The Sanctuary of Our Mind

 

Scripture:  Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  

Romans 12:2 NLT

In this day and age there is lots of discussion about anxiety and fear.  I am sure just as with any age there is plenty on which we could focus that would stress us out and bring rise to fear and worry.  At different stages of life our anxieties morph and change.  I can recall as a teenager I was worried about what I would be when I grew up.  Everyone asks you, like you should have it all figured out.  As a young married woman I worried if I was doing all I could do to contribute to my relationship and the establishment of our home.  As a young mother I never could find a quitting place.  I worked hard to do all and be all I could be.  I worried about guiding my children toward being good adults.  Now that I am well past the "young" adjective I worry about being responsible enough to prepare for retirement.  There is always something... yet in Philippians 4:6-7 God reminds us, "Don't be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And you will find peace." (That last part was my paraphrase.)

So how and why do we fret?  I definitely think for me it is a control issue.  If I can just control everything and make it turn out the way I think it should, I'll be fine.  Which when typed, sounds almost comical.  How many times has that actually happened?  Rarely.    So how do we focus more on peace and less on anxiety?  I think it is a renewing of our mind.  God must change the way we think!  I'm finding there isn't less about which to worry, ever.  Instead I must focus on bringing peace into those stressful situations.

I recently sat in a circle of friends brainstorming ways we could allow God to transform our thinking.  One friend suggested we have a place we could go, mentally.  A place of peace you can imagine and visualize that will remind you of where you have experienced God's peace in the past.  I loved that idea! As I moved forward I began to seek God about where my happy place might be.  Over the course of two weeks, memories flooded my mind.  To my surprise, I uncovered memories of my childhood  home.  I recalled almost every tree and shrub in my parents' yard: a cotton wood tree, peonies, lilac bushes, chestnut trees, tulips, mimosa trees, cherry trees, a giant willow tree, tiger lilies, clematis vines, butterfly bushes... I could keep going!  I even recalled how that  same yard comforted my dad as he planted flowers, fruits and vegetables.  I lovingly remembered how my mother loved her back porch and how each family member and friend had taken comfort on that same slab of concrete over the years.

Nature was clearly a theme as we discussed in our circle of friends, but never before had I seen the subtle ways God has comforted me throughout my life until I began actively looking for the mental places I might go to find God!  No doubt it was a miraculous encounter that superseded any anxiety I might have had and shifted my focus onto The Comforter instead of trying to find comfort!  That was a big transformation of my thinking.    

This week in your quiet time ask God to give you reminders of where you have been comforted.  Go there in your mind.  You my find those places closely akin to suffering, but we often need to recall all of God's acts of faithfulness, so that we are focused on The Comforter instead of comfort.

Leslie Stephens

Winchester, TN by way of Newark, NJ

Prayer:  Comforting God, do not let us spiral into anxiety.  Instead let us be focused on your faithfulness and recall your promises.  Teach us to find places of renewal and comfort that will transform our thinking and generate peace in the midst of suffering.  Amen.

Prayer Tip:  Seek God to find a mental location to which you can retreat in times of stress that will remind you of God's faithfulness. 

Spring Forth

Scripture:  Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.  Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.  Isaiah 43:18-18

I'm not sure if you've ever had the privilege to travel in the high deserts of Utah, Arizona or New Mexico, but the thing that I find most fascinating is the fact the layers of rock reveal that at one time a great deal of that desert area was under water!  It boggles my mind and reminds me of how small I really am.

Our vision is so limited by our perspective.  If all we see is the same environment every day, then we think that is all there is.  That movie "Horton Hears a Who" is the perfect example of that.  If you haven't watched it, you should.  I mean who dreamed up some of our most recent modern inventions?  Had I been born in the early 1800's could I have even imagined a cell phone?

God sees it all.  God's perspective is all encompassing.  Although we see life through a small portal of time, God does not.  God was there at the beginning and in God and through Christ all things were made!  We are told this in the gospels, and it often takes something beyond my understanding to remind me of how very little I actually can conceive or understand.

This is where faith comes to me.  In moments where things do not make sense to my mortal mind.  It's like taking the Nestea Plunge into the arms of God in the desert.  I fall back trusting that the God that dried up waters in New Mexico to reveal the beauty in rocks, plants and nourishes ferns hanging upside down from a rock in Tennessee.  How much more then will God cultivate and nourish me and my faith?

When was the last time you found wonder and beauty in something way beyond your control or scope of understanding?  Seek out a place where you can be reminded that God doesn't need you, but instead chooses to invite you into being part of what God has created just for His pleasure and for relationship.

Leslie Stephens

Winchester, TN by way of San Bernadino, CA

Prayer:  Maker of Heaven and Earth, thank you for not overlooking any tiny detail in the world today, including my life and the meaning of it.  Teach me to trust you with all the little details.  Amen.

Prayer Tip:  Stand in awe of something only God could have created.  Let it wash over you!

photo credit: Sandy Dodson

God's Wheel

Scripture:  And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.  Jeremiah 18:4 ESV

Lent is a time of spiritual reflection.  I found that Lent should have 3 focuses: prayer, fasting and charity.  Lent is a time for us to repent and redirect our focus on God.  I recognize that I am not always as devoted as some others might be.  I sometimes fast, but not always.  I have certainly done some of my faith practices half-heartedly and end up disappointed in myself more often than not.  In 2021 a good friend of mine encouraged me to start a program to read the bible through in year.  I'm still working on it (insert eye roll).  I haven't given up, but again I am disappointed in myself.

