Eternity is Near...

My maternal grandmother passed on to eternity a week ago. 

She was in her lower 90's.

I have memories of my grandmother teaching me

good, old-fashioned homemaking skills that have 

blessed me through all my own homemaking years...

I have felt blessed by this over the years,

and appreciate that I was taught well in 

domestic skills by both my Grandma and my Mom.

As death has touched us in a very real way afresh,

I find myself pondering...

What is a life?

What defines success?

When I get to the end of the way,

I only want one thing:

to see Jesus and hear Him say "Well done".

To achieve this success, I need to make 

Him a very real and central theme of my life now.

I have done that.

Every day it matters more to me

that I have loved God and loved others

most of all.

I am not perfect but I try to be faithful.

I am grateful that God has outlined for us

the way to eternal life.

John 17:3:

"And this is eternal life, that they might

know thee, the only true God,

and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."

To know Him means I must follow Him.

To know Him, I must lay aside earthly pursuit that

is dragging me away from spending time with Him

both in learning at His feet and in obeying His commands.

To know Him means that I will love Him and His Way

more than anything else in the whole wide world.

And there is no way that I can love Him and be wholly His

and not be changed by Him.

Do you know Him?

He outlines in His word the way to know Him.

Repent (be sorry for and turn from your wicked sinfulness)

and obey Him.

He does miracles when we choose this.

Miracles that I cannot even describe in words!

It's totally worth it.

And I know that if I live this way,

I will get to the end of my days and 

hear Him say,

"Well done."

And I will be humbled and grateful

because it's only because of Him that

one can even live a changed life.

Make your calling and election sure today

while there is time!

Love and blessings,

Marcia

Wonderful Words of Life...

To See the Beauty...

strawberry lemonade after a
morning of gardening

Scripture tells us that God gives us richly all things to enjoy. I was thinking the other day that there is so much crazy nonsense and brokenness in this old, sinful world and it can quickly take me down into a black pit of anger and sorrow if I am not careful. As a child of God, I must weep over the brokenness but I dare not let it control me. GOD is bigger than the brokenness. And if God gives me things to enjoy, then by all means, I commit myself to releasing the sorrows to God and enjoying them.

A number of years ago, it seemed the theme of my life was GRATITUDE. Inspired in part by the famous Ann Voskamp's 1,000 Gifts, I learned to be purposefully thankful and to see God's hand in the changing scenes of life. I think that is when I really, really learned to walk in the rock solid faith that as a child of God, He ordains the details of each day He gives me and that it is up to me to simply trust His heart and watch what His hand is doing, following the Son with delight in knowing Him. It's an exercise that brings only good things into a personal experience, for sure! Try gratitude on purpose, in the sunny days and in the raging wind storms. You will find your life open up to you in a way like never before.

And now I come to another aspect of life...seeing the beauty among the brokenness... It is not easy for me. I care deeply and feel a sorrow that will always be with me because once you have tasted the sweet presence of Jesus in the desert and in the sunny glades, you see with startling clarity what matters and what doesn't...you see the horrible effects of sin as it touches the innocent children, and you see the prison people live in who do not know the Jesus that you know. BUT...I think God wants us to stop and drink deeply of beauty. There are pieces of beauty everywhere...from the smile of my husband as he shares a smoothie with me on a hot summer afternoon to flowers blooming by the way.

There's beauty in the way a young man smiles at his bride-to-be

There's beauty in foods grown in a garden

Smiles on my children's faces are beauty straight from heaven.

Two beautiful women of God,
Marie and Vickie...

One of them young
and one of them
older...

The older one poured her
heart into sharing
truths for a new bride
to the younger one...

And my heart rejoiced
to see God's design at
work...
'the older woman teaching
the younger'.

It was beautiful and
amazing.

(Vickie,
when I grow up,
I want to be just like
you)

There's beauty in simple decorations used for a bridal shower...

and there's beauty in sisterhood...especially when you have raised them from babies on up

through to adulthood and watched them learn to use their diversity to compliment each other

There's beauty in sunsets...and in love that has mellowed and grown

richer over the years that God has given to us.

There's beauty in kombucha,

cold and fizzy in goblets,

shared with your 

one, true love one the front porch

in the evening sunshine.

All around us are little things like that 

and I am planning to be more

purposeful in noticing and

acknowledging to my God

that I saw it.

How rude of me not to.

