The Heart Of A Mentor

This week, I've been grieving the death of a dear friend and counselor. Her life touched mine so deeply during the time our paths crossed.

In many ways she was a mentor for me. She had been on the journey to wholeness a much longer time and had won many victories along the way. Because she had overcome through the power and care of the Lord, I knew I could too. She listened to my struggles and offered encouragement and wonderful hugs.

I like to think of her as a kindred spirit for we had very much in common - even our wedding anniversaries were on the same day. We also shared a deep love for Jesus and a desire to minister to hurting women.

She taught me how to touch lives, how to make a difference by sharing of my story. By listening, she helped me find my voice. Though our paths only crossed for a short season, her life impacted mine for eternity.

I haven't seen her for a long time, but when I learned of her death, the pain was as fresh as though I'd just seen her yesterday.

We will renew our friendship in heaven, but for now, I'll treasure the memories of this woman of God who held out her hand to me and helped me over some of the roughest places in my life.

Lord, help me to extend my hand to others who are in the rough places of recovery from the hurts of life, just like Penny did for me. Amen.

Got lemons?

My seven-year-old granddaughter is a real entrepreneur.

When the toy catalog arrived at their house the other day, she grabbed it up and began to peruse its pages.

"I'll get this for Jack," she said. "And Abby would like this." On and on the litany went for several more moments with her wish list growing by the second. She picked out something for every member of her family and her friends as well.

"How do you propose to buy all those presents?" her mom asked.

Looking up at her mom with that "well, duh" look, she said, "With the money from my lemonade stand, of course!"

So now it's become a home school project, to teach her how business works. My daughter plans to loan her the money for start up costs, take her to the store to purchase supplies and help her set up in the driveway as soon as the weather turns nice enough where they live.

For the time being, she's busy building her booth, making signs and dreaming up ways to "advertise" her new business venture. If all goes according to her plans, she may even have to hire her brother as extra help.

If I lived closer, I'd be her first and best customer...

Have A Little Heart..

What a wonderful surprise - a dear friend gave me a gift for Valentine's Day!

Betty sells Avon and always presents me with little gifts for special and "just because" occasions. This time it was a pair of loopy earrings. (Oh, how I love loopies!)

But I'm not sure which I like better - the earrings or the box. (It doesn't take much to make me happy!)

You see the earrings came in this wonderful little heart-shaped box. It's covered in pink fabric with hearts all over it. When you untie the ribbon on the front, it splits into two halves to reveal a smaller heart inside (a little box where the earrings lay nestled on a piece of heart-shaped foam).

Being a children's church teacher and speaker at women's meetings, I immediately began to envision all sorts of object lessons I could create with this box! (They affectionately call me Bonnie the Bag Lady when I bring my bag full of sermonette illustrations.)

I could demonstrate how our hearts can look good on the outside but be full of dirt on the inside (in a little baggie of course so I don't get the heart messy) ...

Or what about placing one of those mini Bibles inside to illustrate hiding God's Word in our hearts...

Or I could place a mirror with Christ's picture on one side into the heart and talk about how having Jesus in our hearts helps us reflect His nature in our lives...

Hmmm! I'm just getting started. I think I'll wear the earrings while I ponder this some more...

Passing it on...

When we share the story of our journey to wholeness, we never know who it will touch – but as we yield to Him, He carries it to those who need it most.

That's the neat thing about stories, especially our true-life stories. They cause our ears to perk up and our hearts to become attentive. The sharing of our stories brings healing, encouragement, love and a sense of community.

I was privileged to discover this first hand as a group of abuse survivors met together each week to share. It was there I met Penny, one of the moderators for the group. I was struggling to cope with the damage done by the abuse. Penny invited me to become part of the group.

What really put me at ease about it was that she had been there struggling with the same issues.. She knew and understood what I was feeling.

As we met together each week and shared our stories and our struggles with the issues of abuse, an amazing thing happened. We learned how to cope better with things. We learned how to trust again, to laugh again and to love ourselves again. We were able to see ourselves as lovable and valuable to God, reaffirmed each week by the encouraging words of the group. Penny's story and the story of the other gals touched me.

The amazing thing about God is that He never wastes an experience in our lives. We may consider it to be a horrible experience, but God always has something to teach us and uses even the worst things in our lives to help us grow.He heals us, through His own intervention as well as through the care and the stories of others.

