Sharing our stories

Then Moses went to meet his father-in-law. He bowed down and kissed him. They asked each other if all was well, and went into the tent.  Moses told his father-in-law all the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians because of Israel. He told him about how they had suffered on the way, and how the Lord had saved them.

Jethro was glad because of all the good things the Lord had done for Israel in saving them from the hand of the Egyptians. So Jethro said, “Honor and thanks be to the Lord, Who saved you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, and Who made you free from the power of Egypt. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods. It was proven when they acted in their pride against the people.” Then Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, gave a burnt gift in worship to God. And Aaron came with all the leaders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.  Ex 18: 7-12  New Life Version (NLV)

Sometimes as I sit in church during the sermon, my mind wanders. Gasp! I know - I'm the
pastor's wife and should probably hang on every word, but alas, it's true. My mind wanders. But inevitably, when my husband begins to tell a story that's related to his topic, my ears perk up and my mind reins in those wandering thoughts.

Why? Because stories are powerful. Stories have an interactive capacity to weave us into their web so that we imagine what the character is feeling and we experience the action in our minds like a virtual computer game.

Not only do they captivate us, stories unite, connect and heal us - both through the listening and the telling. 

Remember Moses?  He had married into Jethro's family after fleeing from Egypt 40 years before the time of today's Bible passage.   So Jethro probably knew Moses' history. No doubt Moses had shared stories of  the sacrifice of Jochebed, his mother,  with his new wife's family. He probably told stories of things that happened in Pharaoh's court - maybe even recounting the trauma that caused him to stutter.  When he killed the Egyptian task master and fled, he came to Jethro and eventually became part of that family. For the second forty years of his life, Moses was healing slowly through sharing his stories with trusted friends and family until he was ready to go back to  lead his people out of Egypt.

Here in Exodus, when Jethro meets his son-in-law this time, Moses begins to tell the new stories - the stories of the suffering of his people, the victories of God, the struggles in the wilderness and the miracles of God's provision.

During the healing journey, telling the story of our lives and experiences, especially the traumatic ones, is vital to the process. It helps us to recover our voice - to have words to tell about what we've experienced. Story telling helps us integrate our painful experiences into our lives and lessens the pain the more we share it.  Telling our stories helps us to affirm the reality of what happened to us.
It also offers a chance for others to give us feedback, revealing  things to us that we may not even see yet!

Remember, when Moses encountered the burning bush in the wilderness? He had doubts about his own ability to become the deliverer and leader of his people. He was afraid and  balked, telling God he couldn't do it because he stuttered.

But as Jethro listens to these new tales, he hears what Moses may not yet realize - there is no more stuttering. His voice is now confident and strong.  Jethro listened with interest and empathy; then he was able to affirm to Moses that God had indeed done a healing work, not only for the Israelites, but for Moses too: " [God] made you free from the power of Egypt."
 

Listening to life stories blesses the hearer as well as the story teller. As Jethro listened to Moses' story, his faith increased. "Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods." And he worshipped God.  If there was any doubt before in Jethro's heart about the person of Almighty God, the I AM,   there wasn't any now.

What are you going through on your healing journey? And what is God doing in you?
Share that in some way, either through writing or verbally with someone you trust. We never know how our stories will affect the lives of others, but one thing is for certain - God will always use our stories to heal our hearts and to encourage others!

Spiritual "baby tickers"

"They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.” Acts 16:31 NLT

A few weeks ago, I found out my daughter was pregnant with her eighth child. Through the wonders of technology, she had an ultrasound and found out it was another baby girl. Woohoo!

Once Allissa announced the news to family and friends, she put a "baby ticker" on her blog that shows what's going on with the baby's development each day from the beginning to the end of the pregnancy. I love visiting the blog to see just how much my newest granddaughter has grown. For example, based on Allissa's due date, today the little one is 21 weeks and 5 days old - with about 128 days to go until she makes her debut.

The ticker also tells me how much she has grown over the past few months and how she's developing. Today it said the baby weighs about a pound. Her eyelids, eyebrows and lips are in place and growing.

Wow! The closest thing we had to that when my children were developing in utero was a photo spread in Life Magazine. LOL!

