Distractions – Stepping Off Your Path

God has a specific calling, a path for each of us to walk. But what happens when you step off of that path for just a minute?

Let me give you an example:

My path is writing, and I recently had an opportunity to write a short story for publication. So I prayed. (I’m FINALLY learning this is the first and most important step!) I had such wonderful peace and clarity. The words for the beginning of the story started even before I finished praying. I couldn’t wait to get to the keyboard.

And so I began typing, the story unfolding in crisp, detailed images. And I was enjoying the fellowship with the Holy Spirit as I was, once again, in awe of the delicate way He vividly paints pictures in my mind.

But then a tiny thought like a dandelion seed blew into my mind: I need to send a quick email.

Instead of staying on track and staying close to God in the moment, I stepped off the path just to send a quick email.

When I returned to the story, I tried to pick up where I left off. But text messages started coming in. Then someone stopped by. Then another visitor. The distractions became a whirlwind of dandelion seeds so thick I couldn’t focus on God’s voice or the painting He’d used the tips of my fingers to brush.

It all began when I let my mind wander. Just a quick email.

It was my own fault. If I would have stayed on track, I believe the story would have been finished before the first text came. God knew what my day was going to be like. (And I wouldn’t have been so grumpy with everyone the rest of the day!)

God narrows our path for His perfect reasons. We have divine moments of opportunity, blessings from Him. The timing becomes very specific. He knows the pitfalls to the left and the distractions to the right.

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God wants us to keep moving forward with Him. He wants us to stay on track. Stay focused on the very touch of His hand in ours, the gentle guidance of His Holy Spirit, and our path of purpose. We don’t need to know the outcome. We just need to walk it.

Life is FULL of distractions, my friend. Don’t let your mind turn so quickly to see what all the noise is about. Don’t let the tickle of a dandelion seed pull you out of God’s presence.

Stay focused on God and the ever-narrowing path He’s leading you on. It only leads you closer to Him.

“Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.” (Proverbs 4:25 NIV.)

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2a NIV.)

Reading, “Flowers in February”

If you’re struggling with loss or discouragement during this cold and dark season, I pray my short story, “Flowers in February” reminds you of the unending hope you have in the Lord.

Be blessed, and thank you for watching!

(If you’d rather read the story instead of watching this video, click here.

God Uses You While You’re Waiting

How many times have you waited in line, annoyed and in a hurry? You know what I’m talking about. Your mind is spinning with all the things you need to do and you get to the only checkout line that is open and there is a lot (a LOT) of stuff on the conveyor belt and the cashier is really in no hurry. No hurry whatsoever.

You get irritated, right? Maybe a little annoyed? I mean, you’ve got things to do. You don’t have all day to stand there waiting.

I’ve definitely been there, unfortunately, and I’m not proud of the times I probably huffed and acted like a spoiled brat. (Forgive me, Lord.)

But this past Saturday was different.

I went to a little store not far from home to buy a card. Yep. That’s it. I went to the only checkout line that was open and saw exactly what I described earlier. The couple in front of me had the conveyor belt loaded with a tower of stuff wobbling when the belt moved forward. But the sun was shining into the store, and I shooed away my to-do list that was buzzing around my mind like an irritating little pest. (Boy did that feel good!)

I was in line for a really long time, but I had such peace. Strange, huh?

Finally I paid for my cards (did I mention I found two?) and stepped out the door, the sunlight warming my skin. I drove home with the windows cracked for a little fresh air while listening to some music that soothed my soul. Everything was just fine.

As I approached my turn, a big ol’ pickup truck coming from the opposite direction made the turn ahead of me. I wondered why the driver took the turn so wide, but when I saw him I knew why: he had his face buried in his phone.

I turned and followed him onto this winding country road, dandelions swaying as we drove by. When he started driving in the middle of the road, I tightened my grip on the steering wheel and began praying, “Lord, please don’t let him hurt anyone.” And when he started to drive uphill on a blind curve, still in the middle of the road, I found myself pleading, “Please, Lord. Please.”

I realized in the very next moment who I was praying for when a man on a motorcycle came down the hill.

The truck swerved, barely missing him, and barreled up the hill. From where I sat, it was as if God slowed the motorcycle down with one hand and scooted the truck over with the other; as if both were chess pieces in His hands.

Two lives would have instantly changed in that moment had God not intervened.

But God did step in. He used a stay-at-home momma in a ball cap, delayed her at the store and gave her peace while waiting and for the drive home so she wouldn’t hurry, and nudged her to pray. And then, He answered that prayer and allowed her to see it with her own eyes. Thank you, Lord.

