How are you living your dash?

"For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him." Philippians 2:13 (NLT)

The message delivered this morning by Dr. Bob Baker at Calvary Baptist Church in Lexington, KY was "Don't Dash Through Your Dash." It was a very thought provoking message for me, although God took me on a slightly different path than the one Dr. Baker was focusing on.

It's a path full of questions and insights God has been laying on my heart for many months now. One of the questions I had been focusing on previously was "if you knew this was the last year of your life, would you be spending it the way you are today?" Dr. Baker's message plus a poem and film he included (links attached to this post), has caused me to change my line of self-questioning to "How are you living your dash?"

You see, the dash represents the time between your birth and your death, as represented on your tombstone. I guess I'm one of the few people who had not previously read "The Dash" poem by Linda Ellis ( read at http://www.behappy101.com/the-dash-poem-text.html).

The poem ends with:

So, when your eulogy’s being read

with your life’s actions to rehash...
would you be proud of the things they say
about how you spent your dash?

David and I went out to breakfast after the service and when he asked me what I thought of the message, I could hardly express myself through the lump in my throat. God has been convicting me of so many things over the past six months to a year and they are all about how I'm "living my dash". I wish I could share with you that I have been 100% obedient 100% of the time to 100% of what He has and is showing me, but sadly I cannot. However, today's message by Dr. Baker reminded me that God has not given up on me and He is not through with me yet.

I am confident that God loves me and He does work in me giving me the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. That's how He wants me to live my dash - by pleasing Him. He wants me to live it by becoming and being the best I can be for Him. He wants more for me than I do for myself. He wants me to live it by sharing with others the love, grace and mercy He has so richly blessed me with.

I'm not so concerned about what people may or may not say in my eulogy or even about what they think of me today. But, I am concerned about what my Father in heaven thinks of me and about whether or not I am living each day in complete and total surrender and obedience to Him.

I need to be working on my dash - or at least staying out of His way, so He can work thru me the way He wants to.

What about you - how are you living your dash?

Prayer for today: Father God, thank you for who you are and for your loving faithfulness and mercy to a sinner like me. Thank you for your forgiveness, your guidance and for all the lessons you teach me - even when they are not what I want to hear. Thank you for not giving up on me and continuing to work on, in and thru me. I love you so much! My heart's desire is for every word, action, thought and deed I do to glorify and honor You. Lord, please empty me of me and fill me to overflowing with your Holy Spirit so that your light, your truth and your love spill out to those I encounter in a way that glorifies you and only you. Please help me to live my dash in a way that will allow you to say "Well done, good and faithful servant" when we meet. I pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.

What do I want to be when I grow up?

" . . . it has not yet been revealed what we shall be . . ." 1 John 3:2

It seems like one of the most typical conversations we have with children - from preschool age on up - is "What do you want to be when you grow up?" What a dilemma! How are we supposed to know that at such a young age?! When I was in elementary school - or even college - I didn't even know jobs like the one I hold now even existed. And, many jobs that do exist today didn't even exist way back then. So, how are we to know what we want to be?

What we should be asking young children and adults alike is "who do you want to be?"

I'm not sure I could have answered that as a preschooler either, but I can today!

I want to be a completely sold out, totally devoted, always immediately obedient servant and follower of Jesus Christ who every minute of every day shares the hope, love, mercy, encouragement, forgiveness and grace that can only come through Him. I want to thirst for His Word even more than I do for H2O. I want to help others come to know Him. I want His fragrance and His light to so totally engulf me that others can't help but notice that something special is different about me and want to know why. Like a quote I heard a year or so ago, I want to be a woman who, when I roll out of bed each morning, Satan cries, "Oh, no! She's up!"

I wish I had this direction much earlier in my life - I thought I did, but came to realize that my faith and personal relationship with Jesus Christ was about as shallow as my bath water. I am so thankful that my Lord and Savior is who He says He is, does what He says He can do, and continues to work on making me who He wants me to be. I rest in the knowledge that I can do all things through Him and pray that each and every day His Word is alive and active in me.

