"Behold Our God"

This song moves me so deeply.  I think of God's train filling the room, his throne encircled in sapphire, Isaiah's coal to the lips, God's kindness to us, rejoicing over us with singing, numbering the hairs on our head, Job's response to God...and I'm filled with awe and wonder.  Let his glory fill the earth!

Waiting to Fly

by Nicolette M. Dumke

When Merry asked me to write a "story of hope" for this website, I wondered if I could do it. I thought, "I don't have all the answers. No! I don't have any of the answers!" Then I realized that this fact is the basis of real hope:

Hope is not a sentimental belief that things will get better.

It is coming to the end of your rope, to the end of your ability to cope with a problem, and giving up and surrendering yourself and the problem to God, to El Shaddai - God All Sufficient - and knowing that He is in control and can handle the problem - and indeed your whole life.

For several years, my food allergies were so severe that I was literally allergic to all foods.  I had headaches, diarhea, dizziness, and joint pain, among other symptoms. To stay alive, I ate the most exotic things and reacted even to them. God led me to knowledge, people, and treatment that helped over several years time so that I now have a nutritionally adequate diet, and He disciplined me to trust Him more in the process.

You can learn quickly what I learned slowly about food allergies at my Food Allergy website where you can also read my complete story Our Family's Story of Food Allergies and read about the book that came out of this experience, The Ultimate Food Allergy Cookbook and Survival Guide.

While on a walk this week, I saw a sparrow that had perched on a barbed-wire fence and gotten one of its talons caught in a twist of the wires. It was hanging upside down by its foot. Every minute or so it would flap its wings furiously and try to fly away.

We are often like this bird when faced with a seemingly insurmountable problem. We furiously and ineffectually flap our wings. Instead, we need to stop and cry out to our Heavenly Father. He will hear us and respond. His response could be to miraculously and instantly solve the problem - He can reach up and untangle us from the wires. Or he might show us how to get perched topside on the wire so our talons are at the right angle to pull out ourselves. However, it seems to me that most often He works on our problems slowly. He says, "Wait and learn to trust Me."

When God says, "Wait," if we cooperate with Him, there is produced a "harvest of righteousness and peace" in our lives. (Hebrews 12:11) We grow spiritually, mature, and become more like Jesus. These changes in us have eternal value. Temporal problems are just that - temporal and temporary, even if we live with them for the rest of our lives. When things are dark and desperate, we learn to cling to what we know about God - that He is in absolute control, and that He loves us and seeks only our highest good.

"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life: you stretch out your hands against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever." (Psalm 138:7-8)

When you are faced with problems that threaten to overwhelm you, remember and cling to these verses:

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." (Isaiah 43: 1-3)

 "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." (James 1:12)

See more Stories of Hope
See links for Food Allergies and Chemical Sensitivities

Polishing the Pavers and Other Life Pursuits

In her book Around the Table: Connecting with Your Family at Mealtimes, author Sharon Fleming writes:

In Bogota we live in an enclosed community with seventy-five townhouses squeezed onto five acres.  Each house comes with a brick-tiled parking spot out front.  The day we moved into our house, our neighbor’s “driveway” was torn up.  I asked her if there had been a problem.  “I can’t get the old tiles to keep a shine,” she told me, “so I’m replacing them with a better quality.  Hopefully these will stay nice looking.”  I had never heard of shining a driveway, so I wasn’t sure what kind of a community I was moving into.

Every morning she comes out armed with a bucket, mop, and hot soapy water to wash her parking spot.  Then, with a rag pushed by a broom, she dries the driveway tiles.  After that she uses her electric floor polisher to bring up the luster of the wax.  When her husband comes home, he has to wipe his feet on their patch of grass and then on a mat at the bottom of the driveway before walking the ten paces to the front door. 

One day my children got out their sidewalk chalk and decorated our parking space, filling in each brick with a different color until it looked like a patchwork quilt.  After I admired it with them they ran off to the park to play.  A short while later, my neighbor came to my door to tell me that the unthinkable had happened:  my children had left chalk dust footprints on her driveway. 

She scolded me for their thoughtlessness and complained about how much work it is to clean her driveway and that she had already done it for the day.  Later as I hosed away the work of art, she lugged out the bucket, mop, water, and floor polisher again:  crash, swish, whirr.  And that is just how she cares for the driveway! 

