Margaret McSweeney's Blog, page 37

Daily Dose

One of the most wonderful ways we as parents can encourage our children is by praying with and for them. We cannot go everywhere with our children but God can! By blessing them as they head out the door to school or other activities, we encourage them and cover them in the protection of the Most High.

My husband, Scott, and I have two boys. Each day when they leave the house, either my husband or I pray with them. The prayers include thankfulness for the day and special requests; calm mind for the chemistry exam, good listening skills, safety in the high school parking lot. (High school parking lots can be dangerous places!) Whatever need is most pressing is included in the prayer. The boys are encouraged when we remind them of God’s endless provision, our thankfulness for each of them as our children, and when we verbalize our requests for the Lord to meet their needs throughout the day.

Here are a few prayers you can use as models with your children to bless their day whether it’s a play date, school day, or sports activity. Add to the prayers, making each one specific to the child.

Aaronic Blessing The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.

The Armor of God  Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Ephesians 6:10, 14-18

Body Prayer Touch parts of the body and pray. Hands-to be gentle and helpful. Ears- to be a good listener. Lips- to speak kind words. Eyes- to see those in need. Head- to use God-given intelligence well. Heart- to love others like Jesus. And so on.

May the Lord encourage you as a parent as you pray over your children, entrusting every part of their day to Him.

Effervescence

Celebration with some carbonation. Everyone needs to enjoy a little sparkle in the day. Why not try making a healthy and refreshing beverage which I like to call: Fizzilicious! My friend Lynn who is helping me find my way back to a nutritious path shared this recipe and took the photo too.

Here is what you do:

Choose a favorite glass

Put 1-2 teaspoons of organic cane sugar into glass

Cut a lemon in half and use the citrus squeezer to squeeze the juice into the glass (I also enjoy adding half of a lime too)

Pour your favorite chilled sparkling water into the glass and stir. Drop in a few ice cubes if you wish and then plop onto a comfortable chair and sip your Fizzilicious! Be effervescent!

Refreshing Encouragement

When something good happens in another’s life, it is natural to celebrate and be happy with and for that person.

That is encouragement.

When someone is striving to conquer a challenge, we find ourselves offering up motivational words to assist that individual in accomplishing a personal goal.

That’s encouragement.

When another is in a place of hardship or great sadness, we support through listening and loving.

And… that is also encouragement.

Recently my family has been going through one of those “trials” that we all would like to avoid. Difficult. Draining. Depressing.

So… I did like the contestants do on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. I phoned a friend.

She didn’t advise. She didn’t judge. She didn’t “spiritualize”.

She listened.  She made me laugh. She empathized.

My friend’s encouraging response didn’t change my situation. But… it did change me. I felt loved, supported, hopeful. I was energized.

And as it says in Proverbs 27:9 points out…a sweet friendship truly does refresh the soul.

What friendship refreshes your soul?

 

 

Does God Heal | Bo Stern

The darkest day of my life was February 10, 2011. That was the day my husband was diagnosed with ALS. The fancy title is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, but most people know the disease by the name of its most famous casualty: Lou Gehrig. An ALS diagnosis carries with it a 2-5 year life expectancy. During those years this insidious enemy eats away at every muscle, robbing the patient’s ability to eat, speak and move until it finally steals breath. It is a vicious disease.

As soon as we knew what we were dealing with, we ran hard and fast to the God who loves us. We prayed and fasted. We believed. We combed through our memory banks, looking for any remnants of unconfessed sin or any possible roadblock to the healing for which we felt so desperate. Almost overnight, we were joined by a prayer team of thousands from all over the world, contending and believing for the miraculous.

Two years later, we continue to pray. To believe. To ask, seek and knock. And while my husband remains brilliantly alive and strong in spirit, ALS continues to make its mark on his body and we have to reluctantly admit that at this point, the healing hasn’t come in the way that we have asked. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that it makes us wonder: Why are some people healed while others are not?

I’m a pastor and a student of theology, so I am asked about this regularly and it’s a question I take seriously because it’s not abstract to me. It’s a right-here, right-now issue for us. So I have studied. And pondered. And studied. And pondered still more. And I’ve arrived at an answer and the answer is: I don’t know.

