Yesterday, I sent a message to a total stranger, requesting help for a spiritually blind friend.
Think: Asking Santa for a new baby sister, or calling on the President to help the family purchase a new dishwasher.
I am now sitting here at 3 a.m. wondering what the response will be, and I am comforted by sudden thoughts of being in good Bible company.
I recall — with hope — some innovative, yet seemingly inappropriate ventures that pop out of scripture — ones which ended remarkably well:
A harlot with faith who hid foreign spies in her roof. (Joshua 2)
Buddies who lowered their needy friend through a crowd and a roof to get healing ~ budding in line at best, and at worst: breaking and entering. (Mark 2:4)
A controversial woman who poured expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet, in front of a batch of scorners, then went on to wipe His feet with her hair. (John 12)
Have you ever done something outlandish or eccentric, but for a worthy reason?
Said to a stranger: “God told me to talk to you…”
Dumped kindness and grace on someone who slighted or offended you?
Sent an anonymous gift in the mail?
Stretched beyond norms to rescue someone you love?
God’s ways — as seen in scripture — show me that He doesn’t always work within our manners, ways, protocol, or traditional appropriate-ness.
Jesus doesn’t bid us all approach Him as gently weeping sinners, sitting in shiny church pews. Sometimes repentance and God’s forgiveness wash over a sobbing drunk, stretched out on a sandy beach.
So, all to say, I am praying that God, who creatively used a donkey to speak to a prophet (Numbers 22:22), will use my strangely unexpected message, sent off to a total stranger, to open the eyes of a blind friend.
Being a mom is not a BEING LIFE; it is a DOING LIFE.
It’s a constant, daily, demanding string of decisions between selfishness and donating love cheerfully.
When a sleepy wanderer-child interrupts my calm early morning…
When I want the kitchen all to myself…
When I had a busy day and just wanted to rest….
When I am trying to think and someone asks me rapid-fire questions…
Will I snap in irritation, sigh impatiently…or donate love cheerfully?
Donate: verb:
1. to present as a gift, grant, or contribution; make a donation of, as to a fund or cause:to donate used clothes to the Salvation Army.
2. To provide (blood, tissue, or an organ) for transfusion, implantation, or transplant.
Yep, that is motherhood. Donating gifts, contributions, blood, sweat tears, heart, soul and more — whatever one has left to give.
I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls…
2 Corinthians 12:15
It’s holding tight, It’s lettin’ go It’s flyin’ high and layin’ low It lets your strongest feelin’s show And your weakness too It’s a little and a lot to ask An endless and a welcome task Love isn’t somethin’ that we have It’s somethin’ that we do…
There’s no request, too big or small We give ourselves, we give our all Love isn’t some place that we fall It’s somethin’ that we do…
Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name,
You Are Mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
Isaiah 43: 1-3 ESV
~~~
Although this love message was written to God’s chosen people, Israel, it can speak comfort to all believers. In the New Testament, God’s never-changing love is affirmed in verses like Romans 8:38-39:
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It’s funny how people float in and out of your life. Your best high school buddy has disappeared, but the girl you didn’t know, who sat in the back row of homeroom, is now your dear friend and neighbor.
In a way, Esther Goetz is that kind of person. She was the friend-of-a-friend at our college on the outskirts of Chicago. I knew she was outgoing and friendly, and had grown up in Ethiopia as a missionary kid, but I didn’t know much more about her while we shared the same campus,
We went on with our separate studies and friends and lives. Graduation scattered everyone to build their own careers and families all over the map.
Fast forward three decades, when I stumbled upon a blog called The Dolly Mama.
Here I found someone with a kindred world view, words of truth, and a winsome sense of spunk. Esther’s photo and name looked familiar, and later I discovered that she was the Esther from college years, molded and sharpened by a life yielded to God and His Word.
After college, she married Allen; they have four adult children, one son-in-law and a feisty toddler grandson. Esther and her husband lead the marriage mentoring ministry at their church (they have met with over 120 couples over the past 15 years!) Esther also leads a women’s group.
Her blog reflects what she does in real life, as she discusses faith, family and friendship.
Besides family, church, blogging, leadership and more, Esther likes to read! Right now, she is enjoying The Next Right Thing by Emily Freeman, and her three favorite books of all time are:
Whenever I visit Esther’s blog, The Dolly Mama, I often end up crying or laughing. She inspired me to choose a Word of the Year– her 2020 word is HYGGE.
This is all for Him, who can strengthen you, because of Jesus
Because of the gospel
That mystery that was hidden for thousands of years
That secluded secret that has now been whispered
And joyfully shouted
To you — to us — to the world
This is all for Him, whose words can inspire faith and enable obedience
This is for Him, the only God
The wise God
Who deserves glory forever.
In the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen.
From Romans 16:25-27
~~The Apostle Paul wrote 13 letters to the churches. The closing of each of these letters often read like a blessing or a doxology — a short passage of praise to God. I was reading over one of these the other day, noticing how Paul’s personality, passion for God and love for beloved, struggling pilgrims showed up in the letter closings. It made me want to try to understand each one. In future posts, I’m going to try to put each one of these in my own inarticulate words.
Pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth,
Will be apprehended and arrested
Without a phone call,
A trial,
Or a last meal.
Offenders will first be
Drowned in light,
Then beheaded with a double-edged sword
Followed by hanging from the highest gallows.
–The Management
~~~~
For when you live controlled by the flesh, you are about to die. But if the life of the Spirit puts to death the corrupt ways of the flesh, we then taste his abundant life. — Romans 8:13 TPT
~~~
I am reading this book,thanks to Brenda, who recommended it.
When the lawyers found her in 1969, she was, “ill at ease, incapable of small talk, pale and unkempt besides. She looked like she got out of bed and forgot to comb her hair.” [x]
The pregnant plaintiff, Norma Leah Nelson McCorvey adopted the legal pseudonym Jane Roe in the 1973 Supreme Court Case Roe v. Wade.
Norma speaking before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1998.
180 Degree Journey
Years later, Norma was working at an abortion clinic. An aggressive pro-life organization called Operation Rescue (OR) moved to the office next door. Amazingly, the two polarized groups coexisted on the site for more than a year. One of the OR staff members routinely brought her daughter in to work and she’d give Norma consistent hugs and invitations to church. This touched Norma McCorvey, and she finally accepted a request to join the girl’s family at their church.
What happened next could only be explained by a miracle; Norma’s life made a 180 degree turn.
Here are her words:
“I was sitting in OR’s offices when I noticed a fetal development poster. The progression was so obvious, the eyes were so sweet. It hurt my heart, just looking at them. I ran outside and finally, it dawned on me. ‘Norma’, I said to myself, ‘They’re right’. I had worked with pregnant women for years. I had been through three pregnancies and deliveries myself. I should have known. Yet something in that poster made me lose my breath. I kept seeing the picture of that tiny, 10-week-old embryo, and I said to myself, that’s a baby! It’s as if blinders just fell off my eyes and I suddenly understood the truth—that’s a baby!
I felt crushed under the truth of this realization. I had to face up to the awful reality. Abortion wasn’t about ‘products of conception’. It wasn’t about ‘missed periods’. It was about children being killed in their mother’s wombs. All those years I was wrong. Signing that affidavit, I was wrong. Working in an abortion clinic, I was wrong. No more of this first trimester, second trimester, third trimester stuff. Abortion—at any point—was wrong. It was so clear. Painfully clear.”[x]
New Norma
In 1995, Norma embraced God’s love and forgiveness and her life completely changed. [x]
Norma McCorvey passed away February 18, 2017 at the age of 69.
