Smoke & Ashes

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, 
that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, 
what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
~ Romans 12:2

We’ve had our share of smoke over the last few weeks here in Ontario. I bet many of you have too. Large portions of the country have been breathing the effects of summer wildfires. Some summers are worse than others for fire and smoke, and this one is in the worse category. 

Most mornings I have a routine of heading out the back door to spruce up my patio for the day. I blow leaves off the deck and sometimes wipe down a spider web or two. I recently noticed that I also have to shake the accumulated white ash off my navy blue chair cushions.  They have been just sitting there, minding their own business, and yet they get contaminated by these small particles that aren’t really easy to detect until you see the cumulative blanket effect on my nice cushions.

This reminds me of the condition of our minds — just sitting there, minding our own business, our minds tend to get contaminated by the influences descending upon them. It’s not always easy to detected the individual influence over our minds until we see the cumulative effect.

The Apostle Paul knew this, and prompted by the Holy Spirit, gave us a simple daily remedy to shake off the contamination. That’s what our opening verse is talking about — being transformed by the renewal of our mind. This isn’t a mysterious or complicated process. It’s quite simple, like shaking the ash off my navy chair cushions. It just needs to be done regularly or it will get increasingly worse.

What type of ash accumulates in our minds? All sorts of things that originate from inside our own head or come in through the front door — dissatisfaction with our current tasks in life, frustration with the political climate of our country, an unhealthy or destructive tendency to compare ourselves against others, the list is really endless.

What does renewal look like? It’s really not too different than shaking out patio cushions. Once we realize and admit there is a layer of unhelpful junk that has settled over our mind, and once we realize something should be done about that layer, we’re in a position to begin the process of renewal.  The best way to transform our minds is the consumption of the Word of God, which does the shaking work for us. 

Hebrews 4:12 tells us, "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart."

Obviously there is more to the shaking out process than just reading words on a page. We also have to receive what is being revealed, repent of what needs to go, and act upon what is good and useful and healthy.

What is the result? The Romans passage tells us that one of the most useful results is discernment — The ability to know what God’s will is for today and for the future. Another result, which I personally crave is peace! 

Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” 

Who doesn’t want more peace in their life? Who doesn’t aspire to move through life with a sense of contentment in whatever circumstances you’re facing? It all begins with a little shaking out, just like I do daily to those ash-covered chair cushions. I’m going to remember what I’ve said here whenever I shake off those chair pads. My health issues invite a certain brand of ash to accumulate, and your life issues invite a different brand of ash.  But we all need to be busy about the shaking process. 

As far as an update on me — yesterday was the half-way mark of my second brand of chemo. I’m doing well and feeling well and have to visit just six more stations on the chemo train. I hope you are all enjoying summer and I hope we can all soon enjoy the summer skies sans smoke and ash.  

My Love,

Sue

sue@ccontario.com

Stepping or Stopping?”

“We can make our plans, 
      but the LORD determines our steps.”
~ Proverbs 16:9 (NLT)

A phrase crossed my path this week that made a lot of sense to me — here is it: “God watches over our steps and our stops”.  Both you and I are familiar with some of the wonderful verses like the above (Prov. 16:9) about God guiding our steps. We love those verses! I’m particularly geared to the thought of forward progress — steps equal progress. That’s what we want in life, to move forward, to make progress, to cross things off our list, to feel accomplished, to get things done. We even monitor our steps on our smart watches and sometimes they even give us a visual and audio reward for completing our goals for the day. 

But I think we sometimes make a leap of logic and believe that since we value forward progress so much, God must value it just as highly. Certainly, He must also be cheering our forward movement toward getting things done and that factors into how He determines our steps.

You can see why I had to contemplate that phrase “God watches over our steps and our stops”. Maybe, just maybe, God determines times for us to stop rather than step. When that happens, it may very well look and feel like ‘a lack of progress’ or ‘stagnation’ or ‘laziness’ or ‘failure’. But maybe He values stops just as much, or more than steps. What is one to do when God watches over your stops? 

