Church

 

Church is defined as “a house of worship.” I have seen all types of churches in my life, from very elaborate St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow to Abadia de Monterserrat in Spain to little country churches near home. And everything in between. What is the one thing that they have in common? They are all places of worship.

So, if a place of worship is a church, then I have been in a multitude of churches in my life. I worship and praise my Lord and God everywhere. I especially like to pray to him when I am in nature. So, if I am praising God in the forest, the forest is my church at that time. If I am next to a lake or a stream, then they are my church. I praise God on my deck in the morning. That to me, is church. And, I praise Him when I’m driving, so my car becomes my church. I praise Him at work. My desk area is my church. I praise Him when in the shower, doing dishes, making cards. All of those areas become church at that time. 

God is there, wherever I am. He is with me. He is with you. And He deserves our praise, no matter what your “church” looks like at the time. After all, a church is a place of worship. And we should worship Him everywhere we go.

The Simple Things

 

Yesterday, I spent the day with a friend. After walking a mile with Leslie Sansone, we went to do some errands. I needed a watch battery and needed to get a necklace clasp fixed. The jeweler didn’t have the battery that I needed and told me to try CVS. They should have one. So, we went to CVS. I found the battery I needed. “Thank You, Jesus.” 

 

We went to the register to pay for it and lo and behold there was a display of playground balls! Right there, in front of the register, beautiful, colorful, bouncy playground balls. What to do? Of course, I grabbed one and started bouncing it. Then, I bounced it to my friend. We bounced it back and forth for a few minutes. Then, she bounced it under her leg. We laughed so much. So did the guy in line behind us. He asked us if we had hall passes. Oh, I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard.

Thank you, Lord for joy in the simple things in life. (I did buy one of those balls.)

Morning Worship

I had one of those mornings. You know the kind….I’m up, trying to get ready for the day and I just couldn’t get the shower temperature right. It was too hot. So, I adjusted it a bit. It was too cold. I tried again. Too hot, too cold. And again. The same thing happened. Finally, I got it right. In the big picture, it’s nothing to fuss about. But, that morning I couldn’t get it right on the first try. When I eventually was standing under the stream of perfect temperature water, my mind began to wander.

I was thinking about my shower in Ghana. First of all, it was a blessing that I even had running water. Most people did not. There was no hot and cold running water like here in the USA. Yes, I had hot water if I took a shower in the afternoon of a 95° day. And, I had cold running water during the Harmattan season when the outside temperatures were much cooler. I quickly learned not to take a long shower during Harmattan, and definitely learned not to take a morning shower Harmattan season. Brr!

So, my morning shower turned into a time to praise and thank the Lord. I praised Him for hot and cold running water. I praised Him for giving people knowledge on how to make the plumbing system in my apartment so I can adjust water temperatures. I thanked Him for the water pressure. And, I was grateful to Him because I didn’t have to be concerned about my water tank emptying before the next time it would be filled. 

Lord, thank You for morning showers that are the perfect temperature!

Prayer Request

History has repeated itself. It has happened again. Every time that I don’t feel well, I don’t write a blog. And, if I miss a week of not writing, I just quit all together. It’s what happened when I was living in Ghana. The first several years I tried to write twice a week. Then, the illnesses started, mainly constant (or so it seemed) sinus infections. I hardly wrote a blog those last two or three years. I felt crummy. And, who wants to read about an old woman and her sicknesses? In my mind, I hear Thumper’s mother say, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” When I write, I want to write something positive. 

I’ve been dealing with sinus infections for about six weeks. I’m on my third antibiotic. I don’t feel sick enough to stay home all day, but I don’t feel well enough to go out and about all day. I’m grateful that my work day is only six hours. And, I don’t think to write a blog when I am this way. (I am not looking for medical suggestions. Let me just say that I have really bad sinuses.) 

So, I’m asking for prayers for healing…healing for my sinus issues. Was a result of healing comes so many other good things. Things will happen such as increased ability to focus. A desire to be more active, to do some healthy stuff. My God is a good, good God, and He is my Healer!

Snow Days

 

The past week or so has been quite unusual. We have had more than three inches of snow where I live in Patrick County, VA. I’m sure up on the mountain there has been a lot more snow. A “snow day” was declared for work. We could all stay home, snuggle up in warm blankets, drink some coffee or tea and curl up with a good book. 

But, what do you do when the snow day turns into snow days? I had such good ideas of what I could get done…catch up on my Bible study, make thank-you cards to send out for the Christmas gifts I received, clean the oven, do laundry, exercise, make soup, bake cranberry orange muffins….you get the idea. 

So, what did I do? Not much. I did keep up with the laundry. And, I finally caught up with my Bible study lessons, but it took me several days to get started. And, I made a batch of chicken soup. I did buy eggs for the muffins, but they never got baked. And the thank- you cards? I barely even gave them a thought. I did read. And, I did sleep. Exercise? Once. Oh, and I did clean the oven. So, I guess I did get some stuff done, but not as much as I envisioned myself doing. 

