Remember

This weekend our country will celebrate Memorial Day-- a day created to remember those who “fell in the line of duty” for our freedom but has also become a day to have cookouts, go to the beach, have family time, etc. All of that is good and it would be great if I could sit under an umbrella staring out to waves licking a sandy shore of some island get away but I am getting ready to go to a funeral…so it really will be a day of memory for me. One of my favorite aunts went home to see Jesus face to face last night! Aunt Bonnie was one of a kind!!! She was this California-raised girl’s first introduction to a true Southern lady…one who never went without her nails being done or her hair being colored. (At 88 years old, she still had “natural” hair color--a lesson I will take to heart!) She introduced me to the phrase, “Shut your mouth!” which I discovered really didn’t mean to get quiet. Eating at her house always included at least 3 meat choices with all the “necessary” compliments and came with the insistence that we eat lots!! She loved people and remembered everything about them. She loved me and I loved her! I will miss her very much.

Funny thing about memories…they take us to places we haven’t thought about for years…some bring laughter while others bring pain but they all are a part of what we have become. Some bring us back to where we need to be…the grounding memories. Aunt Bonnie never had a lot of worldly things…she wasn’t an educated person…she lived very simply…but she was the happiest person I had ever met…her concern was always about others…I felt at home with her because there was no pretending. What she felt, she said and she made me laugh because she never took herself too seriously. She knew who she was and modeled for me what Christ said about how we ought to live our lives…and how far I have gotten away from that in my own life.

To be honest I am trying to avoid the scripture God keeps bringing to my mind but I can’t. Revelation 2:4-5 “Yet I hold this against you; you have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.”

This brings a different thought for my Memorial Day this year—not only to remember fallen soldiers or favorite aunts but to remember who I was before Christ came into my life and how He died for my absolute freedom. I sometimes forget how much He has done for me and I just go about my life. I don’t want my Savior to say that He has anything against me…so this weekend as I remember the life of my precious aunt…I also will remember that I will see her again because of Christ. I will remember that He has given me abundant life. As I see the flags flying, I will remember that His banner over me is love… I will remember how far I have come because of this love! I will remember! How about you?

Spring Cleaning

I Kings 19:3-18

There is something about spring that causes many of us to look inside our homes and decide we need to clean out the closets, the drawers, the garage, and yes, even the refrigerator. Every spring, surprisingly I find myself wiping out my window seals of dead bugs! I can only guess how they got in for I am a pretty good house keeper and it concerns me that they entered while I was unaware. Though the windows had been shut up for months I realized they entered through less obvious places. It was in an all-out invasion…done in the darkness through little cracks hardly visible to the eye. That’s the way bugs are…sneaky.


What about the “bugs” that have gotten into our lives? You know the ones over the dark cold months of despair… Perhaps they entered as just an egg of a thought but now have hatched and blossomed into an unfounded fear or deep root of bitterness. Sometimes they enter after a great victory in your life! Bugs don’t have a set way of entering! They just know how to find the cracks! Elijah knew about this “bug.” He had just had a great revival where all the prophets of Baal had failed miserably and God had shown up to do immeasurably more than even Elijah had hoped or imagined. Then we read, “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.” (I Kings 19:3)


Bugs! They know where to get us! They know our weakness and hit at the very place we have left opened…unguarded by the covering of God’s protection. Once they start, unless we catch them early, they will fill up all the holes until we are full of every kind of “bug” imaginable. All we can see are the bugs…and our friends will point out that we have a right to be upset with all these bugs!!! “Where is God???” they ask. We listen to the world and begin to ask ourselves the same thing…”Where is God? I need Him now more than ever…where is He?”


If you read our scripture for today, you will find that God was in the quietness…and He had been there all along. St. Augustine once said, “My soul is too cramped for you to enter it [God].” He recognized that his life was jam-packed full of “bugs” and there was no way God could do anything until he had some major spring cleaning! Elijah, in the midst of his despair realized he had to clean out some thoughts before he could hear God. When he did, he heard God’s voice telling him the truth of the situation.


We must be on alert at all times for the bugs that want to invade our lives. Bugs are liars! God has the truth of our situation and has promised His power to be over-comers. 2nd Peter 1: 3 says, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” Our responsibility is to call upon this power! Confess all the “bugs” in your life…the despair, the worldliness, the secret sins, the pride, the anger…you get the picture…wipe all of those from your personal window seals…then allow His still small voice to come in and give you victory. He promised it…both to Elijah and to Peter…so why not you?