No doubt you also can self-examine and find things not to your liking.  I have previously expressed that I wanted to focus on contentment and yet here I am discontent.  I want to be honest with you; even though I have found my faith tested most recently in personal trials and in general, I still find the daily grind in faith practices most challenging.  Therefore, I set out this year to reset during Lent.  2 days ago.  I'm doing ok for now, but I can't really boast in that, give me a week or so, I'm sure I'll forget my commitment.

I wish I had good news to share at age 51.  News that I had reached my best spiritual self, but I haven't.  I guess maybe I had hoped I would arrive at some great spiritual level of enlightenment by age 50, but I haven't.  So today during my Lentin reflection I came upon this scripture and was deeply relieved.  

I'm mostly a giant lump of clay and as God begins to shape and squeeze my life, I lose form.  I squish through God's fingers trying to escape to a more familiar shape.  I know I have said it before, but allow me to say it again, change is so hard!!  Yet The Potter never grows tired of the craft.  God simply reworks us, as long as we get on the wheel.  What a relief!  

I do not know if you practice Lent or maybe you just want to try and find your best self.  I would like to ask you to join me and simply envision yourself climbing onto a potter's wheel.  Relax.  It's warm and you are pliable.  Relax. Let go of your thoughts and expectations for a minute.  Feel the touch of the hands of God, gently yet firmly wrapping around you.  Relax.  Do not resist as the wheel gently begins to spin, you see the potter's foot controls how fast the wheel spins.  Entrust yourself to The One shaping you into your new self.  

Changing yourself on your own is impossible.  Yet, you can't change without desiring for change to take place.  No work of art is without flaw.  The subtle imperfections are what make each piece unique.  I know I haven't arrived.  In fact, the more I learn the less I feel that I understand.  I just know that my Creator is not finished with me.  The Potter keeps on reworking me and for that I am truly thankful.

Leslie Stephens

Winchester, TN by way of California

Prayer:  God help me to always surrender to your wheel (will) and do not let me go my own way.  Draw me into deeper fellowship with You and bring me to repentance, so that I look more like the vessel you desire for me to be.  Thank you for not giving up on me.  Amen.

Prayer Tip:  Visualization is a powerful tool.  The bible paints many pictures of God's character.  Visualize God in what you feel you understand and you will certainly come know God more.

Missing Pieces 

Scripture:  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.  

1 Corinthians 13: 9-10

Winter and Covid has yielded being shut in at home more than usual.  I don't really mind it.  In fact, I live with a bunch of homebodies who prefer home over any other place.  We watch movies.  We play games.  We read books.  We laugh and we look at screens.  I however, I am the only one at my house who likes to work puzzles.  I sit among them and do my thang!

My parents always loved working puzzles and I guess it reminds me of them.   I find it strangely entertaining and comforting.  I also analyzed it and realize that it is a personality thing too.  You have a goal.  It has many ways to solve it, but ultimately you work persistently until the task is done.  It has a satisfying end.  It is a very controlled outcome!  Us goal-oriented people like puzzles!  Puzzles are predictable.

My family has started poking at me every time I sit down.  Someone will come over and look for like 5 seconds and immediately say, "The piece I need is missing."  Then they quit and walk away!  LOL  It always makes me laugh and at times makes me wonder if maybe there is a piece that could be missing.

Life is no less puzzling; pardon the pun.  When we pause to look around there is always room for feeling like there is a piece missing.  Largely because when we see the tiny pieces, it is hard to imagine what the bigger picture might look like.  God has no doubt proven to me over the years, that I do not need to know or see everything.  Life can be so overwhelming!

I really need only to see enough to take the next step.  If 15 years ago you had told me you will lose both your parents, have another baby, your husband will go into ministry, you will get a Masters degree and teach school, then resume an aviation career.  If any human had said to me in 2007 by 2020 you will be an airline pilot, I would have laughed at them.

Now I see much more clearly that I didn't need to know all that.  I can only look at one little piece at a time.  The big picture is God's to see.  Faith is about what is unseen.  It is when life feels beyond your control that you should rejoice!  For it is in those times when we see the glory of God.  It is when there is nothing we can do but pray and trust, that faith draws the missing pieces together to make an amazing scene.

My aunt always taps on the piece she places into the puzzle.  It is as if she is saying look, I found a piece!  I do it too!  Place the piece and tap on it!  God is aware of our need for control and even more aware of our desperate need for dependance upon Him.  Sit still and feel God tap the piece He just placed.  If you look too closely it might not even look like anything at all, a blob of color or sometimes no color at all.  But when you draw back and view the faithfulness of God over a lifetime, you will stand amazed at the scene God is piecing together.

Leslie Stephens

Winchester, TN

Prayer:  Creator God, I am thankful that you are the great designer and that you see the big picture.  Help me to have faith and trust in your design.  Teach me to find rest in the unknowing.  Amen.

Prayer Tip:  Take inventory.  Revisit the times in your life in which you have seen the faithfulness of God.  It will be a big source of encouragement for you during difficulties.  

HOLD ON!

