Spiritual Scrapbook, part 5

I want to share a Bible story with you. You know this story: Jesus was on His way to heal a dying girl when he was interrupted by a sick woman.

Just then, a man named Jairus came. He was a leader of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus' feet and pleaded with Him to come to his house, because he had an only daughter about 12 years old, and she was at death's door.

While He was going, the crowds were nearly crushing Him. A woman suffering from bleeding for 12 years, who had spent all she had on doctors yet could not be healed by any, approached from behind and touched the tassel of His robe. Instantly her bleeding stopped.

“Who touched Me?" Jesus asked.

When they all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the crowds are hemming You in and pressing against You."

"Somebody did touch Me," said Jesus. "I know that power has gone out from Me." When the woman saw that she was discovered, she came trembling and fell down before Him. In the presence of all the people, she declared the reason she had touched Him and how she was instantly cured. (Luke 8:41-47)

Jesus could have kept this healing secret. Jesus was in a hurry, the woman was completely healed—why stop to talk about it? Well, it shows us that Jesus cares for each of us and values us individually, but I also see that it was important for this woman to share her story with the crowd. It was probably embarrassing—this sounds like one of those female problems that one doesn't usually talk about with just anyone. But Jesus had done something for her, and she was supposed to share.

As a follower of Jesus, you too have a story to share. I don't mean just an account of How You Got Saved, but your journey, your life with Jesus. He is your constant companion, leading and guiding you and encouraging you.

Remember I told you I have a lot of scrapbooking stuff and I never use it? You have the materials to make a spiritual scrapbook. It's like a very condensed journal. You need a Bible and a pen and some paper. Don't wait til you can make it look pretty with scalloped scissors and glittery stickers. That would be a fun project, but start now. Start simple.

Think about the seasons of your life. You might have recognized some of the seasons I mentioned. You might think of others: joy, productivity, weakness, repentance, waiting, rest, endurance...

Write down the verses you have held on to during those times. And when you find a verse that encourages you right now, in this season, write it down. Sometimes you can't label the season til it's over, but you'll have a verse handy.

And when you have those written down, talk to God about them. Have a little praise session, thanking Him for His presence and His guidance and His faithfulness.

You'll have those verses ready to share with others in similar seasons of life.


Finally, brothers, rejoice.
Be restored, be encouraged,
be of the same mind,
be at peace,
and the God of love and peace will be with you...

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:11,13)

Spiritual Scrapbook, part 4

A Season of Contentment

We moved to Vegas in 2002. We settled in, making friends and finding ministries at our church—Mark plays the piano and various other instruments, and I teach women's Bible studies. We had two more children: Annika was born in 2004 and Martina in
2006.

We enjoyed living in Vegas but we always planned to move back to the Northwest, and we prayed about when that was supposed to happen. In 2007 we heard about a job opening in Warrenton, Oregon, and surprisingly my first reaction was, “No! No! I don't want to move!” But that year my dad was very ill, and we began to think that maybe we should move back to be closer to him. My dad continued to go downhill and he died in 2008. The urgency for a move was gone, but we still felt a willingness to move.

In the spring of 2009 the job opening was indeed available, and Mark applied. Mark and I both flew out when he had an interview. We found a charming house for rent in Seaside, two blocks from the beach. I felt that perhaps I could live in a small town again if it was on the beach!

Mark and I both prayed and prayed about that job. There were so many reasons we wanted to move--and so many reasons we wanted to stay. For both of us, it was really a time of submitting to God's will. God really seemed to be directing us towards a move. Everything seemed to point in that direction.

And then Mark didn't get that job. I was so relieved not to have to pack and move, not to give up my church and living in a large city—but I was also frustrated! “What was that about, Lord,” I kept asking. “Why did You take us on that journey, working in our hearts to be willing to move....what was that all about?”

But then the fall came and I knew exactly what that was all about. I began teaching at Bible Study again and the weather cooled down, and I was completely content. I'd always been wishing for just a little more in my life...first I was wanting to be married, then to have a child, then to move back to the Northwest (or Ireland)...but now I am absolutely content to be right here, right now.

God took us on that journey, not to move us, but to change our hearts and to give us a joy and contentment in our current situation. We liked Vegas, but now we love it. Now it's home. I know the season of change will come again someday, but for now God has given me contentment.

