turned upon by the very one’s who benefited from the love they gave.  Don’t wait.  Don’t procrastinate.  Seek His face and He will scoop you up and show you how special the story is He has written just for you.

Articles about Dr. Anderson:
http://www.scnow.com/news/politics/article_70b2beae-794d-11e3-808f-001a4bcf6878.html?mode=jqm

1 Nov

Sun Drop and Pop Rocks

Posted by Sherry in Not Food.

Precious moments together - Easter of 1994.

Precious moments together – Easter of 1994.

 

Sun Drop and Pop Rocks
First lured you from sight
You were just 2 years old

Waking before me
You knew what to do
Go where that stuff is sold

You sneaked out the door
And went to the pier
Little boy, brave and bold

Imagine the looks
From fishermen as
Into the store you strolled

It was no surprise
At the age of 16
“Mama, God said to GO”

Remem’bring that boy
Born with strong willed heart
Who in his hands did hold

Sun Drop and Pop Rocks

___________________

It’s just a few days now before we are reunited with our oldest son, who has been away from home for more than 2 years.  An unexpected heaviness has found me, and the excitement and anticipation over being reunited feels like an intoxication of sorts.  It’s been such a long time apart, yet, it seems like just yesterday when this little boy was following the desires of his heart…all the way to the fishing pier next door at 7:15 am, in search of the perfect breakfast – Sun Drop and Pop Rocks.  I remember the anxiety of that morning.  I remember the relief that followed.  I remember just wanting to hold onto him forever, and keep him close.  I’m feeling all of those things, and more, as I wait for word that he’s made it back safely.  I can’t wait to get my arms around him!

Thank you, Jesus.  Thank you!

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