Category Archives: Obedience

Bulking Up

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Most of us deal daily with pockets of excess built into our lives, areas we keep trying to temper with moderation but that continually plague us.  One of the most common is overeating, which is the one that plagued me for many years. Actually it was decades. Never once was I told, “You really should eat more.” Such an assignment would have been a dream come true.

Conversely, my sister Mary has always been on the lean side. It wasn’t because she didn’t work to be that way, since she’s always been careful to control her diet. She has focused on eating the right things and limiting the wrong ones, faithfully refusing to eat in excess. Today, however, she finds herself in a new eating reality.

???????????????????????????????In recent weeks her cancer has carved her thin frame by about 12 pounds, and doctors have said, “OK. It’s time to bulk up.” She has two weeks till her Whipple surgery, and in that time her orders are to eat high-cal, no holds barred.

Though most of us would be thrilled with that directive, this time it falls flat. That’s because of the reason: her surgery will tax her system, and she needs to be fortified ahead of time as thoroughly as possible. Although the instruction to “eat as much as you can” would have been welcome months ago, now it doesn’t have much appeal.

But Mary’s doctors aren’t the only ones involved in her preparation. God has his own plans for getting her ready. While she’s doing her best to follow doctor’s orders in the food department, God is focusing on “bulking her up” in the hidden places no surgeon’s scalpel could ever touch: her mind, soul, and heart.

He’s doing that in myriad ways: through timely emails, through her children’s thoughtfulness, through mountains of prayer, through well-timed worship music, through people’s testimonies of life-saving surgeries, through Scripture verses coming at just the right times, through pictures and words from grandchildren, through her own moods, and lots more.

God's perfect timingThough none of these could be labeled miraculous, the timing of how they’re coming to Mary is a wonder indeed. And that’s where God has shown himself, again and again: in the timing. Each “happenstance” sends the same message from him to Mary: “I’m right here.”

Only Mary knows how many of these well-timed gifts he’s given her and how frequently he’s rescued her. Much of it will remain secret between just the two of them. They are treasures the Lord has carefully saved to strengthen her exactly now, as she moves through these troubled times.

Caramel cornSo, as Mary munches on a handful of caramel corn made by her daughter-in-law Emily, she’s working at bulking up her body. But she knows her greatest gains will not be on a scale but in the hidden “bulking up” that God is doing inside the rest of her.

“Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions.” (Psalm 119:18)

An Important Preposition

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Mary and I have been working through a challenging Bible study together in the last few weeks. Louisa and Birgitta have been doing it too, and all of us have become aware that the preposition “in”, though little, has big significance.

Believing GodOur study is titled “Believing God,” and one of the first things we learned was the monumental difference between believing God and believing IN God. Most people, if stopped on the street would say, “Sure. I believe in God.” But is that the same as actually believing him?

In our Bible study we’ve memo- rized 5 statements that are critical to God-belief without the “in”:

  1. God is who he says he is.
  2. God can do what he says he can do.
  3. I am who God says I am.
  4. I can do all things through Christ.
  5. God’s Word is alive and active in me.

In our Bible study we repeat these powerful truths aloud at the beginning of each session, reminding ourselves that if we don’t agree with these five, we’re believing IN God, not believing God.

I'm believing God.And that’s not all. Our video instructor asked us to find a blue ribbon or cord to tie around one wrist during our weeks of learning. Much like a string tied around a finger, it was to be a reminder of those 5 truths. When we saw our blue cord many times each day, we were supposed to say, “I’m believing God,” accompanying it with sign language: “I’m (pointing to chest) believing (pointing to head) God (pointing upward).”

Two Thursdays back, Mary had a fever and wasn’t feeling well, so she missed our study time. We decided not to proceed without her, hoping she’d be back the next week, but by then she’d learned about her cancer. Now we’ve pushed the pause button indefinitely, because our little band of believers wouldn’t be the same without her.

When I visited Mary the morning after her diagnosis, her blue cord was peeking out from under her hospital gown, not much more than a few threads now. But there it was, testifying to those 5 rock-solid reasons for continuing to believe God, despite pancreatic cancer.

Believing God, even nowI’m wearing my blue cord, too, and as we chatted that first painful morning, I quietly planned to do the finger exercise at an opportune time, pointing to chest, head, and upward. Mary would know what it meant. But she beat me to it. Only a few minutes into our conversation her arm went up, she pointed to her blue cord, and did the point, point, point: I’m – believing – God.

So how, specifically, is she believing him? Today, she said it was this way:

“The Lord will cover [me] with his feathers. He will shelter [me] with his wings. His faithful promises are [my] armor and protection.” (Psalm 91:4)

Mary’s prayer requests:

  1.  For God’s wisdom in making treatment decisions
  2.  For preparation of each family member for what they will learn this week
  3.  For comfort, especially for her children

Thank you!

Good Editing

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When I got the chance to write a book two years ago (at left), it was a dream come true, and the long process of thinking, organizing, and writing was pure pleasure. Secretly I hoped for the chance to repeat the experience. Now that possibility is coming into focus.

Looking back to the first book, I see how critically important it was to be partnered with a good editor.

A hard working editorHer name was Miranda, and I learned more from her than I did in all my college writing classes combined.

Although writers and editors all work with words, they use completely different skill-sets, and Miranda’s meticulous critique was invaluable to my little book. If I do get to write another one, my highest hope will be to team up with her again, because expert editing makes the difference between a mediocre end-result and a memorable one.

All of us need our words edited once in a while, for example in our prayers. God knows that, so he makes two supernatural editors available to us. The first is his Holy Spirit and the second Jesus Christ. These two have never made, nor will they ever make, an editing mistake.

We should be deeply grateful for them, since they take the prayerful petitions we make to God and edit them into viable, acceptable requests he will hear and answer. Theirs is an awesome duty that benefits us daily. Scripture says the Spirit edits with sounds that are actually too deep for words but that God understands his specific groans on our behalf. And Jesus bridges the natural gap between us and God.

We edit.So why can’t we edit our own prayers? The truth is, we do, but it’s not positive. Let’s say he asks us to obey in a specific way and we respond with, “Ok.” But then we edit: “You know I’m only human, Lord. How ’bout if I obey half of that and let the rest go.”

Unacceptable editing.

In another example we might think, “God doesn’t really mean what he says. He meant to say…” and we fill in the blank in a way that doesn’t require too much of us.

More bad editing.

A good editor like Miranda will take the first draft of a book and raise questions with the author about words and concepts, listening to her rationale but sometimes insisting on changes. God does that too, as his Son and Spirit commune with him about us. Their editing makes our imperfect requests perfect to his ears.

An editor's workI hope I can work with Miranda again, but that won’t be up to me. Working with God’s Son and Spirit, however, is left completely up to us.

“There is one God and one Mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus. […and] we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” (1 Timothy 2:5 & Romans 8:26)