The Dance

I love to dance. It’s almost a guarantee that I’ll be the first one on the dance floor and the last to leave, regardless of the situation. I’m notorious for blasting music and forcing roommates to dance around the house with me; I just love dancing that much and think everyone else should, too! Although my talent as a “dancer” may be lacking, my heart for joining in is always there. Because of my affection for dance, it seemed logical to take a ballroom dancing class in college.

I signed up for the class my sophomore year and though I didn’t have a partner sign up with me, I figured I’d be just fine. It was the perfect class to take, complete with lessons on how to two-step, waltz, tango, swing, salsa, and do a number of other dances. We would cover a specific type of dance every few weeks and practice with various partners in the room to get used to their lead. At the end of the two weeks, we’d be tested on our skill in the dance itself by performing in front of the class. Beyond that, men were tested on their ability to lead and women on their ability to follow. For the first test, a girl would pick her partner and the next test the guy would pick. We alternated guys and girls picking throughout the semester, so you never knew who would ask you to dance during the test. Your grade was based on the dance you completed with the person you danced with in the test, regardless of whether or not your partner was any good.

I will never forget the two-step test. I was confident in my skills for the dance, I mean seriously, I grew up in the Midwest so I’ve been two-stepping since I can remember. The area I lacked confidence in, however, was my partner’s skill. Now we had some really great dancers in the class and we had some quite awful ones. The two-step test was guys’ pick, so the girls had to sit there, cross our fingers, and hope a guy with talent would pick us. For me, the opposite happened. I was picked by a foreign exchange student with little to no rhythm. I had danced with him in practice and knew that he was about to throw off my grade with his lack of skill, but there was absolutely nothing I could do.

Disappointed, I stepped out on to the dance floor and began the most hideous looking two-step that has ever been completed. I had to let this man lead my around the dance floor, and let him lead me in a way that was sub-par. He two-stepped off beat, definitely not following along with the beat Garth Brooks was laying down, and flung our interlocking hands up and down, as if we were pumping a well for water. The worst part was that this guy did the whole dance with a huge grin on his face, completely unaware of the fact that he was causing us to fail the test with each and every step we took.

The following week I came back to class ready to learn of my failed two-step. To my utter surprise, we received an A on the dance. I’m not sure if the professor gave the grade out of pure pity or if she fell asleep during our dance or if the guy paid her off, but somehow, someway, we managed to get an A.

I was thinking about that experience earlier this week when I was reminded about how God leads me. I have told the Lord many, many, MANY times the way I would like things to go, essentially how I’d like Him to lead me in this dance of my life. Sometimes, He does the things I expect, but more often than not, He has led me in this awkward dance I can’t figure out. He does things off beat, in His timing. He makes me wonder what He is thinking, why He is leading me the way He is in this dance. But just like the dance with my awkward partner, I end up with a better result than I could have ever hoped for, or dreamed of, or imagined.

Isaiah 30:21 says “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’ ”

 

The bible doesn’t say that the steps the Lord directs His children in will look perfect to the outside world or that we’ll be comfortable with each way, but it does say:

“When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble.” (Prov 4:12)

“And we know that in all things (every dance step He leads you in) God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 – Abbey’s amplified version)

 

It’s evident to me now that I would rather follow the leader that guarantees every step I take will be used for His good, rather than follow the one that seeks the comfortable and formulaic steps. Often times, I’ll admit, I’m the one that wants the latter way. I’m learning though, again and again, that God’s ways are greater and higher and better than anything I could ever come up with myself. So I remind myself of the dance test I took in college, and to trust that no matter what the situation looks like from my perspective, the results of the steps will be amazing.

 

I encourage you today to listen to His voice and trust His lead. The view from heavens perspective is a beautiful dance between a Father and His child.

For my mom…

The smell was just too strong for me. I had no idea how this aging couple handled it or how the nurses that came to their home could sit through their required visits or why in the world I agreed to accompany my mom on her home health visit to the strongest smelling house I had ever stepped foot in. I sat on the couple’s Lay-Z-Boy, covered with dog hair from some tiny poodle that had the run of the house, and almost gagged from the stench of urine and sickness that seemed to hang in the air. My mind began counting down the minutes until we could leave.