Spring cleaning doesn’t just happen…we must be intentional and it is hard work. It takes time and you might be a little sore when it is done, but when you look over the finished product…there is a sense of freshness! You then realize it was worth it! Now, where did I put that dust rag?????

What's that You Say??

Oh, boy! We are in a mess and I just don’t know what is going to come about. What is happening to our country? I don’t know how I am going to make it in this economy! Did you wash your hands??? You know we’ve got that pandemic going around!

Do these comments sound familiar? I agree. Things are bad! But Jesus warned us of that very thing while He still walked among us. He said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Now, it is very easy to fall into the trap that satan has set for us but we have the only hope for the world and we are to continually point to the hope we have in Christ. But how? By just doing it! We must continually have His praise on our lips even when we don’t “feel” it. I remember very well after Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast one of the first reports we received was that First Baptist Church Long Beach was gone…little did we know that most of the coast was wiped away but hearing that the church was gone was devastating to me. I had not lived there in many years but this was the place where I had surrendered to the ministry. This is where I was married and had the funeral of both my parents. I took it hard…I began to focus only on the loss and before I knew it I was in a state of depression. It was strange that this would have such an affect for I had been through much worse than the loss of a building but it did. One Sunday afternoon, however, I went to my piano and began to sing “Blessed Be the Name of the Lord….you give and take away…you give and take away…my heart will choose to say…LORD, blessed be Your name!” Just praising Him in the midst of my depressed state brought such joy. My soul was lifted from despair to heights of joy! I “took heart!” There is great power in praise! The church was still gone, but I had hope that God was still in control! That made all the difference. It is about our focus!

Praise often is really a holding on to the truth of God in the midst of great emotional upheaval. Jesus told the woman at the well that one day people would worship God in Spirit and in Truth. (John 4:23) I believe that many times we worship Him only in spirit—with our emotions-- and when things are going well, we praise Him but when they aren’t, we fall apart. That is where the truth comes into play…the truth of who God is…the truth of what He says He will do …the truth that He has overcome the world! It is the truth that holds everything together and gives hope in the midst of the storm.

Think about what comes from your mouth when you talk to others about the world circumstances? I am not saying we need to be oblivious to the situations…as I said, things are bad…but what comes from our mouths shows what kind of faith we have. It reveals our heart!
I want to challenge you today to read Isaiah 40: 21-31 and Psalm 42. In these rich verses you will discover who God is, what He is capable of but also what He promises to those who are called by His name. Place your focus on Him! Yes, things are bad…but the Psalmist says, “Why are you downcast, Oh my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”(42:5)

This is the offering we have to give the world. We have a God who knows about tomorrow and lavishes us with His love today. From that perspective…it’s all good!!!

Mother's Day

In 1993, my mother died a week and a half before Mother's Day. I still remember the lonely feeling I had seeing others taking their mothers out for lunch. I almost became sad until I realized my children were taking me out for lunch and the Sonny and Cher song "The Beat Goes On," started going through my head. (those of you who are under 30 will just have to go to itunes and download it!) I vividly remember thinking, "Now I had to be the grown-up!"...one day my own daughter will be the grown-up...and her daughter...and the beat goes on.



So, now I am wondering what my children will say about me at my funeral besides, "Don't she look natural!" I know what I said at my mom's and it had nothing to do with what I thought growing up! Time changes perceptions. No, she did not do everything right and sadly neither have I. Many of the things I said I would never do...I did and I regret, as I think she probably did, all those times. But on the day of her funeral what I remembered was how much she overcame in her life...the loss of a husband and a child to TB while she was not more than a child herself followed by the same illness that nearly took her own life. I remembered her decision after marrying my daddy to risk having a child and her refusal to abort me because her life was in danger! I remember her strength, her character and her laugh...not her mistakes.



That gives me hope for I still have some time to work towards my own funeral! I pray at that time, my own children will forgive the young mother who didn't have a clue what she was doing...and will remember the older wiser mother...who fell in love with Jesus. You see, Jesus overcame a lot in this former Pharisee. He changed me in more ways than I can count...



