Michele Huey's Blog: God, Me, and a Cup of Tea, page 15

A Faithful Friend

Sharon and me, enjoying a Christmas lunch together

            Carry each other’s burdens. – Galatians 6:2 (NIV)

            I don’t know what I’d do without my friend Sharon. We met at a Bible study nearly 45 years ago and discovered we had much in common. We were both stay-at-home mothers struggling with more month than money, hard-working husbands, and unfulfilled dreams.

            As our friendship grew, I’d find myself dialing her number whenever I needed someone to talk to, cheer me up or give me advice. We spent hours analyzing life, the world, our children and our men. I could tell her things I couldn’t even tell my husband and know she’d understand.

            No matter how busy she was, no matter what time of the day I called, she took the time to listen, talk and, most important, pray with me. Even when I didn’t ask, I knew I could count on her prayers.

            As our children grew, our lives became more complicated and the calls less frequent. But even though we’re both busy, I know I can call her when I or one of my family is experiencing a crisis.

            On the night before He died, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him to the Garden of Gethsemane. 

            “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” He told them. “Stay here and keep watch with Me.”

            But the busy day, big meal and evening of fellowship tool their toll. They fell asleep, waking only when Judas returned with a club-carrying, sword-wielding crowd. And then they fled. When Jesus needed them most, they let Him down. Perhaps if they had prayed instead of slept, they would not have deserted Him, leaving Him to suffer and die alone.

            There are times when people ask us to pray for them. Are we like the sleepy trio whose spirit was willing and flesh was weak? Or are we like my friend Sharon, whose faithfulness and prayers make all the difference?

Thank You, Lord, for a friend who prays with and for me when I face my own Gethsemanes. May I be as faithful a friend to others as she is to me. Amen.

Read and reflect on Matthew 26:36–46.

© 2022 Michele Huey. All rights reserved.

Lessons from the Sea Turtle

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 42:5 (NIV)

When my husband and I visited the Coastal Discovery Museum on Hilton Head Island, I became fascinated with sea turtles.

I learned that Mama Sea Turtle lays her eggs—as many as 120 at a time—in a nest she digs on a sandy beach, far enough away from the shoreline that the tides won’t reach it, yet close enough for the baby turtles to make their way to their ocean home once they’ve hatched and climbed out of the nest.

Sixty days after they’re laid, the eggs hatch, and the hatchlings make their way to the shoreline. Thirty to 35 years later, females will return to the beaches where they hatched to lay their own eggs.

The baby turtles’ lives are fraught with danger—mostly from predators on land and in the sea—but the period they are most vulnerable is when they make their trek from the nest to the shoreline.

Once they’ve hatched, the little turtles head for the brightest horizon. Hence during hatching season the lights on beachfront buildings are turned off and residents close their window blinds at night so the hatchlings don’t head for the wrong light.

Not only are they exposed to predators on their dash to the sea, but also they’re in danger of dehydration from the sun. Many don’t make it.

Yet helping them get from nest to surf is not in the best interest of the turtles. Although it’s a time fraught with danger, it’s necessary for the young turtles to make the trek themselves.

The crawl to the ocean allows them to wake up—remember they are only hours old. Alertness, mobility, and strength increase as they move.

The trek is also an important part of a complicated process whereby their surroundings are imprinted on the brains of the baby turtles, so the females will return to the very beaches where they hatched to lay their own eggs.

I liken the hatchlings’ crawl to the ocean to the times in our lives when we, too, have to muddle through. Let’s take a lesson from the sea turtle.

First, head for the right light. Many false lights clamor for our attention, but only one Light is the right one that will lead us to our eternal home. “I am the light of the world,” Jesus said. “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

Second, know the trek is necessary. The trial will make you stronger. It will refine you: “For you, O God, have tested us; you refined us like silver” (Psalm 66:10). It will develop perseverance and maturity: “The testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:3–4).

Also, trials purify your faith: “These (trials) have come so that your faith—of even greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine” (1 Peter 1:7).

And finally, the trials impress upon us that our lives are not random wanderings. We were made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26–27)—thus we bear His imprint. “He has set eternity in the hearts of men” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). After our sojourning, which will include many times of trial, we’ll find our way to home—and our Creator—again.

