Category Archives: Submitting to God

Keep on Keeping On

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Scripture promises that God will watch over his family and “keep them.” (That means us.) But how do these promises of tender care jive with the facts of cancer and other maladies, especially those that resist treatment and then threaten to kill?

I love the word “keep.” It implies being held closely, protectively. In relation to an adult keeping a child, it’s a picture of putting self between the defenseless one and danger.

From the perspective of the one who’s doing the keeping, it means taking on a serious responsibility and implies that the role was assumed willingly without any “have to’s.” From the view of the one being kept, it promises safety.

Many of the Bible’s word pictures show us this kind of “keeping.” God says he will:

  • Keeping.keep us under his feathers.
  • cradle us in his everlasting arms.
  • engrave us on the palms of his hands.

Scripture also shows us what happens if we make a choice to “keep” ourselves rather than letting God do it.

In Matthew 23, Jesus has been teaching in Jerusalem’s temple and suddenly becomes overwhelmed with emotion. He looks out at the city and expresses deep, loving longing toward the Jews living there, speaking especially to those who don’t believe he is the Messiah.

Jesus senses their rebellious hearts and paints a word picture of a mother hen gathering her chicks beneath her to warm them and shelter them from harm. In other words, to keep them. It seems to break his heart when he says, “…but you were not willing.”

The Lord never forces himself on us but waits for an invitation. But he won’t water down his message to make it seem more appealing. He tells the whole truth and challenges people to believe he is who he says he is. If they refuse? Then, he says, “Your house is left to you desolate.” (Matthew 23:37-38)

God is keeping...I’ve been thinking of all this in relation to Mary. Despite her cancer, I believe God is “keeping her.” But how? Jude 1:24 says he’s “keeping her from stumbling,” which I take to mean stumbling spiritually. And it’s that faith in Christ that will carry (keep) her through even the most difficult cancer-days.

Another way God promises to keep her is on those days when she finds herself in great need. He says he’ll “keep the needy safe.” (Psalm 12:7) He also says he’ll “keep her mind and her heart” through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)

For Mary (and really, the rest of us, too), when our time in this world finishes, the Lord promises to keep us from all harm as we “go” from Earth and “come” to Heaven, even if it’s by way of cancer.

“The Lord will keep you from all harm — he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” (Psalm 121:7-8)

Praising and Praying with Mary

Please continue to pray for peace of mind during the night. Pray also that I’ll get better and better at taking just one day at a time.

Good Givers

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Generous people are a pleasure to know, and I know (and love) two sisters who are models of generosity. Priscilla and Nathalie were members of Moody Church long before I was, and as soon as they signed on, they began working in the Sunday school.

Both loved children and served faithfully in the two-year-old department for decades. That’s where our paths crossed 40 years ago as Nathalie (left) and Priscilla cheerfully received each of our toddlers when they left the nursery to attend “real” Sunday school. Whether our little ones walked into the class wearing smiles or frowns, these ladies always received them with love.

Priscilla Nathalie

Our children learned their first Scripture verses from Nathalie and Priscilla, along with how to share, how to wait their turn, and how to sit still for flannel-graph Bible stories. When Nate and I returned to pick them up after the adult service each week, these two women always had something positive to say about the morning.

Priscilla and Nathalie have always been generous, with their time, energy, ideas, and good cheer. But that’s not all. They’ve lived lives of monetary generosity, too.

Over the years they’ve loved going out for daily brisk walks, regardless of the weather. After they moved to a suburb near ours, I’d often see them “hoofing it” around town as I buzzed about in my mini-van. It puzzled me that sometimes they’d be walking along the edge of our residential roads rather than on the sidewalks, so one day I asked.

Nathalie said, “Over the years we’ve found pennies or other coins on our walks. In recent years we figured there were even more coins near the curbs, and once we even found a fifty dollar bill!”

$50

As I complimented them on their clever idea, Priscilla said, “Every November we put whatever we’ve found during that year into the Thanksgiving offering at church.”

And that’s where the generosity comes in. They could easily have kept what they found over the years, rationalizing that it “didn’t amount to much.” But Nathalie, a whiz with numbers, has kept track of what they’ve found, and pennies have morphed into dollars….

$1738.81 of them, to be exact.

In 2013 these energetic sisters finally had to call a halt to their neighborhood hiking. But my guess is that God has received their offerings, from pennies to bills, and transformed them into giant blessings in the lives of many. That’s because it was into his hands that they placed their findings.

And one day, when they get to glory, he’ll probably give them all the details.

“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Luke 12:34)

Praising and Praying with Mary

  1. I praise God for my wonderful family!
  2. Please pray I’ll have eyes that recognize God’s blessings in each day.

* Photos by Olin Mills

Mary’s Question

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Last Saturday Mary and I shared an afternoon of meaningful conversation while sipping warm spiced tea on a blustery cold day. “Let’s sit in the sun,” she said, appreciating the extra warmth on the couch cushions.

Though Mary’s cancer and the threat it imposes is the #1 topic on everyone’s mind, it’s difficult to know how to best talk about it, or if we should bring it up at all. From her point of view, she doesn’t want to cause others to weep over the situation, and the rest of us don’t want to add to her burden by dwelling on it.

SistersBut on Saturday, the conversation of two sisters flowed in the usual way, and we found ourselves talking through some of the really tough stuff. Mary wondered what she ought to be doing during these days of feeling fine and having good energy. Though she’s made up her mind to live each day to the fullest, what does that look like, hour to hour, day to day?

As we chatted about her options, her conclusion was that she just wanted to do the “normal” things she’s always done: spend time with the Lord; care for her home, family, and friends; continue in her church ministries.

And that’s the thing about a life submitted to God. When time threatens to grow short, no additions, corrections, or changes need to be made. There’s no scrambling to get things right.  “Continuing as usual” is the high-road thing to do. Mary can simply keep doing what she’s been doing all along, and God will continue to bless her and also those she touches.

Oswald Chambers says, “A saint is never consciously a saint; a saint is consciously dependent on God.”

Mary doesn’t have to make big changes, because her M.O. has never been to get brownie points with the Lord by doing good deeds. She hasn’t been keeping score by consciously tallying up which “righteous acts” will please God most.

Instead she has spent decades studying the Bible to figure out what obedience looks like and then putting that into practice.  Whether she’s running a meeting from behind a podium or sitting on the ground comforting an ailing animal, it’s all the same to her. Obedience to God’s assignments releases his power into Mary’s life and also the lives of those around her.

The Holy Spirit living within a person becomes visible in the way that person spends her time. Mary has never worried about whether or not she’s being “used” by God but simply loves him with her whole heart, and day-to-day goes about loving others more than herself.

“Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:17)

Praising and Praying with Mary

Tonight Bervin is both my praise (he’s a rock!) and my prayer request (that he wouldn’t be consumed with my cancer to the exclusion of other activities). I thank God for him and love his heart through these many months. Pray for strength to match whatever is ahead.