Steve and I could spend time, energy and emotion trying to connect the dots and get all the colors to match up on the doctrinal Rubik’s cube, but that’s not what I want to do. Instead, when I’m faced with something I don’t understand or can’t possibly know about the nature of God or the decisions He makes, I choose to stand on what I do know.

I know that He is good.

I know He is kind.

I know His work is trustworthy.

I know that when I get to heaven I will owe Him everything and He will owe me nothing.

And this is enough for me. It may seem like taking the easy way out theologically, but I can assure you: nothing about this is easy. When our experience seems to conflict with the promises of the Word, it’s hard. It’s painful. But our commitment to trust Him stands when He outperforms our expectations and it also stands when life is not as we thought it would be. I will trust Him without conditions, without apology to those who don’t understand and without regret. Because what I do know is enough to hold my faith steady through the storms that are caused by what I don’t know. I will rest in that.

Bo Stern knows the most beautiful things can come out of the hardest times. Her Goliath came in the form of her husband’s terminal illness, a battle they are still fighting with the help of their four children, a veritable army of friends, and our extraordinary God. Bo is a teaching pastor at Westside Church in Bend, Oregon.

Find out more about Bo at http://www.bostern.com/.

Blessings and the 50 Pounds of Beans

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

Some of my greatest blessings and spiritual growth came in an unlikely way. This journey began when my husband was led by God to take a bi-vocational pastorate at a little country church that paid $175 a week. He already worked in a corporate office in advertising at a very good paying job, so the money did not matter. Then corporate office was re-locating. My husband prayed long and hard in his decision: either move and leave the church or stay and quit his job. Deep in his heart he knew that God had specifically called him to our little church. He quit his job.

That was the night he brought home a 50lb bag of beans and said that we weren’t going to starve. Things got tight quickly. We were homeschooling four children at the time. I can only say that it has been absolutely amazing how God provided for us during that time. My husband quickly started a business building houses to supplement our church salary. HOUSES!! Really? How did he know how to do that? I truly believe God gifted him just like Bezaleel in the book of Exodus.

When you don’t have, there are a lot of things you just don’t do especially if you can’t afford the gas to get there. That’s just how it is. My children had to learn to get along with each other, and they had woven a tight bond with each other during those years of being “stuck” with each other’s company. When the time for “real friends” was needed, we prayed; and God provided for that too. Perfectly.

God provided funds. When my mother-in-law died, we didn’t know how we were going to make the 7 hour trip to the funeral. And then the precious cards from church members came in. Each contained condolences and money that perfectly met that need. And then there were the schoolbooks. A Christian school closed and sent us books for every grade just in time to start a new school year.

There was lots of garden produce from our church family, too. One of my favorite blessings was a trip. The kids and I were eating $1 hamburgers at a Wendy’s when we saw a drawing to win a trip to Silver Dollar City with cabin accommodations. We never sign up for those drawing because there’s always a gimmick, but this time we did. It’s kind of funny, but we prayed for our food and we also prayed over that little piece of paper we had filled out that God would bless us with recreation and time with Daddy. We dropped it in the box. And two weeks later, we won. It was unbelievable, inconceivable, and definitely an act of God. What Joy we were filled with to know our precious heavenly Father was even concerned with providing our family with something fun we could all do together away from the house. What a tangible picture God gave my children showing them He had a listening ear and was involved in their lives. I hope and pray they never forget it.

I can’t say I stayed in worry free trust and perfect peace through those lean years. God did have to do a work in me that would direct my focus first to Him. The more I saw Him provide, the more it became natural to trust in His timing, and know that it would all be OK. I would never in a million years trade the blessing of having to live off that 50lb bag of beans and all the precious blessings God provided to us during that time. I have a wealth of evidence and experience that constantly reminds me of His provision, His watch care, and His presence, and it only makes me want to love and serve Him more.

The Comparison Game

Today, do you feel discouraged? Do you see others having success at all levels and wonder when it will be your turn?

We all know we are special creations, unique and precious to God. Yet why do we struggle with comparing our lives, our bodies, our kids, and our talents (or lack of talents) with others?