Thank you, Jesus, for being the Light that guides me through the muddling times and to home. Amen.

Read and reflect on Psalm 42.

From God, Me & a Cup of Tea: 101 devotional readings to savor during your time with God © 2017 Michele Huey. All rights reserved.

TLC and the Impossible

Is anything too hard for the LORD? —Genesis 18:14 NIV

That horse manure sure did the job.

I canned fifteen quarts of fresh tomatoes. And there was still more on the porch and plants.

We hadn’t planned on having so many tomatoes—and I sure hadn’t planned on canning ever again. At this stage of the game, I wasn’t looking for more work. All we wanted was a small garden so we could enjoy a few fresh fruits and vegetables. 

So, in the spring we bought a half dozen tomato plants and a couple of pepper plants, put in a row of green beans, and scattered a few cucumber seeds. And, since our soil is absolutely horrible when it comes to supporting anything we sow, my DH (dear husband) dumped on a healthy heaping of horse manure.

Then our son gave us a dozen tomato plants and a half  dozen pepper plants—leftovers which had languished for at least a week, unwanted and uncared for, after he’d planted his garden. 

DH is not a man to waste anything. He plowed and harrowed another section in the yard, planted the donations, and fenced it in. He had such fun. I didn’t mind because never in my wildest dreams did I imagine those drooping, half-dead, pathetic plants would produce so much. It must have been the manure. Or the weather. Or luck. Or maybe it was the tender loving care DH lavished on them.

People can be like those dying, castoff tomato plants—without a hope until someone says, “I’m going to try to save you,” and then prepares a place where they can grow undisturbed, nourishes them, plucks the weeds, and lovingly cares for them. Sometimes our efforts make a difference. Sometimes they don’t. But I believe we are better for trying. And you never know when the turnaround will come.

I tend to cast people off as hopeless cases at times, too. Their needs are just too great, their problems too overwhelming. The answer is, in my eyes, impossible. 

But I forget. Our God is the God of the impossible. Is anything too hard for Him? He who spoke creation into being, whose mighty power calmed the winds and stilled the storm—and transformed life after life after life? He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He who cares for the insignificant sparrow can take droopy, half-dead, castoff human beings, transplant them, and nurture them until they, too, produce a harvest. Look at Sarah and Abraham. Mary Magdalene. Zacchaeus. Matthew. Paul. 

My own eyes have seen the transformation of a man whom I thought was an impossible case. A castoff with more problems than I thought even prayer could handle. But God showed me different. Impossible? For God—nothing is impossible. 

It just goes to show—never count anyone (or anything) down and out—no matter what it appears like. You never know what a little TLC will do.

  Dear God, help me never to give up on anyone—ever. Amen.

 Read and reflect on Isaiah 55:8–13.

 From God, Me, and a Cup of Tea: 101 devotional reading to savor during your time with God, © 2017, Michele Huey. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Between Panic and Paradise

What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead. —Hebrews 11:1 (TLB)

 On State Route 119 between Big Run and DuBois stands an interesting and somewhat amusing highway sign, giving the direction and mileage to some area towns: Panic, Desire, and Paradise. Yes, those are real names of real towns here in western Pennsylvania.

Pity the poor folks who have to say they live between Panic and Paradise. Wait. That would be all of us. 

On our journey from the womb to the tomb, much like the ancient Israelites’ 40-year trek through the wilderness, we travel through various states of panic and desire (and so much in between) to get to our Promised Land. We learn the rules of survival along the way—one of which, and the most important, is to carry a survival kit.

Included in this survival kit are four essential items.

First is a vision of your destination—Paradise, or Heaven, God’s home. In this goal-setting society in which we live, we’re advised to post a picture of what it is we want to achieve someplace where we’ll see it everyday. When we were still building our house—a 30-year-project—I taped picture of a log home inside a kitchen cupboard door. Keeping what we want in sight daily reaffirms the belief that we will eventually get there and helps us to trudge through the rough spots. Read Revelation 21 and 22 often to keep the vision of your destination fresh.

Another vital item your survival kit should carry is faith, which will fuel your faltering steps. As Corrie Ten Boom once said, “Faith is like radar that sees through the fog.” As defined by God’s Word, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).

