Communication

by Barbara Chadwick

We are staying in a hotel while the parsonage is being renovated. Checking in, we were told housekeeping comes in Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Yesterday, Wednesday, when the housekeeping lady came she asked me what I needed. I told her we needed clean towels so she put up clean towels. Then I asked her how often they changed the sheets and she told me once a week. She left. This morning, Thursday, I saw that we had tracked in some salt and muck from all the snow. So I put up the notice for service. When the same lady came she asked me what I wanted and I showed her the floor and asked if she would vacuum. She said, “We only do full service once a week.” So I asked, “What day is that. She looked at me very seriously and said, “Wednesday”. I said, “So on Wednesday you come in and vacuum and clean the bathrooms and change the sheets?” She said, “Yes, yes.” I looked at the floor and opened my mouth and she said quickly, “But I can vacuum today no problem.” I said, “Great.” She vacuumed and said as she left, “I’ll see you on Friday.”

I was thinking after she left, “When I talk to God, does He sometimes hide a smile?”

This morning, early, as I was praying I had a hard time focusing. Thoughts of today’s events and things from yesterday and future happenings kept crowding into my words. I finally gave up and went to take a hot shower, saying to the Lord, “I’ll do better next time.”

Did God send that lady to me?

Romans 12:12 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”

She Sometimes Doesn't Spill

by Audrey Wauson

My granddaughter is learning to drink from a cup. Today her daddy was giving her a drink and someone said something about her maybe making a mess, and he replied, “I only gave her a little bit of water and she sometimes doesn’t spill.” How awesome it is to be in the place where everyone wants you to succeed and no matter how many mistakes you make everyone expects you to do better and better and is so thrilled and delighted when you are successful and they don’t hold it against you when you fail, even when your failures cause them extra work for themselves.

That is the way our heavenly Father is towards us. We often fail and mess things up, mispronounce things, throw fits, reach for things we can’t handle yet … and still He says, “she sometimes doesn’t spill.” He’s still looking for us to grow and learn no matter how old you are; even when you’re 50 years old, even when you’re in your 70’s. He wants to give us opportunities to grow even though it means that we will make mistakes as we learn to handle new stuff.

I pray that you will remember that God gives us amazing grace because He wants for us to succeed. He wants to see us learn and grow. I also pray that you will have the same grace towards others that our Father shows towards you and that you will allow them to make mistakes and fail … always looking forward to, with eager expectation, the time when “they sometimes don’t spill.”

I am your shield

by Barbara Chadwick

This morning I read Genesis 15:1, “…the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: ‘Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, your very great reward.’” And in verse 7: “I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans.” What a magnificent promise – “I am your shield, your very great reward” and “I brought you…”

Every day we experience darts, barbs and hurts. And sometimes we are wounded by the words of others. Inwardly we flinch and cry. We begin to put up barriers between us and the world that gives us pain. Each time we are hit we put on another coat that adds distance between us and the world. To picture this we could draw a figure, bowed over, deflecting hurtful things hurling at her.

I am often beset by worries, frustrations and hurt feelings, “Will people like me?”; Will we have enough money?”; “Will I remain faithful to God or trip up?”; “Will I say the right thing OR Do the right thing?”; “Will my actions be taken wrongly?”

What would it be like if, every day, we acted as if God were the shield in front of us. If we could mentally visualize ourselves surrounded by an invisible, powerful, shield that the words, darts, barbs and hurts of life could not actually penetrate, we could accomplish amazing things, like - getting through the day. We could walk through our days with confidence. We could be who God wants us to be. We could make a difference in someone’s life. We could make a difference in OUR life.

In verse one God says, “Do not be afraid” and in verse seven He says, (paraphrasing) “I am the ONE who brought you…” What a powerful thing to realize that God has walked with you all along. Recently my daughter-in-law, Deanna, said, “I can look back and see how God brought us to each place. I can see how He was with us in every situation.” I love that. I love knowing that the Holy One, the All-Knowing One, the Ever-Present One reaches down and takes my hand, as it were, and brings me along the road I travel. I love knowing that He leads me. I don’t have to be afraid and I can trust Him to bring me to the place He wants me to be.

Father God, since we carry your name as Christians, help us to get up each morning and go into our part of the world with boldness. Give us strength in the knowledge that You are the shield about us, that You have brought us thus far and You have the power to take us the rest of the way. I pray that our thoughts and actions will reflect Your love and grace and not our own selfish desires.

Beloved Artwork

by Audrey Wauson

When you look at me, what is it you see?
A piece of driftwood abandoned by the sea?
Then you are missing what I was meant to be

For I'm in the process of becoming a different kind of me
One without splinters, shapely and formed
Displaying His beauty, a beloved artwork.

The Carver knew the shape and the size
And set out to make a most valuable prize
So gentle and tender He picked me up
And began sanding and buffing the rough
Torn ugly surface, that hides all the lines
And curves of His graceful, beloved artwork

Unlike most others, the Carver still sees
The dream He's creating so surely in me
When I squirmed and I wriggled out of His hand
Destroying His timing, delaying His plan
He stained me with His blood and polished me with grace
Purposely finishing me, His creation, His beloved artwork

To eveyone else I may look like some driftwood
Abandoned, forgotten, useless and no good
But to the Carver, I'm precious and rare
Worth all His time, devotion and care
He's carefully, patiently, loving, holding
His costly treasure, His beloved artwork

You Are The God Who Sees Me

by Barbara Chadwick

Genesis 16:13-14
Sarai, Abraham’s wife, had no children so she asked Abraham to sleep with her maidservant, Hagar. When Hagar conceived she began to despise Sarai. Sarai complained to Abraham who told her to just deal with it. So Sarai mistreated Hagar and Hagar ran away.