I realize now the moments we sometimes see as annoying or slow-going can be the very situations God wants to use us in.

I’m sure you’ve been there. You’ve talked to a woman in a checkout line because there was a really, really long line. Perhaps she was lonely and God used you to encourage her. Or maybe you had an extra-long wait in the doctor’s office and talked to a man who was terrified of getting back the results from a test. But God used you to comfort the man, to help him in his waiting.

You may not always see how God is using you. It might not always be so clear or fast as His mighty hand reaching down to stop an accident in front of you. But you can be sure that He will use you if you ask Him, if you surrender your times of waiting to Him.

Who knows? You may even get to see Him perform a miracle before your very eyes.

“Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion.” (Ephesians 6:18a NLT.)

“I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27 NIV.)

A God-Given Label

I was lying in bed last night, wide awake and talking to God. Sometimes when things get busy, I find myself craving this time when my little corner of the world is tucked into bed and things are quiet.  When it’s just God and me.

I found myself asking Him, as I see new things on the horizon and I want to prepare and plan for them, who am I supposed to be in all of this?

Ugh. Why do I always want to label myself?  I mean, I’ve been asking God since I can remember, “Who am I exactly and what am I supposed to do with my life?” I want a name, or a title, or a clue!  I can look back over the years and see the self-made labels I stuck to my life:

A student in high school. Not athletic or super smart. What’s next? 

A dishwasher dreaming of writing, a waitress waiting to take off, a college student learning the ropes of life (ha! Maybe a tiny thread on one of the ropes), an assembler in a factory, a poet selling personalized poems. Now what?

A writer of short Christmas stories and newspaper articles, a press operator in the same factory, a renter of a small apartment, a momma to a fur baby. What now?

A wife and a stepmom, a daughter, granddaughter, sister, and aunt. Thank you, Lord.

Moving right along…a stay-at-home mom, a grandma, a blogger, and a writer who has finally finished a novel. A gluten-free, dairy-free girl. But now what? I see more coming, Lord. What should I call myself? Will I fit into one of those neat categories?  Some of those are kind of scary, You know.

It’s like I’m trying to peek into the back door of God’s plan, trying to figure out what’s inside the house before He will let me in. Or maybe I’m just the little girl standing on tippy-toes, elbowing my way up to the open window and sniffing chocolate chip cookies in the air, whining about how long I have to wait to have some.

Maybe I’m always begging God for a label because I find comfort in having one, so I will have a neat and tidy answer when someone asks me about me. Perhaps I find stability in an easy explanation instead of (-gulp-) finding my security and worth in the One who created me and is still molding me and forming me like clay in His mighty hands. Forgive me, Lord.

Are you here with me, peeking through the back door or wiggling up to the window to see what’s next and whimpering about the wait? Do you have a need to label yourself, to fit in somewhere, to find purpose in having a clear-cut direction?

My friend, I learned a great truth last night while the house was still: You and I already have a label. A God-given label.  We don’t need to hunt and search for it.  We don’t have to ask our family or friends or trusted mentor what we should call ourselves.  We don’t need to take comfort or find security in a worldly label, in a position of power or pride with a title to match.  We have a label God placed on our hearts the day we accepted His Son, Jesus Christ, as our Savior.  It’s the label our Heavenly Father carefully, lovingly, and jealously placed there that will stick forever:

Mine.

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!” (Isaiah 43:1b NASB.)

 

Wake Up and Live Courageously

Are you living courageously, boldly? Or are you hiding in the corner of your life, hoping those vultures circling overhead will move on, peeling away those cold shadows they’ve covered you in?

What vultures?

Fear, doubt, shame, anger, regret…calling.

Wait a minute. How did “calling” get in there?

Perhaps that’s what terrifies you the most and is keeping you cowering in the corner with your face buried against the wall, your hands over your ears. Perhaps you can live with a little fear or regret but God’s calling on your life is daunting, terrifying, and brings about some serious panic attacks while you’re hunkering down, praying for this calling to pass and land on someone else.

But don’t you know your calling is where God wants you to shine?  Your calling is what you were born for, what He created you to do, and where you will live with unspeakable joy.

God has matched your life with your calling. All of your past experiences and your current struggles are about to collide with the future God has planned for you.  Perhaps it will cause such a shockwave, such a shaking, that it will be felt clear across the world.

Sound a little scary?

Don’t worry, my friend. God is with you.  You know He promised He will never leave you, and He never breaks a promise.  Never.  He is the solid core of your calling.

