Author Archives: Barbara Harper

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About Barbara Harper

https://barbarah.wordpress.com

Friday’s Fave Five

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Finally got my spring decorations out!

It’s been another fairly quiet, uneventful week here. But every week is sprinkled with good things, even if it takes some thought and observation to find them. We join Susanne and others at Living to Tell the Story to share our blessings.

1. Adjusting notifications. Our drugstore greatly overdoes text and phone notifications. Maybe they all do, I don’t know. I usually turn notifications off until I reorder something and then have to turn them back on. This week, when I texted STOP to turn notifications off again, I received a few options, one of which was a word to text if I only wanted to receive notice when my prescription was ready. Yes, that’s all I’ve wanted all along, not offers to watch a video about my prescription. A little thing, but a cure to a consistent irritant.

2. A settlement. Back in early November, Jim took a hard fall on a hotel stairway that resulted in a severely sprained ankle and torn ligaments. The doctor said it would have been better for him if he had broken it. Investigations and negotiations between insurance companies have been going on ever since. We felt the hotel was at fault because their short stairway had black carpet and low lighting, making it hard to see the steps, and no handrail. We were advised not to say anything publicly about the incident in case we had to go to court. Finally everything was wrapped up and we received a small settlement this week. Jim still has pain and swelling in his ankle and still has to prop it up at times, but he can walk on it okay now.

3. Running into an old friend. She doesn’t live in this area, but happened to be here and in the Dollar Store at the same time I was. It was good to catch up for a bit.

4. Azaleas blooming. We planted them years ago, but they have hardly grown and I don’t think I have ever seen more than a few flowers on them. I was surprised to see one in full bloom this week.

5. Allergy medicine. Excessive pollen is the one downside of spring, but it’s a necessity to see things bloom.

Bonus: Feeling better. I had a pretty bad reaction to some food truck tacos over the weekend that took a few days to fully recover from. Then Jesse caught a bad stomach bug and Jeremy tested positive for Covid. As of yesterday, they were both doing better and well enough to try to work (both still working from home). We’re hoping and praying for a full recovery soon.

And that wraps up the first week of April. How about you? Any good things happening in your week?

Be Restored

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The second book of Samuel covers King David’s reign in Israel. Warren Wiersbe offers insights and helps for our reading 2 Samuel in his commentary Be Restored (2 Samuel & 1 Chronicles): Trusting God to See Us Through.

David first shows up in 1 Samuel, where Samuel finds him as a young shepherd and anoints him king after Saul fails. Then David has his encounter with Goliath, becomes a seasoned warrior, and flees from Saul’s murderous jealousy for many years.

David appears in the beginning of 1 Kings, where he sets up Solomon to take over after he dies.

1 Chronicles documents David’s reign as well, including his preparations for the temple that he was not allowed to build, but that Solomon would.

But 2 Samuel begins with David’s finally coming into his full kingship and ends with his final battles, a list of his “mighty men,” and his “last words.”

Within the overarching progression of God’s Word and purposes, most notable in this book is the covenant God made with David that He would establish David’s line as an everlasting kingdom and that David’s son would build a house for His name: the temple which would be the centerpiece of Israel’s worship system for years to come. Ultimately David’s descendants would culminate in the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the everlasting King. Jesus is sometimes called “the Son of David.”

David is a favorite character of many, with his rags-to-riches story of the shepherd boy who became a king, his unabashed faith that God would use him to take care of Goliath, his earnestness in following the Lord, his outpouring of his heart in so many psalms that we can identify with.

David was never perfect, but he was teachable and usually readily admitted when he was mistaken.

Then came his fall with Bathsheba. Instead of turning away, as Joseph did when tempted, David continued to entertain the thought of the beautiful woman he had seen, until he called for her and lay with her. Then when she became pregnant, David tried to manipulate her husband, Uriah, one of his mighty men, to go home so the baby would be thought to be his. But Uriah was honorable and would not partake of the pleasures of home while his brothers were on the battlefield. So David arranged to have Uriah put in the hottest part of the battle, where he was killed.

When David laid aside his armor, he took the first step toward moral defeat, and the same principle applies to believers today (Eph. 6: 10–18). Without the helmet of salvation, we don’t think like saved people, and without the breastplate of righteousness, we have nothing to protect the heart. Lacking the girdle of truth, we easily believe lies (“We can get away with this!”), and without the sword of the Word and the shield of faith, we are helpless before the enemy. Without prayer we have no power. As for the shoes of peace, David walked in the midst of battles for the rest of his life. He was safer on the battlefield than on the battlement of his house (p. 83).

David’s house was in turmoil for many years after that. God forgave him when he repented (Psalm 51), but there are consequences even for forgiven sin.

