Yearly Archives: 2014

Keep on Keeping On

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Scripture promises that God will watch over his family and “keep them.” (That means us.) But how do these promises of tender care jive with the facts of cancer and other maladies, especially those that resist treatment and then threaten to kill?

I love the word “keep.” It implies being held closely, protectively. In relation to an adult keeping a child, it’s a picture of putting self between the defenseless one and danger.

From the perspective of the one who’s doing the keeping, it means taking on a serious responsibility and implies that the role was assumed willingly without any “have to’s.” From the view of the one being kept, it promises safety.

Many of the Bible’s word pictures show us this kind of “keeping.” God says he will:

  • Keeping.keep us under his feathers.
  • cradle us in his everlasting arms.
  • engrave us on the palms of his hands.

Scripture also shows us what happens if we make a choice to “keep” ourselves rather than letting God do it.

In Matthew 23, Jesus has been teaching in Jerusalem’s temple and suddenly becomes overwhelmed with emotion. He looks out at the city and expresses deep, loving longing toward the Jews living there, speaking especially to those who don’t believe he is the Messiah.

Jesus senses their rebellious hearts and paints a word picture of a mother hen gathering her chicks beneath her to warm them and shelter them from harm. In other words, to keep them. It seems to break his heart when he says, “…but you were not willing.”

The Lord never forces himself on us but waits for an invitation. But he won’t water down his message to make it seem more appealing. He tells the whole truth and challenges people to believe he is who he says he is. If they refuse? Then, he says, “Your house is left to you desolate.” (Matthew 23:37-38)

God is keeping...I’ve been thinking of all this in relation to Mary. Despite her cancer, I believe God is “keeping her.” But how? Jude 1:24 says he’s “keeping her from stumbling,” which I take to mean stumbling spiritually. And it’s that faith in Christ that will carry (keep) her through even the most difficult cancer-days.

Another way God promises to keep her is on those days when she finds herself in great need. He says he’ll “keep the needy safe.” (Psalm 12:7) He also says he’ll “keep her mind and her heart” through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)

For Mary (and really, the rest of us, too), when our time in this world finishes, the Lord promises to keep us from all harm as we “go” from Earth and “come” to Heaven, even if it’s by way of cancer.

“The Lord will keep you from all harm — he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” (Psalm 121:7-8)

Praising and Praying with Mary

Please continue to pray for peace of mind during the night. Pray also that I’ll get better and better at taking just one day at a time.

Gettin’ Creative

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Taped TPToday I did something I bet no other grandma has ever done. I took 7 slightly used rolls of toilet paper, unrolled a couple of rounds, tore them off neatly, then Scotch taped along the seams.

Dementia? Art? Idiocy?

It harkens back to when Emerald was a one-year-old and we taught her to build tall towers out of fresh rolls of TP. They were soft, safe building blocks that tolerated the clumsy hands of a toddler perfectly.

Emerald loved the idea, and “tower” was one of her first distinguishable words. I figured it would be a brief phase in her development, but a year later (now a two-year-old), she’s still building. She’s capable of constructing towers taller than she is and understands that role-placement plays an important part in a high tower’s stability. And if there’s such a thing as being creative with toilet paper, Emerald is.

She lines them up on the edge of the bathtub, rolls them like wheels, and bunches them in symmetrical clusters. She erects walls with them and uses them as stools. I am one proud grandma.

Today while she was happily building TP-towers at my house, the bathroom suddenly became quiet, my signal to quickly check. When I rounded the corner I found a party-in-progress, complete with abundant confetti on the floor, in the tub, toilet, and stuck to the bath toys. Apparently one of the rolls had begun to unravel, and rather than Emerald’s usual, “Oh-oh, Mee Mee,” she decided to try a shredding project.

Shredded TPTiny bits of TP were in her hair, on her hands, and hanging from her clothes (breakfast pancake syrup helped with that). She was quite proud of herself and said, “TP, Mee Mee!” as I stood in the door, not knowing quite what to do.

Which brings me to the Scotch tape. Rather than disappoint Emerald by putting TP supplies on a high shelf or in another room altogether, I decided to try securing the rolls so she can continue to build without the temptation to shred.

We can learn a great deal from watching young children. Their spontaneous creativity is something God established inside every human being as if to remind us of him, the Creator. Though we can’t create as he can, we can “be creative” in a mini-likeness of him. And isn’t that what he wants us to be, a reflection of him? After all, the word “Christian” actually means “little Christ.”

Creative kiddo.Now that I’ve thought it through, I can appreciate Emerald’s creativity in a new way as she uses what God gave her. Of course my TP-taping may have been for naught if she arrives tomorrow with shredding on her mind.

All of us…. “can see and reflect the glory of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Where is he?

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Every time Emerald and I walk downstairs at my house, we encounter a Scripture verse on the wall: “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7) Every time, we stop on step #5, point to each word in the verse, and together try to repeat them.

Our verseIt goes like this: I start by saying, “For we…” and Emerald chimes in with a loud, “WALK!” and I continue, “by faith, not by…” and she hollers, “SIGHT!” Then we share a laugh and continue down the steps.

But walking by faith rather than by sight is no laughing matter. It’s difficult even for a seasoned Christian – not difficult to understand, but exceedingly difficult to do.

Many of us struggle intensely with the not-seeing part, especially those of us who are visual learners. For us, seeing is believing. But God’s instruction is just the opposite: the believing must precede the seeing.

The other day while driving, I listened to an archived interview by a preacher named Vance Havner. He said, “When people say ‘God is nowhere,’ Christians should split that word in two and say, ‘God is now-here.’ ”

Vance HavnerHe went on to list the common complaints of people he had encountered, people who wondered why God didn’t show up when they fell on hard times or had relational problems or suffered from diseases. He explained how he used to say, “Yes, times are tough, but look Who’s here!”

His point was that our response to suffering shouldn’t be grounded in logic. A Christian’s willingness to live by faith has to be based on Who’s doing the talking rather than on what’s being said. For example, take Emerald’s and my stairwell verse. No one would choose a wait-and-see reality over seeing-it-now, but that’s what God wants us to do, for a good reason.

If we live a life of believing before seeing, our faith in him will benefit from a continual growth spurt. Living by faith rather than sight is the quickest way to gain faith-weight. He challenges us to set aside the logical laws of cause and effect that scream, “God’s not going to come through for you!” and develop instead a willingness to wait for a sight of him. When we finally gasp and say, “Oh! That was him putting those pieces together like that!” our faith gains new muscle.

It isn’t easy, but it’s oh so worth it. And though Emerald thinks our stairway recitation is just a happy game, one day I hope she’ll understand that rich rewards will come to her if she’ll just try to live by the 8 words on our stairwell wall.

“Faith is…. the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

Mary: “I’m praising the Lord for a wonderful visit from my old prayer group this morning, and also for safe travel for family members returning from Arkansas today.”