Shattered Pieces

 Shattered Pieces

    Yesterday, I pulled out some boxes out of my storage unit. Specifically looking for kitchen boxes. Then I found Kitchen Box #15, which I've been scared to open since putting all my things in a storage unit. Unfortunately, as we were unloading the Penske moving truck, this box fell from the back of the truck and landed on the cement. If you've ever used a Penske truck, you know that's about a 4' drop. When my cousin picked up the box, he said it rattled. I looked in my little blue journal, where I had labeled and cataloged what every box had in it. My heart sank when I read "Coffee Mugs." Yes, very breakable. Coffee mugs are not all that valuable, but many are sentimental. You see, I have a collection of random mugs. Whenever I travel, I love to collect coffee mugs from where I've spent some time or some place of significance in my life. 

    As I opened the box yesterday and carefully unwrapped each mug, there were quite a few broken ones. Several survived the fall and were unscathed, and I was thankful. One broken mug brought tears to my eyes, and I couldn't bring myself to throw it away. It was a coffee mug given to Todd when we left the pastorate in Kenmare. The mug says, "A PASTOR is one who speaks to your spirit, listens to your heart, and understands what words can never say."  The whole time I pastored in Kenmare, I used that mug to remind myself of the incredible calling I had again in Kenmare to love on the people and speak life into their lives. So, seeing the mug shattered was just so heartbreaking. It represented ten years of my life, pastoring in Kenmare, and now it was shattered. So this morning, I slowly and meticulously super-glued it back together. It will never be able to hold a drink again, but I can still look at it and use it to hold useful things on my desk. It took me nearly an hour to figure out where each piece fit back together. It was one small piece at a time till the puzzle was slowly reassembled. A few chips are missing, and it will never look new or be what it was originally designed for, but now it will be repurposed and still cherished. Though the other 5 or 6 mugs that were broken ended up in the trash can, this one still will 'live' on, though totally different now.

This mug seems to parallel my life—shattered but put back together with God's SUPERnatural Glue and redesigned for another purpose. That's what God does best: bring us into newness of life and hope to a life shattered by the 'falls' of life. That's why His grace is so amazing, and it's always 'unfolding' in my life.

   "So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without His unfolding grace."

2 Corinthians 4:16 MSG

Encouraging Myself in the Lord

   

   This morning, I picked up my book, "Unfolding Grace Notes," and began reading some of it, randomly reading the different entries. I smiled on several, remembering writing it and what it meant to me, how God had unfolded that truth in my life. Why would I go back and read the things I wrote?  Because those are truths and encouragements God had brought to my life that I wanted to share with others to encourage them. Rereading them encouraged me again.

    I thought of King David in the Bible. (Story found in I Samuel 30:1-20)  He came back from a victorious battle to find his town had been raided and their families carried off as captives.  His warrior men with him were devastated, as was David, to find their wives and children gone and homes burned down.  And how most people react in a time of loss and pain, they find someone to blame. These loyal men turned on David and threatened to kill him.  They were bitter, and wanted someone to pay, and decided David was the one to pay.  Since they were following him and fighting his battles, it was his fault they all had a loss.  

  If you step back and consider it, their blame was misplaced. David had lost, too. But David's reaction was far different from his men's. David turned and encouraged himself in the Lord. He sought the Lord and asked God what he should do. And God answered. They pursued the raiders, conquered them, and recovered all that had been stolen. 

    I Sam 30:20 "Nothing of theirs was missing whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken; David recovered it all."  

  They all got their wives and families back, and they all got their belongings back, because one man sought the Lord, and followed what God had said to do.  David didn't play the blame game, he played the encourage himself in the Lord game, and He won!  He went back to what had always brought him encouragement and direction, and through God, there was victory.

    When life gets discouraging and you feel like blaming others for the mess you're in.  Stop!  Turn to God and find out the truth.  He can lead you into victory.  Go back to the Word and seek the Lord while He may be found.  Who knows, maybe your turning to God for encouragement, can bring victory and encouragement to others around you. 