As I sat there, trying to keep my annoyance under control, the most beautiful scene began to play out before me. I watched as my mom showed a sick and dying man and his worn-out wife more love and honor than I could imagine. She didn’t flinch at the pungent smell, didn’t rush through her home health visit. She sat down on the spare, dog-hair-covered chair and leaned in to speak with the old man. My mom not only asked how he was feeling (in order to obtain the facts she needed to write in her chart), but she genuinely cared about his life. When his tired wife came into the room my mom offered to assist her with whatever she needed. And as the filth & smells remained strong, my mom stayed engaged – asking them about the years gone by, looking at old photo albums, and caring about what they shared with her. By the time we were wrapping up our visit I was almost in tears. I had never seen something quite so beautiful.

I heard a radio dj this week ask the question “what is something your mom has taught you?” I instantly thought of the scene above, which happened almost 4 years ago, and how it was just one example of how my mom has taught me to show compassion and love to those in need. She taught me that it doesn’t matter how comfortable I am in a situation, what matters is the people on the other side of the room, the people who have genuine needs. She taught me that enduring someone’s smelly house is worth it in order to be Christ’s hands and feet. She taught me that everyone deserves love and honor. She taught me how to love “the least of these.” She taught me that love endures all things.

Throughout the years I’ve watched her love and serve others in a way that is so Christ-like and so rare…. I’ve watched her serve people without complaint despite imperfect circumstances and lack of recognition. So today, on Mother’s Day, I wanted to say thank you Mom. Thank you for teaching me more than you know! Thank you for being my Mom! May you be blessed in abundance today and always. I love you.

Recharge…

My best friend, Mel, and I have been friends since our moms started working together as nurses at the local clinic when we were third graders. Now, many years later, her family feels almost like my own. I love them dearly and couldn’t imagine life without them in it. About five or six years ago, Mel told me some big news in their family: their older brother, at the ripe age of 30 something, was about to get married. When I heard the news I couldn’t wait to find a way to make it out to their family farm to meet the new little lady who would become part of the family.

I had heard bits and pieces about “Patita” – the woman Mel’s brother, Chris, was engaged to – and have to say, that after hearing the tidbits of info, had to meet her in person. The day I finally met Patita, Mel’s older sister, Amity, was doing a trial run on Patita’s up do for her wedding. As the family and I sat in their living room, with Amity curling Patita’s hair up tight, we could see how much Patita adored Chris, her fiancé. Her gaze, fixed on where he was sitting, told of her adoration of this man…of course she could not stop gushing about him either.

Half-way through her wedding up-do, Patita began to call to Chris “Mi Amore! Mi Amore! Come closer!” He was sitting about 10 feet from her in a reclining chair, but she felt that wasn’t close enough. He smiled, obviously loving her adoration, and moved to a spot a bit closer to her. “No! Mi Amore! Come Closer! Closer!” This exchange of Patita begging for closeness and Chris moving closer and closer continued until he couldn’t have been any closer to her, unless he was sitting on her lap. Once there was nowhere else for Chris to go, Patita turned, looked at us with a smile of satisfaction, and in her cutest Mexican accent said: “Ahhhh! He recharges my battery!”

Now luckily my friend and I weren’t 12 so we didn’t burst out in “ewwws!” but just broke out in laughter.  It’s a memory that we go back to from time to time, usually repeating in the best Mexican accent we can muster “He recharges my battery!”

For some reason I began thinking about that time at Mel’s farm and how it is such a picture of what happens when we are captivated by the Lord. We begin to ask, beg, seek, & long for Him to be closer. And when He comes closer we are recharged. There’s no way we can go through this life keeping the Lord at a distance and expect to feel full or “recharged.” It’s when we ask our Love to come closer and He moves near that life seems right.