As I look at the "baby ticker," I think about those Mothers who tell me they've been praying for years for one or more of their children to be "born again" into the Kingdom of God. It would be great if there was some kind of a spiritual "baby ticker" that we could look at each day to see the spiritual readiness of those we pray for. Because there isn't, we have no way of knowing how close they are to God's kingdom.

But we do have God's promises that he answers prayer. God's watching their "baby ticker" even though we might not be able to see it. He sees just how spiritually ready they are, how they are developing and what they need to be birthed into his kingdom. And he works each day through his Holy Spirit to ensure the safe delivery of those we witness to and pray for into his kingdom - even if we don't see the results yet.

Be encouraged - keep praying - don't give up!

What's the point?

Preaching about the cross sounds foolish to those who are dying in sin. But it is the power of God to those of us who are being saved from the punishment of sin. 1 Corinthians 1:18 NLV
 

Could you devote your life to serving and ministering to others even if you never saw any results from it?

Consider American missionary Adoniram Judson. He arrived in Burma (now Myanmar) in 1812, feeling like God had called him to preach the Gospel. During his 38 years there, he went through periods of imprisonment and torture. He suffered from depression so great when his wife, Anna, died that he wrote, “God to me is the Great Unknown. I believe in him, but I cannot find him.”

There were few conversions because of his work, yet he pressed on, translating the Bible into the Burmese language which he completed in 1834. At the time of his death, there was only a handful of professing Christians in the entire country and no organized churches. Some would see that as a waste of his life.

But not God!

On the 150^th anniversary of the Bible translation, Paul Borthwick addressed a group of people who gathered in a church in Myanmar. He asked about the inscription in the front of the Bible: “Translated by Rev. A. Judson.”

His interpreter began to weep and said, “We know him. We know how he loved the Burmese people; how he suffered for the gospel because of us, out of love for us. He died a pauper, but left the Bible for us. When he died there were few believers, but today there are over 600,000 of us, and every single one of us traces our spiritual heritage to one man: the Rev. Adoniram Judson.”

Like Judson, we may never see the fruit of our labors. But the God of grace who oversees our work will ensure that our labor is not pointless.

Thank you Lord.

Stewardship

As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 1 Peter 4:10 NKJV

Originally, a steward was a servant responsible to bring food and drink to the master of the home.Later, it morphed into a larger occupation - that of managing the domestic affairs of the household including finances in some cases. When people began to travel more extensively in the last two centuries, a steward was the one responsible to see to their comfort, meals and other necessities during their trip by boat, train or plane.

But in 2012, the definition of a steward has expanded to refer to responsible planning and managing of our resources - everything from caring for our environment to our finances, health, property and even information as we communicate on a global level. We see the theme of personal responsibility all the time as we are urged to "go green" to protect our environment.

But for us as Christians, the term "stewardship" has an even deeper meaning - to take responsible care of all these resources because they really belong to God. To God, people have always been more important than material possessions so what is boils down to is that we need to live a life based on giving and serving, using the resources God has given us.

It means becoming attentive to the needs of others around us and serving them out of a willing heart - yes, even giving our very lives away if necessary to serve others in order to bring them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity." Luke 6:38 The Message

Matthew 16:25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

In the end, it's the job with the best satisfaction / compensation rate!

Father, help me to be a good steward of the resources you've given me. Amen!

Sharing your faith with future generations

“Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”” Matthew 28:18-20 NLT

Being a writer is important to me. It's a way to share my faith and my story with my family, friends and those I've never met. So when asked to share about my writing with a group of women at a luncheon, I wanted to encourage them to become writers too. No, they may never write a novel, but anyone can leave a legacy of their faith with a few words strategically placed for others to find. Who knows how your words will impact another person and teach them important lessons about Christ?

1. Photos. We all have them. I inherited a large boxful when my parents passed away. Many of them are meaningless to me: nameless faces in unknown places. I'm not sure what to do with them since I feel uncomfortable tossing them out.  

However, the ones I do know, I am in the process of labeling so my children will know who they are and how they fit into their family tree. If I know something about their faith, I'm including that as well - little stories, memories I have of them or quotes that I remember to inspire and encourage my grandchildren in their faith Sticky notes work well so I don't have to write directly on the photos or to create labor intensive scrapbooks.

