September 27, 2024

                                       Help Others

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

– 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Compassion. Kindness. Prayers.

We will go through hard times. It might be a hurricane that takes away our material possessions. It might be power outages and damage to our home. It could be a broken heart caused by the death of a loved one or a marriage that falls apart. It might be an illness or accident that sends your life down a path you never chose.

Why? That’s the question we all ask. We know that God turns all things to good if we give it to Him. (Romans 8:28) But what does “good” look like? 

Sometimes it’s strength to get through whatever we’re facing. Sometimes it’s peace in the middle of whatever happens. And sometimes good looks like walking beside people who are going through what we survived.

There’s a certain kind of compassion that comes when you’ve been there. It’s not about empty words – however well meaning – or platitudes. It comes from the heart of someone who has made the journey.

God uses people like you and me. Someone from church called me after I was diagnosed with cancer. She had no idea I had cancer. She called about something else. We had a beautiful conversation about God’s faithfulness. She’d walked the road I was on. She understood.

As Christians we are part of a fellowship, a family, that helps others. We have our church family, of course, but we also have others to help. We are called to serve. That’s what Jesus told us to do.

Sometimes that looks like taking a meal to someone who is sick. It might be mowing someone’s yard or changing a light bulb. It could be providing transportation to a doctor’s appointment or including someone who is alone in your holiday celebrations.

And sometimes it’s simply showing up and walking beside someone who is in the midst of hard. Compassion. Kindness. Prayers. We hurt so that one day we might be able to help someone else going through what we once faced.

February 24, 2016

Put Hands and Feet to Your Prayers

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. -- James 2:14-17

The cry was desperate. She was facing surgery and needed help. Her mother was headed to respite care but there was just so much need, so much panic. How could anyone not care?

Facebook is good for many things. It reconnects us to people we haven’t seen in years. And it points out needs we didn’t know existed. This woman was a high school classmate I literally haven’t seen since we graduated. But I will do what I can.

I don’t know her. I don’t know her life. But I understand her need and it goes way beyond prayers. Don’t get me wrong. I’m certainly not being negative about prayers. The prayers of others have carried me when I was too weak and distraught to make it through another moment. I am grateful for the prayer warriors in my life.

But sometimes we just need to take the gospel out and apply it to real life -- just like Jesus. Can you imagine Jesus telling someone in need, “I’m so sorry. I’ll pray for you.” , then walking away without helping? Jesus wouldn’t do that. He would help. As His people, we’re supposed to help as well.

Honestly, for most of us, what it one meal? Or one ride to the doctor’s office? We just don’t want to be bothered. We’re busy. I sure know about that. Time, as I frequently joke, is not my friend. I don’t have enough of it. Maybe I never will. But I will try to always make time to help someone in need.

What’s your excuse? Could you invite that elderly widow next door over for dinner? How about giving that single Mom a treat and take her child, along with yours, out for a movie and a meal? Invite your new coworker to lunch. Or, even better, to church. Greet newcomers to your church and ask questions. Listen. Invite them to a small group or to lunch after the service. Go the extra mile. People notice and they remember.

We were not called to believe and then live our selfish lives just like part of the world. We are called to be set apart. That means living in such a way that others see Jesus in us.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Pray For God’s Will In Election

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone -- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, …”

-- 1 Timothy 2:1-3

This election season just seems to drag on. I will be so glad when it is done, though I do wonder if it will be done quickly and finally. It all just seems so bitter.

Some of the comments from my Christian friends seem so hateful. They are praying for a specific candidate, certain that he is the one. Yet I’ve not heard them asking God for His opinion. I don’t hear them asking that God’s will be done and not their own.

We are to pray for all of our leaders, whether we agree with them or not. The Bible doesn’t tell us to only pray for the leaders we agree with or voted for. If anything, sometimes I feel we should pray even more diligently for those leaders with whom we disagree.

We also must remember that it is impossible to know the heart and soul of someone we’ve never met. Some have determined that one candidate is more “Christian” than the other. Others believe that one candidate belongs to a cult. Still others say one candidate professes one faith but hold another one in his heart.

The only one who knows is God. He alone knows all of our hearts. We can debate it to death -- and many have -- but we still won’t know. These men are people we likely will never even meet. How could we possibly know their hearts? And why do we claim that we somehow do?

We want to believe that we know best but we don’t. We have no way of knowing what the future holds. We can only turn it over to the One who does know what is best, who is best, for this job that is so difficult and fraught with political landmines.