I like to think that I’ve got it all together. That I can just get done the things that I want to get done. Obviously, that isn’t happening. I guess I’ll have to go back to making lists. I love crossing things off of a list and seeing all that I have accomplished. So, list making isn’t all that bad.

If I were about 40 years younger, I would have loved to go and play in the snow. I thought about making a small snowman. That didn’t happen, either. Where is my discipline? Where is my “get up and go?” I really need to work on that. I need to get rid of the distractions that take up some of the time that should be devoted to other, more productive activities.

Today, I will start with list making. I’ll let you know how it works out. In the meantime, enjoy the snow and stay warm! 

No Power? No Problem!

 

Last night, the power went out around 9:37 p.m. I was already asleep. But, I woke up since my CPAP wasn’t working. I wasn’t too concerned about it until I read the email that said that the estimated time of power being back on is 11:00 p.m. tomorrow night. Then, I came to my senses. 

I grew up tent camping. I was a Girl Scout for a gazillion years. I lived in a remote area of Africa. I can live 48+ hours without electricity. No problem. The electricity went out all the time in Ghana. The only difference is that in Ghana, it was a lot warmer than 22°F. 

I didn’t sleep well. I tossed and turned a lot during the night. I got up around 3:00 a.m. and read for a while. I went back to bed until it got light outside. It was 47°F in my apartment. Brrr! I wanted to stay under the blankets but I didn’t. I found batteries for my radio and tuned in to the local radio station, WHEO. A good part of the county was affected by the outage. I had a Coke Zero instead of coffee while I waited to find out what was happening with work. Everything was closed today because of no power.  So, I got dressed and went to my desk and basked in the sunshine. It was glorious! Then, I drove to Meadows of Dan for lunch and to mosey around. I even bought a cold coffee for tomorrow, just in case. 

As I sit in my apartment, I am grateful that I have protection from the elements. I have plenty of warm clothes and blankets. I have food and drink that can be consumed cold. I can go into my car to warm up if absolutely necessary. I have books to read and cards to make. (And, there’s always housework to do.) I don’t NEED anything. God has been good to me. He has blessed me in amazing ways. So, during this power challenge, I choose to praise Him and to make the best of it. 

No power? No problem!

Abundant Blessings

It’s kinda strange. When someone in the US greets me and I respond, I respond totally different than when I lived in Ghana. The same goes with holiday greetings. When I wished a friend in Ghana a merry Christmas and a happy new year, I added, “May God abundantly bless you in the coming year.”

Then, I got to thinking., these days when I think of blessings, my thoughts go to the small, seemingly insignificant stuff. My Ghanaian friends look at God’s abundant blessings as monetary or material things. And, I can’t really find too much fault in that. These people had nothing. It was a blessing that they had food to eat. Many didn’t have clean water to drink. The women worked from dawn to dusk and later. Most chores were on their shoulders. So, to ask for God’s blessing might mean food for the day or medicine for a sick child. 

What I always had trouble with was when an “evangelist” came to preach, preaching a gospel of “If you give this much to the ministry, then I will pray for God to bless you abundantly so that you’ll never have a need again.” I know people who gave their hard earned money to such ministers only to realize later it was a sham. Abundant blessings…where were they?  In their situation, it was hard to see the blessings.

Sometimes it is hard for me to see the blessings, especially when life gets tough. Abundant blessings…there’s so many of them…life, breath, sight, hearing, hot and cold running water, heat on a cold day, food in the refrigerator and cupboards, Bibles in my heart language, coffee, a comfortable bed to sleep on, Christian music, a variety of gospel-preaching churches close to home, plenty of clothes in my closet, electricity, the ability to come and go as I please, family, friends, the saving grace of Jesus Christ. And the list goes on, and I thank God for these abundant blessings.

May God bless you abundantly this year.

 

Some New Year’s Day Thoughts

 

 

In the times I kept up with my blog, I frequently posted Wesley’s Covenant Prayer on New Year’s Day. I’m going to do this again, but a bit differently. I hope you will be challenged by this, or at least that you will give it some thought.

Many churches pray this Covenant Prayer on the first Sunday of the new year. I love that tradition. I often wonder, do I, or do others really pray this prayer or do they just say the words, not giving them another thought? I’m going to add my thoughts today.

I am no longer my own, but Thine.

When I made a decision to follow Christ, I gave him my whole life, so I thought. Sometimes it’s really hard to do. Did I ever wonder what that meant? Not at that time I didn’t. Did you?

Put me to what Thou wilt, rank me with whom Thou wilt.