Scripture:  Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.  Hebrews 10:23

Anytime I find myself faced with difficulty people have assured me to "hold on."  Hold on to what exactly I began to query myself?  To faith?  To love?  To hope? Hold onto loved ones?  Hold on...  Sounds easy enough.  I know you likely know the song "Hold to God's Unchanging Hand."  That is one of my favorites!

Today I realized that in order to be successful at anything you need realistic expectations.  You need goals and a plan.  Then as I was listening to music the vision in the picture  came from the words of Andy Grammer, 

"And I will hold

I'll hold onto you

No matter what this world'll throw

It won't shake me lose."

We are not holding out hope for a better day, a good diagnosis, more money, a better job, or you just fill in your blank.  No we are holding onto God, like a bronc rider.  God is fierce and wild and not easily tamed!  It is God to which we cling despite how crazy the ride gets.  Nothing else is as thrilling or endearing as the one who created us and built the arena in which we ride!

So today as you read this, picture yourself in the chute.  God is prancing and snorting.  You are aware of the danger.  You can sense the need for a helmet.  You are very cognizant of the gloves, the vest, the adrenaline.  You tighten your grip.  You breathe in deep and calm your nerve.  You nod your head and the gate comes flying open!  Yeehaw!

Hold on tight to God!

Leslie Stephens

Winchester, TN

Prayer:  Amazing God, we embrace your fierce and wild nature.  We confess we try to control our crazy lives and that when we do, we aren't trusting you.  Forgive us and help us to overcome our unbelief.  Amen.

Prayer Tip:  Seek to find the thrilling side of God.  

 A Timeless Response

https://andersongardens.org/

Scripture:  There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.  Ecclesiastes 3:1

One of my favorite things to do when I travel is to visit gardens.  I am forever enthralled with the  beauty of a well manicured garden.  It doesn't really matter what time of year you visit either, there is always something unique and lovely to see.  I am never disappointed.

Japanese gardens have a special nature about them.  The designs are layered and hold rich symbolism.  Today I visited Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, IL.  The advertisement claimed it was one of  North  America's highest quality Japanese gardens. It was the dream of John Anderson who first began birthing this garden in 1978 along a swampy section of Spring Creek in his backyard.  

After over 40 years and countless hours of design, building and manicuring this exquisite garden held for me some personal beauty and reflection.  I visited in peak fall color, but imagined that even the budding of spring after a cold Illinois winter would be lovely.  There is a water basin within the garden that has some Japanese  characters which when translated read, "I seek only to be content."

Contentment is what I have been asking God to give me for some time.  I don't want to be content only for a season, but instead I want it to be a theme throughout my entire life.  Yes, seasons change and the scripture assures us that there is a time for everything.  However, as I strolled through the garden I felt a deep contentment as was intended by the designers.  Contentment is a product of gratitude no doubt.  

It is easy to feel sorrow when change comes, but like the garden needs changes in season to bring about beauty and dimension, so does life.  Without different seasons and change, life would be without depth and perspective.

Anderson Gardens are open every day.  I hope to return there both in the dead of winter when the pond is frozen over and in the spring as the foliage breaks forth.  Much like the seasons of our lives change, there is always beauty to be seen and appreciated.  If you are in a season of life in which are not content, look for ways in  which to experience contentment.  Revisit a place or memory where you were content and allow God to remind you of His faithfulness.  Contentment is a choice.  It is a way of life.

Leslie Stephens

Winchester, TN by way of Rockford, IL

Prayer:  Designer of the Universe, You have given us seasons.  Show us the beauty in each season of our lives and bring us to a place of deep contentment.  Amen.

Prayer Tip:  Sit in a beautiful spot and use all your senses to absorb the experience.  Feel the rhythm of your breath.  Breathe in contentment and joy.  Exhale anxiety and stress.  Visualize God filling you with contentment.

Bouncing Ideas

Scripture:  Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.  Psalm 119: 105

 

I am not sure if you have ever tried to memorize something or not.  Perhaps it was lines to a play or scripture or maybe a poem or speech.  I am sure you discovered that as it became more familiar to you, you no longer needed to say it in order, you had triggers that helped you pick up right in the middle and just spew forth the next part.  However, at first you had to spoon feed each part and take extra care to start at the beginning and speak slowly and methodically.

I have had to memorize lines for various things and I had a teacher once show me that bouncing a tennis ball helped to keep a good cadence and also distracted you just enough to help remove the pauses and help to really nail down the words in sequence.  With tons of practice, I found the lines come flying out at just the right time.

This morning as I filed through my memory lines bouncing a ball with my friends, it helped ease the pain of the memorizing process.  I later found myself on my personal blog page reading previous posts as part of my Good Friday devotion time.  I read a blog from ten years ago that I didn’t even remember writing and my very own words pierced my heart!  It was like God Himself was speaking to me reminding me of His faithfulness over the last ten years of my life and beyond.

Why do we study scripture, journal and pray?  It isn’t for God’s benefit.  It is for our own.  It is like memorizing lines and knowing them by heart.  In desperate times those familiar stories and lines bounce back!!!  They spring into action in moments of both joy and sorrow, hopping up to remind us of God’s faithfulness and character. 

If you want to know God and His character you simply must practice!  Memorize things.  Write them down.  So that they are burned into your brain and branded on your heart.  When you need them most, they will spring up to support your faith and reinforce your hope in God’s great mercy and grace.