All during David’s months of silence, he had suffered intensely, as you can detect when you read his two prayers of confession (Ps. 32 and 51). Psalm 32 pictures a sick old man instead of a virile warrior, and Psalm 51 describes a believer who had lost almost everything—his purity, joy, witness, wisdom, and peace—a man who was afraid God would take the Holy Spirit from him as He had done to Saul. David went through intense emotional and physical pain, but he left behind two prayers that are precious to all believers who have sinned (p. 91).

Chastening is not punishment meted out by an angry judge who wants to uphold the law; rather, it’s difficulty permitted by a loving Father who wants His children to submit to His will and develop godly character. Chastening is an expression of God’s love (Prov. 3: 11–12), and the Greek word used in Hebrews 12: 5–13 means “child training, instruction, discipline” (p. 92).

The next-to-last chapter of 2 Samuel contains David’s “last words”—not the last words of his that we see in Scripture, but probably a psalm written near the end of his life. Wiersbe suggests that since the psalm’s subject is godly leadership, it may have been written for Solomon, who would succeed David as king. In verses 3-4, David writes: “The God of Israel has spoken; the Rock of Israel has said to me: When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth.” Wiersbe comments that godly leadership “is an awesome responsibility. It demands character and integrity (‘just’ = righteous) and a submissive attitude toward the Lord (‘the fear of God’). Without righteousness and the fear of God, a leader becomes a dictator and abuses God’s people, driving them like cattle instead of leading them like sheep” (p. 183). Wiersbe expands:

David used a beautiful metaphor to picture the work of the leader: rain and sunshine that together produce useful fruit instead of painful thorns (23: 4–7) (p. 183).

With God’s help, leaders must create such a creative atmosphere that their colaborers will be able to grow and produce fruit. Ministry involves both sunshine and rain, bright days and cloudy days; but a godly leader’s ministry will produce gentle rain that brings life and not storms that destroy. What a delight it is to follow a spiritual leader who brings out the best in us and helps us produce fruit for the glory of God! Unspiritual leaders produce thorns that irritate people and make progress very difficult (2 Sam. 23: 6–7) (pp 183-184).

With all his faults and failures, David was, for the most part, such a leader. How we need such leaders today.

Dormant Souls

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One of my least favorite parts of winter is the barrenness of the landscape. Besides a few fir trees, nothing is growing and everything looks dead and gray.

The plants and trees aren’t dead, of course. They’re just dormant, suspending their usual growth process for their protection. Life is still inside the plants and their roots, ready to spring forth when conditions are ripe again.

I think our souls sometimes go through periods of dormancy, too. We all have ups and downs, times when we “feel” more fervent and spiritual than others. We know we don’t rely on feelings, but they can sure make things easier or harder.

Grief can look like dormancy. Just like a broken leg needs time to heal, a broken heart does as well. Much of a grieving person’s energy goes towards healing. They’re still very much alive, spiritually and otherwise. Some say that their deepest periods of growth have come during their most sorrowful times. But they may not look or act like their normal selves and may not appear to be as fruitful as they usually are.

King David’s life seems to me to display dormancy after his great sin with Bathsheba and his unthinkable plot to have her husband killed. The first part of his life had gone well as he followed God closely. He wasn’t perfect, but he was “a man after God’s own heart.”

But after these sins, David tried to cover his tracks for several months. Then God’s prophet confronted him, and David broke down. He confessed his sin and repented.

Yet even forgiven sin has consequences. David’s household was in turmoil for years afterward. One son raped his half-sister. Another son killed the first and tried to take over David’s kingdom.

And David said nothing to rebuke his sons. Did he feel he had no right in light of his failures? Did he feel the events in his family were part of his punishment? It would have been better to be honest with them about his sin, to warn them about the dangers of temptation and the necessity to nip it in the bud, to point out that he didn’t “get away with it,” as perhaps they hoped to do, but he was under God’s chastening hand.

In fact, David is pretty quiet from the time of his sin until his return to the kingdom after Absalom’s rebellion. But he doesn’t seem fully himself again until 1 Kings, as he helps Solomon get ready to build the temple.

In today’s cancel culture, David’s career would be over and his esteem among his people would have been lost.

But God wasn’t done with David. David’s spiritual life wasn’t dead: just read Psalm 51, written after his repentance. According to this site, Psalms 32, 86, and 122 were also written after this time.

John Newton captured this idea of reviving in spring in a couple of poems. One, written in April of 1776, begins “Pleasing spring is here again” and goes on to capture evidences of spring. The next few stanzas say:

What a change has taken place!
Emblem of the spring of grace;
How the soul, in winter, mourns
Till the Lord, the Sun, returns;
Till the Spirit’s gentle rain,
Bids the heart revive again;
Then the stone is turned to flesh,
And each grace springs forth afresh.

