Category Archives: Hearing from God

It rocks!

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The desk where I sit and write becomes messy quickly and needs frequent de-cluttering. Even when I’ve filed all the papers, put the pens and glasses away and removed the dirty dishes, there’s one item that always stays: my Scripture rocks.

When Nate and I first heard that his cancer would take his life, we resisted accepting what we’d been told. I remember the morning after his diagnosis. My sister Mary had rushed from the Chicago area to Michigan to do what she could, and that next morning I found a beach stone sitting atop my kitchen counter with her writing on it.

It was a Scripture passage meant to encourage both Nate and I, which it did. (See “A Rocky Road,” October 10, 2009.) Two days later I found another rock, and over the next few weeks, nine more, always when we needed them most.

In addition to the Bible verses on each one, the stones were a continual reminder that our lives were built on the solid Rock, Jesus Christ. It helped to know when life became unstable, that this firm foundation would never be shaken.

Earlier this week in Christchurch, New Zealand, everyone and everything was badly shaken by a major earthquake. Buildings collapsed. People were injured or killed. Hundreds have not been found.

Our son Nelson and other leaders at the Youth With A Mission base nearby heard the ominous rumbling immediately before the ground began shaking, most experiencing their first quake. No one at the base was hurt, and they quickly sent representatives to Christchurch to help. In coming days, many more opportunities will present themselves, and these leaders, along with the students who begin arriving this weekend, will do what they can.

Most of us walk around thinking we have a measure of control over our lives. In reality, it doesn’t take more than a few seconds to shake us badly, either physically (an earthquake) or emotionally (cancer). Both can come without warning. Both can snuff out lives. What, then, is unshakeable?

My Scripture rocks.

The words they represent have the power to remain standing through natural disasters, diseases and everything in between. From those verses, come some unshakeable guarantees: the Lord is a stronghold in times of trouble, a firm place to stand, my refuge, a strong tower, a Rock eternal; he wipes away my tears, restores my soul, puts a song in my mouth; he’ll never forsake me, will set me on a high rock, will not allow me to be shaken.

But we were shaken by Nate’s cancer, and the citizens of Christchurch were shaken by the earthquake. So are these verses lying? No. They’re describing truth that applies to our hearts, souls and minds, the real us. As Nate discovered during his last days, everything was taken from him except one thing: the Lord. Earthquake victims learned that same reality this week, and eventually we’ll all experience it.

This truth makes us tremble until we look at what Jesus said on Mary’s heart-shaped rock:

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27)

Holy Fingerprints

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Life offers no greater thrill than an eye-popping realization that Almighty God has bent into time and space and touched us. These moments outweigh the excitement of delivering a baby, of being reunited with loved ones, of buying something we’ve always wanted, of winning an award.

Of course there’s one critical prerequisite to experiencing these thrills: a personal relationship with God. But that’s an option anyone can choose, because God wants us all.

When you, reader, come to the end of this post having read about my God-touch today, you may think, “No big deal.” Please know I’ve prayed about this for you, asking God to show you more of himself. No matter how small his contact with us, because of who he is, it’s spectacular.

Here’s a helpful word picture. At Christmas time, my 73 year old cottage got new windows, and because its winter, they’ve not yet been washed. Toddler grandchildren, visiting at the time, decorated the glass with their pudgy handprints, and although my little relatives are gone, they’ve left evidence that they were here.

God’s touch on an ordinary day leaves a far more important imprint on my life. To be marked by his supernatural influence even once is to crave more of it and more of him.

So here’s today’s holy fingerprint. While flying home from FL last week, I read through a book of quotes by Mother Teresa. After absorbing her thoughts on life and ministry, I understood clearly how and why she lived as she did.

Her words: “Whoever the poorest of the poor are, they are Christ for us – Christ under the guise of human suffering. Jesus comes to us in the hungry, the naked, the lonely, the alcoholic, the drug addict, the prostitute, the street beggars. If we reject them, we reject Jesus.”

As our plane landed, Mother Teresa’s sacrificial life impacted me, and I felt badly about my lack of contact with the poor. Short of supporting a little girl in India who I’ve never met, I’ve done very little and hoped to change that. As we pulled up to the gate, I asked God to show me what he wanted me to do. Who were the poor he wanted me to know?

Then Monday morning I came face-to-face with three poor people at the family custody window in the county courthouse. Although I didn’t feel God’s finger on me then, today I felt it.

I had prayed, “Who, Lord?”

And he said, “Them.”

Maybe I’ll end up back at family court, hanging around the halls to see what happens. Maybe God will make other arrangements as I continue to pray for those three, but he “marked” me this morning by letting me know I don’t have to hunt for ways to help the poor. He’s going to show me.

It was a small, gentle touch in which he made me aware of the link between my prayer request and his specific answer. And because it was done by Almighty God, I am in awe.

“Part your heavens, Lord, and come down.” (Psalm 144:5a)

By the Light of the Moon

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When Mom and Dad were newlyweds in the early 1940’s, Dad was called 1000 miles away on a rare business trip. Mom could hardly stand the thought of him leaving but came up with an idea. At 10:00 each night they’d both step outside and look up. As Mom put it, “Our eyes will meet on the moon.”

When we were kids and she told this story, I thought she was crazy. Later, in high school Latin class, I learned the word luna meant moon, and Mom’s story became the perfect example of lunacy.

Rumor has it when the moon is full, women go into labor more often and traffic accidents increase, along with irrational behavior of all kinds. I don’t know if that’s true, but science has confirmed something that is: the moon affects ocean tides. I suppose if it can pull on sea water, it can probably mess with the water in our brains, too.

Each month when the moon is full, I look forward to Jack’s midnight walk. If the sky is clear, I don’t even need a flashlight, especially during the winter when the trees are bare. Moonlight illuminates the road just enough to see. But when snow covers the ground, moonlight bounces off the white surface so brightly, it casts shadows much like the sun except that the neighborhood glows in silver.

God wants us to appreciate what he’s made. He doesn’t want us to love the moon, stars or sun to the point of worship and makes it clear such adoration is wrong. But he does want us to notice and attribute our amazing world to his doing.

I wonder how it must have been for God just before he created the Universe with its phenomenal heavenly bodies. Did he spend time planning what he was about to do? Did the Father, Son and Spirit enjoy round-tabling ideas about the not-yet-formed heavens and earth? Because God is someone who works in microscopic detail as well as in mega-ways, I like to think he enjoyed the whole process, anticipating, planning and doing.

If he approached the heavens and earth with eagerness, what must he have thought before making human beings? Although we’re like grains of beach sand compared to stars, sun and moon, we’re not insignificant to God. As a matter of fact, he sees us as the high point of his creation, the only thing eternal. He gave us each a soul, and in this we’ve been made “like him,” an astonishing reality.

It could be that the moon serves as God’s object lesson for us, not as a nightly link between separated newlyweds but as an example of reflection. Just like the moon mirrors the sun, we’re to reflect our Creator, a challenging assignment but a most worthy calling.

“When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place—what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?” (Psalm 8:3-4)