Another thing I would recommend is to make a list of 50 "facts about me". Or to write out your testimony - when you first met the Lord, how knowing him has changed your life, some examples of answered prayer. Select a personal photo to go along with those writings. It's an ideal way to share your personal faith for your family and place them in a special box or folder.

2. Recipes. I inherited my mom's cookbooks and recipes. Many of those bring back childhood memories and become topics to write about to share about family traditions, about how we celebrated Jesus as a family, etc. Again, including photos with these particular foods or events will help to bring the writing alive and can be a memory maker or teaching tool. connecting one generation to the next or in sharing the gospel.

3. Diaries or letters. Do you keep a diary or journal? Keep one that details the important inspirational or faith-related happenings of your life. This is a great way to share your story of your relationship with Christ. As your children and grandchildren read these, they will learn what made you tick and why Christ was so important to you. If you are into technology, you might keep an online blog to preserve your faith stories for all to read. Include a photo in the front of the diary as well to put a face to the faith stories!

These are just a few ways anyone can become a writer/teacher to share their memories as well as their faith with family and future generations.

Father, help me to impact family, friends and future generations through my words and show me new ways to share those words each day! Amen.

Just like a deer that craves streams of water, my whole being craves you, God. Psalm 42:1 CEB

Deer have always fascinated me - probably because I don't remember seeing any where I grew up, except for in the zoo or local wildlife preserves where they fenced in areas for them.


So when I met my husband, it fascinated me to see the deer as we drove through his childhood haunts. He was able to spot them long before I would, because I wasn't used to looking for them. Since we now pastor here in central PA at the edge of our little town, there are an abundance of deer.

Last night at the end of the day, I took several photos of five deer who wandered out of the woods onto our softball field to nibble at the grass. One, a fawn, isn't visible because he ducked back into the woods as I approached.

I decided to try to get as close as I could for a photo and walked slowly toward the grazers. One of them watched me the entire time while the others grazed happily away, looking up at me occasionally. When I got too close for comfort, about 75 yards away in the open field, the one standing guard snorted loudly, flicked its tail and bounded into the woods, followed by the other three.

Heavenly Father, even as I crave your sweet presence today like those deer craved the sweet green grass, , help me to be alert to the things that so easily tempt me to forsake you. Help me to flee from those things and to warn others as well. Amen!

God is...

It's impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him. Hebrews 11:6MSG

"How do you convince an atheist that Jesus exists?" Two teens in my Sunday youth Bible class recently asked this question because they had a family friend who refused to believe there was a God.

Their question led to a discussion of the ways we know Christ is real:

• Personal experience - I know Christ exists because I had a real, up-close and personal experience with Him when I was a child, following an abusive experience.I knew Him as a big brother while growing up and I've known Him as a Father since I became an adult. I can't imagine living without Christ in my life because of all the times I 've sensed, known, felt His love and presence with me.
• The experiences of others - When I hear the testimonies of others, my faith is strengthened. In some cases, their stories help me to know I'm not alone - not the only one wh has ever felt a certain way. Other times, I am awed by the things God has done for them.There are simply to many valid experiences by others to say that God isn't real.
• Nature- the development of a baby in the womb and feeling it move for the first time. The Grand Canyon, The intricacies of a snowflake and the fact that there are no two alike. All I have to do is look around and I can see Him everywhere.
• Miracles - How a person with cancer becomes cancer-free and the doctors can't explain it. How a migratory bird finds its way thousands of miles to a seasonal nesting area for the first time, even though it's never been there. How situations line up just right for the perfect outcome, even though it looked impossible in the beginning. Even "coincidences" or God's little miracles incognito are evidences of his reality around us. I've seen too many "God-incidences" not to believe.
• Because the Bible says it's true.The Bible is a life-changing book. When a person sets out to disprove God by discrediting the Bible and ends up believing instead - wow! Now that's a powerful testimony of the truth of God's word and his existence.

While they cannot change their friend's mind, they can pray for him and live their lives so that he will see the reality of Christ in them - then trust God to do the rest.

Lord, help us to live every day so others will see your reality in us and believe! Amen.