Lord, afford a spring to me!
Let me feel like what I see;
Ah! my winter has been long,
Chilled my hopes, and stopped my song!
Winter threatened to destroy
Faith and love, and every joy;
If thy life was in the root,
Still I could not yield thee fruit.

Speak, and by thy gracious voice
Make my drooping soul rejoice;
O beloved Saviour, haste,
Tell me all the storms are past:
On thy garden deign to smile,
Raise the plants, enrich the soil;
Soon thy presence will restore
Life to what seemed dead before.

In the last stanza, Newton longs for his eternal home where winter will be no more.

In “Waiting for Spring,” written a couple of years later in March of 1778, Newton revisits this idea. In the first three stanzas, he talks about the change of seasons as part of God’s decree. Then he writes:

Such changes are for us decreed;
Believers have their winters too;
But spring shall certainly succeed,
And all their former life renew.

Winter and spring have each their use,
And each, in turn, his people know;
One kills the weeds their hearts produce,
The other makes their graces grow.

Though like dead trees awhile they seem,
Yet having life within their root,
The welcome spring’s reviving beam
Draws forth their blossoms, leaves, and fruit.

Then he prays in the last stanza:

Dear Lord, afford our souls a spring,
Thou know’st our winter has been long;
Shine forth, and warm our hearts to sing,
And thy rich grace shall be our song.

It’s one thing when circumstances or sorrows cause us to draw in and heal, or God’s chastening weighs us down for a while. It’s another thing if we’re dormant because we’ve neglected God’s means of growth.

Like plants, we need light.

There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!” (Psalm 4:6)

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26).

The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple. (Psalm 119:130).

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

We need water.

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word (Ephesians 5:25-26).

Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. (John 7:37).

And we need nourishment.

I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food (Job 23:12).

Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15:16).

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35).

Whether your soul is feeling sluggish and sleepy or in full bloom, or in-between, will you turn to His light and let it warm you? Will you take in His water and let it soak down deep in your soul? Will you partake of His nourishment to strengthen your roots and bring forth fruit in your life?

After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.

Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth (Hosea 6:2-3).

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Laudable Linkage

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Here’s another round-up of thoughtful reads.

God Sees the Whole Picture, HT to Challies. “Sometimes our dots line up, and we connect one to the other and the picture is clear. We see what God was trying to do and we say, ‘Oh, I get it. That’s why that had to happen that way.’ That’s why the tire was flat. That’s why I got sick. That’s why I lost my job. ‘Now I understand.’ But other times none of it makes sense. We wait for God to tie up the ends and put a bow on it so we can look at a completed package with spiritual satisfaction, admire the intricate workings of God and justify His actions. But He doesn’t and it doesn’t.”

Wise People Don’t Believe the Best About Everyone. “Heart-broken parents have told me, ‘I didn’t think my parents would hurt their own grandchildren.’ Yet those same parents abused the adults that sat before me when they were children. If they harmed their own child, why would they be different with their grandchild? Discernment feels mean to some people. They don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings. They think good people believe the best. Yet, that is not what Christ practiced.”

Her Weakness Is Her Strength. “Regardless of the cause or degree of the weakness, these are the ones who are to be the special objects of our love, protection, and affection. These are the ones we must accept as a special gift of God to the church. It is to the weakest that we owe the greatest honor, to the frailest that we owe the greatest allegiance, to the ones most likely to be overlooked that we owe the greatest attention.”

You Can Obey, HT to Challies. “We thank Jesus that he came, died for us and transferred his perfect life to our account. And then we can think that we won’t be perfect until glory so we kind of give up trying. Sinners gonna sin, innit.”

6 Truths to Cling to While You’re Praying for Your Prodigal. “God knows exactly where your child is. He has the power to engineer circumstances large and small to pursue your child and draw him or her to Himself. Sometimes the goodness of God leads men to repentance (Rom. 2:4), and sometimes His judgment breaks their stony wills. We can trust God to know which is most effective.”

Why You Still Need the Church Even If You Have Been Hurt by It, HT to Challies. “Yes, we’re imperfect, but imagine how much Jesus must love his people to continue to meet with them despite their blemishes. It’s that same love that Jesus offers you, wounds and all.”

No, I’m Not a Pro: How to Parent Our Children’s Souls, HT to Challies. “My children are immortal beings with eternal souls. I would say this takes my breath away, but I don’t want to give the wrong impression. It feels less like witnessing a pretty sunset at the beach and more like standing at the precipice of a mountain. The view is incredible but my sense of helplessness at the top of sheer rock is almost overwhelming. To be entrusted with the care of souls is beautiful and terrifying at the same time. It is a holy task.”