Sadly, I don't get a do-over in the rearing of my children---none of us do...but Christ will always give us a life do-over. He has promised to make us new creatures in Him. He grants us grace and mercy for all the mistakes we have made and then He forgets about them...to remember them no more! WOW!



So, on this Mother's Day, whether or not you are a mother, this is His promise to you! He makes all things new when we call upon His name. Now, where do we go for lunch????

If My People Will Pray...Not Pry

Today is the National Day of Prayer, an event that has been observed in our nation since 1952. Today, however, I have heard more about President Obama not hosting this event in the White House than what churches ARE hosting prayer meetings. Hmmm? Traditionally the theme verse for this event has been 2nd Chronicles 7:14.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

As much as I want President Obama to follow the traditions of his predecessors, we Christians need to contemplate what this verse is saying; it is a verse filled with promise and “if…thens”. It was first spoken by God (Yahweh) at the dedication of the temple Solomon built so the presence of God could come among His people in Jerusalem. Although this was an Old Testament promise I do think that the promise can be applied to us as we are the “temple of the Holy Spirit.” (I Corinthians 3:16) But what does it really mean? Let’s break the verse into its parts.

This was addressed only to God’s people! Are you a child of God? Are YOU praying? Instead of using your energy being focused upon those who are not praying, use it to PRAY. No where does this verse tell us to tell others to pray, it tells us to pray.

In his book, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Jim Cymbala, when asked about what he thought about prayer being taken out of schools said, “Am I the only one who gets embarrassed when religious leaders in America talk about having prayer in public schools? We don’t have even that much prayer in many churches! Out of humility, you would think we would keep quiet on that particular subject until we practice what we preach in our own congregations….(He goes on) What does it say about our churches today that God birthed the church in a prayer meeting, and prayer meetings today are almost extinct?”

Now, that is convicting! We have more emphasis on preaching and music than consulting corporately the One who controls all things. I am not saying we should eliminate preaching or music…don’t go there…But where is seeking God in all the mix?

Do we pray? Really pray? To do this, we must first HUMBLE ourselves! Ask, “Who am I compared to a Holy God?” Make no mistake, when we come into His presence we will be humbled! (Isaiah 6) Only after a humbling and a “confessing,” will God fulfill His promise. Then we must SEEK His face…His will…for us. We really don’t know God’s plan for us until we intently seek His face! He might have some really strange things for us to do…like march around a wall for seven days…or He might ask us to put ourselves in perilous situations…for His name’s sake (Matt.5:10)

Then those called by His name must TURN from OUR wicked ways…opps…did He say turn from OUR wicked ways? That comes right after the humbling part, folks. Does the world see a pure Bride in the world today or a Church living a compromising life in this world?

So, on this National Day of Prayer…people of God-- Humble yourselves…you are nothing without God. Pray, without being so concerned about who is not praying….Seek His will….and do it! Repent of what we have done that is not pleasing to Him. THEN He will hear and will forgive and will heal our land.

If prayer is a political ploy…God won’t hear. If prayer is only an event…He will not be pleased. If prayer is being offered by those who do not know God…He will not answer…It is up to us…we who call ourselves Christ followers. Think about it! Excuse me…I’ve got some praying to do.

A Valiant Story!

Psalm 51

When I was in high school my daddy and I shared a car. He was a baker and got home around 2:00 PM so when I got home from school the car was mine! Now, please don’t imagine this was a “shiny” anything. It was a 1962 Plymouth Valiant with a rusted -out backseat floorboard. I think this particular car was designed after the WW II Sherman tank (only uglier) and was one of the reasons Plymouth had financial troubles in the 70’s. But it was ours and I was proud I had anything to drive at all! My destinations were mostly to work and piano lessons but one night I went to a friend’s house for a meeting. When the meeting ended I noticed it had become extremely foggy. I didn’t think much about it until I bumped into a fire-hydrant and dented the passenger-side back fender. I was devastated! What would my daddy think? What method of slow death would he employ? Now, I was a daddy’s girl so that was not a rational thought! Gathering my wits about me, I drove the car into the driveway and did what any Christian girl would do….I prayed healing for the fender!!!