Leslie Stephens

Winchester, TN (by way of Wilmington, OH)

Prayer:  Almighty God, motivate me to study you more than anything else, so that I am familiar with all your ways and recognize the paths you would lead me down.  Amen.

Prayer Tip:  Walk and talk with God audibly.  Read scripture out loud as though it is a conversation with God.  Pause and see if the scripture you read is a response to your prayers.  God will remind you of His character and ways if you focus.

 

Paths of Mercy

Scripture:  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not

to your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.  Proverbs 3:5-6  

I visited a lovely scenic and historic garden in St. Louis today.  Missouri Botanical Gardens are quite astounding and hold within them many amazing and beautiful secrets.  I was deeply moved as I walked and listened to the rich history in the Japanese section of the garden.  

That section of the garden was designed and built as a memorial for the Japanese who had been enslaved in the West during railroad construction.  Many of the enslaved, once freed, migrated east and settled in St. Louis.  The designer was assisted by two monks who felt the entire garden should hold within it secrets that one could only discover through quiet meditation, slow movement and stillness in the garden.  Immediately I knew the garden held secrets for me.

There is a Japanese idea throughout the garden: Miegakure, which means appearing and disappearing.  You stand in one location and see the beauty before you, then you go further along the same path and that which you saw before changes ever so slightly to reveal a new beauty.  So in essence you must look beyond what you might see to find something else beautiful.

I had seen what I thought was all the beauty and the guide then encouraged us to look back down the path we had just traveled.  I turned to see something I had missed before and then she told us the very stones on which we had traveled held deeper meaning.  Only a third of the stone could be seen, but two-thirds of the stones were underground, unseen.  Miegakure, there is still so much within each of us that is yet to be revealed.  The tour guides words tore into my heart. What is still unseen that God would like to reveal?

I think of the Proverbs scripture and I suppose from a younger perspective I must have leaned to my own understanding  and wanted to believe that God making my paths straight meant the path would be easy to travel.  However, I have found new meaning.  The paths of faith in this scripture aren't straight, perfectly aligned and easy to travel.  These paths are Miegakure paths.  They have things hidden that we might miss if we simply look at them and only see what is right in front of us.  Or if we chose only one perspective and don't continue to move on down the path even when it isn't easy trusting that regardless of what we just saw or experienced that God has something beautiful that is still yet to be fully seen or revealed.

Whatever path you might find yourself traveling, I pray that you find a beautiful place to meditate and rethink what it is God might be trying to reveal to you and through you.  There is beauty, even if you might not see it right at this moment.  You must take time to see God as God is appearing and disappearing all the time.

Prayer:  God of all creation, you say if we don't praise you, the rocks will cry out.  Give us ears to hear every way in which you speak to us even in the subtlest of ways.  And give us a voice with which to tell others what we hear.  Amen.

Prayer Tip:  Sit quietly in nature.  What do you hear?  Sharpen your listening ears and ask yourself, could God be speaking to me right now?

Memory Lane

Memory Lane

Scripture: ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’  ⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’  Matthew 25: 37-40

Over time I have noticed that a change of season usually brings a flood of memories.  I am not sure why that happens for me, but I bet it does for a lot of people.  The fall smells like Friday night high school football games, makes you crave caramel apples and makes you want to sit by a campfire.  The spring feels like an egg hunt is around the corner, smells like rain is coming and calls to mind the day my first-born child came home from the hospital.  Summer smells like days spent playing outside, sunscreen, and picnic lunches.  You get the idea.

My new job gives me odd down times alone, which I am discovering I haven’t experienced much in my lifetime.  This week I went for a couple of fall walks in the early afternoon.  One on a trail near the Natchez Chase and the other along the road near my hotel.  While walking near a shopping strip mall, I saw a woman guiding an elderly man toward the Veterans Center.  I recognized his gate: short steps, reluctance, confusion.  I could tell he had either Alzheimer’s or Dementia.  Having dealt with these diseases I know that they often need a distraction instead of a focus.

I walked up and acted like I knew the couple and hadn’t seen them in years.  I took the old man by the hand, held open the door and helped him find a seat inside while his female care-giver signed in.  His words were hardly recognizable.  Most of them didn’t really go together.  Occasionally he would ask me where I had been.  He mentioned Maryland.  He told me I looked good.  LOL!  I studied his eyes, his hair, his weathered face.  There was this moment when I wondered about the life he had forgotten, the memories I could recall, but with which he had lost touch.  “O God,” I prayed, “unlock the beauty for him, unlock the beauty for me.”

I was indeed looking into the eyes of the ones Jesus referred to as the least of these; a life jaded by disease and suffering.  How many people there are out there suffering whose lives are overlooked and forgotten?  It is easy to live our “normal” lives and overlook them.  When was the last time I had paused to acknowledge the life of a veteran who may or may not have done something heroic?  Aren’t all lives heroic in some way even if gone unseen?  In that moment I remembered many thankless acts I have failed to acknowledge.  I recalled my own father and his loss of touch with his memories.  I saw my life rush before my eyes and hoped that I didn’t forget this moment. 

I bid my farewells and headed back to my walk.  The funny thing was I think the female caregiver thought she should have known me too.  LOL!  I didn’t try to explain, I simply explained to God that I recognized Him in the eyes of that elderly man.  I saw him in the exhaustion on the face of the lady.  I knew in that moment I spent too much time looking at my problems and not enough time helping others find peace in the midst of their problems.  I didn’t remember God this fall.  God remembered me.