That house is my neighbor’s life devotion.  It’s what she talks about “when she sits in her house and when she walks by the way.”  It’s what she is thinking about when she gets up at 5 a.m., and it is what she is consumed with until 11 p.m. when she turns off the news to go to sleep.

What is your life’s devotion? 

I want my life’s devotion to be the person of God as He has revealed Himself in Scripture.  My “devotions” or “devotional times” are the food for the devotion of my life, but my devotion to God continues all day.

*     *     *

(Shared with permission)


It’s so easy, in the busy-ness of life, to get caught up in other things.  Pretty things, important things, even good things.  What do we think about when we rise, when we’re sitting or walking along the way, when we lay down at night?  Are we consumed with things of this world, even good things? 

I confess I didn’t have a lot of hope when I first sat down to read this book.  I thought it might be helpful for others and was hoping to share about it for that reason, but thought it probably wouldn't offer much for our family.  After all, things that “work” in “normal” families, don’t usually work for us.  The structure of our days often revolves around the uniqueness of my husband’s disability rather than things we can “plan” and “count on.”  That makes meal times with all of us together difficult to accomplish.

But I came away renewed by her encouraging tone and the variety of creative solutions she has, especially:

1. Hospitality can happen anywhere
2. Meals together, even when some are missing, have value and significance
3. Ideas for special celebrations (with Easter coming up, I think I’ll try to make this meal more special this year)
4. Spending a little time ahead of time thinking about topics for deeper conversations (and she presents lots of ideas).

I found the first and second points especially encouraging.  Hospitality is hard when you have a family member with chemical sensitivities, but I can be warm and hospitable in other situations too—it’s not just about “home.”  

Meals together have great value—even if my husband isn’t up when the kids and I eat, I can eat with them, and sit down with a cup of coffee or tea when he is up, and still share time together.  And on days when we don’t all eat breakfast or lunch together—I can take a few moments to sit with a child or with Dave.  I can treasure those moments instead of lamenting that we are not “all” together, we can still make them special.  I can create a home atmosphere that encourages together time, even if it's not always "all together."  

This book has a lot of hope for families who struggle against the cultural constraints of our society to find time together--activities, work obligations, and so on.  And in those moments we carve out, we can share windows into our faith journey, the One we are devoted to.  I often hear parents asking for a "curriculum" to teach character qualities and those have value, but I think most character training happens in times together such as mealtimes.  I hope when my kids are grown that we will be "Still Talking" and talking deeply about the things of life that are important. 

It’s easy to get caught up in "polishing pavers"—but how much more meaningful it is to capture those moments here and there with someone and remember together, marvel together, about Christ who has captured our hearts.  

May God bless your homes and families.


If you'd like to find out more about this book, it is available for a 25% discount.  The author, Sharon Fleming, is also sponsoring a giveaway.  Read her blog entry here for more details.

You Say, God Says

author unknown

You say: "It's impossible"
God says: All things are possible
(Luke 18:27)

You say: "I'm too tired"
God says: I will give you rest
(Matthew 11:28-30)

You say: "Nobody really loves me"
God says: I love you
(John 3:16 & John 3:34 )

You say: "I can't go on"
God says: My grace is sufficient
(II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm 91:15)

You say: "I can't figure things out"
God says: I will direct your steps
(Proverbs 3:5-6)

You say: "I can't do it"
God says: You can do all things
(Philippians 4:13)

You say: "I'm not able"
God says: I am able
(II Corinthians 9:8)

You say: "It's not worth it"
God says: It will be worth it
(Roman 8:28 )

You say: "I can't forgive myself"
God says: I Forgive you
(I John 1:9 & Romans 8:1)

You say: "I can't manage"
God says: I will supply all your needs
(Philippians 4:19)

You say: "I'm afraid"
God says: Do not fear, for I am with you
(Isaiah 41:10)

You say: "I'm always worried and frustrated"
God says: Cast all your cares on ME
(I Peter 5:7 & Matthew 6:25-34)

You say: "I'm not smart enough"
God says: I give you wisdom
(I Corinthians 1:30 & James 1)

You say: "I feel all alone"
God says: I will never leave you or forsake you
(Hebrews 13:5)

I received this as an email forward and don't know who compiled these, but I thought it was worthy of posting.  May God speak to you through His word.

