Some Chicks Who Love The Lord

Another Holiday, Another Alone

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As another long holiday weekend comes to pass, I contemplate where perhaps my husband and I “went wrong” as the saying goes. I wonder why we don’t have any couple friends who want to “do life” together. I’ve wrestled with this, I’ve prayed through it and I’ve let it go. I’ve picked it back up though it would seem this weekend for some reason. I guess those idols we hold dear and then let go have a way of enrapturing us again if we let our guard down.

Recently, we faced yet another family crisis. We didn’t have any friends show up to the hospital. We did have one of our son’s friend’s parents show up, and they are friends but not those kind of “friends” to my husband and me. They already have couple friends you know? They aren’t part of a larger family like we are, and mostly they just don’t need more friends. I get it. I will always be grateful the husband/Dad showed up, but I looked out at the waiting room and wondered where was everyone else? Truth be told, we didn’t call anyone but family when our son tried to take his own life. I did call this man’s wife because I was hoping her son might have heard from our son who took off from home in a very angry state. It wasn’t long after he took off that I heard from a family member whose child has access to his social media account that he had posted an ominous message. It was terrifying, and I don’t want to get into details of that dreadful and hope-filled day; it was just a recent reminder that we don’t have a tribe or a village or a life group or … those kind of friends that people talk about who’d be there no matter what.

Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14

As I contemplate the lack of invitations to beginning of the summer season pool parties and try to avoid Facebook so I don’t have to see all the invites we didn’t get locally, I do wonder mostly this–What, O Lord, are you trying to teach us during this season? Is this from You, Lord, or is it of our own making?

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God Is

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God is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. What does that mean as I walk with my feet on my path?

It doesn’t mean I can see way far ahead. It doesn’t mean I know where the path will go or where it will end. It doesn’t mean I will see any twists or turns in the distance. It doesn’t mean my path is straight or free of turmoil.

It is unknown.
It is a walk of faith.
It is a walk relying only on Him.
It is lit by His power and strength.
It is going to have hardships.
It is for glory unto Him.
It is His path laid out before me. 

I was literally walking along a path on our property as these thoughts emerged in my mind and heart. As I walked farther ahead, the path before me looked different. The path behind me also looked vastly different the longer I traversed.

I walk by faith and not by sight.

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The Rotting Log

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The Lord is continually resuscitating my heart. By that I mean He’s continually doing a new work in my own heart. Isn’t it so easy for us to think God needs to be working on the hearts of those we love, that maybe our heart isn’t the problem? Truth is we all need close introspection by the Maker of our hearts on a regular basis. It smarts to realize our hearts aren’t always broken for the right reasons or that our hearts are beating for the wrong ones.

As I took a much-needed walk outdoors with some of my children recently, I noticed many beautiful things. On this brisk, gray day, one particular piece of nature stood out to me.

A rotting log.

It’s not just any rotting log though. It’s been in this spot on a hillside of our property since before we moved here, which was more than several years ago. The log has been in the process of rotting a long time.

This got me pondering. A lot. Why does this process take so very long? And how does it happen naturally? As to the first wondering, I didn’t come to any immediate conclusions, but the second one had me quickly thinking of termites and other insects as well as decay.

Wait a minute? Decay? Really Lord?

My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:26

This rotting log is actually quite beautiful. The photos don’t do it justice. Since it is winter here, the insects are dormant but evidence of their work could be seen clearly. As I looked inside the hollow spaces created in the log by decay and rot, I realized something hugely important. The log is being transformed! I noticed piles of rich organic matter on the ground around the log and I also noticed so much life growing right there.

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The Great Commission

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Where do the teachings in our New Testaments originate from?  Where do they find their definitions, explanations and expanded details?

In my life as a Believer I began my study of God’s Word in a little Baptist church as “the neighbor kid”.  I said the “sinner’s prayer” in between pews with a lovely lady that helped me say the right words.  I was fortunate enough to have some youth group experience and a few summer camp experiences.  Then, prior to getting married in the Lutheran Church, the Pastor told me that either my fiancé or I had to take 9 weeks worth of classes to learn about the Bible as taught by the Lutheran tradition.  It was my favorite class throughout my entire college experience (and it helped that the precious Pastor’s wife would often bake homemade bread and bring it to me at my sorority house).

Then in my late 20s my family began attending church regularly.  At that point I also began an in-depth study of God’s Word with a group of women.  The first book that God gave me to study was the Book of John.  I was VERY confused by all of the Johns (John the Baptist, John the Beloved…was he the same John that wrote 1, 2, 3 John and Revelation?).  So, because I came to the game late, I began to devour the Scriptures.  I built my theology in the New Testament, and used the Old Testament as a somewhat irrevelent, yet holy backdrop.

I studied this way for about 12 years …until I realized that the Old Testament (The Tanak) was the Bible Jesus read, and the Bible that the Apostles studied diligently.  It was at that moment that I began devouring the Old Testament Scriptures, and began to rework my theology using the “Bible that Jesus read” as my foundation.  It would be a gross understatement to say that the New Testament became technicolored as I filtered it through the lens of the Old Testament.

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The Hidden Seed

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Winter is upon us. For us that means a lot of rain, a lot of mud, a lot of gray dreary days. Did I mention the mud? On a particularly warm and sunny day recently, I decided to get outside in the warmth of the sun and soak it up. I am not one for sitting when I’m outside, so I decided to tackle a much-neglected area: one of our vegetable garden plots. As one of my sons and I worked to pull up seemingly dead plants from the earth and to pull seemingly dead vines from the fencing, I was struck by the beauty of the brown and gray tones that I fail to notice from afar. I was also struck by the seeds we discovered. Did you know God Himself refers to His children, the nation of Israel, as seed, specifically when He spoke to Abraham.

Indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Genesis 22:17-18

I often look out the kitchen window and see a spent garden and I think there is nothing redeeming about it. But it struck me as I pulled up the plants and saw rich earth tumble out that the spent plants serve a purpose too. They help to restore the soil to a state fit for planting again in the spring. It struck me as I uprooted these dead plants that strong roots still remain months after the fruit has stopped being produced, and these roots clung tightly and held strong as we heaved and pulled the dead okra stalks from the earth and pulled cucumber vines from the ground and fencing. I recalled what God’s Word tells us about roots and seeds. And I realized most of all this garden that I saw as spent and done is full of hope and promise and LIFE still.

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Shema

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The Shema is the prayer of our Lord Jesus’s heart.  When our Advocate, Jesus Christ the Righteous, was asked “Which commandment is the most important of all?”, He began to recite the Shema.  The Shema, for those who are unfamiliar, is a portion of Scripture that God’s people have recited for thousands of years several times each day. It is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9.


Hear, O Israel, The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 
Sh’ma Yisra’eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad

(spoken quietly) Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever.
Barukh sheim k’vod malkhuto l’olam vaned

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
V’ahav’ta eit Adonai Elohekha b’khol l’vav’kha uv’kholnaf’sh’kha uv’khol m’odekha

And these words that I command you today shall be in your heart.
V’hayu had’varim ha’eileh asher anokhi m’tzav’kha hayomal l’vavekha

And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall speak of them.
V’shinan’tam l’vanekha v’dibar’ta bam

when you sit at home, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.
b’shiv’t’kha b’veitekha uv’lekh’t’kha vaderekhuv’shakh’b’kha uv’kumekha

And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
Uk’shar’tam l’ot al yadekha v’hayu l’totafot bein einekha

And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Ukh’tav’tam al m’zuzot beitekha uvish’arekha

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