Laced With Grace

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. – (Hebrews 11:1)

My children are ages 24, 20 and 12. Too old for hugs in public (you’ve heard it, “Mom, public!!”) but when we are alone, my children are all over me with hugs and kisses “Recharging” as I like call it, to face the world another day.

We are no different as Christians. Our alone time with God is one of sitting in the Father’s lap and receiving His hugs and kissing that we too may face another day.

If you read the story on my sidebar of how my blog’s name came to be, Little Red Hearts From God, you will know how I share stories of special love messages that are sent throughout the day by friends, loved ones and God that remind us of the assurance of things we cannot see— God’s love.

Today, I’d like to share one special little red heart. Recently, a friend brought flowers to my home for me and left them at the front door. We rarely use the front door unless someone comes to our home. (We use the garage door and so do our family and friends.)

On this special day, my Heavenly Father made sure I found the flowers (before they died) by letting a little bird into our home by way of our back door. You see, as my husband chased the little bird out of the house, he managed to finally get the bird to the front door where it flew right over the flowers. My husband reached down, picked up the flowers. And on the flowers was a card to me, glancing over at me, my husband smiled and brought them to me. (Probably more anxious to see who they were from- sly smile)

There was my gift– my little red heart!!

In a similar way, the Holy Spirit, given to us by God, illuminates scriptures that may seem like foolishness to some people. But believers can see evidence of God’s love and presence because the Spirit gives us new eyes.

The following devotion was typed by me….but written from the words shared by my sister, Wanda, at her kitchen table as we studied the Word, shared some tears, fears and lots of love. 

We had begun our new blog, “Sisters of Faith” the week after Christmas, while she was in the hospital.  I had taken my laptop, and Aimee (our youngest sister), had told Mark that we would stay with Wanda this particular night.  The idea had played around the edges of my thoughts and I had even discussed the possibility of creating a blog with Aimee and Wanda.  “What would we call it?” —  “Who would write?” —  “All of us” —  “But I don’t have a computer”, says Wanda—“We’ll find a way” —says Angie.  So that night, while sitting in a reclining chair on one side of Wanda’s bed, with Aimee  on the other side, in what they (the hospital), try and pose as a makeshift bed— we think — and pray.  Each in our own world of thoughts….as Wanda breathes.  Struggling breaths at times.  We watch the numbers on her heart monitor….we rest somewhat fitfully.  But we rest.

We have all likened this most recent testing of our faith being similar to the test of the three Hebrew young men.  Always referred to in Bible stories as the “Hebrew Children”, they were not children.  They came to a place in their faith life that their faith was tested as it had never been.  They knew with certainty that God would deliver them.  Whether from the fire, through the fire or, in the fire, they would have deliverance from the God they served.  So it was with us.  We didn’t know in what manner God would choose to bring about Wanda’s healing.  We just knew with all our hearts that this was God’s puzzle to complete.  The doctors had exhausted all of their abilities.  What happened next would be completely up to the Father. 

So, it came to me sometime in the night.  What we were.  What we are.  We are sisters.  We have faith.  We believe in miracles…but if none comes, we still have faith.  We are still sisters.  We still have faith.  For although one now waits on the other side of this realm of life…..we are still sisters….and she is waiting on us now.  No longer in God’s waiting room.  Her name was called.  She left her seat of waiting…..and joined Him.

And now, Wanda’s first and only devotional blog post:   GOD’S WAITING ROOM

Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Have you ever had to wait on something? Waiting is sometimes the hardest thing to do. In this life of instant everything….perhaps we forgotten how to “wait”.

These are some thoughts that have been on my mind in this most recent episode of heart problems. I have had health issues all of my life—so you would think I would be used to the onslaught of enemy attack by now. Or at the very least, I would know what and when to expect it. But yet again….I am caught off guard. In my weakened physical condition…the enemy attacks the spiritual “me”.   Isn’t that where we are all most vulnerable?

I have spent my fair share of time in waiting rooms.   Waiting is tiring.   Watching others come and go…while I am still waiting.   When we are in God’s waiting room it is for a reason.   He may be trying to speak to us.   Are we listening?   Or, have we forgotten how to listen? In this noisy world we live, do we find ourselves just listening to the roar of the world, instead of keeping our ear tuned for the calming voice of the Lord?