The angel of the Lord finds Hagar near a spring in the desert. He talks to her and tells her to go back to her mistress and submit to her. In verse 11 the angel says to her, “You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery.” (Ishmael means God hears) God had heard her cries.

“She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me,’ That is why the well was Beer Lahai Roi.” Beer Lahai Roi means well of the Living One who sees me.

Lord God, You see us? Do you see us when our sickness makes us weak, when our pain consumes our minds and we forget to praise You? Do you see us when our feelings are hurt, when we are criticized and we cower in our darkness and our prayers seem to rise only to the ceiling? Do you see us when we have financial struggles and we feel like You are withholding Your wisdom and Blessings?

Help us, Lord. Give us strength to look up and carry on. Your eyes see us. Lift our faces to You as a mother lifts the face of her child and says, “Look at me, I’m speaking to you.” Because only then can we face the day. Only then can we face the situation. Only then can we experience the blessing of Your presence, “The living One who sees me.”

The Happy Way Is To Obey: Part II

by Audrey Wauson

Why? ... Why is the happy way to obey?
(Have you ever noticed that we never seem to get past the age of three when it comes to doing something that we’re not really keen on doing, or something that doesn’t make sense to us? We still want to know, Why?)

Why? Because, “Obedience is the opener of eyes.” says George Macdonald. The training that we receive from our parents is invaluable. Pretty much regardless of the kind of parents we had. This training, or raising, opens our eyes to the great big world of ‘not me.’ When we’re tiny we live under the delusion that it’s all about me. But gradually, thanks to our parents, we learn there are other people out there who sometimes take priority over our time, attention, and love. God knew who we were going to have as parents and He knows what kind of parents we will be. And somehow it is His divine plan, His purpose, that we learn from our parents everything that we need to learn to have a long, full life. What is it Jesus says…
“My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.” John 10:10 NLT

What is a full life? I think it’s going to be a God-filled life, a life of purpose and direction, full of laughter and tears, gladness and sorrow, challenges and accomplishments, defeats and victories. It will be a life where God never leaves us, doesn’t abandon us, doesn’t forget about us, or reject us. But calls us His very own sons and daughters. And is always working for our good, because He is good!Honoring/obeying is not a feeling that seems right, or something that we need to pray about whether or not we should do it. It’s just one of those things that we do, because God said so! Honoring/obeying is all based on trust. Do I believe God when He says that if I will honor then I will be honored and receive the promise? Do I trust God to know what is best for me? Do I believe that He really knows who my parents are and how hard/impossible it seems to be to honor?

Ok, so how do we teach honor/obedience to our children? - We model it.
That’s what Jesus did. “Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.” Luke 2:51 NIV Then He said, "If you love me, obey my commandments.” John 14:15-16 NLT

And we train/disciple it in. We gently tell them to hush so that we can speak to them. We remind them that we love them and that we are going to do whatever it takes to comfort, care, and provide for them. We do what we say we will do. Therefore we don’t lie and say that we’re going to stop loving them if they don’t stop doing such and such. We don’t threaten them with days of sitting in the corner when we know that we’ll only supervise 30 minutes of it. We don’t throw fits and scream and yell at them trying to intimidate them into doing what we want them to do. We don't ignore them and their behavior, deluding ourselves into thinking that it doesn't matter what they do. Nor do we lazily ignore the whole situation and focus on our own interests and desires.

Instead, we think about the outcome, the result, the finished product. What is it that we want to see our children doing and saying next year? When they are 10? 20? When they are parents? What does God want our children to know? How does He want them to behave? Then we set clear and defined rules that they can be understand and that we are willing to enforce. (More than a handful of rules is too many.) Then we obey our rules, and we all suffer if we disobey them. We suffer because it means we have to do the dirty work of discipline (sometimes in the form of corporal punishment – which is always painful, but often in the form of practicing – which is really almost more difficult for us as parents) And they suffer, who wants to be disciplined? However, we can all be like Christ when we submit to discipline.

...Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered ... Heb 5:8 NIV

After disciplining our children, we should remind them of our love for them, of our plans for their future, plans that will prosper them and not harm them, plans to give them a hope and a future… Where have we heard that before? Hmm… ;) …Jeremiah 29:11

Really and truly, the happy way is to obey!

The Happy Way Is To Obey

by Audrey Wauson

We used a curriculum in kindergarten with our sons that had a little ditty that said, “The happy way is to obey.” (Kindergarten is a very foundational time ;) And oh how much happier we all were when they obeyed! Obedience… it’s what Samuel talked about to Saul when he said… …Obedience is far better than sacrifice… 1 Sam 15:22-23 NLT

The Bible tells us to…
"Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God will give you.” Ex 20:12 NLT

“Children, obey your parents …”

This is the first of the Ten Commandments that ends with a promise.

And this is the promise: If you honor your father and mother,

"you will live a long life, full of blessing." Eph 6:1-3 NLT

How is it that honoring our moms and dads is THE only commandment with a promise? Why not “love God with all your heart, soul, and mind…so that you will live a long full life?”

There are some differences between obedience and honor, but not much

Definitions of honor
· a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction
· bestow honor or rewards upon;
· show respect towards
Definitions of obedience
· dutiful or submissive behavior with respect to another person
· the trait of being willing to obey
· Obedience is the willingness to follow the will of others.

Note: obedience is NOT just doing what the other person tells us to do. There is an agreeing on our part to become a part of the problem, the process, or the solution. Still, we can’t get away from the fact that God says honor/obedience is the key to living a long, full life. So, even after we are past the age of having to obey our parents we still have to honor, IF we want to live a long, full life.