The job of President of the United States carries a great deal of power and prestige. It also comes with a burden that ages the men who wear that mantle. Look at their graying hair. Every one. Look at the wrinkles. Every one. The burdens are great.

The political drama that is Washington really drags the purpose and practical achievements of anyone down. It is an elite club focused more on self that the average person. Truth that hurts. Truth we’d prefer to deny.

I don’t know who the American people will elect as president. But I know that I’ll be praying for them both in the weeks to come. I’ll be asking God to choose the best person. And I’ll be committed to praying and supporting whomever gets the nod because it’s what God has called us

Thursday, October 11, 2012

God Hears Our Prayers

Devote yourselves to prayers, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.

-- Colossians 4:2-3

The other side of the valley is filled with brilliant light. When the darkness parts, the blessings seem so much deeper. Maybe because they touch our souls in a way that only God can.

A dear friend has spent much of this year in agony. She’s endured surgery and pain so intense she was almost afraid to move. More than two weeks ago she entered the hospital again, this time in ICU. She had a respirator and didn’t recognize anyone, including her beloved husband.

We were all scared. We want so desperately for her to live and to thrive, to leave the pain and sickness behind. We prayed for her. Again and again we stood over her and prayed. We prayed in church and we prayed at home. Whenever we thought of her, we prayed.

And, yet, we were willing to let her go home. She is a strong Christian who lives her faith. I smile as I remember her rush to purchase items for the Santa for Seniors program last year. She was happy to help. Silly though it seems, not too many Christians smile when they’re spending money for people they don’t know.

Somehow holding on to this vibrant woman seemed cruel. She deserves laughter like she gives to others. She deserves a full life free of pain. She deserves so much more than I. And yet she lay there fighting even as the fight seemed to leave her.

God heard our prayers. The respirator, which seemed like a permanent fixture, was successfully removed. And, now, three days later she is like her old self. She knows us all. She smiles. She is weak but she is alive and for that we are so very grateful. She is our miracle.

I look around me sometimes and I see so many sick and hurting people. One friend faces incurable cancer. Another is fighting lung cancer -- again. There are so many who are hurting and in need. And, yet, we see God’s hand, we see His Grace, everywhere.

This miracle is a reminder to us all that God is present even in the most dire circumstances. He holds us close and hears our prayers. And sometimes, yes sometimes, God gives us back what we thought we had lost. Praise be to God!

Friday, September 28, 2012

God Hears Our Deepest Cries

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. -- Romans 8:26

I’m really not good at being sick. I’m not good at being less than healthy. I’m not good with weakness in myself. And I’m not good at accepting help.

I know. Most people want help. Not me. I’m accustomed to doing things for myself. It’s that simple and that complicated. One minor surgery doesn’t change a lifetime of independence.

As I child, I longed to have that kind of care. Instead, I was a sickly burden whose parents fought over who “had” to take me to the doctor on that particular day. The adult me prefers to take care of myself.

So it is with great frustration that I’ve been kept even from talking to the doctor’s office. I keep telling myself they meant well but I can’t shake the notion that it’s all about control. Theirs not mine.

It’s sort of the way my life is right now. The harder I try to retake a piece of my life back from the world around me, the more difficult the task seems. I feel helpless and alone. I am so very grateful for a Holy Spirit that understands my pain, recognizing how hard it sometimes is to do the right thing.

Because in doing the right thing sometimes we lose part of ourselves that we never expected to lose. And we gain something else that we never expected either. Somehow it all needs to come together, to mesh into a life. Some days it doesn’t feel like that will ever happen. Some days it seems like I will never be me again.

So I cling to the promises from God, that I am not alone in this journey. And that while I don’t know where I’m headed, He does. When I get scared, He understands. When I don’t have words, the Holy Spirit provides them for me. When tears flow, He dries them for me.

One thing I learned to cling to along the path of life is a God who is always there. I am grateful for that. When I cry out in pain, He comforts me. When I need to be heard, He hears me. No matter what happens, He will carry me through it. Promises to hold on to, no matter what.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Who Are You Praying For Today?

I life up my eyes to the hills --

Where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD,

The Maker of heaven and earth.

-- Psalm 121:1-2

It seems like a season of pain and prayers. Everywhere I turn I see people who are hurting, people struggling with illness and pain, people facing surgery and people enduring beyond what they thought they ever could.