   

 If you haven't received a copy of my book Unfolding Grace Notes, it's available on Amazon.  It might encourage you like it still encourages me. 

Walking with Heat

 

  I did something today, that I've never done before. I went for a walk. LOL. I've actually done that a lot, but today, I went for a walk, and packed my gun with me. Why? Because a neighbor had spotted a mountain lion the other day. Since I walk down dirt trails between fields, packing a gun is not a bad idea. I thankfully didn't see a mountain lion, but did get startled by a pheasant flying up out of the golden barley next to the road. After I jumped I had to laugh at myself for being startled by a bird. LOL! I took my walk quite early before the heat from the sun kicked in again. Yesterday it was 107, today is supposed to hit 100 again too, but early this morning at 6 am, it was in the cool 70's. The cool air felt so good after yesterday.

    Carrying a gun, packing heat, conceal carry, open carry, these are all fairly new terms and phrases for me. I'm still in the learning mode. I have actually surprised myself, that I'm a fairly good shot. I typically shoot around 60%, or out of every 10 shots, 6 of them are in the bulls eye zone, the others close by. Not too bad for a beginner. I'd love it if every shot made the bulls eye, but I'm not there yet, nor am I in life. I often am shooting at the target, but miss getting it straight on. I mess up, I miss. I'm human. In shooting, I'm a beginner, and just learning how to sight in my target. I've had a little more experience in this game of life, but still often miss my targeted bullseye. Thankfully my God is a forgiving God, and like the game of Horse Shoes, 'close' can often still score you points. My perfectionistic personality wants me to think I'm a failure, but thankfully God doesn't see me as that. He tells me that He began a good work in me and He will complete it. As long as I'm still aiming at the target, He can work with me. 

So don't give up. Keep on going. Keep aiming for the mark, and try again. God has great things in store! And carry heat when a mountain lion has been spotted in your area.🙂 And walk when it's cool before there's too much heat.🙂 

"I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return]." Philippians 1:6 AMP

Rattle Me Shake Me

   The other day, a memory from Junior High floated back into my recall memory. I was sitting in some class and thinking of a song (my mind wandered even back then). The song was about being happy in Jesus and had a couple of funny verses to it. One verse was about sitting in a classroom, getting asked why you were smiling, and getting sent to the principal's office because the teacher thought the student was high on drugs. So, as I sat at my desk thinking about that song with a smile on my face, my teacher called on me and asked, "Miss Shaw, what are you smiling about?" That made me smile and probably giggle all the more. I don't remember my reply, nor did I get sent to the principal's office, but it is a funny memory for me. There's always a song playing in my head, usually relating to what's happening around me. Although I hold this memory, I had forgotten the song. Then, a couple of days ago, I played a mix of older music from the 70s on my Spotify app. Some good Second Chapter of Acts, Evie, Keith Green and a few more, when the song started playing. I realized I knew this song, and that's the song that had me smiling in that Junior High classroom. So listen to this wonderful fun song from Nancy Honeytree called "Rattle Me Shake Me." It made me smile way back in Junior High and still makes me smile today, because I've got Jesus inside!! 

Cheese Sandwich Delivery

   The Bible tells us a story in I Samuel about a young man who went to deliver some cheese sandwiches to his brothers who were serving in the King's army. But before he was the delivery boy, he watched his Dad's sheep in the hillside pastures.  And like most boys, to keep himself entertained, he'd take his slingshot and do target practice.  When he got bored with that, he'd pick up his lyre/harp and play.  You can get really good at an instrument when you have hour after hour of nothing to do but watch the sheep.  When he first started, I'm sure the sound alone kept the wild predators away. 