All of Our Opinions All of the Time, HT to Challies. “I’m not offering an opinion on whether or not Will Smith smacking Chris Rock was okay, I’m offering an opinion on why we should hesitate hopping in on the controversy of the day. . . ‘Is it necessary that every single person on this planet um, expresses every single opinion that they have on every single thing that occurs all at the same time?'”

When Motherhood Goes Unnoticed, HT to The Story Warren. “Our motherhood often goes unnoticed, and we can easily believe the lie that the work of it all isn’t worthy. There are seasons where our faithfulness seems fruitless, our efforts never enough. There is no actual ‘mom-of-the-year’ award, but we all long for it and constantly feel like we fall short. Our hearts are weary, and no one seems to care. But Scripture offers a different perspective and a greater hope than any outward praise and recognition can offer.”

Finally, this is an amazing piece of film work about an amazing phenomenon: time lapse of a spring garden blooming.

Happy Saturday!

Friday’s Fave Five

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Yay for the first week of April! Winter is not letting go just yet, but each day is one more step away from it and toward consistently warmer, sunnier days.

We join up with Susanne and others at Living to Tell the Story to recount some of the good things of the week. We’re grieving with Susanne today in the recent loss of her father. She has kindly left the FFF link up for us.

1. Routine medical visits. I can’t say I enjoy any medical visits, but it’s nice when they are done and revealed no new problems to be concerned about. I had my annual eye exam this week and a visit with the dentist not long ago.

2. An unexpected package. I helped a friend with her book launch a few weeks ago, and she sent me some bookmarks and a cute little magnet this week.

3. Food Truck Parks. A new one sprang up between our place and Jason and Mittu’s. They’ve been several times already, and I met them there for dinner one night this week. It’s a nice set-up. I especially appreciate that they have real bathrooms rather than portable ones.

4. Lunch with the family. Jim and Jesse went over to Jason and Mittu’s to set up a trampoline, and I joined them there later for lunch. Mittu made brownies afterward, but Jim and I needed to leave before they were done. So Jason and Mittu brought me a brownie Sunday afternoon. It was big enough to split over two days. (Jim is trying to cut back on sugar, so he declined the brownie offer.)

5. Time alone. I’ve sometimes felt guilty wishing for or enjoying having some time to myself. And then when I am alone for very long, I miss my family. But then I thought, you know what, I don’t have any control over my husband’s travels for work. Of course, I love him and love when he is here. But there are things to enjoy about being together and things to enjoy about solitude. So I decided to just enjoy whichever I was experiencing instead of pining for one or the other. Being by myself most of this week made for light cooking and the opportunity to watch some of the programs I mentioned yesterday that he would not have been interested in. But I am looking forward to having him home tonight (it’s Thursday afternoon as I write this). (Update: he made it home safely.)

And that wraps up another week! How was yours?

March Reflections

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March has been springy one day and wintery the next. But I am glad spring is officially here, and soon the weather will settle in to consistently warmer days. We’re enjoying the blooms and buds appearing in the yard and around the neighborhood. Both the warmth and new life are welcome after the cold, drab palette of winter.

We celebrated my husband’s birthday this moth as well as “Pi Day” on 3.14 (really an excuse to eat pie). We didn’t do anything for St. Patrick’s Day this year. In the past I’ve made corned beef and cabbage or at the very least played some of my Irish Tenors CDs.

Otherwise, it’s been a fairly quiet month. Except for car situations. Jason had one tire blow, then had to place an order for new tires, then found the place he orders from had been hacked and closed down. It took a while, but he finally got his tires. Then Jeremy’s car was sideswiped by a hit-and-run driver, thankfully not while he was in it. His car is in the shop now. Then when Jim got out his lawn mowers, both the riding and push lawn mowers didn’t work. After ordering some parts, changing spark plug, etc., he got both of them going.

Timothyisms

While energetically pretending that a cardboard box was a boat in a storm, Timothy said, “My abs are popping out.”

Creating

I just made one card this month for Jim’s birthday. He has taken Timothy fishing once and would like to again soon. So I decided to base his card on fishing.

masculine birthday card about fishing

This Cricut silhouette reminded me of this photo from the former fishing venture:

Watching and Listening

We had some hits and misses in the viewing department. One of the not-so-good ones was The Angel of Auschwitz. The premise was good and based on a true story: Stanislawa Leszczynka was a Polish Catholic midwife who was sent to Auschwitz after being arrested for helping Jews. There she delivered over 3,000 babies. Unfortunately, one of the nurses (?) in the camp was tasked by Mengele with drowning newborns. I didn’t remember until after the film that Mengele was called the “angel of death,” and then realized this film meant to contrast his activities with Leszczynka’s. But I think the film’s makers tried to be too artsy about it. There were a lot of scenes where we didn’t know what was going on, like the agonizingly slow opening.