A dear friend had back surgery on Tuesday. Another friend needs it desperately but has to wait for an infection to clear up. Another dear woman, already coping with her husband’s Alzheimer’s, suffers debilitating back pain.

Another man had surgery a few weeks ago, then had to have another procedure. He’s still in incredible pain. A sweet older woman fell and is just so banged up.

A sweet lady learned last week that doctors found another spot on her lung. She’s been battling lung cancer for years and this was such a devastating blow. A sweet couple today took their son to a specialist for a serious ear problem that will likely need surgery.

Need I go on? It seems like so many people around me are facing health issues. Some of them, with the help of doctors and with God’s guidance, should be fine. Others will likely only have healing when they go home to be with Jesus.

It’s so easy to get discouraged, to forget that God is with us even when the path is rocky and seems to never end. Or maybe I should say especially when our path is rocky because He would never leave us to weather the storm alone.

Prayers. That’s what we can do when someone is hurting, when someone is dying, when someone feels hopeless. Sometimes we can give specific help in the form of food, company, rides to the doctor, etc. But we can always pray that God will grant them peace and strength, healing and hope.

We mean to pray, don’t we? We say we will and we fully intend to do it. Except sometimes we forget. Some people have prayer journals. Others try to remember. I try to pray right then or as soon as I can after I learn of the request. For some who are especially close to me, my prayers become a day long thing. Every time I think of them, I lift them up in prayer.

How about you? Who are you praying for today? Don’t put it off. We live in a hurting world that desperately needs God to love and keep them close.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Do We Expect God To Answer?

So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. -- Acts 12:5

One of the highlights of our Sunday small group and our Women’s Bible Study group is the prayer time. Every person has an opportunity to offer praises and prayer concerns. And then we pray.

There’s something so special about hearing someone lift your name, your concern, up to God. There’s something so empowering in that. And there’s something so joyful about thanking God for answered prayers. That communion brings us closer as a group and as God’s people.

Peter was in prison and the church -- God’s people -- prayed for him. Just as we pray for those around us. We are forever asking God our Father for His touch in our lives and the lives of those whom we love. We beg for healing. We ask for mercy. We seek peace in the middle of a storm.

But do we really expect Him to answer? We hope He does. We pray for that. But do we really expect healing? Do we really expect peace? Do we really expect God Almighty to get involved in our own little mess?

In this story, an angel came to Peter while he was in prison and let him out of the prison. They passed guards and went through an iron gate that “opened for them by itself.” Then the angel left Peter and he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark.

Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”

“You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”

But Peter kept knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.

-- Acts 12:13-16

They no doubt asked God to spare Peter’s life. They likely begged Jesus to release Peter from his prison cell. And yet they never expected Peter to show up on their doorstep, even as they had gathered to pray for him.

Isn’t that like us? We expect God to hear us and answer our prayers. And yet when He does we are astounded by it. Almost as though we never really expected Him to answer.

Our God is a God of miracles. He is a God of love and compassion and kindness. He welcomes His children -- that would be me and you -- into His open arms. He hears us when we cry and He hears us when we laugh. He is present in our lives and He answers our prayers.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

God Always Answers Our Prayers

“But true wisdom and power are with God; counsel and understanding are his.“ -- Job 12:13

Have you ever given up on God? Have you ever prayed and prayed and prayed and felt God either didn’t hear you or didn’t care? Has God ever told you “no” when you asked for your heart’s desire?

Welcome to the world of unanswered prayers. It happens to all of us. We ask God for something we really, really want and we don’t get the answer we wanted. Or expected. Because isn’t God supposed to fulfill our requests?

Not really. We’re not here for our own glory but for His. Not that God doesn’t want good things for us. He does. It’s just that sometimes the best answer is the one we don’t want to hear.

Have you ever been thankful that God said “no?” Probably. Most of us can look back and be so very glad that God chose a different spouse for us, a different job, a different road. We’re glad that He knew best. We’re not always glad to admit we were wrong and He was right -- again.

God’s ways are not our ways. How many times have you heard that? It doesn’t make it any less true. He sees the big picture and we only see what is in our immediate world. Our fallen world. Our world where people get sick, where evil runs rampant, where people hurt each other.

For example, God always heals us when we are sick. We are His children and He loves us. Sometimes God takes away the cancer, repairs the heart, fixes whatever is broken, while we still live on this earth. Other times God calls us home for healing. But He always heals. We forget that sometimes.