    One day, while he was out watching his Dad's sheep, the famous preacher came to their home to have a special service.  Everyone was there except this young shepherd boy.  They left him out in the pasture because he was too young to understand the importance of the preacher anyway, and someone had to be there to watch the sheep.  So he sang and played his lyre/lute while his brothers and parents listened intently to the preacher's words.  The sermon didn't go real long, when the preacher got to the point of his visit.  God had sent him to anoint one of the boys as the nation's next king.  Each son passed before the preacher, and God told the preacher each time, "No, not this one."  Finally, the preacher asked if there were any more sons.  They all looked at each other, and finally said, "Yeah, there's one more, the youngest, but it can't be him, he's nothing but a shepherd, and musician always playing that stupid harp of his."  The preacher said, "Go get him, for this service will not end, and we will not sit down and eat till he comes."  Everyone knows there's nothing worse than cold food, so they ran to get the young man.

  When the young man arrived from the pasture, still smelling like the sheep and the fresh country air, the Lord spoke to the preacher and said, "This is the one. Anoint him as the next king."  So, right there in front of his parents and his older brothers, the young lad was anointed king.  This didn't make his brothers very happy.  There might have been a conversation with him later that went like this, "Don't think for a minute, Squirt, that just cause some preacher came and poured oil on you that you're any kind of big shot.  You're still our punky little brother, and not good for much except watching sheep, so get back to the pasture and watch them."

  This young man returned to the pasture and continued doing what he had been doing before.  He was obedient and faithful to caring and watching over his father's flock, all the while singing and playing his harp/lyre.  Eventually, he got so skilled at it that it became the soothing sound of the hillside, and the sheep knew his sound and relaxed under the sweet music.  The music drifted through the hills, and people began to notice it.  Eventually, it was even brought to the king's attention about his skill, and he was invited to play for the king at the palace.  

    But war broke out in his country, and some of his brothers left to serve in the army.  One day, his father hungry for information and news from the war, sent this young lad with some cheese and some bread to his brothers at the front lines.  When he arrived he left the cheese and bread with the supply keeper and ran off to find his brothers to see how they were doing.  While catching up with his brothers he saw the giant.  This giant kept taunting the army, and accusing them of being cowards, as no one had stepped up to challenge and fight him.  That's when the lad could take it no longer, and asked what will done for the man that conquerors this giant.  He was told that the one who defeats this giant will be made rich, given the king's daughter as a wife, and his family shall be tax-exempt from then on. The lad thought about it and knew that with God's help he could do it.  This giant would be one of the biggest targets he had shot at, he was bound to hit him, he was too big to miss.  It would be no different from the lion or bear he had taken down who had threatened the sheep.

    So he took his slingshot, found five smooth stones in the stream, and went after the giant.  His brothers and the rest of the army looked on, sure that this young lad would be the next war casualty.  As the young man ran to the giant, he yelled, "You've got a sword and a spear, and keep cursing my God. I come at you with the name of the Lord my God, who I worship."  With those words, he slung his slingshot around and fired his rock at the giant. Sure enough, it hit the target with incredible accuracy, and the giant fell to the ground.  This young boy became a hero that day, and throughout all time, his story of bravery would be told.  

    He didn't set out to kill a giant, and win a great victory for his country.  He set out to deliver some cheese sandwiches to his brothers hungry and tired on the front lines of war.  He was just doing the little things, like watching his Dad's sheep, learning to play an instrument, and practicing his skill with his slingshot.  He kept faithfully doing the things he was supposed to do, and when the time came, God knew He could do great things through him. The moral of the story is that even the smallest tasks, when done with faith and diligence, can lead to unexpected opportunities for greatness.

  So keep watching your sheep, practicing your instrument, swinging that slingshot, and being a cheese sandwich delivery boy.  Someday, you may be needed to slay the giant. Don't belittle the little stuff.

(The story of David is found in I Samuel 16-17)

      

She Believed Ladies Retreat in Hardin

So excited about this Retreat. It's been four years since I've put on a Retreat, it feels so good to be back in the saddle so to speak and doing what I love to do. So ladies, hope you can join us!! If you're interested, I can email you a brochure, which has more information. Kelley

Tune Up

Playing my 12 string that I’ve owned and played since 1978.  