Their stories touched me, strengthening and healing me.Now God has been helping me to share my story, through my book Daughter of Lot and through speaking to women's groups. So the healing continues. We never know who our lives will touch when we give God our stories.

Thank You Lord for this kingdom principle!

What would you do?

What would you do if admitting you loved Jesus meant an immediate loss of employment and all benefits? You'd be branded a fanatic and an outcast. No one would dare hire you.

To make matters worse, There would be a contract on your life - family members could kill you and no one would bother to investigate it as a murder. Your wife and children would be forcibly taken from you so you couldn't corrupt them.

To me it almost sounds like a plot in a Christian novel, yet it's a true story. Hearing about such a modern day martyr really challenged my heart. What would I do if writing about Jesus became illegal? What would I do if writing and speaking about Jesus meant certain death?

I'm not sure I could answer those questions unless I actually found myself in that situation. I'd like to think I'd be strong and face persecution head on...

What would I need to change about my faith in a situation like that? How would my praying change? Would I be able to forgive, immediately and completely as Jesus did on the cross? "Father forgive them for they don't know what they're doing."

I don't know how I would react. I DO know, I must be thankful for the freedoms I have and pray for those whose lives are in danger because of their faith. I know I need to strengthen my faith to be ready to meet life's challenges head on because it is too easy to simply slip away...

The Blessing Journal

God is amazing! Since the beginning of this week, He has been showing my daughter and her husband that He will take care of them in many little ways.

They have four small children and because of circumatances beyond their control, it appears his job may be in jeopardy. He's not even sure there will be a paycheck in the coming weeks.The situation has become critical, especially financially for their family. Though Lis feels discouraged, she still cares and wants to see God bring a healing to their church.

This week, God met their needs in so many small ways: a reimbursement from a credit card company; a lowering of their interest rate and monthly payment amount on their vehicle;a refund from their doctor's office; and payment for a wedding and counseling services her hubby provided.Josh even found a $10 bill on the ground which had been run over many times in a municipal parking lot.

She cried at God's provision because she wasn't even sure they could afford to buy groceries this week for the four children.

"Write these things down," I told my daughter. "When you're tempted to get discouraged, go to the journal and read what God has done!" Not only will it serve to remind her of how God provides, it will be a witness to the enemy that God is in control and as long as Lis and Josh are walking in His will, He will take care of them - even if the conflict persists in the church.

When we get discouraged we tend to forget the things God has done. It is easier to look at the problems rather than God's provision. By keeping a "Blessing Journal" we can look back and remember what He's done for us personally and how we felt about His provisions. It will encourage us and go a long way toward fighting off the discouragement and depression that the enemy tries to throw our way to get us off track.

Start your Blessing Journal today!

Hey you - with the hind's feet!

One of my favorite books is one a friend gave me over 30 years ago called Hind's Feet In High Places by British Author, Hannah Hurnard.

It's an allegory, written in a similar style as John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, detailing the journey of the shepherdess, Much Afraid, to the high places When she "arrives" at the end of her spiritual journey, she receives a new name exemplifying her new inner nature free of fear. Her crippled feet are whole and her disfigured mouth healed. Best of all, she can run freely in the mountains of the High Places with her Friend.

I had not read it for many years, but as I began work on my latest devotional project, I felt the need to revisit it. I think it's because I identify so strongly with her journey.

At the very core of my being, I have battled with insecurity - fear that I'd never really be good enough and God would "use" me and then drop me if I was too needy or demanded too much of His time or energy. For the "Mrs. Valiant's" of this world who have never experienced this, it probably seems like an insignificant or silly fear.

"Just trust Him." I've heard people say. But for one whose trust was damaged at a tender young age by the ones they ought to be able to trust, well, isn't an easy task.

But God is patient! He lovingly works with each of us to overcome those damaged parts of our heart - our old nature - until we can release the hurt, the pain, the shame. Until we can finally reach our own High Places of intimate life with Him. He constantly works to remove any and all spots from His Beloved until we are a perfect match for Him!

I thank God for His gentle reminders of my own past journey away from fear - it helps me be more patient and compassionate for others as I become a mentor on the way for them.