Prayer :  Almighty God, give us eyes to see the subtle ways you speak to us through smells, sounds, songs, and memories.  We know you are speaking, give us ears to hear You.  Amen.

Prayer Starter:  As you go about your normal everyday life: grocery, exercise, errands, ask God to show you the least of these and how you can help.

Narrow Paths

Scripture:  ¹³ “Heaven can be entered only through the narrow gate! The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide enough for all the multitudes who choose its easy way. ¹⁴ But the Gateway to Life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it.  Matthew 7:13-14

We drove the 4x4 truck slowly out Lands End Road along the 10,000 foot Grand Mesa in Colorado.  It was a 15 mile dirt road that was only open from Memorial Day until October.  It was covered in potholes holding water from an earlier rain that reflected the moving clouds overhead.  The map said there was a cow camp up ahead, but we traveled at less than 20 mph along the gravel road and miles passed slowly. 

A trail crossed the road at the cow camp and lead out toward the bluff according to the map.  Even at our slow pace, I still could not identify a trail.  There were small cabins off the road and a parking area, so we stopped to scope out the kiosk.  It wasn’t until we got out of the truck that I realized the trail was concealed by head-high wildflowers.  We trekked out toward the bluff and after a while we realized there were signposts marking the trail.  These posts were only barely visible when the trail would rise.  I am short and I was somewhat bewildered as we wandered through the field of flowers hoping to find a bluff view.

It was months later when I was remembering the beauty of that far-away place that I realized my fast pace was causing me to miss lots of beautiful things.  My faith path was paralleling the Interstate instead of Lands End Road.  I was moving so quickly from place to place without ever slowing down to even a 20 mph pace that I was certain I had missed the hidden path.  Even if I slowed down I could not see it.  The hidden path isn’t visible unless you stop and deliberately look to find it. 

I feel certain that only a remnant of Americans have ever visited the Grand Mesa and even fewer have driven out Lands End Road; even less still have stopped at the cow camp to discover Deep Creek Trail 709.  We could have easily missed the wildflower covered ridge-line that gave views of the valley 10,000 feet below.  I can only image how different that same landscape looks in December.

Faith is no different.  We must be brave and seek the less traveled paths to find unique beauty.  There are things we miss if we stay on the safety of paved paths.  There are even more things we miss if we stay in the safety of our trucks moving slowly on the less traveled paths.  It is only when we stop, and examine the paths carefully that we find that narrow way that leads to life eternal.

The busy highways of life are far more dangerous than the 20 mph dirt path.  Reflect and decide when was the last time you found a hidden path and risked what might lie out beyond where you could see?  That is where you will find faith.  That is the narrow path.

Prayer:  God give us presence of mind to stop and seek the narrow path that leads to life.  Give us courage to travel what may appear to be a dangerous narrow path.  And give us the Holy Spirit to guide us as we travel this path of faith.  Amen.

Prayer Tip:  Sit in silence in an unfamiliar place and ask God to show you new things.  Rarely do we sit silently in this noisy world.

Symbols of Hope

Symbols of Hope 

Scripture:  ¹¹ 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.¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 

Jeremiah 29:11-12

This time of year when I sense the approach of Advent, I always find myself wondering what hope looks like.  Is it a baby?  A hero?  An idea?  Something unseen?  Something within each of us?  How do we lose hope?  How do we find it?  What do we hope for? 

God promised hope to those who seek.  God is the play write and only God  knows the way the scene begins and ends.  Hope was, is and is to come as was written in the script.  David Wilcox, singer song writer, inspired me by singing this, “Though there is evil cast around us, it is love that wrote the play and in the darkness love will show the way.”

Finding hope is not something we have the ability to do.  It is the God note within us that resonates with itself.  In the same way a voice finds harmony with a note plucked, so is hope within the heart of a human soul.  God strums the string of hope during Advent.  Our hearts respond by hearing the harmony and resonating the note back to God.  The song of hope plays all year long, but it is amplified during Advent.

I love symbolism in beautiful writing.  I like looking for symbolism in my own life.  I have no doubt that the author of my faith has penned an amazing amount of symbolism in my life.  At times it has been clearer to me than others.  I have found meaning in nature through fog, butterflies, deer, and even frogs.  I have seen God in movies, heard God in music, and felt God in relationship.  Yet I know that there must be many symbols I have missed.

My quest in this season of Christ’s coming is to be more aware of the symbols of hope, peace, love and joy that God places in my script.  What things has God written into the scene to remind me of His grace?  Where will God be revealed next?  That is where our hope will come from.  That is where peace is found.  That is where joy resides.  Can you hear it?  God’s love song is being played, sing along in harmony.

Prayer Tip:  Daily seek to find symbols of God's call to prayer.  When you see something that grabs your attention, stop and pray.

Prayer:  Harmonious God, thank you for plucking the string of my faith.  May your song of hope and joy resonate within me during Advent.  Give me eyes to see all the symbols of your love and grace.  May your song of love be played with my hands as I reach out with that hope, peace, joy and love into the world.  Amen.