The third item is a map to guide you along the way. You already know the route: Jesus Road, for He said, “I am the way. … No one comes to the Father (and His home) except through Me” (John 14:6). But we can get confused when darkness descends, as it always will. God’s Word, as phrased in The Message, will “throw a beam on light” on the darkened path (Psalm 119:105).

The last item is identification. Even when I’m hiking, I carry my driver’s license in a pocket. Identification is proof that we are who we say we are. When you travel to a foreign country, you need proof of citizenship. On our journey to Paradise, we carry the citizenship papers Jesus provided—proof that we are citizens of Heaven (Philippians 3:20). We don’t belong to the world we’re traveling through. Like the heroes of faith listed in Hebrews 11, we’re “aliens and strangers on earth” (Hebrews 11:13).

As you travel from Panic to Paradise, clutching your survival kit, remember you don’t walk alone, for the King of your destination is travelling with you. (See Exodus 33:14; Hebrews 13:5; Matthew 28:20). 

As I trek through the wilderness of this world, Lord, remind me to use my survival kit.  Amen.

Read and reflect on Hebrews 11.

 From God, Me, & a Cup of Tea: 101 devotional readings to savor during your time with God © 2017 Michele Huey. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Rest Stops

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the water. – Exodus 15:22

Since our daughter settled in South Carolina, six hundred miles away, my husband and I try to make the ten-hour drive to visit with her and her family at least once a year. At our age, long trips are easier to take if we make frequent stops to rest and avoid road weariness.

Thousands of years ago, the Israelites also had a long trip to make. One million men, women, and children left the bondage of Egyptian slavery and trekked across a barren wilderness where there was little to eat or drink, and where they were exposed to rain, wind, sun, and storms, headed for a land flowing with milk and honey. Along the way, they got tired, thirsty, hungry, and discouraged.

But they were on a faith-growing journey, and the One who led them had many lessons to teach them. They failed test after test. Just when they were in the deepest despair and discouragement, hope dwindling and faith faltering, God intervened—with manna from heaven, water from desert rocks, and an oasis with twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees.

I’m sure the weary travelers would have loved to pitch their tents and stay at that oasis the rest of their lives. But eventually they had to move on. The oasis wasn’t their destination.

The Israelites’ journey through the wilderness is a picture of our journey through life. Once the shackles of our bondage to sin are broken, we begin our journey to the Promised Land – Heaven. We, too, struggle through the wilderness, which, just like the Israelites’ journey so long ago, takes up most of the trip. And we, too, encounter oases sprinkled along the way. But we cannot abide in the rest stops. They are there to provide a temporary respite from the difficulties of life, refresh our minds and spirits, and renew our strength.

Sometimes I’d like to find an oasis and move in permanently. But God calls me to venture into the wilderness on a faith-growing journey. And, just like with the Israelites, He will be with me every step of the way.

Thank You, Lord, for the wilderness that stretches my faith and the oases that refresh me and give me the strength to journey on. Amen.

Read and reflect on Exodus 15:22–16:1

From God, Me & a Cup of Tea: 101 devotional readings to savor during your time with God © 2017 Michele Huey.

Update

Happy Sunday! I’m hoping the technical difficulties have been resolved. I’d planned to post a reading for today, but life had other plans.

Last Saturday night (actually the early morning hours of Feb. 27) I hardly got any sleep because my heart was beating like crazy. I’d had an occasional palpitation in the past, but nothing like this. Sunday morning, I got up and went through my usual Sunday routine: breakfast, church, some grocery shopping, lunch, play cards with Dean, nap, supper, TV. I ignored my crazy heart, which seemed to settle down some.

Tuesday afternoon I had my semiannual checkup with my doctor, who usually gives me an EKG during my exam. Both the EKG and the stethoscope revealed the cause of my crazy heart palpitations: atrial fibrillation, or afib. My doctor sent me to the ER, where I waited on a gurney in the ER hallway for several hours. I spent the next two nights in an ER exam room, being treated for afib with two medications: a beta blocker to slow down my heart rate and a blood thinner to prevent clots caused by the afib. The third day I was moved to a regular room, which was much more comfortable than the ER bed (I had been moved from the gurney to an ER bed).