I do this with my writing. I look at the bestseller list with longing. I consider the “big” advances and media fan-fare some authors receive, and then I sigh.

I do this with myself. How come my friend can eat anything she wants and stay slim? Why do I have to walk and watch what I eat just to maintain?

I do this with so many areas of my life, “How come?” “What if?” “Why?” In reality, we (me included) need to look past who we “dream” to be and consider God’s dreams instead.

In God’s word, we read: “God-of-the-Angel-Armies speaks: ‘Exactly as I planned, it will happen. Following my blueprints, it will take shape,” says Isaiah 14:24 (The Message).

The word “planned” here is translated “compare.” It’s as if God has weighed the different possibilities, looked at them from all angles, and then chose the best way. He makes the blueprints . . . then He constructs them into our reality.

The life we have is the one constructed for us. It’s not the life, body, health, or circumstances we wished we’d had. Or the perfect life we can never attain. But the blueprints and the form He is transforming into reality.

“Remember your history, your long and rich history. I am God, the only God you’ve had or ever will have—from the beginning telling you what the ending will be, all along letting you in on what is going to happen, amazing you,” we read in Isaiah 46:10-11. “I’m in this for the long haul, I’ll do exactly what I set out to do.” (The Message)

It’s OK to have longings. But even before we worry about what we desire for our lives, the first step is to not let our dreams motivate us, but instead let His.

God has longings for us even greater than we imagine, and He’s willing to tell us these things as we seek Him out.

Will you seek Him today? Pray. Open your heart. And dare to listen to God’s dreams for you.

A Habit that Will Shape Your Future

I did a lot of stupid things when I was a young woman.

I let my grandma give me a perm.
I hugged a guy and then realized I had horrible pit stains.
I was in the school production of Charlotte’s Web and rarely ever could remember the right line at the right time.
I followed a guy named Ransom Murray around high school every chance I got.  (Isn’t “Ransom” the most romantic name ever?)
I collected stickers.

But not everything I did was stupid.  There’s one habit I began in high school that still helps me every day.

I don’t remember who taught me this, but it was suggested to me that I work to memorize two verses from the Bible every week.

So I did.

I plugged away at memorizing the Bible, week after week, until I had a few hundred verses tucked away inside my soul.  I would always choose verses that seemed powerful in the moment, but I had no idea these verses would continue to be powerful a few decades down the road.

I’m 44 now, and just last week I was discouraged about something.  All of a sudden, God brought a verse I had memorized in high school sharply to my mind.  I could still say the whole verse, and it was so encouraging, specifically for what I was going through.  I was amazed that God would dust off that “old” stuff and make it useful.  All of a sudden I regretted not learning a few hundred more verses!

So maybe you have a list of stupid things you’ve done.  Hopefully you’ll laugh at it someday!  But I hope you’ll do one smart thing:  Memorize truth from the Bible that can strengthen you and give you wisdom encouragement for the entire rest of your life.

My Memory Verse Plan

Choose two verses and write each on a 3 x 5 card.  Make sure you include the reference.  Write the date in the upper right hand corner of each card.
Work on these verses once a day for a week.  Try hard to memorize them on the first day, and then you can just review them for six days.
Make sure you really think about what these verses mean as you work on them.  Is God asking you to obey or to believe something?  Don’t just memorize –be ready to act on what you’re learning.
In the second week, add two new verses.  During this second week you’ll be working on the two new verses and reviewing the old two.
In the third week, add two new verses.  Continue adding verses every week for a total of six weeks, so you have a total of 12 verses you’re working on.  (It’s not as horrible as it sounds.  The review verses go fast.)  Believe me, when you’ve spent this much time with memory verses you’ll really know them by heart.
In the 7th week, throw away the two oldest verses and add two new ones.  Continue to throw out the two old verses and add two new verses every week…for the rest of your life!

Complaint Collection

I finally did it! I plowed through the mess that was my home office and have organized the whole room. This was not done it a single day or even one week. It required I pull out all my books, sort all my knitting yarn, go through all my papers and look into the depths of my closet. I gave away many things I no longer need or use. What a liberating experience.

Here’s one reason it took me so many days to dig out my office: I randomly read from my journals. I headed down memory lane as I unearthed journals that chronicled events long forgotten.