Since Daddy left for work around 2:00 AM, I knew that he wouldn’t notice the dent right away so I had time to figure out what to do in case God had not healed it (which He didn’t!). That afternoon, Daddy greeted me as always and kissed me goodbye as I headed to work. “What was he up to?” “It must be a trap!” were my thoughts. That night I found myself sheepishly walking around avoiding all eye-contact and conversation with my daddy while he was acting as if nothing had happened. This went on for about a week…I became angry, moodier than usual and snapped at Daddy whenever he spoke. This daddy’s girl wanted nothing to do with her daddy and avoided him at any cost!

The tension became unbearable so I finally decided I had to just fess up and get the punishment over-with. I marched into the den where Daddy was watching Wheel of Fortune and just blurted out, “I hit a fire-hydrant and dented the car!” I closed my eyes waiting for what was to come…silence…peeking I saw tears in daddy’s eyes. Then I heard him say, “Cyndi, I knew you had dented the car the day after it happened. I was just waiting for you to tell me so I could tell you it is okay, I love you. All I wanted was for you to trust me.” I hugged him and began to cry, as well. We were blubbering idiots but something wonderful had happened…our relationship was restored.

Yes, confession is good for the soul, but more than that it is good for relationships-- especially with God. The times I have felt God was far away, I realized that I had “dented a fender” somewhere and refused to admit it. I began avoiding being in His presence. I even avoided being with others who knew Him! But when confession happens, relief accompanies it and the relationship is restored…so is “the joy of my salvation.” (Psalm 51)

But confession is more than saying, “forgive me of my many sins.” True confession is admitting specific things like: pride, bad thoughts, bitterness, anger. Many times we only focus on the outward or physical sins and think we are home-free… but God wants our inward sins to be cleansed…that is a part of what it means to be “Pure in Heart.”

How’s your relationship with God? Does He seem far away? Ask yourself if you have “dented” something and think it will just go away? It won’t. Take it from me, just tell Him about it and you will truly understand that He loves you and wants you to trust Him.

cyndigrace.com

You Are Invited...

Luke14:2-23

It’s the time of year that our mailbox begins to fill with over-sized white envelopes with nicely written addresses from people who want us to share their special day whether it is a graduation or a wedding. We have moved quite a bit but when friends remember us and want us to share in their happiness…that is a good feeling. Being in invited makes us feel included…a part of something that is important. (At least for us women …most men would rather have a root-canal than go to these functions.)

I like getting invited but I also love to invite…I really, really, like people to come to my house. Each week I am like a child at the window watching for the precious women of our home Bible study to arrive. When I say, “Ya’ll come now, ya hear?” I mean it. Drop-by-company is my favorite! I can always get the coffee pot brewing and settle in for some good conversation!

But offering an invitation also opens the door for disappointment. This week an out-of-state friend I had often invited to my house was visiting the area and told me they were going to come to our home. I was excited! I kept the house neat and stocked up on refreshments just for their visit. Every day I waited but never heard from them and thought perhaps their plans had changed. Then I discovered they had been not 10 minutes away but never even called.

I was hurt and disappointed. After awhile, I finally went to God! (I knew He would set me straight and I wanted to feel sorry for myself a little longer!) He took me to His word where I read about a person who had invited lots of folks to a huge banquet. Free food! You’d think people would be lined up to go. But the Bible said, “They all began to make excuses.” At this point I realized that God truly understood my situation so I asked Him why even offer invitations when they might not come? Disappointment hurts! Why not just be satisfied with meeting at Starbucks. But in my heart I knew it wasn’t the same because there is a special intimacy that happens in my home. They see our stuff and sit on our couch! They see the stains in the carpet and the dust on the coffee table and its okay because the relationship is what is important. Letting someone into our home is letting them into our lives.

Then I understood why God desires for us to come and “visit” Him…not only in the places we feel comfortable, but in His very Presence! Only there can we share true intimacy. Only there can we begin to see who He really is-- His character, His love, His mercy, His will. There in His Presence it is no longer just a book-only knowledge. But often we have excuses: I have to take care of the kids…I have to work…I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out! vs19 (Well, maybe not) but in any event, He desires our company. He has things He would like to share with us alone! When we refuse His invitation, we miss the best part of being a Christian…and that is resting in Him with no pretense. This is the place where we learn to trust His heart!

We will have as much of God as we have time for! How much of God do you want? He has invited us to His home! How will you RSVP?
cyndigrace.com