While I was in the ER, Dean (DH) was allowed to stay with me 24/7. But when I was moved to a regular room, he had to observe visiting hours. I have to say I’m a blessed woman. He wouldn’t leave my side, except to go home and shower on Wednesday and when he had to leave when visiting hours were over.

I was discharged on Friday. I continue to take the two medications, and I have a CARDIOVERSION scheduled as an outpatient procedure on Friday, March 18. According to the Mayo Clinic website, “Cardioversion is a medical procedure that restores a normal heart rhythm in people with certain types of abnormal heartbeats (arrhythmias). Cardioversion is usually done by sending electric shocks to your heart through electrodes placed on your chest. It’s also possible to do cardioversion with medications.”

Fortunately, I’ll be asleep during the procedure and, barring any complications, should be able to go home the same day.

That being said, I just didn’t post a blog for today, although I was able to post one for Ash Wednesday. Hopefully, I’ll be back on schedule this coming week.

I’m not doing much. I tire easily, but I seem to be feeling better every day.

Your prayers are appreciated. Indeed, prayers have already been answered. I know God’s got this. He is the one in charge of my life, in control of the events. He allows things into our lives for a purpose. And I trust HIm.

I have His peace.

Thank you for your prayers.

God bless you.

Michele

Forty Days

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are holding to your faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? – 2 Corinthians 13:5 (RSV)

Ever notice how the number forty occurs at critical moments in Scripture? It rained on the earth for forty days and forty nights. It was the number of days required to properly embalm a body for burial in ancient Egypt. 

Moses, especially, is linked to the number. Not only did he lead the stubborn Israelites in the wilderness for forty years, but his life is divided into three forty-year periods: his Egyptian years, his shepherd years, and his wilderness years. He spent forty days and forty nights on Mount Sinai being personally tutored by God Himself in the law. 

The Israelite spies cased the Promised Land for forty days. Goliath defied God for forty days. Elijah fasted in the desert for forty days. Jonah told the Ninevites they had forty days to get their act together before God would judge them. 

Prior to beginning his earthly ministry, Jesus fasted and prayed in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights. And His final forty days on earth between His resurrection and ascension were spent giving last-minute instructions to His disciples.

Notice how the number is associated with judgment and preparation. Lent, the forty weekdays from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday commemorating Jesus’ fasting in the wilderness, is a time of self-examination and spiritual preparation. We give up things, such as eating candy and pop or watching television, to practice self-denial and self-discipline. 

But the most important part of this time should be examining our hearts, minds, and spirits, asking God to show us anything we harbor that hinders us in our spiritual growth.

First, examine your heart, the seat of our emotions and true character: Are your motives right? Do you choose love over hate, forgiveness over resentment, self-control over anger, contentment over envy, generosity over selfishness, faith over fear, humility over pride, hope over discouragement, trust over doubt, patience over impatience, thankfulness over complaining?

Next examine your mind: Are you allowing God to transform and renew your mind? Or are you still hanging onto control of your thoughts, especially the bad ones? Are you capturing every thought and giving it to God? Are you filling your mind with the positive or the negative? Use Philippians 4:8 as your report card.

Now for the soul and spirit. According to the Children’s Ministry Resource Bible, my soul is the part of me that responds to the world, while my spirit is the part of me that responds to God. I am not to love the world or the things of the world. Instead I am to fix my eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) and use Him as my model. Am I still running from Him, a rebel with my own agenda, and making myself miserable? Or am I running to Him, needing His love, forgiveness, strength, and wisdom as desperately as I need air? Do I allow Him to guide my footsteps, day by day, moment by moment, or do I insist that I do it my way? 

Some pretty hard questions, but ones that God will help us with if only we ask.

Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts; and see it there be any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting (Psalm 139:23–34). Amen.

Read and reflect on Psalm 139.

From God, Me, & a Cup of Tea for the Seasons, ©2018 Michele Huey. All rights reserved. 

Technical difficulties

Dear blog followers,

If you have subscribed to receive this weekly inspirational blog by email and have not received the blog for the past two weeks, please leave a comment. For some reason, the emails are not being sent. I’ve checked all the settings, and I can’t find out why. I’ll keep exploring until I figure out a solution. Thank you!