I was a great journal keeper at one time. I found books filled with high school and college experiences. I looked through stacks of letters from trips abroad. I discovered binders full of pages documenting the first eight years of my son’s life. Oh my.

It was fun to read my impressions of my first kiss, first job, first car. I learned what I thought of seeing Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (too small), Michaelangleo’s David (larger than life) and the Roman Coliseum (so many cats live there now).

I also flipped through pages and pages of whining. I read about the stresses of high school dating, the worries over college courses, the uncertainty of job interviewing and the overwhelming tiredness of being a new mom.

My complaints gave me pause. Each situation was so important in the moment. Some lasted for days or months. Reading through the pages I sounded like a broken record to myself. I wonder how God listened to that litany of complaint. I sure am glad He stuck with me!

Looking back with 20/20 vision, I see I survived. What rocked my world then has faded away many years ago. I didn’t get into my first choice college, though I met my husband at the school I did attend. I didn’t find my dream job, it took me over 20 interviews to land my first position. I am not belittling my emotions in those moments. I am reminding myself I survived, thrived and grew.

So today I am taking a lesson from my past. The stresses and worries I have right this moment are not going to last. I am going to move through. In the coming days and months circumstances will change, new stresses and joys will come.

It is important to live responsibly in the moment. But I also trust the reminder I found in my old journals…not just “This too shall pass.” Nope, I’d rather remember that I am cared for and held in God’s hand. I will survive and He will let me complain as much as I need to along the way.

The Perfect Window | Lesli A. Westfall

In November of last year my husband and I took a well-needed and deserved break. We visited our dear friends and children on their farm in Idaho. I’ve been privileged to travel many states in the U.S.A but this was a first in Idaho, the gem state. I loved it! Especially the town of Boise, contemporary yet with a small town feel. The city has a good atmosphere with warm friendly people, an unbelievable farmer’s market with exceptional crafts and artisan foods. A variety of great restaurants abound, like the Basque food we sampled and the Dim Sum (I sampled chicken feet. Let’s just say I’ll stick with my Texas BBQ). However, representing my favorite food group caffeine were ‘The Chocolat Bar’ and the ‘Remembrandt Coffee House’. Two places where I could take my computer, sit a spell, have some good eats and java, and write for a while!

As we went to and fro visiting various places there was an old shed nearby which always caught my eye. With each passing I’d think to myself, ‘I want to get a picture of that.’ A uniqueness surrounded the structure, maybe it was the soft hued colors compared to the lingering vibrant foliage of autumns’ last days or perhaps it was the rugged, worn look of the building compared to the manicured pastures (thanks to the horses), and stately residences surrounding it.

On a late Sunday afternoon, as some were taking naps and others doing farm chores I decided to take a walk. I packed my Sony Cybershot camera and iPhone in my pockets, and armed myself with my husband’s new fancy- pants camera, a Canon 5D. I was determined to capture some images of this old place. Along the way, I snapped pictures of a vineyard, horses willing to come to the fence for a visit and a tree farm with the rows of trees displaying their fall beauty.

Finally I came upon the old shed, walking all around I must have taken at least fifty pictures. Since I’m a camera novice, I tried to shoot from various angles and camera settings, at dusk no less. To no avail only a few pictures turned out good. But sometimes when I see a structure, landscape, or the like, it brings inspiration to me.

Like this window.

When I walked up to it, thoughts flooded my mind. Yes, it is an old shed, dusty and worn, cobwebs connecting the broken panes, but I saw a point to be made.

Look at the window again.

Focusing on the foreground you see brokenness, sharp, jagged protrusions of the glass. The pain of the present is near us, a vivid reminder of the brokenness and protruding pain from the circumstances of life; like a break-up in a relationship, losing a loved one or in my case infertility. The cobwebs; like the dusty piled-up prayers reflecting the longing in our hearts for God to answer our prayers.

I see the brokenness in the window and I have felt its’ pain, so to speak, and I’m sure you have to.

Now. Peer beyond the broken glass. What do you see?

The window is a complete square, no windowpanes broken with a beautiful image in the distance.