So, my encouragement to you is to ask your Love, the Lord, to come near to you…. Ask the Lord to come as close to you as He possibly can and watch how He, who delights in your adoration, will come and rest on you. He will restore you, recharge you, and refresh you with His love.

Know you are so loved today.

deep thoughts….:)

Isn’t God so very, very good? He is trustworthy, His timing is perfect, and His ways are so much higher than ours. Do you ever feel like just gushing about Him? I’d recommend it…

more from India!

We had been praying for some time in the large, stuffy auditorium when a couple, probably in their early 30s, came to me and asked for prayer for their troubled marriage. My translator for that session was a married man from India who was in charge of everything we were doing, so I asked him if he wanted to lead out in prayer. I figured he had a little more “authority” with the whole marriage thing since he had been married for a number of years and I’m not married. He told me no, that I should pray. So I did. I blessed their marriage and asked God to strengthen it and prayed whatever the Holy Spirit said to pray. After I got done praying, my translator asked the couple what they were feeling. The man said they were feeling peace and he also told the translator something that really took me by surprise. He said that when I put my hand on his shoulder to pray, that he saw a vision of a bearded man. He saw Jesus praying for him. That was one of the greatest lessons I learned in India. It’s not about me, but about Jesus within me. I don’t have to have “authority” in any area in order to pray and ask God to move. Who cares if I’m not married, I can pray for marriages! Who cares if you’ve never seen the blind healed, you can still pray for the blind! Who cares if you’ve never seen cancer healed, you have authority to pray! It’s not about the situation that is presented to us it’s about what God can do. It’s about extending the kingdom of God to the world we live in.

Let His Kingdom Come on EARTH as it is in heaven.

More testimonies from India…

The mute speak…

After a church service one Sunday morning we prayed for healing for the congregation. One little girl, probably around age 12, came to me and smiled but didn’t say anything. I asked the older girls of the church, who were acting as my translators, what was wrong and why the little girl wanted prayer. They let me know that she did not speak and never had; she was only able to sort of grunt “yes” & “no.” I laid my hands on her, prayed, and asked God to move. We then had her try to speak and she counted to 20!! Praise God! Her school teacher had been sitting next to her while we prayed so I asked the teacher at least five times “are you SURE she couldn’t speak at all before we prayed??” Each time I asked, the teacher said “no, she couldn’t speak. I am her teacher, I know she couldn’t!” Isn’t that just amazing?! Praise God!

God heals the broken-hearted…

Another woman came to me at the same church service and asked for prayer for a headache, which she had been experiencing for around 6 months. I then asked her if anything traumatic had happened 6 months ago and she replied “yes, that’s when my husband died.” I prayed over her and asked God to heal her headache but also to give her peace and joy. After prayer, I checked how she was feeling. Her headache was gone for the first time in 6 months! She also felt the peace of God wash over her! Isn’t God so good?

The deaf hear….

During prayer time at the pastors’ conference in Bangalore, a woman came up to me and pointed to her ears. I knew that she was signaling that she could not hear… I prayed for her and asked God to move. I then checked to see if she could hear & basically just asked if she could hear me. “Yes, I can hear you. Can you pray for my diabetes now?” I was a bit confused because the healing seemed to happen so fast (which is not impossible), but she could speak really well for someone who previously couldn’t hear. I said “I thought you wanted prayer because you couldn’t hear.” She replied “I did, but I already got healed while I was sitting in the audience.” Apparently, she had been trying to let me know that while Pastor Randy was preaching on healing she was healed of partial deafness. How did she know? She took out her hearing aids and could hear just fine without them! No one had touched her, no one stopped the service to pray for people who were partially deaf, she simply got healed from hearing the testimony of Jesus. AMAZING!

So I went to India… (testimonies)

One thing no one could deny was the spiritual hunger of the men and women who attended the pastors’ conference we served at in Krishnagiri, India. When it was time for prayer, very few people remained in their seats; they pushed their way to the prayer lines seeking healing or blessing or impartation. As a team, we would bless and pray for as many people as we could, praying “cliff note” version prayers because we simply weren’t able to spend long amounts of time with each person. After the initial rush however, the room would thin out and we could spend more time not just praying, but ministering to the people.

