A Prayer for a Difficult Time

Posted on May 28, 2012 by jroesler728

by Josh Wheeler

Father,

I pray for my friends during this transition. Lord, I pray that you would give them wisdom. I pray that you show them the truth of their situation. I don’t know the reality of their needs, but you do. I pray that we would see your work in this process. I pray Lord that we are able to see the situation from your perspective.

Lord, we believe that you are on a mission to glorify your Son and redeem the world. How does that happen in the midst of this? How are you working it together for the good? We ask these qustions because we know you are good, and we want to partner with you. We ask these questions because we understand your work is always good.

Father, we appreciate everyday that we have with you. Sometimes we wish we saw you face to face which would be better, but other times we want to stay and work to bring you glory. We have this life to glorify you, because in the next your presence will be all the glorification we will see. Father, give us the ability to run this life in a constant direction towards you-our home.

Posted in Prayers and Devotions | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

What Crisis Reveals

Posted on May 23, 2012 by jroesler728

I thought I understood crisis. I have taught the basics of crisis response for years. I have met with people in crisis and have been told that I have been helpful. But this crisis has torn through my mask of competence and revealed the shadows beneath it.

My best friend’s house burned down this week. I was the only one in it when the fire started. I saw the raging flames on the deck towering over the height of the house. It looked to me like a war scene.
The only thing I could think of was to save her two little pets. I ran to get them and carried them into the front yard. By then the neighbor had called 911 and people began to gather to look.
I don’t know what they saw but I saw the dreams of my suffering friend burning up. Just the morning of this day she had let her tired painful body rest in a lawn chair and say she was finally done. She had worked so hard and the house was now at a place where she could enjoy it. Instead it is a charred horror scene that the city is giving us 10 days to demolish.
The lesson for me is that my pain has been expressed in sinful behaviors and thoughts. I have not spent long periods in prayer. I have not run to my Bible. I have not confided in my friends. I have been impatient with my husband, my sister and most anyone who calls and asks how I am and what they can do.
I can’t think of what they can do.
I am sad that I do not have a story that brings glory to my God but rather one that reveals there is much of His work that needs to be done in me.
My prayer is Father forgive ME for I know not what I do.
Posted in Thoughts and Reflections | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

My Son Came Home!!!

Posted on May 18, 2012 by jroesler728

Her radiant face spoke more loudly than the words that flowed. “It was 8:30 in the morning when the door bell rang. I couldn’t imagine who would be at our house at that time. I opened the door and there stood my son!”

Does anything bring more joy to a mother than for one of her children to arrive unannounced on Mother’s Day Weekend? This could have been a tough weekend for this mother. Her own mother died less than a year ago. This son was many states away serving in military duty and her daughter on another continent. But all potential sadness faded when she saw the face of her son. He had come home and he would be spending the weekend with her.
There was joy in the telling of this story to others.

Can we borrow this picture and remind ourselves that God loves us so much that He is delighted when we plan to spend time with Him, sacrifice something else in order to be with Him, tell Him the things that are too big or too little to tell to anyone else. Just sit and listen as He talks to us?
Let’s just show up and catch God’s smile!

Posted in Stories | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Set Him Free!

Posted on May 16, 2012 by jroesler728

by Shirlee Vandegrift

God speaks to us in many ways. If we are close enough to Him we can hear Him in the wind, in the baby’s cry, in the noise of a busy street, in the doctor’s office and in the school yard.

So many ways does he speak that we cannot possibly list all of them. He loves us so much that he wants to keep telling us in every possible way, all of the time.

When we are out and about in the world His voices are many and varied, but when we are shut in a hospital or a nursing home His voice can fade and grow dim.

The Enemy loves nursing homes and hospitals. What better place to strike? When resistance is down, and doubts arise; when we are home sick and lonely; when our family is too busy, when we are treated like a nonentity, the enemy is waiting to say, “See, I told you so. Who cares? Where is your God who says he will never leave or forsake you?”

We know the answer. That God is in you.

Take that God to a nursing home or hospital, and set Him free.

Posted in Guest Author Stories | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

An Unexpected Answer to Prayer

Posted on May 14, 2012 by jroesler728

On Saturday I went out to our camper to spend a day with God. Reading Psalm 13 from the Amplified Bible I was stopped at this phrase “lighten the eyes of my faith to behold Your face in the pitch-like darkness.” I pondered that for a long time and really wanted to see a vision of God’s face, but did not. 

Then on Sunday morning I was stopped by a man whom,others and I had helped with securing transportation to a job interview. He was looking for me so he could tell me that he had gotten the job. He was overflowing with gratitude. He commented that he planned to stay in a shelter until he gets his first paycheck.

The next day as I thought about this man, I realized that in his face, I had seen the face of Jesus. Someday, Jesus will say, “I was hungry and you fed me, I needed a place to sleep and you found one for me.  My name was    (this man)    .”

We have been able to secure an apartment for him for two months since the shelter he had planned to stay in is full. Yesterday he prayed with me and surrendered his life to Christ.

I am eager to watch this story unfold.

What thoughts does this story stir in you? Where have you seen the face of God?

Posted in Stories | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Remembering Mama

Posted on May 11, 2012 by jroesler728

I didn’t know that old people got lonesome for their mother. I thought that was an experience of young children.

Sunday is Mother’s Day. My mother died five years ago at the age of ninety-one. We really lost her ten years before that because her last decade was shadowed by dementia. Her death, which was peaceful, was more of a relief, at the time, than a grief.  