Many times in life I was the “low man on the totem pole.” And other times, I was held in high regard. And, of course, there’s always that middle ground. How did I handle each situation? Did I handle my position with grace? Did others see Christ in me? I didn’t really like the times I was in the spotlight, it’s nice to be acknowledged once in a while, but living as if I were in a goldfish bowl wasn’t my cup of tea. It was challenging at times.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

I would guess that we would all like to “do” instead of suffer. We like to be useful. But, are we willing to do menial tasks? What are we willing to do for the sake of the gospel? Work with AIDS patients? Work where no others would willingly work? Are we/am I willing to do what it takes? There was a time that I would have said, “yes!” loud and strong. I like to think I would react the same way now but my voice isn’t as loud or as strong anymore.

Let me be employed for Thee, or laid aside for Thee.

No matter where a person works, they can be the hands of Jesus. They can show His love to everyone that they interact with each and every day. Do others see that in me or do they see my impatience? When I was unemployed, were my actions those of Christ? Did I still have His joy in my heart?

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

Can you live without all the comforts of home that you now enjoy? Can you live without electricity? Or without clean drinking water? Without air conditioning in the summer? Without a washer and dryer? Most of the world lives just like that. When I returned from Ghana, I was so grateful for hot and cold running water. When a storm knocks out the electricity, so what? It’s not the end of the world. I have learned not to stress about it. I live a simple lifestyle. In years past, things were different, although I never did have an extravagant life. My friends in Ghana think I do. But, here in the US, no, I don’t. Things are a lot different here than in the villages of the Lawra District of Ghana. I have learned to be content no matter where I live.

I freely and heartily yield all things to Thy pleasure and disposal.

This is easier to do if you know in your heart of hearts that God can use you, your belongings, your cash, for a bigger purpose than what you can see with your own two eyes. Again, using Ghana as an example, I didn’t have to think twice about getting rid of 98% of my worldly possessions. God had a plan for my life in another part of the world. I had no idea how long I would be gone. And, why just let stuff sit in storage somewhere for years. Do I regret not keeping more? Sometimes I think it would have been nice to have a certain item or piece of furniture. But, again, what would I do with it? Where would I put it? In the end, I know that I did the right thing.

And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Thou art mine and I am Thine. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in Heaven. Amen.

Lord, I give you my all today, my heart, my mind, my strength (or lack there of,) my will, my possessions, my life. It’s all yours, Lord. Amen.

Have a blessed year!

Friendship

 

Today I  am challenged. I was reading in the book of Amos, chapter 3. It says, “Can two walk together without agreeing to meet?” Hmmmm. My goal since I returned from Ghana was to be a hermit. I have revised that goal. Now, I just want to be a part-time hermit. Having close friends has always been difficult for me. But, in my heart of hearts, I have always yearned for that small circle of close friends. You know, the kind that don’t mind if you call them at 4:00 in the morning because life happened. 

I am blessed because I have a couple of these friends. One lives in Rome, GA. I don’t see her often. When I do, it’s life-giving. I wished we lived closer. There are two or three other people who come to mind when thinking about friends. They have seen me in the best of times and the worst of times. We don’t get together often. They have families close by and have family obligations. 

I see people on Facebook that share pictures of times that they get together with friends…a weekly walk, a monthly dinner, going someplace fun, and I wonder, “Why don’t I have friends like that?” These friends have been friends forever, they grew up near each other and have lived in the same general locality for most of their lives. They share life together. I’ve only been here five years. 

I’m my own worst enemy. I don’t share life too often, not the deep down nitty gritty of life. I don’t want to take off my mask and be vulnerable. I’ve been hurt too many times in life and I’m not sure if I want to risk it. I know I shouldn’t isolate myself when I’m not working. It’s one of my safety nets. It works for me in this chapter of my life. Will I be this way for the rest of my life? Maybe, maybe not. From time to time, I force myself to get out, to be around people, to sign up for a class, to volunteer. Even now, I just want to go upstairs and read. I’m pretty comfortable with myself. 

What I do know is that when others have failed me, God hasn’t. I’m grateful for that. 

Choices

 

 Hebrews 11 contains a list of faithful heroes. They weren’t perfect. They didn’t have perfect lives. Their situation in life wasn’t perfect, either. Yet, they chose to fix their eyes on the Lord. They were focused on the better thing, what God had in store for them. Did they make mistakes? Most definitely. But, they didn’t let their mistakes define them. They repented and tried again, even more determined to fix their  eyes on the Lord and to follow Him. 

Some of them never saw the situation/focus of their prayers come to fruition, but they never gave up. They kept praying, believing, trusting. They had no guarantees except that whatever the Lord said He would do, He would do. He was their guarantee. And that was good enough for them.

Is it good enough for me? Is it good enough for you? Do I truly believe that God will do what He said He would do? I like to think so. Every day, choices are in front of me. I need to make a decision each time. Will it be a decision of trust in the One who loves me unconditionally and has my best interests in mind? Or will it be a decision that I make just because I want to, no matter what the consequences are? I pray that I will choose to trust Him. 