God also always provides us a way no matter the circumstances. We get in a hurry and try to fix it ourselves. We believe someone else rather than waiting for a word from God. Or we take a different path rather than the path He has chosen for us. We’ll find that out. And He’ll pick us up and help us back to the right path, the one He chose for us.

So does God always answer our prayers? Absolutely. We just don’t always hear what He has to say. We’re too busy telling Him what we want from Him to hear what He thinks about it all. Where is that relationship when we treat God as a vending machine rather than a Heavenly Father who loves us so very much?

God is filled with wisdom and caring, with kindness and understanding. He is all-powerful and all-wonderful. And He wants us to come to Him with requests and concerns. But He also wants us to hear Him and follow Him. So take time to listen, really listen, to God. He’ll bless you in ways you can’t begin to imagine.

Friday, March 9, 2012

We Want. We Want. We want.

My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. -- Psalm 22:2

We pray and pray and pray. And the only answer we hear is silence. It hurts. Has God abandoned us? Has He stopped caring? Do we not matter to Him?

It’s hard not to be afraid. Gas prices keep going up. The economy, while better, is still scary. Earlier this week a local company announced plans to close. Hundreds will lose their jobs. That sort of thing reverberates through the communities around it. Add a few health issues, work stresses and other issues and that peace God promises seems elusive at best.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. -- John 15:7

Okay, God, I want … (fill in the blank here). Isn’t that what prayer has become for us? Oh, we thank Him for His blessings but we also are filled with requests. We have a list and we treat God as though it is His job to fulfill our desires. We forget that our lives are not about us. We forget that He is the Almighty God and it is all about Him.

Does He want good things for us? Absolutely. But we stop before reading the next verse, which says that Jesus’ disciples produce much fruit that will bring great glory to God. Perhaps what we should ask for are things that bring God glory -- and that’s what He will do for us.

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” -- Luke 22:42

Sometimes God says no. It’s that simple and that complicated. It’s not about you. Remember that. Because it is about you too. If God would not spare His own Son a horrible death in order to save you and me, why do we expect Him to spare us the pains of this life?

But we do. We want an easy ride. It isn’t realistic. Life isn’t easy and to live without trials and pain just isn’t going to happen. God promises to carry us through the tough times. He doesn’t promise to keep them from happening.

God hears our prayers. He loves us unconditionally. He is with us always. Those are promises to hold on to, no matter how He answers

Thursday, January 5, 2011

God Hears Our Prayers

But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer. Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer … -- Psalm 66:19-20a

Does God hear our prayers? Do we ever cause God to change His mind? Do multitudes seeking His hand, His healing, His guidance, cause Him to act? I believe God does hear our prayers and sometimes, according to His will, He does what we ask.

God loves us. It’s important to remember that. And to remember that when we love someone, we want good things for that person. So God loves us and wants good things for us.

Unfortunately, we are sinners living in a fallen world. And we have free choice to make really bad mistakes sometimes. Those mistakes -- whether ours or someone else’s mistakes -- can cost us so much. We cry out to God. He hears our prayers. He loves us. He wants good things for us. But will He fix our broken lives?

Other times bad things just happen. Like an illness. I and many thousands of others have been praying for a little girl named Karlie. She is a miracle. It’s horrible to even imagine what she has been through as her little girl body fights to live. She has endured surgeries and infections and tests and all types of pain. And yet today her family posted a photo showing her playing “tea party” in her hospital bed. A miracle indeed.

So did God always plan to heal this little angel? Does He plan for her to grow strong and leave the hospital and thrive into adulthood? Or did God decide to heal her because of the many prayers and strong faith of her family? We may never know.

A good friend had a horrible motorcycle accident last October. She suffered a severed artery and vein in her leg. Surgeons expected to amputate her leg. Guess what? She’s still got her leg and she’s going to be just fine.

The call about her accident came in the middle of a ladies bible study. The DVD was stopped and the group prayed for her. She was on her way to the hospital at the time. The church happened to be hosting a fall festival. Word spread. Prayers went up. Again and again through the night her family and friends, strangers and others, prayed for her healing. Did God always plan to save her life and her leg? Or did God save her leg and her life because of the prayers of so many? We may never know.

God’s will and His way is just so very far above what we know. He has a plan and sometimes He takes horrible things and turns them into something wonderful. Sometimes He lets us suffer from our mistakes. Sometimes He saves us and heals us.