One that would have made a good candidate for Mystery Science Theater mocking was Flight World War II about a modern-day overseas flight that passes through a weather anomaly and ends up over Europe during WWII. Even suspending disbelief over the premise, there were so many improbable situations and plot holes, we ended up laughing through the last half, even though it wasn’t meant to be a comedy (warning: 3 or 4 bad words).

The only one I recall that we did like was Casablanca. Somehow, even though I was familiar with some of the iconic lines and scenes, I had never seen the whole film. I enjoyed it.

Jim also watched This Beautiful Fantastic with me–not his usual style, but I wanted to see it again, and he tolerated it. 🙂

One night while Jim was away, I watched Finding You, which I had seen recommended by a few people. The film is based on a book by Jenny B. Jones (which I haven’t read), who usually writes Christian YA novels. There is no Christian content in the film except a verse on a tombstone and a vague mention about prayer and not being alone. But the film was sweet and cute. A violinist, failing to get into the conservatory she wanted, takes a course in Ireland. There she meets a teen heartthrob actor doing his latest film with his supposedly girlfriend/costar. The violinist immediately doesn’t like or trust the actor, but circumstances throw them together. She finds there is another side to him–but which is the real man?

I also enjoyed watching Letters to Juliet one night when Jim was away. The premise is based on a place called Juliet’s Balcony in Verona where people leave letters asking advice about their love lives, and “Juliet’s secretaries” answer them. In the movie, an American girl, Sophie, flies with her boyfriend to Verona. He’s a chef and busy looking for supplies, touring vineyards, etc. She goes by herself to Juliet’s balcony, meets the secretaries, and joins them for a while. She finds a 50-year-old letter in a crevice and answers it, leading to the recipient traveling to Italy to search for her long lost love, and she asks Sophie to accompany her. My favorite part is that Vanessa Redgrave plays the older woman, and her long lost love is played by Franco Nero, her real-life husband. They were Guinevere and Lancelot in Camelot in 1967.

Also while Jim was away, I watched the new remake of West Side Story (some great parts and music, but a little vulgar in places) and the 2016 Anne of Green Gables (with Martin Sheen as Matthew). I don’t think any version of AoGG will ever beat the 1985 Megan Follows series. This one was ok in the first half, but changed the “puffed sleeve dress” scenario and the way that Matthew and Marilla decided to keep Anne, plus added in some scenes not original to the book.

Reading

Since last time I finished (titles link back to my reviews):

  • 100 Best Bible Verses to Overcome Worry and Anxiety, a devotional book by various authors. Good.
  • Be Successful (1 Samuel): Attaining Wealth That Money Can’t Buy by Warren W. Wiersbe
  • The Enchanted Places: A Childhood Memoir and The Path Through the Trees, both by Christopher Milne, A. A. Milne’s real-life son, reviewed together here. The first book tells of Christopher’s childhood; the second tells of his adult life. He enjoyed the fame of being “Christopher Robin” at first, but resented it later on.
  • Just 18 Summers by Michelle Cox and Rene Gutteridge, a novel about several families in different stages of child-rearing, realizing the time is short to have an influence on their kids.
  • The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope (audiobook), the fifth in his Barsetshire Chronicles, had numerous threads, but the main plot focuses on a widow and her two daughters who live in a small house on the property of her brother-in-law, who owns the manor house and never liked his sister-in-law.

I’m Currently Reading:

  • IBS for Dummies by Carolyn Dean and L. Christine Wheeler. Just picking this one up here and there. I need to get done with it.
  • Another Gospel?: A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity by Alisa Childers. Excellent so far.
  • Be Restored (2 Samuel & 1 Chronicles): Trusting God to See Us Through by Warren W. Wiersbe
  • I Must Decrease: Biblical Inspiration and Encouragement for Dieters by Janice Thompson
  • Ten Time Management Choices That Can Change Your Life by Sandra Felton and Marsha Sims
  • The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope (audiobook)

Blogging:

Besides book reviews, Friday Fave Fives, and Saturday Laudable Linkage, I’ve posted these since last time:

  • How Well Do We Know Him? We like to be known for who we truly are. But do we know God as He truly is, or our preferred version of Him?
  • We Don’t Know What to Do. When we don’t know how to pray, we can borrow Jehoshaphat’s prayer: “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
  • The Dangers of Success. “There are scores of books, articles, blog posts, podcasts, and sermons about dealing with trials and suffering. And that’s good, because we need them. But I don’t know that I have ever seen any material about the dangers of success. What danger can there be in success? Especially success that we’ve prayed and trusted God for?”
  • How Do We Adorn the Doctrine of God? I explored this question after coming across the phrase “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior” in Titus.
  • Comforted by the Ways God Uses Us. I felt out of my element much of my time caring for my mother-in-law. God taught me much through my weakness and inability, but recently I saw ways He used the skill set and personality He gave me.
  • From a Weight of Care to a Weight of Glory. When Paul says “this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18), he’s not minimizing our affliction. He’s saying the glory will be that much greater.

