MAKE MY LIFE A SYMPHONY OF PRAISE

by Barbara Chadwick

 

 

My sister, Ruth, gave me this plaque. The poem is by B.J. Hoff. I wish I could write like that! But God gives to each of us the gifts He wants us to have in order to glorify His Name. I share this with you because it so expresses how I feel today.

I have a beautiful Yamaha grand piano but I don’t play it enough. Too many times I choose to do some inane thing instead of playing the music God put into my heart. My prayer echoes what Hoff has written here; “For now, Lord, and forever… Be my Music and make my life a symphony of praise.”

The Musician’s Prayer

By B. J. Hoff

 

You’ve given me the words, Lord…and the music…

A song of life that’s new and unrehearsed;

You have given me the joy that makes my heart sing,

Even though at times the tears come first…

You’ve taken all my yesterdays of discord,

A clash of cymbals, meaningless and vain,

Transposing all the noise into a love song that floods my soul with its refrain…

You’ve taken all the gifts I once thought mine, Lord

And changed the composition of their worth,

Reclaiming what was Yours from the beginning,

Returning them, transfigured by rebirth…

You’ve given me the theme for my existence,

And I will sing Your glory all my days…

For now, Lord, and forever…Be my Music and make my life a symphony of praise.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

shared by Barbara Chadwick

 

 

 

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

 

My son-in-law, Larry Wauson, sent this story to me. I love it because I, too, am at an age where I go into a room and forget why!  But I, too, know where I'm going. May God bless all the fathers today.

 

 

His New Suit
Billy Graham is now 92 years-old with Parkinson's disease.
In January, leaders in Charlotte , North Carolina , invited their favorite son, Billy Graham, to a luncheon in his honor.
Billy initially hesitated to accept the invitation because he struggles with Parkinson's disease. But the Charlotte leaders said, 'We don't expect a major address. Just come and let us honor you.' So he agreed.
After wonderful things were said about him, Dr. Graham stepped to the rostrum, looked at the crowd, and said, "I'm reminded today of Albert Einstein, the great physicist who this month has been honored by Time magazine as the Man of the Century. Einstein was once traveling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle, punching the tickets of every passenger. When he came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket. He couldn't find his ticket, so he reached in his trouser pockets. It wasn't there. He looked in his briefcase but couldn't find it. Then he looked in the seat beside him. He still couldn't find it. "The conductor said, 'Dr. Einstein, I know who you are. We all know who you are. I'm sure you bought a ticket. Don't worry about it.'" Einstein nodded appreciatively. The conductor continued down the aisle punching tickets. As he was ready to move to the next car, he turned around and saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking under his seat for his ticket. "The conductor rushed back and said, 'Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don't worry, I know who you are; no problem. You don't need a ticket. I'm sure you bought one.'
Einstein looked at him and said, "Young man, I too, know who I am. What I don't know is where I'm going."
Having said that Billy Graham continued, "See the suit I'm wearing? It's a brand new suit. My children and my grandchildren are telling me I've gotten a little slovenly in my old age. I used to be a bit more fastidious. So I went out and bought a new suit for this luncheon and one more occasion. You know what that occasion is? This is the suit in which I'll be buried. But when you hear I'm dead, I don't want you to immediately remember the suit I'm wearing. I want you to remember this:
I not only know who I am. I also know where I'm going." May your troubles be less, your blessings more, and may nothing but happiness, come through your door. "Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil - it has no point."
Amen & Peace My Friends
And may each of us have lived our lives so that when our ticket is punched we don't have to worry about where we are going.

ARE YOU LIVING IN BABYLON OR JERUSALEM?

by Barbara Chadwick

 

Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone would come after me he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?

Matthew 16:24-26

In the book, Idol Lies by Dee Brestin, the author asks, “What, if I lost it, would make life not worth living.” Wow, what an intense question. Your answer will bring you down to the basics of what makes up your life.

Our friend, Ron Welsh, had a magnificent bass voice. It was an incredible gift. One day he said to us, “If I lost my voice or the ability to sing I don’t think I could continue to live.” ís His whole life revolved around his voice. He died early, in his forties.