A Season of Transition

I recently received an update letter from Orphan’s Tree, a charity that gives life skills and the love and hope of Jesus Christ to orphanage graduates in Russia and beyond. I know the president of the organization. His parents were beloved friends of mine. Anyway, he wrote a simple, personal note to me at the bottom of the letter. It touched me in a profound way.

What did he write that touched me so? Just six simple words, “Trust your transition is going well!!” I have been thinking a lot about this lately. Transition from living in a remote area of Ghana for eight years to life in rural Virginia seems like it has just been one transition after another. It definitely hasn’t been easy. 

When I returned to the US, I eventually ended up in Patrick County, VA. Since I had no place to live, no furniture, dishes, towels, etc., I rented a completely furnished cabin from friends of mine. They were the only ones I knew in this part of the world. Six months later, I changed my driver’s license from Pennsylvania to Virginia. Ten days later, I was told that the property was put up for sale. I didn’t have to move right away, I could stay until it sold, if I wanted. That ended up to be a blessing because I could take my time looking for an apartment. 

Three months later I moved. I love my apartment and plan on staying here as long as possible. I was just getting to know people when COVID hit. I was really grateful for my apartment then, I had lots of space and could be outside on the deck. But, one of ways the COVID lockdown affected me was that I really became a hermit. Sure, I would go grocery shopping and such, but it just increased my desire to be a “homebody.” Yes, I needed a break from being in the public eye 24/7 as I was in Ghana, with people looking in my windows and stopping by anytime of the day. 

Right now, I’m doing okay. I’ve had to deal with health issues, having had four sinus surgeries since I’ve been back. I’ve gained weight and haven’t lost it. I still sleep with a CPAP machine. I keep looking for a church similar to my home church in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. I haven’t found one yet. (Maybe because I’m in a very rural area with over 90 churches in the area. Almost all of them are small.) I am still a hermit, but now I’m a part-time hermit. I actually have a part time job which forces me to meet people and interact with them. I have met some amazing folks here. God has blessed me with a couple of good friends. I really do love where I live….

But, will it ever really and truly feel like “home?” Will I ever feel settled? I doubt it. I attribute that to my age. Little by little, I’m getting closer to my eternal home. Maybe that’s the reason for my feeling of unsettled-ness. Will my transition ever be complete? No, not here on Earth. Life is just one transition after another. I just have to trust God to get me through one to the next. That’s what I plan to do.

Praying for What I Want

So many times I am not happy with the person I am…on the outside. I weigh too much. I have CPAP mask lines on my face. I wear glasses. I definitely don’t like to wear shoes (and shoes make the outfit, right?) My hair didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to today.

Today when I read 2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:5, I could see that God isn’t concerned about any of that. Paul is thanking God for the Thessalonians, not because as a group they lost a ton of weight or because they are wearing the latest styles. He is thanking God because of their faith in Christ! (How many times have you or I done that?) He prays for them, that God would encourage their hearts and strengthen them, not to make them rich, powerful or beautiful. 

It’s my prayer for myself, too. “ God, encourage me when I get frustrated and lose the “umph” to go on. Strengthen me in mind, body and spirit to live the life that You intended for me, to do your good works. And, may You receive all the glory. Amen and amen.”
 

A Truthful Answer

Not too long ago, someone with whom I was talking, asked me, “Do you need to work or do you want to work?” The question caught me by surprise. I hesitated for a moment before I answered. “Both” was my answer. With the way prices and the cost of living have skyrocketed since COVID, to live the life in which I have gotten accustomed to (LOL!), I would really have to tighten up the purse strings if I didn’t work. The extra money does come in handy. 

But, it’s more than that. When I retired and returned from Ghana, I moved to a place where I knew one family. And they moved away six months later. So, there’s a real personal reason why I work, my “want to” reason. That reason is that it gets me out of the house. I meet new people. I’ve made friends. My eyes have been opened to a whole new world! Yes, moving to Patrick County was a bit of a culture shock after living in a remote part of Ghana for eight years, but it was a good one. Just as I was starting to get acclimated here, COVID hit. Then, it was back to square one, starting all over again.  

My job has given me a reason to get up on a bad day and a reason to share the love of Christ by being a service to others on a good day. I have met so many people and have had tons of opportunities to get out in the community. I still love being a part time hermit, but I’m my own worst enemy at times, especially if I spend too much time alone. My job gets me out and about. I feel as if I’m living my best life. I’m grateful for the fact that it’s part time because I still like that hermit part of me. 

I believe that it’s a God thing that I ended up working where I do. I wasn’t even looking for a job. It kinda fell into my lap. And, it’s the perfect job for me. God knew what I needed before I did! Thank You, Lord, you’re amazing!