Burning Off Our Souls

Scripture:  To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.  Exodus 24:17

I had a natural truth pierce my heart this week while in conversation with my sister.  I was reminded about a Discovery Channel show I watched on forest fires.  Did you know that unless a pine cones reaches a certain temperature it will not germinate?  That is right, without a forest fire to clean undergrowth in a forest and enough heat to germinate pinecones, new trees will not grow.

Well that was brought to mind as my sister described a pain she was experienced with sciatica.  She described it as a pain explosion in her hip that burned.  When she said that, I began to recall the pine cone.  I said to her that perhaps God needs to burn something within her to release a new growth!

That fresh reminder from God soaked into my bones all week as I felt the burn within my own heart from what I have been experiencing in my trials recently. We are all at some stage of forest fire in our lives.  Perhaps something is smoldering, or maybe the flames are licking closer than that for you right now.  Maybe you are standing over a completely charred life and asking how you can recover from a devastating thing like this?  No matter where are standing in the midst of the fire, you have to know that God’s divine plan sees new growth on the horizon.  He is clearing out the forest floor within you, so that new pines will burst forth.

One last thought in respect to the tallest and strongest pine trees in the forest.  They are all charred around the base.  If the fire does not consume them, their trunks are strengthened and they become the tallest trees in the forest!!!  O my goodness, someone needed to hear that today!  Stand strong in the midst of your fire.  Even if you get burned up, he will sprout new life, but if you sustain the fire, you will be strengthen and grow even stronger!  God has plans for you!

In the forest with you,

Leslie Stephens
McMinnville, TN

Prayer:  Almighty God, you care for the forest, how much more do you care for us, your children?  Have mercy on us and burn away the things that encumber us and keep us from fulfilling your perfect will for our lives.  Strengthen our faith and give us peace.  Amen.

Prayer Tip:  Use nature to allow God to speak to you.  When sitting quietly in God’s creation ask for a revelation.  God is peaking through his creation!

To read more astonishing details about forest fire visit this link!

Overgrown Faith

Scripture:  I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.  Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.  Psalm 119:104-105

I was traveling along TN Highway 68 between Crossville and Sweetwater on my way to a baby shower when I noticed a railroad track that came up close to the road.  In some spots it was well kept, but it would suddenly be overgrown and covered with kudzu and various forms of lush Tennessee brush.  After this pattern of tracks and brush I inferred that the track was abandoned.  There are many states in which people have actually turned old abandoned railroads into trails (see http://www.railstotrails.org/index.html).  However this particular rural area had areas that were preserved and other areas that were lost to the earth.

I began wondering if that is how it is with our faith rails.  Do we neglect our faith in seasons of ease and prosperity only to allow it to get overgrown and unexercised?  I mean it is easy to fail off the faith wagon when things are going well and we are caring for ourselves just fine.  It happens to me without much thought.  I fall off the bible study train or the prayer habit is interrupted by something noisier.  The next thing I know I can’t see my track of faith.  It is covered with the kudzu of fear and anxiety.

I quickly searched inwardly at my faith tracks to see how they looked to God!  A passerby might see the tracks of my faith here and there in the areas I had kept well-groomed like church attendance, but what about fasting or intercession?  I was horrified to see how quickly those tracks had gotten overgrown!  O I am full of excuses: school, mothering demands, “church work”!  I shivered at the thought of what my faith track might look like if seen from overhead of my life like God can view it.

It is so easy to care for our faith in the areas that make us feel good and bring about positive experiences.  However there is much more to faith than “feel good experiences”.  I pray that this message causes you to search your faith track for overgrown areas.  Where have you neglected to clear a path for God to travel in your life?

Leslie Stephens

McMinnville, TN

Prayer Tip:  Ask God to speak to you every day.  Then look for Him in the everyday spots of your life.  He will speak.  Are you listening?

Channels of Grace

Scripture:  “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.  Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”  John 6:37-38

For a moment I want you to picture God’s Holy Spirit being like electricity and you are a house.  God’s Spirit is connected to your fuse box when you accept Christ as your Savior.  Resurrection power is made available to you when you are saved by grace. 

There are all these wires that run throughout your life.  Circuits if you will of ways that God’s grace flows through you and reaches out to other people.  Unfortunately our sin creates roadblocks or switches in the circuit system.  When we sin against God, we turn off a switch that limits God’s power made available to us.

I could make a long list of ways that we are running on limited power, but we can look at the church and see that we clearly aren’t raising people from the dead and walking on water.  It is obvious we are limiting God’s grace at work in our lives.  Jesus himself said that we would do greater things than he did in His name (John 14:12).  Why is this not happening?

I want to suggest one area of sin that we are dabbling in that is hindering God’s power in our lives.  That area is unforgiveness.   If we seek forgiveness from God for a sin but do not distribute that same forgiving grace to others, we have just flipped a major breaker in the power of God in our lives.  The grace God issues us must be issued through us toward others in order for that grace to empower us as Christians and free us for joyful obedience.

Picture this:  You are feeling a darkness in your spirit.  You are experiencing anxiety, fear and doubt.  You are wrestling with hopelessness and anger.  You are resentful and cynical.  I would suggest that you check your forgiveness breaker.  Are you withholding grace from someone?  Who is it?  Why?  Only you know and God will show you what it is that is stealing the fruit of His Spirit from you: peace, joy, faithfulness, gentleness, patience, self-control, ect (Galatians 5:22).  Taking a spiritual inventory will tell you pretty quickly if your forgiveness breaker is flipped.