 

”Blessed be the Lord my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle— I will sing a new song to You, O God; On a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to You,“ ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭144‬:‭1‬, ‭9‬ ‭NKJV‬

    I’ve played guitar for over 50 years now, and no matter how long I play there is always something that’s required in order to play, and that is to tune the guitar. No matter what guitar you play, it requires tuning at some point. There are some guitars that stay in tune better than others. But even the most expensive guitar at some point needs to tune. No guitar plays by itself, and depending on whose hands it is in, will determine the sound coming out of it. Even though I’ve played for over 50 years, I personally know people that have played for way fewer years, but can make my guitar sound like I’ve never been able to make it sound. Level of skill and talent. But that doesn’t stop me from playing.

   Sometimes life is like my guitar. It needs a tune up. There are a couple of ways of doing that. You could just tune it to itself, and you’ll be fine as long as you don’t try to play along with someone else, then you may be out of tune depending on what you used for your starting tuning pitch. Next you could use an electric tuner. This is often my go to now, and they now make them that easily clip on your head of your guitar, and hear and feel the vibration of the guitar to get it in tune. The final way you can tune a guitar is to go an instrument like a piano, and tune to it. If you’re tuning to an electric keyboard, your pitch will be exact to A44, as an electric keyboard can’t go out of tune, like a stringed instrument. 

   The devil loves to come along when you’re not looking and twist your tuning pegs down a pitch, to get you out of tune and sounding awful. Your own human nature can do the same. But it’s when you realize you need a tune up, you can turn to the one with the true pitch. God never goes out to tune. His pitch is perfect, and when we tune UP to Him, we can begin to do battle with our fingers and fight a winning war with praise on our ‘stringed’ instrument. 

   So how do we tune UP to God. By digging into His Word, the Bible, and not just reading, but doing it. Don’t worry, you’ll need to tune up often. I often have to tune up in between songs, as I tend to play pretty hard, and can easily get my guitar out of tune. I don’t beat myself up for getting out of tune, I just make the adjustment and get back in tune, so I can continue to play and make music that’s pleasant to listen to.

Solve the Riddle

 There are people who love to tell riddles, and they're usually good at solving them. I'm not in that group of people. I usually sit there feeling stupid till someone else solves it, and then I have to ask to have the solution explained to me. I'm also in that group of people who often mess up the punch line of a joke. Riddles are just so hard. They're a mystery to me. 

   I was so pleased to find this scripture recently while reading through the book of Psalms.  "I listen carefully to many proverbs and solve riddles with the inspiration from a harp." Psalms 49:4 NLT Now this verse I get!

   I have often had a perplexing problem in my life and didn't know what to do, but then, while worshipping God, usually with my guitar in my hand, the answer came to me. I was being scriptural but didn't even realize it. Each time, I was so thankful to the Lord for bringing the answer to me. One time, in particular, a picture of something came to me while I was worshipping. In this case, it was a picture of a dress. I had never seen one like that, so later, I found a piece of paper and pen, and I sketched it out. Later that year, I needed to make a dress for my daughter for her brother's wedding. I came up with a design and made it. Later, I found that piece of paper from earlier, and here it was, exactly the dress I had just designed and made. I'd forgotten about the drawing, but it was in my heart, so it still came out. During that time of worship, when I saw that 'dress,' I was a little irritated at 'seeing' it because I just wanted to worship, and here I was, seeing a dress in my mind's eye. But God downloaded it to me because I was worshipping. My focus was on Him, and then He gave me what I was going to need.

You might not play a stringed instrument, but you can still worship God. You don't worship to solve riddles or problems in your life. You just worship the Lord from your heart. And sometimes,
He can bring you the answer to your riddle while you worship. 

Every moment is a good time to praise. Anywhere you are. At any time. Lift your voice and heart to him. 