One afternoon during our prayer time at the conference, after the crowd had thinned out, a beautiful woman, probably in her mid-thirties came to my line and asked for prayer. She let me know (through the translator) that she was experiencing chest pain. I placed my hand on her shoulder and was about to pray when I felt impressed to ask her if she had any fear in her heart, to which she said yes. I began to pray for her and ask the Lord to pour out His love on her. A few moments later I was about to wrap it up so I bent down and looked into her eyes to smile and bless her. As I did, she began to weep. I hugged her and she clung to me… shortly after that she was delivered from many demons that had been tormenting her. (I will leave out the details as to what happened when she got delivered as I’d rather talk about the rest of the story!)

I was unable to talk to her after she went through the deliverance process so I initially didn’t know what happened with her, but trusted God did a mighty work. That night was our 2nd night of the mass crusade we did in the city. Pastor Randy asked people to come to the stage and share testimonies of what God did for them that day. As I sat at the back of the stage with my team, I saw that same beautiful woman come to the front and begin to share her testimony. She testified (to thousands!) that God had healed her of chest pain…pain that she had experienced for 13 years!! (Yeah God!)

Can I just say we serve a great God?! I am amazed at what He does when a person just asks.

So here’s one thing I’m learning to do with my testimonies. I’m doing what the word says to do with them:

Psalm 119:24 Your testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors.

Testimonies like these serve as counselors…(hear me out). When my soul says “I’ve had this pain for years…I’ll just have to live with it.” I can say “Nope, I don’t…I remember the time you healed someone who had chest pain for 13 years so I know you can heal me.” What we need to do as children of God is to start stock-piling the testimonies of Jesus even if you weren’t the one to physically pray for someone or the testimony isn’t something you personally have experienced. The writer of Psalms says YOUR testimonies are my delight. He’s not talking about the testimonies of people who have seen miracles, about famous evangelists, or whatever “spiritual giant” might come to mind….the writer is saying the testimony of Jesus.

And a quick reminder (to me, too)…we’re all family here, we can share. Any testimony I have, feel free to use as a “counselor.” (If I hear a testimony of God moving in your life, believe me, I’m going to use that one as a counselor when I’m in need!) It’s time to get a stack of testimonies of what God has done. We need to surround ourselves with stories of God healing, God providing, God giving, God surprising, God moving, in all walks of life. The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord so the stories are there! It’s time to collect them.

When we have the stories collected we can pull them out in our time of need. I know I’m guilty of allowing my flesh & my soul to serve as my counselor. I need to allow the Holy Spirit to awaken the word of God and the testimony of what God did to counsel me in every area of my life.

So that’s my challenge for you today. Find some great counselors!

Blessings! You are loved and highly favored!

So I went to India…

I recently returned from a missions trip to India and have been asked to share some stories of my time there on here… So I’ll be posting a bunch of different testimonies and experiences from my trip over the next month or so (I hope). Here’s just one of the many:

She stood in the corner, wrapped up tightly in her worn out canary colored sari, and watched as we prayed for her niece. The old woman wasn’t as welcoming to my team member, Paul, and I as her niece had been. The woman was stoic and never let her gaze drift from the scene playing out in her niece’s two-room home. After we had finished praying for her niece, the old woman began speaking with our translator. Shortly after their conversation our translator turned to us and shared that the old woman was being very rude to us, but she had requested prayer. Apparently the stoic woman let the translator know that if we prayed for her, and her body was healed, then she would accept Jesus as her savior and leave other gods behind. Now regardless of your theology as to if God still heals or how or when or what circumstances need to be met, when a poor, old hurting woman standing on a dirt floor basically says “I want to be well” and “I want to believe,” I say that’s a great time to watch God move! So, we nodded our heads and said we’d pray.