And because I have lots more 

beautiful moments recorded

in pictures,

let me just share a few more

here with you.

How beautiful when the older take interest in the younger,

and visa versa. Thank you, Morrie. I appreciated that 

you played so many games of Carom with my son.

Beautiful moment right here...

a big sis helping to relieve her brother's

 boredom on a recent road trip.

Marie, my spiritual daughter in the faith...it is my delight to share in the

beautiful things that lead up to your wedding.

There's something beautiful about listening to a group of young ladies

visiting together...people who grew from childhood in a flash before your very eyes.

Beautiful Lake Ontario, as seen thru the grasses on the embankment of 

Fort Ontario in Oswego, NY...on a recent field trip with our church family

The light was gorgeous one evening, streaming over my front lawn.

There's beauty in this man's amazing train barn...the detail he put into it...

and then he told my husband and I his story and my heart ached with the 

amazingness of it...I'll blog that another day but say today that he took his

sorrowful life's experiences and turned them into something to make people smile.

There's beauty in a child's innocence and smile...

And even tho I do not have many flowers this years because I'm busy 'growing' a wedding,

I am intentionally appreciating the ones that I do have!

And even in a dusty barn, I found a beautiful moment...

my hardworking Farmer...what an amazing man.

I even got to help him a little tiny bit. That is beauty to me.

It is beautiful to me that I have a sweet Kristina

to clean my ceiling fans and be all kinds of capable

things for me. To see her embracing her gifts for the glory of God

is beautiful to me.

Family camp fires are beautiful things...even tho farewells happened for one of us the next day.

Young people help to keep me from drowning in the sorrows of brokenness...

It is a beautiful thing to me to have them in my life.

Life has many beautiful moments in it...especially if you are a child of God.

One way to be a witness that Jesus lives is by appreciating that beauty.

It is attractive to others...much, much more than being glum and gloomy.

We will have trouble in this world.

That brings sorrow.

But Jesus has overcome the world,

so we do not need to take it upon ourselves 

to bear the weight of gloom and sorrow

on our shoulders but give it to Jesus.

Wonderful Words of Life...

This is the Way...

I've been getting ready to leave on a trip that promises to include lots of fun things

in preparation for Marie's wedding which we are helping her to prepare for.

This morning, 'wedding planner and loose end' jitters/anxiety filled me

and I found myself struggling to know how to pull all these pesky loose ends

together and keep my sanity intact!

Then I sat down to have my time with the Lord before I started anything else.

I have learned the importance of this, if at all possible, or to get things

started to where I can sit down and focus on the Lord and hearing from him.

Then it started pulling together. I remembered that last night,

as I pondered the day ahead and the many loose ends I'd need to

be responsible for wrapping up so we can leave early in tomorrow AM,

I had a 'plan' to have my time with God, and felt somehow it was

also important to get up early enough to exericise beforet the

day's activities were tackled.

So this morning, tho I didn't feel like it, I made myself go

get on the treadmill and walk.

I found a wonderful sermon on salvation by

Angus Buchan and walked almost 2 miles.

And you know what? Anxiety gone.

I got to thinking...

You know how very important it is to obey

that still, small voice of the Lord!

I could have made up all kinds of excuses 

why I don't have time/don't feel like exercising

but God knows and I was renewed in the fact

that exercise is good for killing anxious feelings.

I encourage us all to practice being still so that we can

hear the Lord speaking to us and then OBEY,

even tho it may seem odd or silly.

He has His reasons and they make sense to Him and

will often make sense to us after we walk through

obedience.

Love and blessings,

Marcia

PS

Get walking! It really honestly does a body good!

Wonderful Words of Life...

For Such a Time as This...

As I watched, in one swift blow a young woman's godly dreams and hopes were crushed to pieces. My heart wept and I knelt before the Father, lifting her up that she would not stumble and lose heart because of this. My heart was crushed with hers, wondering how this woman would weave her way thru the maze that seemed set up especially to trap her and pull her into a sea of bitterness and, in disheartened sorrow, leave the journey of life she walks with Jesus. And from my own journey, I know that God is working His work in her and can make beauty to come from the ashes if she allows Him to do that. He has the great mysterious ability to turn evil situations into things for His glory.

And I weep. At the youth and old alike who leave the 'faith' they once embraced, totally disheartened and stunned at things done in the name of God that are not of him at all.