I know, Lord, that a man's way of life is not his own; no one who walks determines his own steps. (Jeremiah 10:23)

A Season of Serving

Now I'm in a season of serving God. I remember when I went to that Elizabeth George conference, I watched Elizabeth on stage and I thought, “I want to do that. Maybe I could do that at Shiloh some day!” And last weekend I did.

I write a book every year and teach it at women's Bible study at our church. You can follow the links on the side of this blog to Sacred Signposts (about prayer) and Praise Patterns (about praise.) I'm writing a book on the topic of serving God—using our talents for God and looking at Biblical and historical people who served God in different ways.

I'm also very busy caring for my children—that's serving God too. Serving God can be exhausting, but it's rewarding too. I learned that at Shiloh Bible Camp when I was a teenager and I had so much fun serving God here! There was another result of that volunteer work. I didn't realize this til Lissa pointed it out to me.

In 1994 I cut down on my volunteering, because I had to get a paying job, but that was the year my dad retired. He looked around for something to do, and began mowing the lawn at Shiloh and helping in the office a little. Eventually I moved away but my dad kept going out there. Even when my dad moved away, he kept driving back to Shiloh. And when my dad died, Dan Small (a former manager of Shiloh) spoke at the graveside service and then we had the memorial service there. (The cemetery where my family is buried is very near Shiloh.)

A few months later, my Grandma died. I wondered where her memorial service would be because my aunts and uncles don't have any church connections. My aunts, however, are very organized and competent women, and they'd been taking notes during my dad's memorial service. They contacted Dan Small about speaking at the graveside service and having a luncheon there. I flew up here for that service, and Lissa attended with me. As we walked from the cemetery back to Camp, Lissa said, “Your family is here because of you.” I was startled. “What? My family were pioneers out here.”

“You started this.” she said. “You worked here for years before your dad did. You are the connection to Shiloh.” And I realized that my unsaved relatives had heard the gospel and then had lunch in such a pleasant Christian atmosphere...because of a chain of events that started when I was thirteen and I set tables and dished up pudding.

I want to encourage you today that whatever small actions you are doing to serve God—He sees, and He will reward you.

...You serve the Lord Christ. (I Corinthians 3:24)

Spiritual Scrapbook, part 3

Another season that we all experience in the Christian life is a season of darkness. You might call it grief, loneliness, discouragement, despair...but you know what I mean. When Mark and I got married, it seemed that all our friends got married within the same year, and they all had babies very soon after that. We didn't. My goals in life were simple: I wanted to be a wife and a mom, and I somehow thought that the one followed the other quite soon. I became discontent and discouraged.

In the third year of our marriage, we lost two babies. No one told me that miscarriage can lead to postpartum depression. It was a very dark year. But it was the year I started reading Psalms again. I'd discovered Psalms when I was a teenager and I was in a bit of a dark year—my best friend Lissa had moved away and I was lonely!

I also rediscovered another favorite verse: Hebrews 13:5. I knew the last part: "He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you,'" but I noticed a bit more of that verse: “Be satisfied with what you have.” I felt that God was asking me, “Am I enough?” and I realized that I was living as if He wasn't enough.

I finally saw the light at the end of that dark season, strangely enough, on September 11th, 2001. By that time I was pregnant with Lydia but I'd really given up hope that I'd ever have a living child—everyday I expected something to go wrong. I sat on the couch and watched the television that day and I prayed for our nation—and I realized I wasn't the only person in the whole world who was grieving.

Life was in Him, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it. (John 1:4-5)

I love this verse. When dark seasons come, they cannot overcome the Light.

Next, I entered a Season of Change.

Lydia was born in October, 2001. We sent out baby announcements that included
Psalm 126:3: "The Lord has done great things for us and we are glad."

I loved being a mom. Lydia was so beautiful and I felt complete. When Lydia was seven months old, Mark and I celebrated our fifth anniversary, and I was so excited (I'd lost weight and I was wearing a skirt I'd bought five years before) Mark was strangely quiet. The next day he told me he'd lost his job. I told him he was not supposed to carry burdens like that overnight without telling me!

I remembered the dark season we'd just been through, and I thought, “well, we've been through worse things! We have God, we have each other, we'll survive!”

Later that day we heard about job opportunities in Las Vegas. We'd never been to Vegas. Within two weeks he had a job offer, and within two months we moved.

It was a whirlwind summer and it was exciting and the desert was very hot but I was fascinated with the palm trees...and then suddenly that fall the palm trees weren't interesting anymore and I began to wonder what in the world I was doing in the desert. I had this repeating thought: “This just isn't the way I pictured my life!” Over and over again, it echoed in my mind.