I'm still on the road to who I want to be when I grow up, but with Jesus leading the way, I know I'm going to make it!

Who do you want to be when you grow up?

Prayer for today: Father God, thank you, thank you, thank you for your patience and your love. Thank you for not giving up on me. Thank you for being who you are. I love you so much! Thank you for sharing messages and encouragement through your Word and also through others using your Word. I pray that I always hear Your truth alone and hear it clearly. Lord, you know I still need your help with the control and discipline issues, but I know that through you I can get there. Thank you for the sacrifice of your precious son, Jesus Christ as payment for my sins and for those of my brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.

Walking the Walk

"Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did." 1 John 2:6

Sometimes trite old sayings are trite old sayings because they are truthful. My prayer is to "walk the walk" and not just "talk the talk." And, quite honestly, I don't believe I do that every day. At least not the way Jesus did or would. I want to, but too often I fail miserably.

"No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him." 1 John 3: 6

"Those who obey His commands live in Him, and He in them. And this is how we know that He lives in us. We know it by the Spirit He gave us." 1 John 3:24

I know when I am not acting (or thinking) the way Jesus would. The Spirit He gave me reminds me immediately - or soon thereafter. Usually it involves my tone of voice or thoughts of words I want to say. I praise God that He usually keeps me from voicing some of the things that run thru my mind - names I want to call people, heads I want to snap off. But, it still feels like sin - because it is.

I am so thankful to serve a gracious, merciful and loving God who gives me chance after chance after chance to draw closer to Him and continues to teach me how to walk more like Jesus.

"I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer, my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the Lord, who is worth of praise, and I am saved from my enemies." Psalm 18: 1-5

Prayer for today:

Father God, thank you, thank you , thank you. Thank you for always loving me for who I am, no matter what and always encouraging me to learn lessons I sometimes don't really want to learn because you know I need them. Thank you for your mercy and patience and forgiveness. I love you.

What is God showing you today?

Goodbye, Toodles

I know the stated purpose of this blog is to share bits of insight God has shared with me thru His word, but I'm breaking that premise today to share some thoughts about our sweet family dog, Toodles, who left this earth today. Let me say that if you're one of those people who doesn't understand how losing a pet can hurt deeply, please stop reading because I need to write "sappy" and remember her thru my tears.

Toodles came into our family as puppy we "rescued" from the humane society in November 1994. The kids couldn't agree on a name. Stuart wanted Brutus and the girls voted for Holly, some other seasonal girly name or something like Fluffy because at the time she was a fluffy little ball, but when I suggested Toodles, they all agreed! We went there looking for a "lap dog" and at that age, Toddles was. However, it wasn't too long before she was thigh high and close to 50 lbs!

She was such a sweet girl and gave our family much pleasure over the years. We've loved her dearly and I believe she felt that love. As a "youngster" one of her favorite things was chasing rabbits. We have such fun memories of watching her out the windows of our home on Masters Way. She would try to sneak up on the as they came out from under the shed, but somehow they always alluded her. One of the things Toodles I shared - especially at the house on Masters was the love of laying out in the sun! Toodles would bask on the deck while I floated in the pool. Even tho she could have easily walked or jumped into the pool, she never ever did.

When Toodles was younger, she loved to jump up on the bed when I was still in it. David didn't like her doing that and she knew it, so she'd wait until he had left for work - or at least left the room, and then she'd jump up in bed with me and snuggle! Same thing for the couch - she loved to jump up on the couch and lay there with her head in my lap.

Most of her life Toodles was primarily an outside dog. She was only inside when we were home and even then she often wanted to be outside. When we moved to Lexington almost four years ago, that all changed. I know most of that was her age, but even tho we have a fenced in yard, she didn't like being outside here as much. And, she had to climb quite a few steps to get into and out of the yard. So, it seems like she started going downhill since we've been here and has been progressively worse recently. Letting her go was one of the hardest decisions we've had to make, but we know it was the right thing to do for her.