You can probably guess how relevant this is to me, since, in many areas of my regular life God has determined a stop. Don’t get me wrong, in many other ways, He is graciously allowing me steps. And I’m trying to relish those steps, whether they are well-worn routines or new steps. But it’s the stops that get to us. For me, the stops are mostly related to retreat ministry and the many opportunities I crossed off my calendar for this summer and fall — people I didn’t get to meet and places I didn’t get to go — that ministry came to a stop. 

Maybe you are experiencing a stop — or have experienced a stop in the past. God determines many stops for us. Newborns are a stop, injury from accidents produce a stop, personal illnesses, tragedies, economic downturns, effects of the irresponsibility of others — all of these and more can produce a stop — which I can guarantee you is watched over by the Lord. 

I want to share a life-changing stop that happened to a well-known missionary. I have loved the life story of Amy Carmichael for decades. When I taught Sunday School, I used a multi-part, cliff-hanger story series on her life and I loved telling it so much. But now that I am the age she was when her major life-changing stop happened, the story takes on new significance. 

If you don’t know the story of Amy’s missionary service in India, I’ll give you a very brief summary. Before the turn of the previous century, she made application with the China Inland Mission and was denied participation. After a short trial-start in Japan, Amy finally left to minister in India around age 25. Over time, the Lord opened her eyes to the plight of exploited children who were either given as an offering or outright sold to the temples of the Hindu gods — to be married to the gods — and live out a life of temple prostitution. Amy started a home for these vulnerable children called Dohnavur Fellowship. Over 1,000 children were rescued and educated and raised through her ministry. 

Amy was a serious follower of Jesus. She was also serious about hard work. If she had been blessed with a smart watch in those days, she probably would have fallen into bed each night with 15,000 steps.  In fact she had earned the nickname hare because of her active lifestyle and her uncanny ability to dash around from one task to another. The Lord truly directed her steps, until one day He directed her stops. 

In October of 1931, at the age of 63, Amy went to inspect the construction site for their new hospital at the Fellowship. She fell into an uncovered pit, breaking her leg and twisting her spine. Medical efforts failed to restore her to full mobility, so for the last 20 years of her life, she was not able to live up to her nickname. She spent those years in her bedroom. She had stopped — But God’s work had not stopped through her.

As her story goes, those last 20 years were some of the most fruitful and far-reaching of her entire life. Not only did she continue to direct the affairs of Dohnavur Fellowship, with its nurseries, homes, school, and hospital; but God used her accident in a way even Amy couldn’t have expected. She wrote and published nearly 40 books which were a mixture of devotional writing and poetry which has been a great gift to the church to this day. She also published a detailed account of the actual exploitation of children in India, uncovering a wicked practice. The impact of these books spread far beyond the thousands of rescued children — in fact, because of her writing, in 1948 child prostitution was outlawed in India.

God used Amy’s accident in a way even Amy couldn’t have expected — but she accepted God’s plan — and that made all the difference. God guides our steps and He guides our stops. It is our privilege and responsibility to accept those stops and make the most of them. 

As for me, I don’t expect this season of stopping to last long — certainly nothing like Amy’s situation — but it is a stop nonetheless. And maybe for you, or your loved one, you are experiencing a similar stop of some type that needs to be embraced so that God can make the best use of the season he has allowed in your life.

Thank you for your prayers during my season of partial stopping. I have nothing new to report — just seven more stations on the chemo train for me to visit. I’m feeling well (relatively) and so grateful that I can enjoy many of the normal things that a season of steps provides. 

My Love,

Sue

sue@ccontario.com

“Don’t worry about anything”

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. 
Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
~ Matthew 6:34 (NIV84)

I’ve been trying my hardest to finish a lengthy book that was begun a few years ago — Martin Luther, by Eric Metaxas. Actually Paul and I started it together as a read-aloud during car trips, but 16th century German names and locations can get a little laborious to pronounce, so we set it aside. Well, this is my summer to check off the pile of books that have been set aside.