I know that Christ meant for us to walk in these gifts.  He said that He was leaving us His peace.  Why are we lacking?  Do not decide that you are destined to live in darkness.  That you can’t overcome the sorrow you feel.  Start trying to really get to the bottom of it.  Your sorrow is not dependent on someone else.  It is dependent on you forgiving that person, the exact way that Christ forgives you, with love, mercy and grace (unmerited favor).  Stop withholding grace!

Leslie Stephens

McMinnville, TN

Prayer:  O merciful Savior, thank you for loving me while I was still a sinner.  Help me to extend that same mercy and grace to others, so that your light may shine through me and so that I may find Your peace.  Amen

Prayer Tip:  Every prayer should contain confession.  We are sinful people.  Seek out your sin, don’t assume you are covered.

Come on Grace!

Scripture:  The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners —of whom I am the worst.  1 Timothy 1:14-15

I am always inspired by sporting events.  I think it is no mistake that Paul used that reference on more than one occasion when referring to life and the race toward the prize of winning Christ.  This week my oldest son competed in his first swim meet in two years.  I had missed it.  The thrill of seeing children of all ages racing is fun to watch.  Many of them jump out of the water and look at the heat sheet in search of their last swim time to see if they beat themselves.  Others of course want to simply see if they finished first in their race.

In swimming more than anything you are racing yourself.  The race itself means very little in the big picture because your personal best is what you want to beat and you really can’t know until you see the clock and look at your record times.  Although if you have never been around that venue, then you might think that one race will make you a winner or not.  Many times there will be two or three heats in each race which means just because you win your heat does not mean you are the winner of that race.  There could be another swimmer in a different heat beat your time and you would move down the leader board even if you finished first in your race.

At last night’s meet there was young girl named Grace racing.  Her friends and family stood next to the pool cheering for her as she swam, “Come on Grace!”  I had a God moment where it struck me profound.  That is exactly what we need to be cheering in this life, “Come on grace!”  We need to be certain that it is God’s grace that sustains us and gives us the victory.

I am not sure what you are going through, but you most definitely need God’s grace to make it.  Stop what you are doing and say that prayer, “Come on grace.”  God is faithful to fulfill that prayer right now and always.

Cheering for you,

Leslie Stephens

McMinnville, TN

Prayer:  Come on grace!  That my life might better reflect that same grace to those around me and draw them to a deeper relationship with you, the Living God!  Amen.

Prayer Tip:  Always seek a fresh filling of God’s Spirit each day.  It is ahtt grace that you need to walk in His ways.

Sitting the Bench

Scripture: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-25 (NKJV)



As a parent there is nothing more miserable than seeing your children hurt, upset or discouraged. My son loves basketball. From the time the boy could walk, literally, he has had a basketball in his hand and a smile on his face. He has participated in other sports, but nothing tickles his fancy like a ball and a hoop. As a 3-year-old he was a gifted basketball player, but as he grew the phenomenon kind of subsided and he really just developed a love for the game.


Now at age 14 he plays for the freshman team, but has realized that he is not a naturally gifted athlete. He has to work really hard to gain favor with the coach and all those neat little nuances of the game that he loves do not come as natural to him as some of the other players. The poetry some athletes make with ease, he has to really study to write. Fortunately for him he likes his teammates and the coach and has had a good time playing freshman ball this year.


Tonight however was the last home game of the season and with friends and relatives watching the game he sat the bench. And sat the bench. And sat the bench. He did not get to play even one minute. I knew he would be disappointed and so was I, but he came straight in and went to bed without one word except good night. I was so sorrowful as I know it made him angry and frustrated. I talked to God about it and asked Him to teach Wyatt something important as I have said many times there are important things you can learn on the bench that you can't
learn in the game.

Then all of a sudden it clicked for me. You can't acquire the fruit of God's spirit playing basketball. You can only get it sitting on the bench!

• Love: Learning to love people (the coach) when you are not treated fairly.
• Joy: Learning to experience joy when you have a sad or angry emotion over your circumstances.
• Peace: Learning to find peace within when you have inner turmoil.
• Longsuffering (patience): Learning to wait on the things you really want and persevering until you see those things happen or even if you do not see those things happen.
• Kindness: Learning to show encouragement and support even when you are discouraged
  and disappointed.
• Goodness: Learning to be respectful to people even when they do not deserve it.
• Faithfulness: Learning to be dependable and supportive even if people are not faithful and trustworthy.
• Gentleness: Learning to not let your anger change the way you treat people.
• Self-control: Learning how to be a good sport even when you are angry, upset, and disappointed and really want to hit, scream, stomp, cry, and act like a spoiled little brat. (no matter how entitled you think you might be)
  

We live in a world that is not fair. This world is full of people who are not faithful and do not treat people nicely. We can't always have our way. People will always disappoint us. Winning and things going perfectly is not always going to happen. In fact more often than not our plans are spoiled by circumstances beyond our control. Somehow in the midst of that we have to display the character of Christ! God help us!

I can clearly see now that as much as I love my children and want to see them happy and successful, God knows better than me what they need. I want to see Wyatt rewarded for
working hard and get to play basketball and win and love it all at the same time, but more than that (much more than that) I want to see him develop the character of Christ. So really he needs
to learn how to sit the bench. It is on the bench where the fruit of God's spirit grows in us. What bench are you sitting on right now? Thank God that He has put you there!