Writing

I actually have gotten back into the book I am working on! I’m wrestling with the hardest chapter: it has so much information, I am trying to figure out the best way to present it without having readers’ eyes glaze over (or worse yet, causing them to skip the chapter).

As April comes to a close, we look forward next month to more warmth and growth as well as Easter and Timothy’s birthday.

How was your March?

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

From a Weight of Care to a Weight of Glory.

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In the midst of Job’s suffering, he remarked, “Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble” (Job 14:1).

We might sometimes lament, “Why does life have to be so hard?”

God didn’t originally create life to be so troublesome in Eden. But sin affected everything, from the people God created to the earth they lived in (Genesis 3). Humans had work to do before sin entered the world (Genesis 2:15). But it would have been something like working at your favorite hobby with nothing going wrong. However, after sin entered the world, part of God’s curse was that thorns and thistles would spring up and labor would cost sweat and pain (Genesis 3:16-19).

Besides daily work becoming hard, personal relationships would suffer because now everyone would have a sin nature. Misunderstandings, anger, selfishness, pride, and more would war in hearts and against others. The very first person born to Adam and Eve murdered his brother.

And human history went downhill from there.

Each of us has experienced the fallenness of the world.

From early childhood we fall and get scraped up, hear taunts, teasing, and put-downs from other children, get into trouble when we do wrong, feel misunderstood and mistreated.

As teenagers we either strive to get into the popular crowd and then not lose our place, or we lament that we’ll always be on the outside. Then there’s acne, puberty, hormones, questions about the future.

As adults we struggle to make a living against increasing prices. Workplace feuds and misunderstandings crowd out enjoyment in our jobs. Someone else gets the promotion we were due. Someone takes the credit for our idea.

We struggle against our own sin nature and lament the continual pull of selfishness.

As we get older, aches and pains take over our bodies. Sight dims, and we can’t do the things we used to.

Along the way, friends and loved ones get sick and die. Innocent little children get cancer. Car crashes maim or kill loved ones. Murders and wars increase.

We try to share our faith, but people mostly don’t want to hear it. Some will actively persecute us. There are countries where sharing Christianity and handing out Bibles is a crime and conversion is punishable by death.

We have needs. Our families have needs. Friends have needs. Our country has needs and opposite opinions about how to deal with them. Our church has needs. The world at large has needs. Orphans, widows, victims, medical research, so many needs that are more than we can even begin to manage.

When we feel the weight of a fallen world, we’re tempted to just crawl into a corner and wait for it to be over.

But thinking of that weight, Paul says, “ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). In another place he says:

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

Once when we came across this passage in a ladies’ Bible study, one of the women had been going through a terrible physical battle. She was a little hurt and angry that the Bible seemed to brush off her heavy affliction as light.

But Paul isn’t minimizing the affliction. He’s saying our glory will be greater than our affliction. Sin, tears, pain, mourning, loss, problems, as weighty as they are, will seem lightweight and short-lived compared to what we’ll experience when Jesus comes for His own. Speaking of that time, Paul tells the Thessalonians, “Therefore encourage [some translations say ‘comfort’] one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:8).

‘Well,” we might be thinking, “that will be great when we get to heaven. But is there no hope and help til then?”

There is.

Just before that section in 2 Corinthians, Paul says, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day” (4:16).

God gives grace and strength to meet every trial. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).

God invites us to cast our care on Him (1 Peter 5:7).

God gives strength in our weakness. “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

Jesus sympathizes with our weakness and promises grace to help in time of need. “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Okay, it’s a relief to know we have God’s help to get through this life. But what about joy? Do we just bear with life til it’s over?

No, God gives joy as well. He gives physical blessings: “You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart” (Psalm 104:14-15).

He gives comfort in sorrow. “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5b).

Joy is one aspect of the fruit of God’s Holy Spirit in believers (Galatians 5:22-23).

He gives us the joy of His presence: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). “Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God” (Psalm 43:4).

When the world is too much, we can’t hide our head in the sand. But neither can we solve the world’s problems. We’re not meant to. We only need to walk in fellowship with “God our exceeding joy,” take everything to Him in prayer, and do what He calls us to within our sphere of influence.

As the hymn says:

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

From “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” by Thomas Obediah Chisholm

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Laudable Linkage

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Happy Saturday! Here are some good reads I have discovered online recently.