Blessings,

Michele

Pushing Through the Pain

In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. –Romans 8:37 NIV

When my granddaughter Madison was in high school, she fell in love with volleyball. She spent all summer working to stay in shape for the upcoming season. Good thing, because when volleyball practice started, the sessions were intense and physically demanding.

“It’s a good thing you love the sport,” I told her when she described the grueling (to me anyway) exercises she had to do.

Imagine her disappointment when, after the first match, she sustained an injury to her back. She texted me from the chiropractor’s office: “I’m out for two weeks or longer.”

Then, on top of that, a sinus infection kept her home from school the day of the second match of the season.

But don’t stress, Grandma. Right after the “I’m out” text, she sent me another one: “Never mind. He said if I do special stretches and go to the trainer, I can play.”

She was allowed to return to her beloved volleyball the following Monday, but her injury, which affected her sciatic nerve—and you know the pain that comes with that—wouldn’t heal completely for at least two weeks. But she played through the pain and sinus infection because she loved the sport with a passion.

Then there was her older brother, Brent, a senior at the time. He decided the previous year to go out for football, changing his sport from baseball.

I had my reservations. I knew these players took a pounding, and Brent had suffered some serious injuries playing baseball, including at least one concussion and a compound fracture of his upper arm.

“I’m going to buy you a big roll of bubble wrap for your birthday,” I told him.

But Brent set his goal to make the team and began a self-imposed program of endurance and strength training. He put on weight and studied the game. And made the team.

He scored the first touchdown of the season for his team (and the first touchdown of his career) in the first game. And the team voted him, a first-year-player, as their captain. (Grandmas are allowed to brag.)

Imagine his frustration (and mine) when, after all that work and all he’d accomplished, after that first game, he ended up with shin splints. And you know how painful those can be. So down to the trainer he went. But that didn’t take him from the game he loved.

“The only way they’re taking me off the field,” he told me, “is on a stretcher.”

This tangled bundle of bandages and tape came off Brent’s leg after practice.

And so he endured ice baths and miles of ace bandages and tape.

I recognized a familiar disappointment that settled in my heart. My own kids were involved in sports and also suffered pains and sprains, which I felt kept them from performing their best.

But when I looked at my grandchildren and their determination and grit, I realized that no one who truly plays a sport escapes injury. If you give it your all, you’re going to get hurt. It’s just the nature of the game.

And the nature of life itself.

We’re all playing with pain, aren’t we? Whether it’s physical, mental, or emotional, whether it’s apparent or hidden. We’re the “walking wounded.”

I used to think it was better to back off when pain flared. It’s human to want to avoid pain.

But we can’t live our lives in bubble wrap. Pain, I’ve learned, can develop our character, strengthen us, and drive us to the One who has a plan and purpose for it. Now I’m seeing the importance of pushing through the pain and giving life my all.

Like my grandchildren, we have a choice. We can moan and groan, wallow in self-pity, and bewail our luck.

Or we can man up and push on, refusing to be benched—until they take us off the field on a stretcher.

“I have come that they might have life,” Jesus said, “life to the full” (John 10:10).

Are you living life to the full?

Help me to embrace all You send my way, O Lord, even pain, knowing You have a plan and purpose for all You allow in my life. Grant me sustaining grace and a willing spirit. Amen.

Read and reflect on Hebrews 12:1–13

MORE TEA: Some quotes on pain

I am not a theologian or a scholar, but I am very aware of the fact that pain is necessary to all of us. In my own life, I think I can honestly say that out of the deepest pain has come the strongest conviction of the presence of God and the love of God.  ~ Elizabeth Elliot

God never allows pain without a purpose in the lives of His children. He never allows Satan, nor circumstances, nor any ill-intending person to afflict us unless He uses that affliction for our good. God never wastes pain. He always causes it to work together for our ultimate good, the good of conforming us more to the likeness of His Son (see Romans 8:28-29).  ~ Jerry Bridges

Read more

From God, Me, & a Cup of Tea: 101 devotional readings to savor during your time with God, (c) 2017 Michele Huey. All rights reserved.

Testing …

Happy Thursday, friends!

The reason I’m posting is that, for some reason, email followers didn’t receive Sunday’s blog post. I’m not sure why. This post is a test to see if this goes through. God bless you and have a blessing-filled weekend. PS. Please pray that I get this figured out. Thank you!

Michele