God’s Messengers

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From A Lamp For My Feet by Elisabeth Elliot:

How can this person who so annoys or offends me be God’s messenger? Is God so unkind as to send that sort across my path? Insofar as his treatment of me requires more kindness than I can find in my own heart, demands love of a quality I do not possess, asks of me patience which only the Spirit of God can produce in me, he is God’s messenger. God sends him in order that he may send me running to God for help. 

One Candle To Burn

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Our church family has known “Grandma Washer” for several years. One of her sons and daughters-in-law goes to our church, and one grandson was our youth pastor for five years; another is our youth pastor now. She has spoken to our ladies’ group and youth group. Even before meeting her, I had heard wonderful things about the ministry Dal and Kay Washer has had in Togo, West Africa for many years.

one-candle-lg.jpgOne saying Dal is known for is, “I have but one candle of life to burn and would rather burn it out where people are dying in darkness than in a land which is flooded with light.” (I had thought that was his saying, but it was a quote from John Keith Falconer.) So when I saw Kay’s daughter-in-law at church with a stack of books with the title One Candle To Burn, I immediately went to her and asked if Kay had written a book. And she had! I bought one on the spot.

It has been pure joy to read. It begins with Dallas and Kay’s childhood and call to the ministry, how the Lord led them together (she at first thought her sister was just right for him), a year of learning the language and Muslim customs in Algiers, then ministry first in Niger and then in Togo. There are many stories of open doors of ministry, people turning from darkness to light, and answers to prayer such as provision of land and finding a source of water for land for a hospital during the last attempt to drill for it. Compassion for the blind, who could only provide for themselves by begging, led Kay to take courses in Braille during one family vacation, then to teaching a few blind boys how to read, then eventually to the establishment of blind school where students get a regular academic education plus learn certain crafts or skills. She was surprised to be honored with the civilian medal of honor by Togo’s President Eyadema. You get some idea of where the Washer adventurousness comes from when you read of Kay lying on her stomach strapped to the floor of a small plane with the door removed so she could film the maiden voyage of boat used as a floating mission station.

When people asked about her children’s safety and exposure to disease, she told them about an lawn mower accident resulting in the loss of toes of one of her sons — in America.

My heart was especially touched by the chapters dealing with Dallas’s death and later Kay’s serious fall which resulted in a broken arm and two broken bones in her leg and the long, complicated recovery period. At first she chafed under what felt like imprisonment, but later came to accept that this was God’s will for her at the time and to allow Him to work in and through her for a different kind of ministry.

There are many remarkable stories tracing God’s hand at work, laced with good humor and touching moments and lessons learned — all the more remarkable because the events are true. Love for God, for family, and for the people of Africa shines throughout.

I don’t want to tell too many of the details, because I don’t want to take away from the discovery and enjoyment of the book, and I hope you’ll read it for yourself. I am so glad to see this book. As much as I love the missionary classics, I believe it is incredibly important for missionaries of our time to record what the Lord has done. The same God who worked through Hudson Taylor and Amy Carmichael is still at work today!

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt: Funky

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(Friday’s “Show and Tell” post is below this one.)


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Theme: Funky | Become a Photo Hunter | View Blogroll

I didn’t know the word “funky” had so many varied definitions until I was trying to find something for this photo hunt! I’ve always thought of it as “mod,” “cool,” or “retro,” so that’s how I’ll use it today.

Since I was a child of the 60s and in high school and college in the 70s, I would have had a lot of “funky” things in that sense over the years — but I’ve gotten rid of it all. The closest I could come is this picture from a few years ago of the boys trying to make their poor, patient doggy, Suzie, look “cool.”

Suzie looking cool

And….she can be “funky” by one of the other definitions as well in sometimes having a bad smell. 🙂

I sure missed the photo hunt last week! With a wide-open theme like “creative,” that would’ve been such fun. But it was a busy week, and I just couldn’t come up with anything…creative.

Children keep you humble

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One day earlier this week, I happened to look in the mirror on the visor in the car, which, in natural light, was much more revealing than any mirror in the house. “Augh!” I remarked. “I’m getting so many wrinkles!”

Jesse, my thirteen year old, looked at me carefully and said, “Yeah, and your hair is turning gray, too.”

Thanks, hon, for helping me keep things in perspective.

Show and Tell Friday: Bear

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show-and-tell.jpg Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home hosts “Show and Tell Friday” asking “Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, an antique find. Your show and tell can be old or new. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there’s a story behind your special something, that’s even better! If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your “Show and Tell” on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky.“

I made this little bear some years ago, I think before we even had children. I don’t remember where I got the pattern – -I think perhaps from a local program that used to be on years ago with a lady who did the kinds of things you find on HGTV now, only in one half-hour local show. 🙂

I did learn enough from doing this to realize I don’t want to make stuffed toys for a living. It was kind of tedious. But I’ve enjoyed having him around.