Some times the pain of the present keeps us from seeing the distant future; His plan for you and me. My friend, come humbly before Him and surrender all! We can surrender the deep heartache, the ‘why is this happening to me?’ and all the longings to Him. He can put the broken pieces of your soul back together again; He can blow the cobwebs off of your dusty piled-up prayers and breathe expectant hope into you. He’ll strengthen you so you can move forward to the future.

Like the perfect window, His plan for your life is nothing short of perfect and complete.

As a myriad of thoughts flooded my mind when I viewed this image, so did these scriptures and a prayer for you:

“May inspiration come as you surrender to God your pain of the present. As you peek into your perfect window, may your prayers have life again with expectant hope and may you see, by faith, the beautiful image in the distance as you place your trust in Him for your future.”

Amen.

Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see vision into perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I know everything complete, just as God knows me completely.
 1 Corinthians 13:12.

For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans to prosper, not to harm you, to give you a hope and future. Jeremiah 29:11

But the path of righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until the full day. Proverbs 13:12

Sign up below for your chance to win a copy of Lesli’s book Dancing Upon Barren Land!

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Lesli is no stranger to infertility. She has experienced all the range of emotions, the prodding of doctors, and the stinging disappointments. Yet through it all she’s found significance offering hope and inspiration to the wounded heart of the barren soul. Through her own experience and those shared from others, an online ministry was created Dancing Upon Barren Land ~ Spiritual Nourishment for the Infertility Road. Now she speaks to women around the world through the website and leads locals support groups too, along with providing a resource through this book. Lesli enjoys life. She loves spending time with her husband, Larry, her man of faith and live-in comedian. She loves spending time with her family and friends, and traveling, especially road trips. Most of all, her passion is sharing God’s love and teaching the Bible to women, inspiring beleif there’s healing for the grief of infertility and sorrow from loss, and there is joy in the journey while we wait.

Find out more about Lesli at http://dancinguponbarrenland.com/.

Coupled Encouragement

© Charles Shapiro | Dreamstime Stock Photos

Let’s spend a minute looking at some definitions. I know that sounds boring, but stay with me. I promise it will be worth it. If you look up encouragement in the dictionary one definition is “a person or thing that gives hope, courage or confidence.” I thought on this for a while. That’s a big job. So, let’s dig into this job description.

Hope is a feeling of confident expectation.
Courage is the quality of mind or spirit that enables you to face danger or hardship with confidence
Confidence is feeling sure or self assurance, feeling something is guaranteed.

Let’s tie it all together now. Encouragement is a person or thing that gives a feeling of confident expectation, a quality of mind or spirit that enables you to face danger or hardship with a sure feeling. That seems likes an even bigger job, doesn’t it?

Now I have received encouraging words and gestures from many people. Sometimes it was a family member or a friend. Other times, it was a co-worker or neighbor. On a few occasions it has even come from a stranger. I bet you could make a similar list. And I bet some of the people on your list are repeat or frequent encouragers. But think about it. Would you want any single one of those people to be solely responsible for your encouragement? I know there have been times in my life where I needed it not just every day but nearly ever hour of the day. Would you want that job? Would I? Nope.

But there is a person and a thing that does own that job for me. Neither ever lets me down. The person is Jesus. The thing is my Bible. What’s so beautiful about it is that The Bible is His story. It’s His instructions and encouragement to me and to you if you let it be. Neither is going anywhere. And they are available 24 hours a day every day. There’s never a busy signal or “Can I get back to you?” or lack of wisdom to share with me or you. I can’t say that about anyone or anything else.

Let me share a few pieces of hope, courage and confidence I’ve received from Jesus and my Bible over the years.

Financial Issues/Burdens:

“Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing.” Psalm 34:9

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.” Luke 6:38 (words of Jesus)

Feeling Hopeless/Discouraged:

“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” Psalm 42:11

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me.” John 14:1 (words of Jesus)

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9

Grieving:

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.’ 1 Peter 5:7

“He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted…to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve.” Isaiah 61:2-3

“So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice , and no one will take away your joy.” John 16:22 (words of Jesus)

These are just a few nuggets. There have been so many more. I urge you, when you need encouragement, look to the “couple” who is always available and always able.