It’s a great history book, and having been to Germany now, especially having walked the streets of Worms, I find the book all the more interesting. But even more fascinating to me than the story of the reformer’s life is the story of his marriage to Katie, the former Katharina von Bora who was sent to a convent at age five. Eventually, Luther left his position as a monk and Katharina as a nun and Luther (42) and Katie (29) married and their lively relationship (including six children) began. 

She was the quintessential homesteader and could have been a successful influencer in today’s world where so many young women want chickens, a garden, herbal remedies, and a goat. Katharina herded, milked, and slaughtered cattle; made butter and cheese; brewed beer; fished from their pond, planted and harvested a garden and a fruit orchard; all while managing their 40 room home, which was an abandoned monastery called the Black Cloister. Luther affectionately called her “The morning star of Wittenberg”, and “Kitty, my rib”; she respectfully called him “Doctor”. 

The point for this post, however, is not their interesting marriage, but the fact that even intelligent, devoted, and accomplished Christians can fall into anxiety and worry. Luther himself was given to depression and hypochondria; Katie worried endlessly while The Doctor was traveling and away from her watchful eye. Maybe you also have your points of worry. 

In our Scripture (above), Jesus exhorted his hearers, “do NOT worry’; Psalm 37 begins with “Fret NOT…”; Philippians 4:6 says, “Do NOT be anxious about anything…” Well, that solves everything, right? Now that we’ve been informed by those Scriptures we’ll never worry again about a thing! Actually, it’s not that easy is it? We need constant reminders, maybe daily, and sometimes it doesn’t hurt for someone to warn us about how futile (and damaging) our worry really is.

Once, while Luther was traveling, he sent the kind of reminder I’m referring to in a letter to his dear wife:

To the saintly, worrying Lady Katherine Luther, doctor at Zulsdorf and Wittenberg, my gracious dear wife: We thank you heartily for being so worried that you can’t sleep, for since you started worrying about us, and no doubt due to your worry, a big stone, save for the dear angels, would have fallen and crushed us like a mouse in a trap. If you don’t stop worrying, I’m afraid the earth will swallow us. 

And Katie took her turn as well, even though she nursed Luther’s many difficulties and infirmities, she knew when a simple pantomime would prove to be a sturdy reminder. One day, when Luther was depressed, Katie put on a black dress. Luther asked her: “Are you going to a funeral?” “No,” she responded, “but since you act as though God is dead, I wanted to join you in the mourning!”

Are you worrying about something right now, as though God is dead — as though He no longer sees or cares about the details of your life?  Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6, where our focus verse came from) reminds us that our Heavenly Father sees and knows what is going on in our life and what we need and He will provide for us.  There is something we can do to replace worry, anxiety, depression, hypochondria and it might be most simply expressed in a children’s song that all of my kids use to sing:

 

Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything, 

tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank Him.

Sometimes it also doesn’t hurt to have someone close to us remind us how ridiculous worrying really is. I maybe wouldn’t suggest going the black dress route unless you have a well-established relationship for that kind of loving sarcasm. But, it might be your privilege this week to be the person who reminds others of the futility of worry and the necessity for prayer. 

For me, I’m trying to put the ‘don’t worry’ admonition into practice. Instead, I’ve been trying to purposefully pray about everything. On the cancer scene, I have gotten a positive report of some shrinkage of the tumors, so we’re holding the course and I have eight more stops on the chemo train.  Please pray they will be effective as well.

My Love,

Sue

sue@ccontario.com

Perplexing Decisions

July 10, 2024

“The LORD will guide you always; 
         he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land 
         and will strengthen your frame. 
         You will be like a well-watered garden, 
         like a spring whose waters never fail.”
~ Isaiah 58:11 (NIV84)

I think we could effectively sort people into age groups with one simple question: ‘how many varieties of cereal were on the grocery shelf when you were ten years old?’