I spoke at a women’s retreat once where in a Q & A session one of the women said, “I’d give anything if I could just have my kids back at home.” Her life had been wrapped up in them. So here she was, with years ahead of her, going about every day weighed down with sadness because her children had grown up and left home to live their own lives. She felt that her life was no longer worth living.

Do you have a safe full of treasures? There’s a commercial about gold on TV that ends with, “What’s in your safe?” Indicating that if you don’t have gold in your safe you’re not safe in today’s world and you have no value.

So, are you living in Babylon or Jerusalem? Babylon is the world and Jerusalem is in the center of God’s will. We often think of being “in the world” as being involved in evil things. But if we’re not living to please God then we’re “in the world.”

Are you living in Babylon?

            Are you burdened about many things?
            Are there things or activities in your life you wish you could let go of?
           Do you worry about where you’ll live tomorrow or how you’ll get by next year?
           What about whether you’ll measure up? (- to what you’re not sure – some nebulous
           level or indefinable goal - or someone else’s definition of success)

You’re living in Jerusalem when:

          You’re trusting God for His promise to be with you to the end of the age
          You believe God can give you the strength to give up unhealthy activities
          You are receiving joy and inspiration from reading God’s word daily
          You gain encouragement from meeting with fellow believers on a regular basis

You could lose all your worldly goods and treasures, all your talents and gifts, all those who are special to you, and still have the “peace that passes understanding” because you have put your faith and trust in Jesus as your Savior and you know that He walks beside you and that He will work out His plan for your life.

Let your joy be complete by living in Jerusalem.

 

WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE?

by Barbara Chadwick

 

  

To live with a purpose is to live with hope!

Why were you created?  Why are you here?

When God chooses a person for his purposes, all eternity is affected and molded because of this decision.

I think of the pastor I had when I was a child. God used his gift of story-telling to touch the hearts of so many children. Children who grew up and went to the mission field or became pastors and leaders.

God called our son Kerry to be a minister. When I think of all the people he and his wife, Deanna, have helped financially, encouraged, shared their home with, young people they taught, older people they shared time with, the countless meals they’ve hosted in their home; I am staggered by the sheer numbers of lives they have touched with God’s love through their hospitality.

In Henry Blackaby’s book, Created to Be God’s Friend: How God Shapes Those He Loves, he shows

how God shapes those He loves into useful, joyful co-workers as they hear and respond to His call in
everyday life.

You may not be a minister but every time you respond to God’s nudge to touch someone’s life with

kindness, mercy and with love you can know that God is working in that person’s life – and you can also know that God is at work in your own life.

I remember one time that I was very depressed. The doctor said, “I want you to go and do something

for somebody. Volunteer in a hospital or whatever you can find to do.”  Sure enough, when I helped

others and saw that it blessed their lives I was fulfilled and the result was joy in my heart.

The following scriptures show a worthy purpose for the Christian life:

Romans 12:13  Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

1Timothy 5:10  … is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing

 hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds

of good deeds.

3 John 5-8  John writes to Gaius: Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the

brothers, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love...
We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth.

To live with a purpose is to live with hope!

Meaning

Where is the meaning in a toilet that just decides to be stopped up? Or in the microwave going out? Or in any of the other random things that go wrong at the wrong times? Is the meaning that it provides an opportunity for us to interact with people that we would never interact with if it hadn’t happened? Like the plumber, or the sales person at Target, or any other person who could possibly be available to get us out of our fix? (Yep this weekend very stopped up toilet and microwave that spins around and lights up with beeps and whistles and no actual heating anything = (

I’m always wanting to do something that’s meaningful, like, I don’t mind watching someone’s child if it will help them do something, like take a class, or go on a date with their husband, or you know something that’s meaningful. But like, I don’t want to watch your child so you can just sit on the porch and vegg.

Where’s all this going? Scripture tells us that we’re to love God and to love others; to love others as ourselves [and in case you’re not very loving to yourself] to love others the way that Christ loved us. Well, I don’t want to engage in loving activities unless they’re going to bear fruit. I don’t want to do them for the sake of doing them. I want to do them to produce something. It could be a spiritual something, or an educational something, or a relational something, but definitely a something, not just a “random no results” something.

It doesn’t seem very results orienting to talk to the apartment plumber-fixer guy about your toilet suddenly being stopped up for no reason. And why would it be necessary for me to go to Target to interact with people that I just honestly would rather not be talking to right now? I was just thinking about that and wondering if there was something wrong with that?