But maybe you’re looking back and seeing all the things you tried to do and failed: that college class you took and dropped, the job you quit after a month, the new bowling league or softball team. Maybe you’re even looking back at the way you worked so hard to plant a garden a few summers ago only to find little critters chewing the vines of your cantaloupes and testing every strawberry.  Perhaps you wondered, “Why can’t I do this?  Everyone else can.  I tried so hard.”

Why?  Because God doesn’t want you to be like everyone else. He wants you to be like His Son, Jesus:  obedient.  And that means obedient to your calling.

You see, your calling isn’t something you try just because everyone else is doing it or something you believe in because your neighbor’s brother’s nephew’s wife thinks you’d be good at it. And it’s not some vulture waiting to strike and pick you apart, leaving you shredded and desperate to return to the safety of your corner.

That would be the enemy trying to scare you off. Satan would rather see you trembling in the corner than living out God’s calling for your life and shining for Him. Remember, your calling could possibly shake the world.

So what exactly is your calling?

Your calling is God’s hand working in your life through your past and present and reaching out to you as He whispers, “This way.  Come see what I have for you.”

It’s time to take His hand. It’s time to wake up to your calling and live courageously.  And it’s time to wake up the world.

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”  (Joshua 1:9 NIV.)

“He created each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.” (Ephesians 2:10 MSG.)

“The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.” (Proverbs 28:1 NIV.)

Pulling Weeds

How would you feel if your dentist were distracted by texting and forgot to numb you before beginning the root canal? Or what if the guy you carpool with to work was distracted by the tailgating-driver behind and didn’t see the stop sign or the school bus up ahead?

Distractions can be painful and deadly. They are like weeds growing up all around us that choke the flowers, those things in our lives we’re supposed to be caring for, and they diminish our focus; sometimes to the point where we forget God.

Weeds like to stand big and tall, so we’ll take notice and believe they’re important.  But they’re not.  Not really.  (That text really can wait until you pull the car over.  And the unanswered phone call isn’t going to make your cell phone disintegrate.)

It’s easy to get caught up in all the things you need to get done, to drag your panic attacks along with you as you breathlessly rush out the door to the next thing on your to-do list or to pat yourself on the back because your calendar has no bare spots. But is all that hurrying and busyness a distraction in disguise?

What you believe you need to do may be the very things keeping you from what God wants you to do.  You need to yank that big weed if it’s choking out the new growth God is bringing into your life.

Need an example?

I have a ton of work to do around the house and even more weeds, the literal kind, than I can count; a whole field of them! I feel like they’ve been taunting me and beating up on my sad little tulips and poking fun at my purple phlox.  But then I had an opportunity this week to volunteer at a food pantry.  I could have thought, “I can’t go anywhere.  I’ve got all this work to do, all these weeds to pull,” but instead I turned away from those busy distractions and focused on what I believe God wanted me to.

And let me just tell you, I have never known such a deep blessing in my soul. I went to bed that night thinking, “Today was one of the best days of my life.”  That’s the kind of life God has for us when we fix our eyes on Him.

So what distractions are keeping you from God’s blessing? Look around.  Do you see any “weeds?”  Anything that “seems” important but really in the overall panoramic view of your life doesn’t amount to a pile of dirt?

Give those weeds a good pull, those that are keeping you from God and His purpose for your life, and you’ll be able to see what was quietly waiting underneath all that other stuff is so much better.

“And the seed [the Word of God] that fell in the weeds- well, these are the ones who hear, but then the seed is crowded out and nothing comes of it as they go about their lives worrying about tomorrow, making money, and having fun.” (Luke 8:14 The Message.)

The Puzzle

If you think about it, your life is like a puzzle.  You gather pieces as you grow, as you move forward in life, and learn about who you are.  You begin collecting them from the first, “Why am I here?” to the last breath you take.

But you don’t know what the end picture is going to look like.  Not really.  You can dream of course, even take all the pieces you can find and try to force them to make the picture you want.

Take it from me.  That doesn’t work.

I wanted to be a nurse until microbiology came into my life.  I drove to Nashville to be a songwriter until reality smacked me in the face and asked, “Do you really want to do this?”  I decided not to accept the flight attendant position when I learned I would need to drop my life the instant I was called for a flight.  This list is enormous, so I’ll spare you the rest.

The point is I tried so many things to find out who I’m supposed to be.  I tried to force myself into places and jobs I thought I would like only to realize I wasn’t qualified or gifted and when push came to shove, I didn’t even want it.  I just wanted the label; to be someone with a purpose.