Don’t Waste Your Experience, HT to Story Warren. “In the forums of The Habit Membership, Carey Christian recently posted an essay she had written about her experience as a survivor of the Columbine High School shooting . . . She survived by hiding with classmates in a locked and darkened office for three hours. (You can read the whole essay here.) The heart of the essay, however, is not those three hours of immediate peril, but the fifteen years after.” “It takes time to know what things mean. Writing and reflecting greatly improves your chances of learning what there is to learn from your life.”

Bible Reading Blues? Study Your Stop. “One of the most important questions a Bible reader can ask is what made her stop and walk away midway through. Think back to the last time you abandoned your Bible reading plan—it may have been as recently as this morning. Find your Bible and open to the page where you stopped reading; let’s figure out what went wrong.”

Should Parents Talk to Their Kids About Scary World Events? HT to Story Warren. “Since this digital age has made it virtually impossible to shield our children from disturbing news, parents have no choice but to address the issues head-on. With God’s help, we can provide balance and truth that will empower kids to walk in freedom from fear. Here are some tips to use when talking to children about scary world events.”

The Indispensable, Enduring, and Intervening Work of the Spirit, also from the Story Warren. “Much like the disciples, our heartaches can readily consume our perspective, hijack our story, and overshadow the truth of who God is. When we’re in the midst of hard circumstances, relinquishing our expectations of how things ought be feels frightening and vulnerable. We choose instead, to numb pain, worry obsessively our way through uncertainty, and manipulate people and our environment for a desired outcome. However, what if our insistence on control and holding tightly to our misplaced securities—such as health, finances, work, successes, giftedness, and relationships—hinder us from hearing Jesus? And what if we miss his tender care and reassuring comfort for us?”

Back to the Hospital: A Story of God’s Faithfulness, HT to Challies. A wonderful story of a young woman finding a way to minister as a patient in a mental health hospital.

How Heroes of the Bible Build Faith and Courage in Your Son. “A right understanding of biblical heroes provides a model for many desirable traits that we long for and pray for in our sons. But the Bible is a book about God, not a self-help manual. Scripture provides the faithful reader with a blueprint not just for good behavior, but for godliness.”

Are You Principled or Just a Contentious Jerk? HT to Challies. “The apostle Paul says ‘an overseer must be . . . not quarrelsome’ (1 Tim. 3:2–3). Yet in my experience, quarrelsome people often hide behind the excuse, ‘I’m just principled’ or ‘I’m standing up for the truth when no one else will.’”

When He Loves Someone Else. I don’t know if I have ever seen this topic addressed, but this is a good treatment of it. I don’t remember this incident from Corrie ten Boom’s life—it’s been way too long since I’ve read The Hiding Place.

Busyness . . . God’s Way. “In our hustle culture, the term ‘busy’ often gets a bad rap (and understandably so – sometimes we just flat out are too busy with misplaced priorities!). But just because we aren’t called to hustle and strive and be workaholics doesn’t mean it’s automatically wrong to ‘be busy’. It all comes down to what we are busy doing.”

Finally, this is a cute little film:

Friday’s Fave Five

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Last week was overflowing with favorites. This week has been a little more ordinary—not a bad week, but nothing stood out as a favorite at first. But sometimes those weeks that require a little more scrutiny are more rewarding when we find the blessings in them. We join up with Susanne and others at Living to Tell the Story to recount some of those good things.

1. Lack of a long checkout line. When I shop in a certain big store that starts with a W, I dislike that they only have one or two checkout lanes open, usually with very long lines. They have tons of self-checkouts, which I don’t mind using for a few items—but not for a whole cartful. I usually order online and schedule a pickup time. But I needed to look for some non-grocery items, so I decided to shop for my whole list inside. Surprisingly, I got into a line with only one person on front of me, who was nearly done, and my cashier was very efficient. That may have set a record for my shortest time checking out there.

2. A kind driver let me into a very long lane of traffic as I left the store mentioned above.

3. A successful camping trip. Jason and Timothy went on a father-son camping trip last weekend. They did well and had a good time, and Mittu did well by herself.

4. Insurance can be a pain to pay for and deal with. And when my oldest son’s car got sideswiped by a hit-and-run driver, he wasn’t looking forward to everything involved with taking care of the damage. But thankfully insurance does help. And, most thankfully, he wasn’t in the car when it got hit.

5. Fellowship. We had not had our monthly ladies’ Bible study for a few months due to the holidays and our leader’s having a baby in January. But we met this last Saturday. I have to confess that I am not fond of getting up early on a Saturday, which we do so that everyone is free to spend the rest of the day with their families. But once I get there, I really enjoy the time. And then, our church had a fellowship meal Sunday after the morning service. We had missed the last one due to a family gathering, and I think we may have missed one in December for the same reason. We really enjoyed the time of fellowship.

Bonus: Drop-in visits. I am so thankful most of our kids live close enough that they can text and ask if they can drop by for a little while. I don’t take that for granted—we didn’t live close enough to either of our parents to do that.