David took her to the vet this morning and then drove her over 2 hours to his brother Winston's house in Glasgow to bury her. It's going to be hard to get used to her not being with us.

Breakthrough?

"But Naaman went away angry and said, 'I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy'" (2 Kings 5:11-12).

One of the daily devotional emails I receive from crosswalk.com, Today God is First by Os Hillman was on this verse today. It was a great reminder to me that God doesn’t always give us the loud or neon sign answers we’d love to see - or even answers that seem directly related. He uses circumstances and natural things around us to guide and direct us. Just because His will isn’t “screaming” at us, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t obey.

Quoting from the Os :

Like many of us, Naaman expected God to perform his miracle through Elisha in a dramatic and "religious" way. Sometimes we fail to recognize that God can work through a simple act of obedience that seems unrelated to the problem. God told Joshua to walk around Jericho seven times to win the battle. He told a man to put mud on his eyes to be healed. He told Peter to catch a fish to get a coin to pay his taxes.

There are other times God calls us to use the natural to receive a breakthrough. Sometimes we simply need to change our diet or go see a doctor to see a breakthrough in our health. Sometimes we need to change the way we are doing our work to get a breakthrough in our careers.

Samuel the prophet told King Saul that obedience is better than sacrifice. Learning to listen to the Lord and following His instruction is the key to success in God. Sometimes God chooses the dramatic and sometimes He chooses the ordinary. In either case, both are miracles because God is the God over all creation.

Ask Him what steps you are to take for your breakthrough.

My prayer for today: Father God, please, do show me what steps I need to take for my breakthrough. I am so sorry for all the times I am sure I’ve ignored your direction and have not obeyed. I know me even better than I know myself, so you know that even tho I know in my head that you guide and direct me in all sorts of ways through your Holy Spirit, I don’t always listen as attentively or obey like I should. Please help me to recognize you in the ordinary and not just wait for the extraordinary. Thank you for your love, patience and mercy as well as your forgiveness when I stumble and don’t obey as You’d like me to. I ask all this in the name of your precious son, Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. Thank you most of all for Your sacrifice of Him for my salvation.

Listening for the whisper

"While you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer." Jeremiah 7:13

We have a sign on the wall in our breakfast nook that says "Make time for quiet moments because God whispers and the world is loud.". How true that is!

I don't know about you, but I not only let the loudness of the world distract me, I don't always get quiet long enough to listen, much less hear what God is saying to me. I know he continually speaks to me again and again, because I get glimmers that sometimes seem like they are just barely out of my reach. Does that make sense to you? It's like I am just about to have an epiphany (and have the solution to all my problems, the answers to all my questions, and so on!) but before I can quite grasp it, it slips away. I LOVE the times He is able to break through. I just wish let Him more often.

It's not God's problem. As Beth Moore says, "He is who He says He is. He can do what He says He can do. I am who God says I am. I can do all things through Christ." She closes with two more statements, "God's Word is alive and active in me. I'm believing God."

One of the things God has been reinforcing to me over and over lately is that my personal relationship with Him trumps EVERYTHING! He & I both deserve the time and the quiet it will take to continually grow deeper and deeper and deeper. I yearn for that deeper relationship so greatly. I wish I could tell you that I take the time each and every day to focus on it. I take time, but it's not the quality or quantity I desire or think is necessary to get where I believe He wants me to be.

God What about you? What has God been saying to you lately? Or, have you, like I too often do, let the world and your mind drown Him out?

My prayer for today: Father God, I love you so much! Please forgive me for not giving you the time and devoted attention you desire and deserve from me. I need your help to get my priorities and my mind where they need to be. Please help me rid my life of unnecessary distractions and fill it with your desires for my life on earth. Thank you so much for your grace and forgiveness and for the sacrifice you made for me. I love you! In Jesus' name.

Memories & blessings

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

I was inspired by my daughter-in-law, Jenny, writing about her first date with our son, Stuart, and the fact that the anniversary of my engagement to David is next week to share some thoughts and memories about how God brought David and me together.