 

Country bear

Jointed bear

I didn’t make the chair. I found it for a dollar or two somewhere.

To see other “Show and Tells” or join in the fun, click on the button at the top of this post.

Thy sea is great, our boats are small

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When I was a teen-ager, I saw a plaque or poster with a stylized painting of a boat on the sea with the saying, “O Lord, Thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small.” That saying resonated with me on many levels. Last week my pastor quoted part of a poem with a similar saying as a recurring line. I searched online for it and found it was a hymn from Henry J. van Dyke in 1922.

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O Maker of the mighty deep
Whereon our vessels fare,
Above our life’s adventure keep
Thy faithful watch and care.

In Thee we trust, whate’er befall;
Thy sea is great, our boats are small.

We know not where the secret tides
Will help us or delay,
Nor where the lurking tempest hides,
Nor where the fogs are gray.

In Thee we trust, whate’er befall;
Thy sea is great, our boats are small.

When outward bound we boldly sail
And leave the friendly shore,
Let not our heart of courage fail
Until the voyage is o’er.

In Thee we trust, whate’er befall;
Thy sea is great, our boats are small.

When homeward bound we gladly turn,
O bring us safely there,
Where harbor lights of friendship burn
And peace is in the air.

In Thee we trust, whate’er befall;
Thy sea is great, our boats are small.

Beyond the circle of the sea,
When voyaging is past,
We seek our final port in Thee;
O bring us home at last.

In Thee we trust, whate’er befall;
Thy sea is great, our boats are small.

(Photo courtesy of the stock.xchng.) 

Booking Through Thursday: Letters

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btt2.jpg The Booking Through Thursday topic for this week is letters:

Have you ever written an author a fan letter?

Did you get an answer?

Did it spark a conversation? A meeting?

(And, sure, I suppose that e-mails DO count . . . but I’d say no to something like a message board on which the author happens to participate.)

I’ve thought about it, but wasn’t sure quite how to get a letter to an author. I have supposed that I could just send a letter to the publisher, but just never followed through.

These days, though, many authors have web sites and/or blogs, and it’s a little easier to make contact. I think the first author I ever contacted in that way was Dee Henderson. I discovered her while looking for a Christian fiction book to send my Mom. I didn’t normally gravitate toward suspense novels, but my mom liked them, so I was looking for something along that vein in Christian fiction. I was hooked from the first pages. Not only was the story excellent, but the underlying spiritual truths were clear, yet not told in a moralistic way. At one point I e-mailed Dee through her web site and told her how her books were ministering to my mother, and I did get an nice e-mail back.

In a twist on this question, I’ve had three different authors contact me after I’ve mentioned or reviewed their book on my blog. That was a surprise and a pleasure. One contact led to an “interview” on a blog book tour with Lynn Walker, author of Queen of the Castle: 52 Weeks of Encouragement for the Uninspired, Domestically Challenged or Just Plain Tired Homemaker. We e-mailed a few times in conjunction with the interview, and I’ve e-mailed her since (her book is written in a weekly, through-the-year format, so I am still enjoying and discovering it, and I commented once on something I had just read and how it helped me), but I don’t want to “bug” her or make her feel like I think I’m her new BFF.  🙂

I may have sent a short e-mail of appreciation to a few more, but really haven’t done that as much as I could have or probably should have. Sometimes I think authors receive all kinds of mail, mine would just get lost in the shuffle, what would I say anyway besides, “I really liked your book!” But I imagine authors really like to know that people liked their books! And especially when a book has touched me in some way, I should let the author know that. Elisabeth Elliot is a writer whose words have touched me and ministered to me in multitudes of ways, and at at the end of a chapter called “The Trail to Shandia” in her book Love Has a Price Tag, she writes,

Analysis can make you feel guilty for being human. To be human, of course, means to be sinful, and for our sinfulness we must certainly “feel” the guilt which is rightly ours–but not everything human is sinful. There is a man on the radio every afternoon from California whose consummate arrogance in making an instant analysis of every caller’s difficulties is simply breathtaking. A woman called in to talk about her problems with her husband who happens to be an actor. “Oh,” said the counselor, “of course the only reason anybody goes into acting is because they need approval.” Bang. Husband’s problem identified. Next question. I turned off the radio and asked myself, with rising guilt feelings, “Do I need approval?” Answer: yes. Does anybody not need approval? Is there anybody who is content to live his life without so much as a nod from anybody else? Wouldn’t he be, of all men, the most devilishly self-centered? Wouldn’t his supreme solitude be the most hellish? It’s human to want to know that you please somebody.