I certainly didn’t have a deprived childhood, but our cereal cupboard contained: Rice Krispies, Raisin Bran, and Wheaties, and I don’t recall getting in on any cereal-purchasing decisions at the store. My own kids were occasionally granted cereal choosing privileges as if it were a rare genie wish. It’s just too confusing and consuming to choose between hundreds of boxes of different grains, flavors, sugar content and fun-factor. Our own big box store here in town has floor to ceiling boxes or bags on both sides of an aisle that seems to extend indefinitely. 

Cereal is on my mind, because, after not really buying or eating it for years, it seems to be the breakfast that sets with my palette lately. I’m hoping for a return to my normal peanut butter toast and coffee before ‘24 is over, but for now I feel a bit like a ten year-old again making my cereal choices and pouring my milk.

Maybe you’re not in the cereal world these days like me, but maybe you have real decisions to make. Maybe you get overwhelmed with decisions in life. Maybe you find yourself confused and consumed with too many options or perplexed with too few options. 

I was reminded recently of a verse that became very special to me over twenty years ago. I was soaking in the teaching at a Pastor’s Wives Retreat and our dear Kay Smith (wife of pastor Chuck Smith — both with the Lord) was teaching on Isaiah 58:11 (above). I don’t recall the weighty decisions I was facing (twenty years tends to make molehills out of those mountains), but I remember the Lord gently urging me to seek Him for guidance.

The first phrase of that verse says, “The LORD will guide you always…”, but it was the second phrase that helped me to grip and personalize the first, “...he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land…” That was and is my address in life, having been planted by the Lord in Ontario, Oregon. After all, it's projected to reach 109 degrees today and if that’s not sun-scorched, I’m not sure what is. Our environmental need for water is obvious and ongoing, so the remainder of the verse brings yet more comfort, “...you will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” As a gardener, I know what it means to depend on irrigation, and as a Christian I also know what it means to depend on the Lord.

But, back to the first phrase — The Lord will guide you always! What a comfort to be able to rely on God to guide us in our perplexing decisions and to know that His guidance can be compared to a dependable and sustainable spring of water in a land where water doesn’t come easy, or at all, in July. 

So, what is your perplexity in life right now? I’m sure it’s much more serious than cereal choices. We face important, sometimes crucial decisions every day: education options for our kids, job decisions, elder care for our parents, relational decisions, staying or leaving decisions. Then there are the critical right-now decisions at a time of crisis when the next five minutes will affect the next five years. Don’t we want to have a verse like this in our mind? To know that The Lord will guide us always? It’s just a matter of asking.

Why do we not ask?  We may feel we should be smart enough to navigate our own path. We may feel God is disinterested in our day-to-day life. We may feel our current distance from God and realize we’re out of the habit of talking over such things. All of these erroneous thoughts can and should be captured and set right.

Now, just to be fair, the context of the entire chapter of Isaiah 58 is centered around God’s people walking in a sense of agreement with Him — representing His character in how they react and respond to the world and people around them. You might want to read the entire chapter. In fact you also might also want to read Psalm 36, which I think dovetails beautifully. But, the point of this short devotion is to remind you and me that God is waiting and willing to guide us in our tough decisions and that His guidance will feel to us like a life-giving spring of water in a hot, dry, barren spot in life.

I’ve had to make a few important decisions related to care-providers and treatment. I had no idea which way to go. As we say, they don’t teach you this in school. So, it blesses me so much when my husband grabs my hand and we simply pray together for God’s guidance. In the middle of a desert, He has been faithful to point us in the right direction and I know He will do the same for you in the middle of your sun-scorched land.

I have nine more stops on the chemo train! I’m getting closer to drinking coffee again and thinking it actually tastes good!  

My Love,

Sue

sue@ccontario.com