But now, the memories of the weight of caretaking have faded and the earlier memories of her intense interest in every aspect of my life, her eagerness to hear my stories, her passionate prayers for me and her confidence that God would answer them are what I think about.

I wish I could buy her a mother’s Day card this week—or maybe make her one. She’d like a home made one better. She would be thrilled with a personal photoshop book and be filled with wonder at how such a thing could be possible.

For a window into my mother’s life, watch the video below:

Posted in Stories | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Can This Machine Run?

Posted on May 9, 2012 by jroesler728

Originally posted Feb 17, 2012

Can you make this machine run? A friend advised me that a snow blower that I am trying to keep running might be beyond repair. “It is cheaply made,” he explained. I was surprised to hear this discouraging report because the paint is still shiny. It is only being used for a second year, but getting it started and keeping it running has made me hope it doesn’t snow. But is it really hopeless?

Before I made funeral arrangements for this snow blower I decided to ask another friend for his opinion. His answer was immediate. “Of course it can run. All an engine needs to run is fuel, compression and spark.” I became intrigued with this second opinion and eager to learn from this innovative artist for whom anything is possible. He taught me about the carburetor and I watched as every part was cleaned, installed and checked. When he was satisfied he pulled the cord for a manual start and the machine roared to life.

I went home and looked up the definition of fuel, compression and spark. This is what I learned. Fuel is any material that stores energy that can later be extracted to perform mechanical work in a controlled manner. Compression is force that tends to shorten or squeeze something, decreasing its volume. The term spark ignition is used to describe the system with which the air-fuel mixture inside the combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine is ignited by a spark. The resulting controlled explosion delivers the power to turn the reciprocating mass inside the engine.

Considering all of this leads me to ponder the work of the Holy Spirit in my life. The Spirit fills me with energy that can be released through me in His time. That with which He fills me in the morning is compressed by the experiences of the day He ordains so, that when the energy is released, it has increased in power but decreased in volume. (Especially if it refers to my talking.) And finally, the Holy Spirit is the spark that prompts action and delivers power.

Time will tell which mechanic’s appraisal of this snow blower was correct, but I am grateful for the mechanical lesson that has provided me with an analogy of how the Holy Spirit works in my life.

 Lord, produce a controlled explosion in and through me today.

Posted in Prayers and Devotions, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Releasing What Is Gone

Posted on May 7, 2012 by jroesler728

originally posted Feb 27

There is no doubt that aging involves loss. I have referenced processing loss as one of the essential ingredients to growing old gracefully. But how do we know when something is gone?

There is, of course, the loss that cannot be ultimately denied such as the physical death of a loved one.  Here the grieving process will protect by cushioning the impact with stages that lead to reality.  When we first hear the news we know it cannot be true, but as time goes on, we realize that it indeed is true.

But there are other losses that have less tangible markers. It may be the loss of marital intimacy, as one spouse, in the riptide of dementia, is becoming a stranger. It may be the loss of being your own home repairman as reaching high produces pain and lifting heavy is something you promise yourself you will not try again. It may be as simple as not being able to open the sealed bag in a box of cereal without reaching for a scissors. 

It may be the loss of being recognized as a leader in your area of work. Someone else is now in the spotlight. There is a new experience of insecurity as you seek to get in step with the drumbeat of new leadership.

It may be an eroding of confidence that God will work in the lives of your children in the way you have prescribed for Him.

Whatever the loss, how do we access the grace to be diminished? Do we need to start by recognizing that the thing we are clinging to is gone?

I look forward to your comments.

Posted in Thoughts and Reflections | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Power of Love

Posted on May 4, 2012 by jroesler728

I would say that I am a careful driver. I am attentive to road conditions and aware of traffic patterns. Red lights prompt me to stop and green lights send me on my way. I will yield, merge and right turn only whenever a sign so instructs or prohibits.

The exception to this diligent obedience is adhering to speed limits. If 40 MPH seems safe to me I don’t see why I should crawl along at 25 MPH if there is no school zone and no rationale for the decision. In fact, I find myself impatient with the occasional driver that gets in my way by taking these speed limit signs seriously.

But today I have a new perspective. Today I drove the speed limit. I watched for the sign, lined my speedometer to it and clicked the cruise control. Cars pulled up behind me, realized I was ignoring their attempts to get me moving faster and whipped around me.

Why did I change? It’s not because I was given a ticket. It’s not because I have had an accident. It’s not because I read a book or listened to a lecture. The change is simply a response to being loved.

A couple of days ago my “adopted” son rode with me as I ran an errand that required more than two hours of driving. He was quiet for almost a half hour and then commented that I had a lead foot. I agreed in a way that seemed I was almost proud of it. Before long he reminded me again of what the speed limit was and what my speed was registering.  He made sure I noticed a half hidden police car.

It slowly sunk in that this younger man was concerned about my driving fast because he cared about me. As I processed his remarks I found them grounded in wisdom, some of which he has learned the hard way.

In the few years that I have known him we have developed a bond that can best be described as mother/son. During this time we have navigated some bumps in the road. Some times my visits to him have been in the County jail. Sometimes I have listened as a counselor, confronted as a parent, or encouraged as a pastor.

We are now in a new season where mother/son is the best descriptor of our relationship. Today he is the teacher and I am the learner. I am driving the speed limit today not because I think it is a good idea or even necessary. I am obeying because it is important to someone who loves me.

I wonder how often we rationalize God’s laws placing them under the authority of their making sense to us? Would it be easier to live in obedience if we did so simply because the One who wrote the laws loves us?

How do you decide when to be obedient and why?

Posted in Stories | Tagged , , | Leave a comment