We placed our hands on the old woman and prayed that God would heal her body and that He would soften her heart. After a very short time, we had the translator ask the woman if her pain was gone – and it was! (Yeah God!) In the short time we prayed, the woman’s expression turned from stoic to grateful. She then let our translator know that she wanted to have Jesus in her life. (Praise God!) We then led her in accepting the Lord Jesus as her savior and blessed her. Once again, she turned to our translator and with tears in her eyes, expressed her amazement that children of God would come to her home and pray for her and touch her. Apparently the old woman was an “untouchable” – a member of one of the lowest castes in all of India. No one wants to touch an untouchable over there. No one, but Jesus.

When we are Jesus’ hands and feet we have the opportunity to share the love of the Father with those who are the untouchables of society – not only in India, but in all walks of life. So my encouragement to you today is to minister to the untouchables – the hurt ones, the outcasts, the insecure, the ones who think they’re unlovable, the ones who wouldn’t believe a child of God would come and love on them.

Be so blessed and loved today.

(More  India testimonies coming soon…)

The Art of Listening

I’ll have to admit it, I often attended class to see what she would wear. This professor of mine seemed to have a wearable art gallery and exhibited the pieces every Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 10 am to 11 am. Sometimes long, unmatched flowing outfits, other times weird combinations with a bottle cap belt or a necklace made out of piano keys. She made the class interesting, or at least a bit entertaining. She would enter the large auditorium, armed with some new style, and attempt to rouse the curiosity of sleepy, sweat pant laden kids.

The eccentric professor taught “The Art of Listening”, a music class that helped students listen to and identify not only basic instruments being played, but eventually to identify the legendary composers by listening to their works. I was told the class was an easy A and honestly took it to complete a required liberal art, but it ended up being quite fun.

I started taking some form of music lessons in third grade so needless to say, I didn’t think it would be too tricky to identify pieces and composers by listening to samples of their works. Although the exercises were not difficult to catch on to, one thing proved true: the student, regardless of their experience, had to actively listen to the music to fully identify the great composers’ works. The nice thing was that we were not left alone to fend for ourselves; we had our beautifully eccentric and extremely knowledgeable professor to guide us in the process.

In our Christian lives, we are (whether we know it or not) enrolled in “The Art of Listening.” I believe the Lord is actively sharing beautiful pieces of “life’s music” with us and has given us the Holy Spirit to guide us as we seek to understand and identify his musical pieces.

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3

When we call to God, He is faithful to answer; we simply must engage in the art of listening. I know that I am far too guilty of calling, calling, calling but not stopping to listen. I believe the Lord has much to tell His people. He has great “musical works” – great truths – that will change us if we will stop and listen to them again and again.

And He has been faithful to give us a friend to guide us as we learn to identify the Greatest Composer of all time. The Holy Spirit is a person’s guide, their helper and counselor. He will lead you to listen and help in identifying the voice of the Lord.

So my encouragement to you this morning is to go to class. You have the opportunity to attend the “Art of Listening” and listen to the Greatest Composer of all time. Take the opportunity, ask the Holy Spirit for help and enjoy the great sound presented to you by your heavenly Father.

Many blessings & much love!

The results of an obsession with Amazon…

I have a small obsession with ordering books off of Amazon and received one of my recent orders in the mail today. Upon receipt, my entire schedule changed for the night. If one was to look at my worn out, chicken scratched pocket calendar, you’d see the word “WRITE” scribbled on today’s date. I blocked off the night to wrap up a few of the stories that have been rolling around in my head and in my pc, but couldn’t seem to get my eyes to pull away from the pages of my new book. Just what book? Frank Bartleman’s Azusa Street. It tells the story of the revival that happened in California in the early 1900s. Men and women started meeting together, crying out day and night for revival, for God to move among them, and He came in power. I’m blown away and challenged to seek Christ in such a greater measure.

Needless to say, I don’t have anything fantastic to write….all I can think about is the fact that I’ve barely scratched the surface of knowing the fullness of God. If you feel this same way, the exciting thing is that every day we get to dive deeper into the heart of God. What a joy! Dive dive dive!

Blessings, Grace, & Love to you Today!