We visited another place where I lived–Tewaenon– where the Aucas live. It had been sixteen years since I had seen them, but they remembered me, calling me by the name they had given me, “Gikari,” and everybody beginning at once, as was their custom, to tell me what they had done since they saw me. Dabu, with two of his three wives, came walking up the airstrip and began immediately–there are no greetings in Auca–to tell me that when he had heard of the death of my second husband he had cried. This prompted Ipa to remark that she had sat down and written me a letter when she heard of his death, but on rereading the letter said to herself, “It’s no good,” and threw it away. Sometimes readers of things that I write tell me long afterward that they have thought of writing me a letter, or have written one and discarded it, thinking, “She doesn’t need my approval.” Well, they’re mistaken–for wouldn’t it be a lovely thing to know that a footprint you have left on the trail has, just by being there, heartened somebody else?

A belated — or early — Happy Birthday to Jason

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Jason, my middle son, had a birthday a couple of weeks ago. He is working at a Christian camp in CA for the summer and wants to wait to celebrate til he gets back. So even though we sent a birthday card and a little money and told him “Happy Birthday” on the phone, it doesn’t feel like it has really happened yet. But he gets back right in between Jeremy’s birthday and mine (mid-July to mid-September is “birthday season” in our house — four of the five of us have our birthdays then), so to avoid having three birthday acknowledgments here in one week and having his get lost in the shuffle, I want to go ahead and say my happy birthdays to him here now. Besides, I am missing him and feeling all sentimental. 🙂

He turned 20 this year! No longer a teen-ager!

Jason at age 6

Jason's 18th birthday

Jason on his 18th birthday.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Parenting Edition

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The first WFMW of each month has been a themed one this year, and this month the focus is on parenting.

I’m no expert and my family and I are far from perfect…..but after almost 23 years of parenting, I’ve learned a few things…

  • Pray for wisdom. I used James 1:5 in conjunction with raising my children more than any other area of life.
  • Study what the Bible has to say about raising children. For one of my child care classes in college, we had to do a study on what the Bible says about raising children, just taking a concordance and looking up verses with words like child, children, teach, train, etc. It was one of the most beneficial things I have ever done.
  • Use Scripture in explaining right and wrong and principles to them, but don’t club them over the head with it and don’t be harsh about it.
  • Don’t give them options when they don’t have any. When it is time to go to bed or to eat dinner, don’t ask them if they would like to or if they are ready to — you’re just setting yourself up for trouble if they say, “No.” When it is time to go to bed, in a cheerful and positive but firm way let them know it’s time. I always liked to let them know ahead of time when a deadline is coming up (“After this TV program ends, then it’s bedtime” or “I’ll set the timer for ten minutes, and then we need to pick up toys and go to bed.”) just out of consideration. After all, I much prefer knowing what’s coming up rather than being told I need to drop what I’m doing now.
  • Teach them to be constructive rather than destructive.
  • Never assume. You can walk into a situation and think you know what has happened and be dead wrong. Unless it’s an emergency situation it’s best to ask questions first and clarify what has happened.
  • Ask questions instead of making accusations. I mentioned in an earlier post that this is something I just learned within the last year, and I wish I had known it when my kids were younger. Making accusations produces defensiveness: asking questions leads to examination and conviction.
  • Be specific and clear in your instructions.
  • Realize that your children might have a different understanding of your instructions than what you’re trying to convey. A classic example is the instruction to “Clean your room.” A young child will have a different idea of what that entails than you do. It’s better to be specific: “I want your Legos in the box and your books on the shelf and your dirty clothes in the hamper.”
  • Be careful, though, of too many instructions at once. If someone has several things they want me to do, I’d have to ask them to wait a minute while I get something to write them down. Why would I then expect my children to remember a long list of instructions?
  • Teach progressively. When teaching your child to do something, say, a specific chore, do it together with them at first, then progress to having them do it (or parts of it at first) under supervision, then doing it on their own. Along with that, remember…
  • Children do what is inspected rather than what is expected.
  • Don’t have negative expectations of any age or stage. Two different mothers told me this at two different stages of life, one before the “terrible twos,” and one in regard to the teen years. Going into those or other stages expecting it to be terrible is going to color everything. The world seems to promote the idea that the teen years are going to be awful and it’s just that way and you just have to hang on and get through it. There are struggles and issues to work through, certainly, but if the relationship has been good all along and respect and obedience have been taught all along, it doesn’t have to be a bad time for parents or teens.
  • Attitude is as important as obedience. I used to give more latitude for a negative attitude if my children were still doing what I asked them to, because, after all, I don’t always have the greatest attitude, myself, about the things I need to do. But I was convicted in recent years by I Cor. 6:20: “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” I wish I had emphasized this more when my kids were younger. They need to know that “Do all things without murmurings and disputings” is God’s requirement, not just what Mom would wish for in a perfect world (Phil 2:14. Verse 15 says this is part of our testimony.) You have to be careful here and take into account age level, emotional maturity, whatever else has happened in their day (whether they’re stressed, over-tired, ill, hungry, etc.), and I wouldn’t expect perfection, but you should see growth in this area over the years.
  • Convey expectations beforehand. I mentioned this in a previous WFMW, but I learned that it helped a lot to let children know ahead of an event what was expected rather than trying to keep on top of their behavior during the event. Even with something simple like going to the grocery store, if I told them before we left the house or before we got out of the car (or both) that I wanted them to sit nicely in the cart and we wouldn’t be getting a toy today but we might get a treat if they were good, it helped curb the “I wants” when we passed the toy aisle and kept them from trying to climb out of the cart.
  • “You have to stay where I can see you.” This was our watchword when we went out in public anywhere (after they got out of the stroller stage) — in the park, in the grocery store, at the mall, even at church. This was not only for their safety and so that they wouldn’t be in danger of being snatched away: it was also so I could keep an eye on what they were doing. I don’t know why it seems at church in particular parents seem to let their young children run free. Maybe they are thinking it’s a safe environment and that everyone will be watching them. But they need to be under our watchful eye there as well as everywhere else. I could tell you stories of kids found raiding the cookie jar in the nursery, piling their plates higher than anyone could possibly eat at church fellowships, and all manner of things. They need to be taught both by instruction and example how to act there as well as everywhere else.
  • Point out the hand of God in everyday life. When a car swerves into your lane but misses you, thank God for His protection. When we see sunlight filtering through the clouds in a pretty pattern, point out the beauty of His creation. Let them know of answers to prayer, great and small. Help them to see God as real and active and interested in their lives. I think this goes a long way toward making Him real to them and conveying that Christianity is a relationship with Him and not just a set of rules (though rules and doctrine are important, too).
  • Keep time with God as a priority. I expanded on this in an earlier post: it may be harder to do when the children are small, and you may have to be a little more creative in how you do it, but it can be done with His help.
  • Enjoy this time of life! You hear it all the time, but it is so true: it goes by so fast. Relax and enjoy it as much as possible.