That fall, Several ladies from our church went to a women's conference where Elizabeth George was speaking. I'd never heard of Elizabeth George, but I wanted to get acquainted with women from church, so I went too. Elizabeth talked about overcoming discouragement. She talked about meditating on God's truth, the the truth of reality—not the what if's and the if only's and the thoughts of “this isn't the way I pictured it.”

When I heard that phrase that had been replaying in my head, I took notice of her next words: “No, this isn't the way you pictured it. But this is the way it is. Stop yelling. Get up. Move on.” I bought her book “Loving God with all Your Mind” and read and reread it, and I began to absorb the fact that change—when it's planned by God—is a good thing. I realized that God had removed a lot of distractions from my life—things I loved—nearby friends and family and beautiful scenery and rain—in order that I would focus on Him. When Lydia took her afternoon naps, I drank a lot of tea and read a lot of scriptures, especially the book of Philippians.

Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

Spiritual Scrapbook, part 2

This is the second in a series, sharing my spiritual journey. Earlier today, I shared why I recorded my story in a spiritual scrapbook. Now I'll share the beginning of that journey.

I grew up in a Christian home, and I spent a lot of time at church. When I was four I realized that I needed to make a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. No one was with me, but I'd heard all the instructions many times, so I asked the Lord to take away my sin and give me a home in heaven. My favorite color at the time was white, and I chose Psalm 51:7 as my favorite verse: “...Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.” That was the beginning of my walk with Jesus.


When I talk about Beginnings, I have to mention Shiloh Bible Camp. I came to Shiloh for the first time when I was ten—and I immediately felt at home there, perhaps in part because my great-grandfather was a pioneer just down the road from the camp's location. When I was thirteen, I was asked to come work in the kitchen. I see Shiloh as the beginning of my ministry—the first place I was aware that I was serving God. I was just the “gopher” in the kitchen—I didn't even cook! I brought ingredients to the cooks and I dished up pudding and I set the tables. I worked in the kitchen for several weeks every summer and I did some junior counseling too, until the summer I graduated from highschool. That year, there was something new at Camp, the Christians In Training program, and it was the only option for teenagers who wanted to volunteer at camp. I was very anxious to stay involved at camp, so I filled out my application as soon as I received it and mailed it the next day. I've been told I was the very first CITer. I remember one of the verses we learned in CIT:

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (I Corinthians 10:31)

Shiloh gave me a wonderful beginning in serving God and seeing that every job from cleaning bathrooms to mowing the lawn could be done for His glory...and it was fun when I was working with other Christians!

Of course I also began a lot of friendships at Shiloh—including my very best friend Lissa, and my husband Mark. Mark and I met in 1989, and we started dating at a Study Retreat in March 1993. For that first year, we only saw each other at Shiloh. This was a wonderful way to begin a relationship because it was all very real. There weren't any romantic candlelight dinners—we were washing pots and pans and making pizza!


The next page in my scrapbook is titled "Guidance." As I look at the four years of our dating relationship and the first few years of our marriage, I see God's guidance. I know God guided us to meet the way we did, and as He led us toward marriage, He guided me through a series of jobs. I worked in a clothing store, where I worked with a woman who knew the manager of the Washington Mutual Bank in Aberdeen. Eventually I went to work at that WaMu, and that led to a transfer to a branch in Salem, Oregon where Mark was going to college when we got married. I didn't get the first job I applied for—it seemed perfect at the time—but God was guiding me to the next job, and it was better. It was inside a Fred Meyer store, and after Mark and I were married he worked in that Fred Meyer. We had two less-than-dependable cars, so it was very helpful to work in the same building! Experiencing that season of guidance prepared me for a later season of guidance when Mark lost his teaching job in Oregon and we moved to Las Vegas.