If you are one such youth, or now an adult who was that youth (I was!), I have a message for you.

1. Make God your everything. Look at HIM, not at the people who hurt you/created havoc/made Jesus look bad. Love Him with your all.

2. Be humble. Lay your life down for your friends. Don't feel like you need to singlehandedly change the many areas that are wrong in  your culture/church/family/community. Just quietly, humbly, honestly be the change you wish to see in the world and God will use that in ways you never thought possible, for His glory.

3. Don't let yourself focus on the wrongs. Focus on Jesus. Pattern your life after Him. He is the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE. He is the Answer to everything.
4. Don't make people your god. God will have no other gods before Him. Make your whole life about knowing Him and making Him known and you will find your way fulfilling, satisfying, peaceful, and always guided by the Hands that made you.
5. Lay aside all bitterness and anger. Speak no evil against anyone, even against those who wronged you or hurt you in the name of God. In order to do this, I have found for myself that I need to lay down all the hurts and all the anger at the foot of the Cross and actually 'pray for those who despitefully use (me)'. God has done incredible things in filling my heart with compassion for those very people who wronged me and hurt me.
6. Let the mistakes of others be used of God to teach you things He wants you to know. We do not need to make all the mistakes in order to learn. We can learn from others, whether to avoid certain things or whether to copy them as they follow Christ.
7. Fill your life with God. I stream music most mornings to get my mind started out thinking of my Father, Friend, Savior, Redeemer, Faithful Guide and Healer. I encourage you to keep "the secret place" a priority and love to sit at Jesus' feet. That is the secret to weathering whatever storms come your way. I am convinced that is how Jesus could face the crowds every day...the needy ones, the sullen ones, the spiteful ones, the broken ones, the sinful ones. He spent much time alone with God.
8. Do things regularly that 'restore your soul'. Different people enjoy different things and I'm not talking about expensive hobbies or time consuming things that detract from God's call on our lives to preach the Gospel and teach others. I'm talking about things like taking a walk in the country in the early evening, or sitting by the lake on a quiet afternoon, or playing games with your family, or reading a good book, or gardening, or painting, or cleaning :). A little 'down time' or 'me time' is a good soul refresher if it is spent profitably and can keep you being a joyful and cheerful person in the thick of life.
9. Make relationships the most important thing in life. We really are here simply to love God and love others so it seems to me that no matter how much we've been hurt in relationships, we need to 'get back on the horse' and be a humble servant in whatever relationships He brings our way. Jesus came to serve and not to be served. Can we as His servants be any greater than He was?
10. Remember that God has given you all that you need for life and godliness. The Book of books has much instruction; find godly older disciplers if you can, and meet with believers as much as you can to worship together.


There is hope. Because there is God. Make Him your everything and you will have everything you need to make it Home.

Love and blessings,
Marcia

PS

Oh, an one more thing. I just want to encourage you not to 'run'. Just give your cares to Jesus. Hurt is real. But so is the HEALER of healers. And ask God what He wants you to be and do in the circumstances you feel you want to run from. It could well be that He is preparing you to make a difference in the community in which you find yourself. I believe that Jesus still changes lives today. Let's let Him change our lives and be the change we wish to see in the world. Let's let Him through us make a difference in the lives of those He has us with. In His name. For His glory.

Reach Out to Jesus

Adopted...

This morning I was privileged to attend an adoption of a young lady by

a family in my local congregation.

I 'fell apart' in the court room, thinking of how someone did that for me

one day nearly 40 years ago, giving me a new name and welcoming

me into their home.

And then I thought of how I have been privileged to receive

adoption not only once, but twice.

God does this for each of us who come to Him in Jesus' name

repenting and turning from our wicked ways.

He adopts us into His family and gives us a new name.

Lexi was concerned this morning that she won't know how to

spell her new name as she is only 6 and her new last name is

"BURKHOLDER", quite a bit longer than the name she is

used to spelling.

But I am sure her parents and siblings will show her how to

spell her new name and she will practice writing it on

her school papers over the years and she will

learn how to spell it with ease and appreciate it.

So it is in our walk with God.

We do not come knowing how to 

"spell our names" in his family and in the new life

that He gives us.

But His plan is that we will be discipled

(read the last half of the Great Commission

in Matthew 28:19) and that we will have

hearts that are new and desire to learn of Him.

I am thankful that my parents taught me how to live 

in the family they gave me.