As always, you can find a wealth of tips on Wednesdays at Rocks In My Dryer.

An exercise in Daily Light

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I’ve mentioned Daily Light on the Daily Path a number of times — even this week on my blogiversary post. 🙂 I first saw reference to it in missionary biographies, Amy Carmichael’s and others.

An entry the other day was such an excellent example that I wanted to share it here.

The July 26 morning entry contains these verses:

By faith Abraham, . . . called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed. Heb. 11:8.

He shall choose our inheritance for us. Ps. 47:4–He led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. Deut. 32:10-12.

I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. Isa. 48:17. –Who teacheth like him? Job 36:22.

We walk by faith, not by sight. II Cor. 5:7. –Here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. Heb. 13:14. –Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. I Peter 2:11. –Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction. Micah 2:10.

Now, at first glance or after just a cursory read, I might end up thinking, “Yes, we’re supposed to trust the Lord’s leading” and go on my merry way. But after reading through these verses thoughtfully, I began to see different aspects of the Lord’s leading. When He calls, we need to obey by faith. He cares intimately about us and doesn’t just send us on our way, but He bears us. There is no other teacher like Him. The ultimate destination of His leading is heaven. Since we’re just sojourning here, we shouldn’t get distracted with or caught up in fleshly lusts which war against the soul or make camp and seek rest where we’re not supposed to. That was a blessing to me.

I have to admit my husband and oldest son don’t really like this layout. They would rather read verses in context. I agree this doesn’t take the place of reading the Bible through or studying a passage in context, and you do have to be careful about stringing different verses together. But overall I have found the verses to be compiled with much thought and care. If you think of it as a mini and not exhaustive Bible study on a certain topic each day, perhaps that helps. As I’ve said, I use this usually to begin my devotional time, to mentally change gears from whatever else I was thinking about to begin meditating on God’s Word. Sundays and very busy days, like when we have company in town, this may be all I do. Many are the days that this little devotional has given me much food for thought for the rest of the day.

One of my favorite listings is for the morning of April 10, and for this one I am going to leave the references on the bottom as it is arranged in my book plus the web site.

B EHOLD, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.–Thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.

I am a sinful man, O Lord.–Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair.

I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.–Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.

When I would do good, evil is present with me.–Be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.

I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.–Ye are complete in him.–Perfect in Christ Jesus.

Ye are washed, . . . ye are sanctified, . . . ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.–That ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

CANT. 1. 5. Ps. 51. 5.–Eze. 16. 14.
Lu. 5. 8.–Ca. 4. 1. Job 42. 6.–Ca. 4. 7.
Ro. 7. 21. Mat. 9. 2. Ro. 7. 18.–
Col. 2. 10; 1. 28. 1 Co. 6. 11. 1 Pe. 2. 9.