See more Stories of Hope

Dave's Perspective on Lyme Disease

I love those moments when I get to hear how God is working in Dave's life.  This was one of those times.


Question: 
 How has Lyme Disease changed the way you think about your life?

 Answer: 
 Life is short-honor God with all of your time.

 I need to BE more and not just DO.  Doing must come out of who we are in Christ.

 God has broken me and is letting me start over.  Will I let him use me as a vessel for His glory?

 God has kept me around for a purpose--I have been close to death three times:

• Rupturing my spleen in 1979 
• Lyme undiagnosed for 15 years that started affecting my heart 
• Lost half of my blood in 2003 due to undetected slow-bleeding ulcers 

 So, what is this purpose of God's? Am I willing to be used?  I want to be willing to say like Isaiah, "Here am I, send me."

See More Stories of Hope
See Lyme Resources

God Hears

Have you heard the one about Hagar, when she cried out to the Lord and he took away all her trouble?  No?  Probably because that's not how the story goes...though that's how we want to view God and is often how we pray.  And the lack of tangible answers can send our faith into a tailspin.

Tucked in the middle of Abraham and Sarah's journey to learn to trust God completely, we find the mixed-up story of Hagar.  God had promised heirs to Abram (his original name), but 10 years went by, and the 85-year-old man remained childless.  His wife, Sarai, had the bright idea to follow one of the customs of the day and gave her Egyptian maidservant Hagar to him, so they could have a child that way.  (Hagar was likely acquired on one of their trips to Egypt, when Abram asked Sarai to pretend she was his sister so he wouldn't be killed on account of her beauty.)

Just as Adam accepted the fruit from Eve, Abram accepted Hagar and lay with her.  Hagar became pregnant (I would guess much to Sarai's chagrin) and began to despise her mistress.  It must have been pretty degrading, because Sarai complained to Abram, and he told her to do whatever she thought best.  Unfortunately the wounds of barrenness and humiliation ran deep, and what she thought best was to mistreat her servant until she ran away.

Talk about a dysfunctional family!  Was Hagar completely innocent?  No--but she didn't deserve the treatment she received either.  But here's where the story gets interesting.  Hagar, pregnant, runs into the desert, and God finds her on the road to Egypt. She had likely made this trip before and would know how harrowing it was--no one but a fool would attempt it alone.

Perhaps it was that sense of foolishness and futility that made her evade the Angel of God's question, "Where are you going?"  It was not unlike the question to Adam and Eve, "Where are you?" or the one to Cain, "Where is your brother?"  God knows how to find us when we have desperately lost our way.

God's advice?  Go back to your mistress.  Now, she'd probably die if she kept going in the desert, but return to the trouble she had left?  That would seem unthinkable.  And it would have been except for two things:

One, God heard her.  He had seen her misery.  Why should a woman likely raised to believe in other gods care what God thought?  Because he cared for her.  Hagar is changed because she saw God, and she believed he saw all that she went through.  She was not outside his sovereignty, his control.  There is safety in the storm, in the Lord.  Perhaps like Abram she was discovering that the Lord is our shield, our very great reward.

Hagar, the foreigner.  The servant.  The sinner.  Yet she saw the God who sees us.

Two, the mixed blessing that God gave her.  Life was not going to be easy--her son would be hated.  But her descendants would become too numerous to count.

The Bible doesn't tell us exactly what happened when she went back, but apparently Hagar was safe.  It seems that she became Abram's servant after that, because years later Sarah tells him what to do with her rather than taking matters into her own hands.  The child?  Ishmael:  God hears.

Did Sarai ever wonder if God heard her pain as well?

Maybe God's path for you isn't easy.  Maybe insults and injustice are there, or maybe you have been waiting decades to see a promise from God fulfilled or a heartache relieved.  Maybe you wonder, where is God?  He hears you too, your misery, anguish, confusion. The years and the journey may seem long, but he has not abandoned you.   He hears.  He sees.  He cares.  May you see the God who sees us.

Ever Pray Like This?

Walking with God...holding on to this world!