I have no idea how God decides. But I do know that God hears us. He loves and cares for us. He wants good things for us. And sometimes God acts according to our prayers.

Thank you, God, for your tender mercies on us. Thank you, God, for your miracles and for your Presence in the midst of our fallen world.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Pray For The Children Around You

So we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom. -- Colossians 1:9

I started praying for him before he was ever born. I asked God to keep he and his mother safe and healthy. And at his birth, I asked God to surround that tiny little boy with His Presence so that he would always know His Lord and Savior.

It gladdened my heart as he grew to see him grab his “Jesus book” and turn the pages to “read” it each night. A little boy learning about a God who loves him so much that He sent His son to die for him. One day, I pray, he’ll fully understand that. For now he’s a big boy of five who can say the Lord’s Prayer and blesses us with his sweet prayers.

I continue to pray for him and the little brother who joined him a little over two years ago. I pray for health and safety and happiness. But mostly I pray that these little boys will always know the love of their Heavenly Father. I want the Holy Spirit to guide their lives and make them grow wise.

Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things for others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better.

-- Colossians 9:10

I have an older nephew who has grown so tall I must stand on the tips of my toes to reach high enough to hug his neck. He wears a gold cross around his neck. I’m thrilled by that. But mostly I am overwhelmed by his heart. I see the goodness in this almost-adult young man. He is quick to help, eager to lend, willing to share. He lives his life in a way that reflects Jesus to the world. It fills me joy.

Children are the greatest gifts God could ever bestow on anyone. If you are blessed to have children in your life -- whether your own or someone else’s -- pray for them and tell them again and again how much God loves them. Urge them toward a life filled with Jesus moments reflecting out to the world.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Cry Out To God

In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. -- 1 Samuel 1:10

It’s difficult not to have what everyone else has. It’s especially difficult to have it thrown in your face again and again. In Hannah’s case, she desperately wanted a child. Her husband’s other wife, Peninnah, had children but Hannah didn’t even have one. Peninnah made fun of Hannah and taunted her. That compounded Hannah's hurt.

I’m sure some people have always managed to get exactly what they want. I don’t think I know any of them, but they’re probably out there somewhere. For the rest of us, it’s difficult to really want something and know there’s no way you can have it. Whether it’s merely a want or a need doesn’t really matter. Sometimes your heart really doesn't know the difference.

When I was a child, my brother and I were instructed to make a Christmas wish list every year. I’m not sure how old I was when this started. I do remember one very important lesson I learned: I never received anything I put on the list. One year I even copied the list, just to be sure I wasn’t mistaken. I wasn’t.

Don’t get me wrong. There were always lots of presents and fun toys to play with. And, yes, I’m well aware that many children don’t get presents at all. I’m not whining. Truly. It was just so disappointing to realize that if I asked for something I could pretty much guarantee I wouldn’t get it. Just because I asked. What a sad lesson to learn.

That situation hasn’t changed but I have. I’ve learned not to ask for anything. Except I don’t think that’s what God intended. Surely, He never expected us to just sit back and take whatever comes our way without ever wanting more? Or did He? I’ve really never been sure.

But here’s what I do know: God gave Hannah a baby. She dedicated Samuel to God. And God gave her more children. God heard Hannah and He answered her prayer. Now I’m not saying that God will give us everything we ask for, but I can’t believe He doesn’t want us to ask. Or that He won’t at least give us some of the things we seek.

So I’m crying out to God to sooth the anguish in my soul, to give me the salve that will heal my broken heart. I’m praying to the God who hears me when no one else does. And maybe, just maybe, one day He'll answer.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Thoughtful Prayers

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

-- Luke 10:36-37

Jesus had just told the parable of the Good Samaritan. You’ve probably heard it many times. A man was going to Jerusalem and was attacked by robbers. Neither the priest nor Levite would help the man. Instead, a Samaritan helped him.
We’re so quick to criticize and complain about the people we encounter in our day. We see the worst rather than giving others a helping hand or a compassionate smile.
A friend passed this on. I don’t know where she got it but I thought it worth sharing.

Best Prayer I Have Heard In A Long Time:

Heavenly Father, Help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments with her children.

Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can't make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester.
Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day (who really ought to get a job!) is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.

Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring this moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together.

Heavenly Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just those who are close to us, but to all humanity. Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and love.