So I stopped trying to force the picture I wanted.  I knew I had this small pile of puzzle pieces waiting for me, those I had gathered since I was a little girl, but without the box, I didn’t know what the end picture was going to be.  I suppose not knowing really scared me.  What if it’s something I don’t like?  What if it’s something so boring I wind up chewing on my own foot just to pass the time to keep my sanity?  Umm, I guess if I’m chewing on my own foot my sanity would be long gone.

That’s when I started asking other people what they thought about my life; what they thought my final picture would look like.  They brought all these other puzzle pieces and dumped them on my little pile.  I asked for it.  No one did anything wrong.  No one but me.  Instead of going to the only One who really knows the big picture, that final picture of what my life is all about, I tried my own way.  And when that didn’t work, I checked around to see what everyone else thought.

Now my little pile of puzzle pieces had grown into an enormous mound of confusion.

The good news, God is not only the artist Who meticulously painted each and every piece just for me, He knows which pieces are mine and which ones are not.  And He can help me find those important corner pieces, those four pieces that hem me in and stop me from going too far in any one direction.

So let me ask you:  How big is the pile you’re working on?  Are you working on the little pile you’ve been gathering or are you grabbing those “good” pieces and trying to force them?  Or are you frustrated, sorting through the mound that others have loaded on you?

Feeling lost?  Overwhelmed?

I understand.

Let me tell you:  You really can ask God to help you.  He’s the One who sketched that beautiful, final picture of you smiling.  He’s also the One who gave you the most beautiful piece, Jesus Christ; the One who adds all the light to your picture.

Once you’ve asked Him for help, He will help you sort through the mess.  He will even point out the pieces you should pick up and those you should leave behind as you walk together.

And when the day comes and you find you’re holding the last piece, a piece that resembles a tiny droplet of water, you’ll notice the only place left for the piece to fit is on the very face of Jesus Christ.  As you take your last breath and the final piece of your puzzle slips into place, you’ll realize the water droplet is a tear belonging to Jesus.

You see, He is so pleased, so deeply moved that you believed in Him, you asked Him for help, and now you’re finally home.

What a glorious picture that will be.

“I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.”  (Jeremiah 10:23 NIV.)

 

Walking With God

It’s exciting to walk with God.  You may not see where you’re going, but you know it’s going to be good.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  (Romans 8:28 NIV.)

“We live by faith, not by sight.”  (2 Corinthians 5:7 NIV.)

The Grip

Grip.  That’s the word God whispered to me yesterday.  And since that moment I’ve been asking Him to make it clear because there are so many ways to look at it.

I thought about all the times I went on roller coasters and my knuckles were white and bulging because I had a death grip on the bar just in case the seat belt gave out.  I remember the tight grasp I had on my daughter’s hand every time we crossed a busy street when she was little.  And I remember the strong hold of my husband’s hand when he grabbed onto my own to help me across the rocky terrain of a gushing river.  There are so many ways we grip onto something or someone, but I don’t believe that’s the “grip” God was pointing to.

The idea here is not about what we grip onto, but what grips us.

So let me ask: What has a grip on you?  Something harmful like an addiction or fear?  What are you allowing to dig, claw, and tear its way into your life, into your thoughts?  What’s stealing your time and health because it’s got a death grip on you and it’s all you can think about so you lose minutes or hours of your life or even sleep as it torments you?  What’s killing your smile because you’re allowing it to hang around, to taunt you and remind you of some shame, guilt, or past failure? Do you sense you’re on the verge of some sort of destruction, a break-down of sorts; mental, physical, or spiritual?

As you may or may not know there is a thief who wants to get his claws into you and steal your life away:  Satan.  You have to realize he’s not the little red guy with a pitch fork you’ve seen on cartoons but a very real, very evil being who wants to trick you into walking right into your own destruction.  And he’s going to make you miserable so you’ll hurry along to get there.

You see, God has a purpose for you.  There’s a reason you’re here, and Satan is afraid you’re going to go to God and ask Him.  Satan’s doesn’t want you to know how important you are and how much God loves you. The enemy would rather you wander around lost and confused and feeling alone, so he can get a tight grip on your mind; prying into it and filling it with his lies.  That makes you an easy target.  And then he’s got you.

But you can stop Satan’s tight grasp from cutting off your circulation, keeping you numb or oblivious to what he’s doing.  Ask God to help you; He would love to free you from Satan’s clutches.

With God, He doesn’t want to grip you painfully in some way, to control you and walk you around on a string like some puppet.  Rather, He wants to hold you.  He wants you to know you don’t have to do it all on your own.  He’s with you.

And as your loving Father, God longs for that moment when you slip your hand into His as His little child.  All you need to do then is stay close to Him and hold on tight as He leads you to the full life He has for you.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10 NIV.)