“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
~ John 15:12 (ESV)

Friendships are vital in our lives. God has blessed me with some incredible friends, near and far. My friends comfort, pray, and encourage me when I need it most.

One of my friends is a four-legged, furry type. Over the years we have had several dogs, but Corky is the cutest and most loving, furry friend we have had in this home. Some of you may remember we rescued Corky from the pound last year. I guess that is why he is so attached to my husband and I.

The other night I was taking some photographs for an online publication. I was sitting on our living room floor to get the photograph I wanted. Corky came running in to see what I was doing. He started getting into his ‘cutie-motion’ to make sure that I would not forget about him. He ended up getting his portrait taken.

For some reason, our impromptu portrait session reminded me of the song, “Oh, what a Friend we have in Jesus”. Don’t ask, my mind sometimes just goes off and I cannot stop myself singing about Jesus.

In John 15, Jesus is telling us to love each other just as He has loved us. He goes on to say:

“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” ~ John 15:15

It is so beautiful that we can take all of our cares, our hurts and our sorrows to Him, Who really cares because He has been there. Jesus understands when I ask why my friend is going through breast-cancer or why my other friend has a hard time finding work. I may not get the answer to my prayers, but I know that Jesus loves us through the good and the bad.

“What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”
~ Joseph M. Scriven

Thank you Lord for Your incredible love and Your friendship. Even though I might not understand the ‘whys’ of life, I know that I can trust You for my future and the future of my friends. You are always at our side in the good and the bad. I can take all my pain and grief to You, so that I do not have to carry the load alone. In Your precious name, Amen.

Photo & Content Copyright © Iris Nelson

After we had been there for over an hour, she finally got up the nerve to get in line and try the slide out.  I watched her fly down and splash into the water.  After she successfully swam to the edge, she looked for me, hoping I had seen and was cheering her on from the sidelines.  “It’s fun, Mom!  It isn’t scary at all,”  she said as she hopped right back in line for another turn down the wild water-slide.

It amazes me how long she sat on the edge of pool, wondering if she would have fun, but holding back because of fear.  I think we can all identify a place in our lives where we are waiting for someone to push us in, because we are paralyzed by fear.  A new job – sounds exciting, but also unnerving with all the new tasks to learn, people to meet, and different policies to follow.  A move can be equal parts adventure and fear also.  Will your new neighbors be friendly or crabby?  Will you make new friends, find a good church, settle in?

But there are some things that hover in the back of our minds for years before we take the step of faith and take the plunge.  Fear keeps us in our comfortable homes, with our cozy friends and family, immobilizing us so we are unable to listen to God’s calling.  Maybe you’ve always wondered about ministering overseas, but the worries about finances have kept that dream at bay.  Or, are you wondering how to share your faith with someone at work without stumbling over your words and looking like a fool?

Could it be that God is calling you to something more adventurous than just wading in the shallow end of the pool?  Is He asking you to jump in, to feel the thrill and exhilaration of following His plans into the great unknown?  My daughter’s slide into the deep showed me that fear just keeps us from the fun of life.  Fear holds me back from doing what would be most fulfilling in my life and fear traps me at home where life is predictable and boring.

When I just plug my nose and jump in though, I realize that I had nothing to fear at all.  God’s plans are exciting and adventurous, filled with some mystery and surprises, but I won’t discover that if I don’t step beyond the fear. The unknown may seem a bit scary, but I’m following a God who can be trusted.  The circumstances may not always look safe, but I feel safe in His grip.

Is fear holding you back from something today?  Let God replace your fear with faith, trusting that He may guide you into deeper waters, but He will never leave you alone.

It’s my Dad’s fault. No. Actually it’s my Dad’s, Dad who is at fault. I hail from a long and silly heritage of practical jokes and teasing of family members.

Good Grief!

Right now let me publically state my apologies to my family. They have lived with my hare-brained antics now for years and have accepted my need to giggle at their expense as part of daily life with Lynn.

My poor husband after 18 years of marriage still stumbles into my outrageous humor set-ups with full trust. However, he has come to love this oddball side of my charm. *grin* He laughs right along with me. My son and daughter, poor kids, well, they have already inherited this family disease. I already feel sorry for my future grandkids.

I’m telling you about this quirk in my personality to bring you into our family dynamic in hopes you might appreciate the humor and the wonder of the story I’m about to share.

Two weeks ago after dropping my daughter at school, I came home and went into her bedroom to get her dirty clothes to start the wash.

What is it with teenaged girls? It must have been another fashion crisis meltdown that particular morning. Clothing lay crumpled on the floor, flung around the end of her bed and in the giant pile of shoes in her closet. Sheesh!

Feeling charitable, I decided to hang the clothes up. As I was working a shirt onto a hanger, I heard the padded footsteps of my husband. We live in a single story home with several hallways. He was perusing the hallways looking for me. After 18 years of marriage, I know this man well. He doesn’t yell… (like me, HEY, HONEY, WHERE ARE YOU). He doesn’t even call my name. He walks. He paces. He searches and when you’re married to an ornery blonde like me, his search efforts are futile.

Ahem.

So, I hear the pacing of the man. I grin to myself and move farther into my daughter’s room to see just how long it will take for him to find me. Nothing like an impromptu game of hide-n-seek in the morning to tickly my funny bone. Yessiree. I stand in my daughter’s room and continue to hang clothes in the closet. My concealment is perfect and my husband continues to walk the halls.

I hear my husband open the door to the garage. Nope.

I hear him walk the hall by my office again. Nope

Next he walks into our bedroom…. For the second time. Nope, not here.

At this point, I’m struggling to conceal my glee at his wanderings.

Finally, I decide the poor guy needs to get to work so I make some noise in the closet.

He picks up on the clue and moves directly down the hall toward me.

He rounds the corner of my daughter’s bedroom and I start giggling straight off.

I love this man. He’s not mad. He’s actually just glad to find me. He starts to laugh and then holds out his hand to show me something.

He shyly says, “ I found your glasses in our bedroom after searching the entire house for you twice.”

I grin.

He says in a half serious half kidding tone, “I thought you were raptured.”

I rush to him and throw my arms around him, “Oh honey, did you think I was raptured without you?”

He didn’t really reply. But we embraced and I rushed a prayer up to Jesus with a heart full of love and hope for this man.

So, I ask you today; Is my husband a believer or is he not?

Oh how I pray with fervor and passion that on the day of the rapture all of you will find that Mr. and Mrs. Donovan left planet earth together.

Hearing my husband’s words, “I thought you were raptured,” compels me to continue to pray for his salvation.

Don’t give up hope for your unsaved loved ones. Your influence and prayers are monumentally important.

Be blessed this day and come Lord, Jesus, come. Lynn

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