⁴For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.    ⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, ⁶ so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.                         Romans 14

⁵ Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. ⁶ Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. … ¹⁰ And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. ¹¹ These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.    

                                                                                       1 Corinthians 10                                                                                                                                               

Oh brother … so I could become like ..., “A great example of what NOT to do.” The Israelites encountered many different trials on their way to the Promised Land and it wasn’t the trial that was the problem, it was their response to the trial that counted. It was their complaining that did some of them in. But for those who chose to believe, for those who chose to respond obediently, eagerly ready to do whatever God asked of them, …in the spur of the moment, …whether or not they found meaning in it or not, …for them it was counted, accredited, given to them as righteousness.

And I guess that’s what I’m after in my search for meaning. I’m after some righteousness. I’m after some “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” But I also want to be after God’s glory, which means it won’t be about me and what I want to do and I may have to do some seemingly meaningless tasks along the way; some things that don’t have any value that I can see, and do them to the very best of my ability in order to bring honor and glory to Him.

I guess He’s worth it. = ) 

A CROWN

by Barbara Chadwick

 

“Your tooth has three cracks in it. It needs a crown.”

“What will a crown do?”
“It will cover the cracks so that nothing can damage the root.”

As the dentist went into an extensive explanation of what would be involved my mind went to grace. You know, this is just what God’s grace does for us. It covers our sin. It is a crown of righteousness. It makes us acceptable to God. We are kept in his love.

The difference, of course, is huge. The crown the dentist would put on top of my tooth would cost over $2,000 and might not last ‘til I die. The crown of righteousness that Christ gives is offered for free. We just have to accept it. But it is infinitely more valuable.

The sermon by Thomas Watson, delivered at the funeral of Thomas Hodges May 1, 1656, tells of the “Crown of Righteousness” in a glorious way. The following are excerpts from it. I urge you to read the entire sermon at www.gracegems.org

2Timothy 4:7-8 (KJV)   I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

He had finished his course, and from henceforth, he said, there was laid up a crown. He knew his work was done, and there was nothing now remaining but to step out of the world—and put on his crown! "There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness."  As soon as a man is implanted into Christ, he stands entitled to a crown. Here is the crown of acceptance; and in the life to come a crown of righteousness.

Why a crown of righteousness? It is a crown of mercy—a crown which free grace bestows. Why, then, is it called a crown of righteousness?

1. Negatively, not that we can, by our righteousness, merit this crown.

2. Affirmatively, it is called a crown of righteousness in a double sense. First, because it is a crown promised. Revelation 2:10: "I will give you a crown." Since God made this promise, it is a righteous thing to bestow this crown on us.

It is a crown of righteousness because it is a crown purchased. It is a crown bought with the price of blood! This crown swims to us through the blood of a Savior! When Christ was hanging upon the cross, He was purchasing a crown for us!

3. This crown is said to be, laid up. "He does not presently install us into our honor. It is a crown laid up. The saints are heirs under age. God does not crown them until they are of age - laid up."

WHY is it laid up? Why is not the crown presently put on?

It is not fit that we should yet wear it for two reasons:

1. Our graces are imperfect in this life.

2. We must run the race—before we wear the crown.

3. The crown is laid up to make heaven sweeter.

 It is a crown laid up. Here is a righteousness by imputation. This is as truly ours to justify us—as it is Christ's to give us.

There is a righteousness by implantation. The one is by the merit of Christ, the other is by the Spirit of Christ. Now this implanted righteousness is in the soul, as an intrinsic quality;

…Righteousness must be in the soul extensively, in every part….Therefore grace is called "the new man," not a new eye or a new tongue—but a new man.

Righteousness must be in the soul intensively….He is not said to be righteous who is tepid and neutral in religion…

 Righteousness must be in the soul perseveringly. It must abide and continue… There is a great deal of difference between the motion of a watch—and the beating of a pulse. The one is quickly at an end—but the other, proceeding from a vital principle, is permanent and constant. As long as there is life—the pulse beats. True righteousness is a spiritual pulse—which will ever be beating.