Leslie Stephens
McMinnville, TN

Prayer: Almighty God, you always have our best interest in mind. Teach us how to sit on the bench of difficulty and adversity bearing all things with the fruit of your Spirit. We want to be more like Jesus, Coach us! Amen.

Prayer Tip: If you have not thanked God for whatever you are going through, do that right now. We need to be content and trust that God is at work in all things to bring about our faith and his glory. Praise him when you feel like fussing and crying!

Starry Night

Starry Night

Scripture: When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? Psalm 8:3-4

Last night as we were driving home from the funeral home after receiving friends for my husband’s Grandfather who died just before his 99th birthday and I became inspired. I looked out at the night sky and posted this to my status on Facebook, “The October plant hung low in the cool crisp night sky just above the tree line reminding me that I am small and God is big.” Funny how a trip to the funeral home will make you reflect on your status in the universe.

Clyde Ongel Stephens (November 22, 1911- October 4, 2012) was a lover of music. He fashioned 21 hand-made fiddles in his lifetime and played as long as his feeble hands would let him. There are actual tapes of him making old-time fiddle music in the Smithsonian Museum of Art in Washington, D.C. because he was one of the few in the last 50 years who could remember many of the old tunes. He raised 5 children, which spawned 9 grandchildren, 28 great grandchildren and 5 great-great grandchildren. His life saw almost a century of change.

The very next day innovator Steve Jobs died at the age of 56. He did not live nearly as long as Papa, but is known all around the world for his advances in technology. How do we measure the quality of life? Is one person more successful than the other? A life is a precious thing, a gift, to be shared with those around you. Both men did indeed do that. Yet one is remembered around the world and the other for the most part goes unnoticed.

I suppose there are many gauges we could use to measure success. Depending on the standard you use you could find success in both men’s lives. At the end of every life there is a legacy that continues long after they are gone. I personally always find myself reflecting on my own life at times like these when mortality is a stark reminder of how fragile life really is and I almost always come back to this place of how small my life is and how big God is.

I am amazed that a giant God would want a relationship with me and use a small insignificant life to bring change in the world. You can research me and find pretty quickly that I am no Steve Jobs. I do not have any of my work in the Smithsonian. My greatest work went to Warren County High School, Centertown Elementary School, and just came down the hall in his underwear and said good morning(he is 3 not 38). I must always be reminded that my legacy is important to them and the future of this world does depend upon me.

I am not sure why one man would leave a giant mark on society and another a pin prick mark. Yet I do know that God can use the pen prick as much as He can use the giant mark. We can all be relevant instruments in the hand of The Master Artisan. Life is valued and noteworthy no matter your age or accomplishments. I am generally not that poetic. Why would I find a small prose in the stars last night? The giant mark of a creative God no doubt.

I pray that you surrender your life no matter how significant you think it may be into the hands of God today, asking him to use you to touch the world with the love of Christ.

Creatively,
Leslie Stephens
McMinnville, TN

Prayer: Amazing Creator, use my hands to touch someone today with your love. Use my feet to go where you would have me to go. Use my words to bless a life today. Use my life to be an ambassador for Christ in the world where I may be. Amen.

Prayer Tip: God uses all aspects of life to speak to us, even death. Always write reflectively about your thoughts a prayers, God will speak to you in those places of change.

Picture of Papa's hands courtesy of cousin Lolita Jones.

Merciless

Scripture: The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. All your works praise you, LORD; your faithful people extol you. Psalm 145:8-10

I was driving my husband's car when I went to the bank the other day. I pulled in behind a white Volvo. I grabbed the spot right next to the white car. As I gathered my things and exited the car, the college-aged driver got out of his car an immediately lashed out at me, "Think you could have parked any closer to my car? I left a nice white mark on your door for ya."

I had indeed parked too close to his car. I was quite shocked at how quickly he had remarked with such disdain. I told him that I was in my husband's car and was not used to driving it and was sorry. His mother was mortified by his behavior and came over and began to try and wipe off the white mark. I told her it was ok and that it was no big deal.

As I walked into the bank behind them I felt almost sick. I honestly had to turn and go back to my car and leave. It was not what he said, it was how he said it. There was no mercy. No compassion at all. I felt so sorrowful for all the times I had complained about people parking too close to my car. I mean in the big scheme of things it means nothing. It is certainly not life or death and worth berating someone over. For all he knew I was driving my dead husband's car for the first time since he died. (not the case) Or perhaps I had just gotten the cancer news. (not so) He had no idea what I had been through that day leading up to that moment.

Fortunately I had not had a "bad" day, but he had no way of knowing and neither could I. So many times we deal with people without any mercy. We have no compassion for what they have been through that day or in their life. We simply deal with the moment without any mercy or compassion. I am so thankful that God knows our whole story and has compassion and mercy on us always. He always pushes us toward Him in all circumstances, not growing weary of dealing with us. Let us be full of mercy and grace, just as we have received much.

Leslie Stephens
McMinnville,TN

Prayer: Gracious God, I confess that I have been merciless and judgmental of others. help me to love others deeply and deal with people gently with mercy and compassion.

Prayer Tip: God gives us eyes to see sin in others, so that we can repent of those same sins. Repent before you complain about others.