I trust in You, Lord; I say, "You are my God." The course of my life is in Your power. (Psalm 31:14-15)

Spiritual Scrapbook, part I

This is the beginning of a blogging series in which I will share the talks I gave at Shiloh Bible Camp at a Women's Retreat. On Friday night I shared my testimony. While I was making my notes I read an article about "How to Give Your Testimony." It said I should describe my life before I was saved and then tell you how my life is different now. Well...I was four when I trusted the Lord. I didn't have a lot of time to develop a long list of pre-Jesus habits. Since I can't tell that kind of a testimony, I'm sharing my spiritual scrapbook with you instead. I'm not really a scrapbooker. I have a lot of supplies but I haven't really done anything with them for years. Of course I do take pictures of my children and at Christmas time I make a calendar online and have the calendar sent to the grandparents. One of the scenes I record each year is my children jumping in a pile of leaves. We live in the desert, so we don't have a lot of autumn leaves, but there are a few, and my kids gather them up and make piles of leaves to jump in. We've done this four years in a row, and we know now that the leaves aren't there until the first week of December, and we've learned that if we see the gardener's truck parked outside we should run and take the photo before he takes away all the leaves! Because we take that picture every year, we anticipate this seasonal event and we're prepared.

Here's what happens if I'm not prepared for next season...it's the one snowy day of the year and we don't have gloves, so my oldest daughter wears a potholder while she builds a snowman.

Like the seasons outside our windows, some seasons in our souls come around again. Taking a few notes—making a spiritual scrapbook—can help us be prepared the next time.

My scrapbook is very simple: it's just verses on file cards. I'm going to share just a few pages from my spiritual scrapbook this week. Remember the physical seasons —my cold winter in Vegas might be a lot shorter than yours, but it's still winter—and in the same way, my spiritual seasons might look different from yours, but we probably have some things in common too. God's Word is full of encouragement, comfort and triumphant praise—and it can help prepare us for the coming seasons.

St. Patrick's Prayer

Christ as a light, illumine and guide me
Christ as a shield, overshadow me
Christ under me
Christ over me
Christ beside me on my left and my right.
This day be within and without me
Lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Be in the hearts of each to whom I speak
In the mouths of each who speak unto me.



You can find this version at Itunes by John Michael Talbot.
A more modern (and longer) recording is "St. Patrick's Breastplate" by Stefan Van Voorst. I also like the version of "St. Patrick's Breastplate" by an artist named Mr. Jag.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Learn a little about this hero of our faith here.

This is my post for Thought-Provoking Thursday, hosted at Some Girl's Website. I find this prayer very thought-provoking. It shows prayer as a desire for Christ to permeate my whole life.

A Little Prayer Humor

Prayer is a serious thing, but some of our prayer rituals are a little funny...
I like these funny looks at serious matters; they make me stop and think.

Five on Friday

This blog is quite new, but certainly looks promising. Check it out: oregonpencildust.blogspot.com

Here is a touching post on disabilities and learning difficulties.

This is a good post on Lent, from the author of 1,000 Gifts.

St. Patrick's Day is next week! You'll need a recipe for Irish brown bread.

And here's a comic for my Nascar-loving friends.

Praying with Psalm 39-41

You, indeed, have made my days short in length,
and my life span as nothing in Your sight.
Yes, every mortal man is only a vapor. Selah.

I waited patiently for the Lord,
and He turned to me and heard my cry for help.
He brought me up from a desolate pit,
out of the muddy clay,
and set my feet on a rock,
making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord.

I delight to do Your will, my God;
Your instruction resides within me.

Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
let those who love Your salvation continually say,
"The Lord is great!"

May the Lord, the God of Israel, be praised
from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and amen.

(Psa. 39:5, 40:1-3, 8,16, 41:13)

My life is so very short
compared to eternity,
and I am so very weak
compared to omnipotence --
yet You care for me
encourage me
and instruct me.

Thought-provoking Thursday is hosted at Some Girl's Website.

Avocado Bean Salad

This is a simple recipe that is very yummy! All measurements are approximate and can be tweaked to your own preferences.

3 TBS olive oil
1 large sprig each: sage, tarragon, marjoram, oregano (or any combination of herbs you love)
a bunch of chives (define "bunch" to your own taste)
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can garbanzo beans or cannellini, drained and rinsed
1 or two green onions, diced (optional)
2 avocadoes, diced
salt and pepper

Chop herbs and place them with olive oil in a bowl or pitcher. Optional: process with a stick blender (chopping blade) for a few moments.

In a large bowl place the beans, green onion, and the avocado. Pour the herbed olive oil over the vegetables. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

Mix vigorously. The avocado will mash up a bit, coating the beans.

The flavors are best if you prepare and chill the salad for an hour or two before serving.

For a more colorful salad, add fresh diced tomatoes.

I like to just eat this with a spoon, but it is lovely on a bed of greens, on whole wheat crackers, or on small slices of rustic bread.