Have you found any blessings in your week?

Comforted by the Ways God Uses Us

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We took care of my mother-in-law in our home for five years. Many of you were reading here at that time and offered much prayer, love, and encouragement.

I had a sudden realization about that period of our lives this week. It was such a jolt, and then a comfort, that I thought I’d share it with you.

We had moved my mother-in-law, Colleen, from Idaho, where she lived for 30+ years, to SC, where we then lived, to an assisted living facility. She had to move again when we moved to TN. Then she had to be moved twice when her physical state declined to the point that the facilities could no longer care for her. She ended up in a nursing home, where she declined rapidly. She was 90 lbs. and in a constant fog. We felt she was being neglected, so we brought her home, thinking we were bringing her home to die. But with one-on-one care, she gained weight and became clearer and lived for another five years. I wrote about our experiences, things I learned, challenges we faced, etc., and filed them under Adventures in Eldercare.

My biggest regret from our caregiving experience was that I chafed under most of it. I wanted her to be well cared-for. But I didn’t want to be the one to do it. Of all the things I wanted to be when I grew up, a nurse was never one of them.

Plus, our “nest” was emptying, and though I missed our kids, I had big plans for my free schedule. I was going to write a book and all sorts of things (in the three years since she passed, I still haven’t finished the book, so obviously caregiving wasn’t the main roadblock).

I had to remind myself many times over those years that if caregiving was God’s will for me at that time, that He would give grace to do it; that He doesn’t always place us in positions that use our strengths, but often He puts us where we feel totally weak, that we might find our strength in Him; that caring for one person, even a mostly unresponsive person, in a back room is as much a ministry as preaching to thousands or writing a best-selling book or whatever.

But I can’t say I ever “got” those lessons in a way that stayed with me. I had to repeat them often, sometimes daily.

For some reason, one morning this week my mind wandered to some of the caregivers both in facilities and in our home who . . . let’s say, did not do a good job. I could tell you stories . . . At first I put several of those stories here, but then decided to delete them.

You think, when you’ve researched facilities and placed a loved one in one, that they’ll get the best care possible, that everyone knows what they are doing. But that’s not the case. There are a lot of kind, caring caregivers who do their best. Our dear Jessica, who was Colleen’s main caregiver for 3 1/2 or so years, was a treasure worth her weight in gold. But there were others who were just punching the clock. There were some about whom we wondered what ever brought them into health care in the first place. Did they think it would be an easy job to prepare for or to do? Did they used to be good but then got burned out?

Some of them did a good job as far as the physical things they were responsible for. But they seemed to forget that they were dealing with a person, especially when that person didn’t speak. They’d talk over her to each other instead of to her.

So this particular morning, as my thoughts ran through some of the caregiving situations we encountered, I began to realize that maybe what Colleen had needed most from me was not my nursing care. Maybe what she needed most from me was someone to watch out for her, to advocate for her, to insist that she be cared for in not only the best physical ways, but the most humane ways.

It’s not that we griped to caregiver managers or corrected all the time. We didn’t want to come across as know-it-alls or can’t-ever-be-pleased nitpicky types. We didn’t bring up every single little thing we felt was wrong. We only chose the most vital issues to discuss with the staff at her facilities or at the home health care agency. Still, there seemed to be way too much that we needed to speak to them about.

Years ago, before there were so many personality tests and ways of classifying them as they are now, the main way of sorting personalities was the four spiritual temperaments. I remember poring over Beverly LaHaye’s The Spirit-Controlled Woman. Though no personality classification is perfect, this one made sense to me and seemed a lot simpler than many of the personality classifications today.

My personality, according to that system, was melancholic—an unfortunate name since it sounds like I’m depressed or sad or morose, which I am not. One aspect of melancholics is perfectionism, which, like most personality traits, can be good or bad. Perfectionism can drive one to do the best possible job rather than leaving things done half-hardheartedly. You’d want your brain surgeon to be a perfectionist. But perfectionism can also lead to hyper-criticism and misery when you and everyone else can’t live up to your ideals. This trait “clicked” for me when a guest preacher in our church several years ago, Jim Binney, said that melancholics see things that are wrong and want to set them right.

I felt like much of the care I provided for my mother-in-law felt outside my natural gifts. As I mentioned before, that situation cast me on the Lord like nothing else.

But this particular morning, I realized God had used me in the ways He made me by helping me see the things that were wrong in her care, helping to right them, and eventually bringing her home. It’s not just that this area was one thing I did right in the midst of so much I felt I did wrong or struggled with. But I just felt particularly known and loved and useful in God’s hands. I hope that makes sense.

Whether God uses us as we feel gifted or totally outside our gifts and personality, our sufficiency is from Him.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)