Feeling at Home

The courtesy loaner car

 My Jeep has been at the repair shop for the last few days. It was running really rough. So far, the mechanic can't find anything wrong, so it will possibly be chalked up to the extreme cold weather, and maybe some bad gas. So, while my Jeep has been in the shop for the last three days (it was on a waiting list to be looked at), the shop loaded me this sporty little Hyundai car. It's a fairly new car, as it only has 10,000 miles on it (I can put that much on in a few months!) and has quite a few bells and whistles that I've never had before in a car. Of course, being a new car, there's no key for the ignition, just a button to push that relays off the fob you must have with you. It has a fancy backup camera and lots of other features I have yet to figure out.

    It always makes me a little nervous driving a vehicle I'm not used to. I don't automatically know where the buttons or levers are that control things. Of course, all cars are standard, thank God, in the turn signals, gas, and brake pedal, but other than that, you have to relearn with each vehicle where things are. The car, of course, gets me down the road just the same as my Jeep, although my visual sight range is quite a bit lower to the ground than my Jeep, and I'm pretty sure the gas mileage is way better in this little car. As I was driving it yesterday, running a few errands, I got to thinking about the correlations to life. Sometimes, we even temporarily have to switch our mode of travel through life. Even though our regular way is getting us down the road of life, sometimes, that needs to be brought in for repairs and maintenance. But that doesn't mean our journey has to stop or end. Another mode of transportation is offered. Sometimes, it feels a little uncomfortable and unfamiliar, but it still gets you down the road. It can look different in shape and color and even in horsepower under the hood. Whether it's just temporary or you make a more permanent change, there's always a period of adjustment. Sometimes, that can happen in just a few minutes of looking over the controls; that can be a much larger and lengthier learning curve in other vehicles. The more you drive the new vehicle the more you get comfortable with it. Eventually, it feels like it's yours and drive without consciously thinking about where everything is located. You feel at home. 

Feeling at home is a great feeling. I haven't had that feeling for some time. I've moved around 25 times and currently don't have a home to dwell in, except my one on wheels. Even at that, I currently am not in my motorhome, as the weather in Montana got a little too cold to stay in it. We all long for that 'feeling at home' state. Where we aren't constantly adjusting and changing how we live. But the reality is, nowhere on earth is my permanent home, but God does promise to His children that He has a home and place for us in heaven.  John 14:2: "My Father's house has many dwelling places. If it were otherwise, I would tell you plainly because I go to prepare a place for you."  But God has also promised us a place here on earth. "My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places..." Isaiah 32:18  that sounds like a place called home.

The best place to feel at home is "in Christ." That's where we're hidden in the secret place of the most High.  Psalms 91:1: "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." 

    I know I always have a home in Christ, but my current physical abode is still an adjustment. It takes time to adjust, even if it's just temporary. The controls are in a different location. I find it necessary to just stay calm and keep driving. My repairs are being made on my vehicle and I will soon be back in it driving to the next destination, and maybe even someday I'll have that 'I'm at home' feeling again.

Be an Expert on Today

   

  Several times in my life, I suddenly was called upon to get up and say something, and I had no prior preparation or warning that this would happen. The next day, I often think of way better things I should have said because now I'm an expert on what yesterday should have been.  

   Why is it that tomorrow I’ll be the expert on today, but today, I fumble through and seem uncertain of my decisions, choices, and words?  We’re all experts tomorrow on what should have been said and done today.  But today, I’m an amateur, still learning what to do.  I’ve often thought, wouldn’t it be great if I could live my teenage years or early adult years over with the knowledge I have now?  But then, I got this knowledge, having lived through those years and learning life’s lessons.  So, by living today, I can gain from my past and not make the same mistakes I did back then.  Hopefully, I will always make my tomorrow a better place.  Today is when I make the decision to learn from yesterday so my tomorrow is better.  So be an expert on today by learning from the one who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8).