The summer of 1978 I visited my friend, Heidi, in Denver and thought it would be fun to move out there. I also decided to just forget men. I wasn't having much luck meeting anyone decent in the tiny town I was living and working in so I thought I'd just concentrate on finding a job in Denver, forget about men and move on.

God had other plans. I had asked a local guy I worked with many times if he knew anyone decent he could fix me up with and he never came thru. However, one day in August, he said he had run into a high school buddy and wondered if I'd want to go out with him. He said something to the effect of, "He's a really nice guy, but I don't know if you'll like him. He just likes to go to movies and stuff." I replied that I liked movies too, so let's give it a try! So, God used the most unlikely person to set David and me up on a blind date.

In the intervening days, some other co-workers who went to high school with him kept teasing me about him being bald. They were always teasing me, so when they said he started going bald in high school, I thought they were teasing this time too. But, lo and behold when he showed up at my door, the first thought that entered my mind was "they weren't kidding!" Of course back then, David was a fan of the infamous comb-over. It took me almost the first year of marriage to convince him to get rid of that! But, I'm getting ahead of myself!

We drove to Bowling Green and did, in fact, go to a movie - "Heaven Can Wait". A great first date movie! He was pretty quiet, but very nice, so when he asked me if I'd go out with him again, I said OK. The next weekend we went to another movie in BG - one of the Pink Panther movies. I had been working a lot of overtime that week and was beat so altho it was a good movie & good company, I fell asleep - right in the movie theater! He still asked me out for a third time! (what was he thinking?!) The next weekend we went to the drive-in to see Jaws 2. I managed to stay awake this time! Do you sense a trend here? Freddy was right - David does like movies, but fortunately so do I! If you've ever been to our home and seen his DVD collection, you know how much he enjoys movies!

By our fourth date, we broke the movie routine and went skiing at the lake with some of his friends. Afterwards he told me he loved me! On our fourth date! I replied, "Are you KIDDING?! You don't even know me!" You have to understand, David is pretty mild mannered and can be shy & unassertive in some situations. But that night he convincingly told me that he would be patient - he loved me and he knew I'd love him too! He would just wait until I realized it. I don't remember what I said out loud, but in my mind, let's just say I was skeptical! (sorry, honey!)

God was definitely at work in this relationship. David was not at all the type guy I had a history of dating - he was MUCH nicer! In fact, I thought he was too nice for me. For the next several weeks, in my effort to really get to know him and understand how he could think he loved me, I hounded him with rhetorical situational questions, most of which we still haven't had to face in our 32 year (thank you, Jesus!). I know now he HATES stuff like that, but he persevered and obviously gave all the right answers! :-)

Neither David nor I were living exemplary lives for Christ at the time, I'm sorry to say. And even sorrier to say that my way of life in 1978 is not one I'd recommend and one I am so thankful my children have not had to experience - I really was in a downward spiral and my own worst enemy. Even though I had been close to the Lord throughout my childhood and teen years, I got off track in college and veered even farther away in my early twenties. But, God has proven to me time and time again that even when I am not living my life for Him, He doesn't me. In fact, in August 1978, he sent David to me on a blind date.

By October 5th He (& David) had convinced me that David was the husband God handpicked for me. I have told him time and time again over the years that God sent him to save me from myself. I don't think he believes me, but it's true. God knew exactly who I needed here on earth to pull me back to Him. I am so very thankful God knows me so much better than I know myself. He fulfills needs I don't even know I have. He continues to bless me with a husband, children and now grandchildren who are so amazing and who encourage and inspire me to be the best I can be for God, for them and for myself.

Thank you once again, Lord God, for sending David to me and for making the Godly man he is and giving him the love, patience, mercy and perseverance he has needed to survive these 32 years with me! Please continue to bless our marriage, our family and friends and to allow us to live our lives in such a way that we glorify you in all that we say and do. I pray all this in your son's precious name. Amen.

I love you, David Wesley Borders more today than I did when we married (& foresure LOTS more than 32 years ago today when I was still wondering if you had lost your mind! :-)

"Look at the nations and watch—
and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told."

Habakkuk 1:5