A crown is RESPLENDENT. The royal crown, hung with jewels, is a splendid, magnificent thing. Thus the crown of righteousness is most radiant and illustrious. For the splendor of it, it is called a crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4). It must be glorious because it is a crown of God's own making. Sin has made us our crosses; God has made us our crown.

A crown is a WEIGHTY thing. So is the crown of righteousness. Therefore it is called a weight of glory by the Apostle. We think our sufferings are weighty; alas, they are light—in comparison with our crown. This crown of righteousness is so weighty that it would soon overwhelm us—if God did not make us able to bear it.

A crown is an HONORABLE thing. "You crown him with honor" (Psalm 8:5). What a great honor it was to wear the Olympic crown, to which the Apostle here seems to allude. A crown is a badge and sign of imperial honor. So this crown of righteousness is the sign of royalty and excellence. Only those who are born of God and have the royal blood of heaven running in their souls, wear this blessed crown.

If there is a crown laid up, it calls for our LOVE toward God. "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us" to give us a crown. This is the highest ennobling of a creature. If there is love in a crumb, what is there in a crown! If there is love in pardoning mercy, what is there in crowning mercy… It is beyond all hyperbole. And should this not make our hearts reverberate and echo back love? Oh, Christians! Light your love at this fire! God having shone upon us in love, let our hearts burn in love to Him!

GOD CAN’T BLESS NOTHING

by Barbara Chadwick

 

 Every night before we go to sleep Kenneth takes my hand and says, “I love you, Barbara.” Last night he added, “You are the best wife anyone could have.”  (That was so sweet!)

I responded, “How do you know? You’ve never had any other?”

“You don’t have to have Chocolate Mousse to know you like Banana Puddin’!”  (Even sweeter – Banana Puddin’ is his favorite dessert!”

Kenneth was born and raised in the hills of Arkansas and he has a plethora of wise sayings.

          “God can’t bless nothing.”  is one of them.
          “Don’t doubt in the dark what God has revealed in the light.” is another.

The acrostic LORD shows how we can do something – not “Nothing” for God to bless:

Love - Love the Lord, your God with all your heart, soul and mind.  Matthew 22:37 

If you love the Lord you will want to be doing those things that please Him. When you are doing “nothing” you are loving something else more than Him.

Obedience - “God can’t bless nothing.”  Whatever gift God has given you, do it in His name and He will bless it.  We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. Romans 12:6-8

Response – “I love You, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship You. O my soul rejoice! Take joy, my King, in what You hear; may it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear.”  Written by Laurie Klein

 This morning I woke up in a snit. I didn’t want to talk. I didn’t want to make pancakes. I sure didn’t want to smile.  After breakfast I sat down to read my devotional for the day and realized my attitude was stinking.  I began to sing, “Change my heart, O God. Make it ever new. Change my heart, O God. May I be like You. You are the Potter. I am the clay. Mold me and make me. This is what I say. Change my heart, O God. Make it ever new. Change my heart, O God. May I be like You.” Written by Eddie Espinosa

So our response should be: “I love you Lord,”  “Change my heart, O God” and finally, “Yes, Lord” to which this song by Matt Redman speaks: [Lyrics from:http://www.lyricsty.com/matt-redman-trading-my-sorrows-yes-lord-lyrics.html ]

I'm trading my sorrows, I'm trading my shame. I'm laying them down for the joy of the Lord
I'm trading my sickness, I'm trading my pain. I'm laying it down for the joy of the Lord

We say yes Lord, yes Lord, yes,yes Lord
Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes, yes Lord
Yes Lord, yes Lord yes, yes Lord, Amen

I'm pressed but not crushed, persecuted but not abandoned, Struck down but not destroyed
I am blessed beyond the curse for His promise will endure; That His joy's gonna be my strength
Though the sorrow may last for the night, His joy comes with the morning

Devotion – “Don’t doubt in the dark what God has revealed in the light.”
… that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord. 1Corinthians 7:35  I have often heard people say, “I can’t believe I thought that God called me to;” preach, lead, serve or whatever. “He hasn’t put me in any place where I can do that.” 

Continue to do whatever God places in front of you. Be devoted to Him. Be faithful to the task and He will use you in ways you never dreamed of. However, don’t do “nothing” because you will be led away from the Lord – away from your devotion to Him.

But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:3 

So DO SOMETHING so that God can bless it!