Do you hear….from the depths of your heart….”be still and know that I am God”…. It’s time to stop and listen. Sometimes difficulties may enter our lives to “slow us down”.   I have discovered that many times we “cover up” the voice of the Lord with busyness.   We stay so busy we have no time to spend in prayer or the Word.   Are we afraid of what He might say….or are we afraid of what He might ask us to do? I have found myself feeling this.   In discussing this with my sisters, we all seem to feel this way.   Afraid of what He might require us to do. We need to remember—He won’t ask us to do anything that He won’t guide, direct and qualify us to do.

When we finally stop and listen, however the “listening” came about, it is worth the wait.  We realize with clarity that the enemy was trying to “steal” something from us all along.   He kept our focus and attention on other things….demanding things.   But we must stop—-and listen.

Since I have been home from the hospital, I have found myself being attacked during the night—by the enemy of my soul. When I am plagued with thoughts of fear and the uncertainties of life, I try and pull as many scriptures in as I can recall, almost as if I am pulling up a comforting quilt to warm my body and soul.   A couple of my “strength verses” are, “By His stripes we are healed”; and “Greater is He that is in me, than He that is in the world”.   I have to remind myself over and over of the promises of the Father in order to get even a minute of peace.   Sleep does not come easy these days.   I cling to the promises of the Lord.   I am listening to His voice—I want to be obedient to His calling.

Jehovah-Shammah ~ the Lord is there;
Jehovah-Rophi ~ the Lord who heals; and
Jehovah-Shalom ~ the Lord is peace.
Thank you for praying for me. Keep it up. The Lord is not finished yet!

Keeping the Faith,

The Sisters

The Lord, indeed was not finished.  The blog, “Sisters of Faith”, was created on that night at the tail end of December, but the faith of the sisters began as we each accepted and loved the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior.  The faith of each sister has been tested and tried in many ways throughout our individual lives…but one thing is for sure….we know without doubt, God is faithful to His promises.  And, Wanda’s testimony still reaches out.  Her faith in the Father still speaks.  There is more to her story yet to be told….

Father in heaven, I thank You for giving me Wanda. As a sister, as a friend and as an intercessory prayer warrior.  You have blessed me in countless ways.  I want to spend all of my days bringing glory to Your name.  I want to hear—what she heard on February 12th at 3:30 a.m., as she left this life—”well done—my faithful daughter—enter into My kingdom”….and I know in order to hear those words….I must do well…always striving—toward that mark.  Lord, help us all be united in striving for the goal.  Help us lead souls along the way, by testimony, by life and by love.  In Your holy name I pray~Amen.

Trusting Him,

Angie

“Who do you think you are? I said angrily to the young man in front of me who happened to be my ninth grade classmate. “How dare you tell me I’m not going to heaven? I go to church every Sunday, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t swear…” and I went on arrogantly listing my many ‘godly’ attributes. The young man listened to my angry tirade reply and then said quite calmly, “I don’t care what you say Bernadine, unless you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you are not going to heaven!”

8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:8-10

The above conversation happened during recess in my ninth grade class many years ago. I wasn’t a Christian yet, that happened a year or two later. I remember it so vividly because at that time that young man was the only Christian in our ninth grade class. We (the class) had many spirited discussions and he was not afraid to stand up to any of us. He always stood his ground and let us know that being good was not enough, we had to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. Luke 9:26 NIV

As a mature Christian I have had my moments where it seemed as if it was me against the world. There have been times where I had to decide whether to keep quiet or speak out and either way it wasn’t easy. Often I thought back to those moments in my ninth grade class with admiration for that young man who was so well able and ready to stand up against his peers for his beliefs. It couldn’t have been easy especially as a teenager to be different but he was. He showed by his actions and his words that he was not ashamed of the fact that he was a Christian. Also, he was ready to witness to win others to Christ and when necessary defend his faith.

Heavenly Father give us boldness to speak out when necessary to win lost souls for your kingdom but also the wisdom to know those times when you simply want us to be quiet and allow you to work in the hearts of those around us.