I am also grateful for the disciplers who answered 

God's call to 'go' and be that in my life over the years.

I leave you with this encouragement:

Be part of God's family. 

It is the BEST family to be in.

AND please receive instruction

and learn of Him so that you

can go out into the fields white unto harvest

and be a reaper til He comes.

Love and blessings,

Marcia

Wonderful Words of Life...

Learning to Labor and to Wait...

What's on my heart these days?

ALOT.

I've been pondering some things deeply,

especially grieved with the

way many of God's people

walk through life controlling others

out of their fear of  the unknown 

or because they don't know how to

accept "differences in administration."

My thots may seem random but trust me,

in true 'spaghetti brain' fashion, they do connect.

I read about not just pretending to love others...

so I think...

I choose by God's grace to love those who are

disrespecting me and my family.

Choosing is not pretending.

It's not putting on a front. 

It's reaching out to receive the life of Christ

and laying down my own fleshly life

that would react out of hurt and anger.

So I can be genuinely loving 

when I CHOOSE Christ.

I read in 1 Peter 3:8-18:

"You should be like one, big, happy family,

full of sympathy toward each other,

loving one another with tender hearts

and humble minds.

Don't repay evil for evil.

Don't snap back at those who say 

unkind things about you.

Instead, pray for God's help for them,

for we are to be kind to others,

and God will bless us for it.

If you want a happy, good life,

keep control of your tongue,

and guard your lips from telling lies.

Turn away from evil and do good.

Try to live in peace even if you

must run after it to catch and hold it!

For the Lord is watching his children,

listening to their prayers;

but the Lord's face is hard 

against those who do evil.

Usually no one will hurt you for wanting

to do good.

But even if they should, you are envied

for God will reward you for it.

Quietly trust yourself to Christ

your Lord

and if anybody asks why you believe

as you do,

be ready to tell him, and do it in a 

gentle and respectful way.

Do what is right; 

then if men speak against you,

calling you evil names,

they will become ashamed of themselves

for falsely accusing you

when you have only done what is good.

Remember,

if God wants you to suffer, it is better

to suffer for doing good than for

doing wrong.

Christ also suffered..."

And my heart is at peace.

I do not even try to understand

the things that happen on this earth.

I have seen and experienced

shocking things in the Christian world

and wonder...

but I am at peace and I embrace

the life He gives me.

I acknowledge that He is good

and that nothing is allowed into my life

without purpose.

I am glad that I serve a God who

knows all things as they truly are.

I am glad that I do not need to figure things out

but that I just need to 'be' in Christ...

no pretending,

no fighting others needed,

no lifting myself up to be known

of others,

no understanding needed

before I obey the simple words

of the Holy Book.

My God supplies all my needs.

I don't need to wend my way through 

life reacting loudly and trying to

demand my rights.

I want to be like Jesus.

I have work to do.

There is not time to waste

freaking out that others

are out of their place

and doing things that are not

in God's plan in the simplicity

that is in Christ...

I have things to be up and doing

'with a heart for any fate'

every single day that He gives me breath.

Life is too precious to waste

on nursing hurts, holding grudges and

feeling sorry for myself that 

my weaker brother/sister cannot

let me live in peace without

being used of the devil to

ruffle my feathers sometimes.

I am 'learning to labor and to wait'

and the key, I'm finding, is to

be in CHRIST alone...

finding hope in Him and not

trying to make people

be who only He can be.

That frees me up to serve and to love,

to have humility and compassion,

and to not get all riled up when

things happen that are

shocking and like cold water

dumped on my  head,

taking my breath away for a second.

May the Lord Jesus be our everything

all the days of our lives.

Those days are a gift from Him.

They are given to us for a purpose:

to know Him and to make Him known.

I do not want to miss that purpose

because I'm distracted by

the nonsense of others.

When someone takes my 'rights' away,

I want to simply go dig another well.

I will speak for the defenseless,

and I will stand in the gap for the oppressed,

but I will quietly go dig another well

like Isaac did and not fight back

when my well is taken.

That's my ramble this morning

after weeks of thinking and praying

and pondering life and it's 

many twists and turns.

These thoughts are born from 

experiences I've walked thru in life

and from listening to others of

God's people sharing the shocking 

things that happen at times

in the circles of people

who claim Christianity.

I know that He has many things to teach me.

These are some of what I've been learning.

Love and blessings,

Marcia