My Prayin' Grandma

I was reading a book last night called "Why Not Women?" written by Loren Cunningham and David Joel Hamilton. The chapter began with a reference in 2 Timothy where Paul reminds Timothy of the faith of his grandmother Lois, and his mother Eunice. That got me to thinking about my own grandma, and how she constantly prayed for her family, including me.

Most Christians in my generation or age group had/has one~ a prayin' grandma. I remember when I was not yet in my teens, Grandma was setting before me the pattern to follow: prayer. I remember her saying about a very sick relative who lived in another state, "I can't do anything for them but pray-the Lord will heal them according to His will."

It's strange how a person can live so long and not realize the impact that some person has had on their life. That's what happened to me just a few minutes ago! As soon as the realization came, I had to start writing it down.

What I learned from my grandmother, mostly in my teenage years, was how to pray with humility and sincerity~just me and God. I learned patience and trust by watching and listening to her talk about her answered prayers. I learned sympathy by seeing her cry when others were in pain. And I learned that if I didn't have anything good to say about anyone to keep my mouth shut.

In retrospect, I am realizing what a giant pillar she was in my Christian foundation. She showed me how to love, how to live, and how to conduct myself in my Christian walk. I am realizing she was a warrior, a fighter for the cause of God and a great believer in her Jesus~her Savior and Redeemer.

Just as Paul told Timothy to remember the 'unfeigned faith' and to 'stir up the gift of God', that is what the Holy Spirit did for me last night. I have been reminded of the unhindered love she showed me growing up. I have the secure knowledge that she said many prayers for me; she travailed for my birth into the family of God.

There have been times in my life when I have been called 'determined' or 'perservering' and I always attributed it to my independence. (Being born on Independence Day seems to ingrain the word as well as the attitude into a person.) No one ever told me that that was what we as Christians were supposed to do. Paul says that when we've done all we can, to stand. Is that not determination~to not let the enemy knock us down, even when we can't see the next step? My grandmother lived it in front of me, and showed it to me in every aspect of her life. No wonder I felt such a loss when she died. Only now, eight years later, do I know the full extent of why.

She was, and still is really, my silent but strong fortress. I see that the path that God has had me walk for the past several years, she gave me the training for. Early in my Christian life, I would not have been able to 'stand' had I not seen her do it in my younger years.

I would hope she would look down as part of that great cloud of witnesses and see the spiritual growth that I've undergone in the last few years, as well as the understanding that came last night. I feel as though I've found the last piece of a puzzle~a puzzle that was started many years ago. I remember a dream I had almost twenty years ago. In it I was riding in a horse-drawn wagon. Everything was monochromatic except the jacket I was wearing. It was red. She was a prophetic dreamer, as am I, so I knew that anything red was almost always associated with Jesus and His shed blood. When I told her the dream, she nodded, smiled and simply said, "Remember, red is for love."

Yes, it is, Grandma. Yes, it is.

Excess Baggage~Cleaning Out the Closet

We all have it. That extra 'stuff' we carry around from childhood, past relationships and other painful experiences. It functions as reminders of the places it came from when something similar comes along and 'triggers' it. But, do we really need it? As a follower of Jesus, do we trust Him enough to let it go?

Just a few days ago, some of my own personal baggage surfaced~ 'stuff' that went all the way back to my childhood. 'Stuff' I didn't realize I had. The subtle, built-in protective barrier I had erected years ago was hindering a particular aspect of my Christian growth, and I could not move forward until I dealt with it. I am so much freer now!

Some baggage is big and cumbersome, and easy to spot. Others are so small that they can become lost~so lost that a person is unaware they have it until someone stumbles upon it. If we are to be true to Christ, true to ourselves, and true to our Christian walk, then the baggage has to go so that we have room for the better gift He has to offer.

For that, we might need to look into our closet~not the closet that holds our clothing, but the closet of our hearts. All of us has a dark, dusty, cobweb-filled corner that we dare not touch because of the painful memories or unforgiveness  that will be there. What do we do about that? Do we just ignore that part of our lives, or put something in front of it to hide the dirt? How can we truly have a clean closet to store our wardrobe (the part of ourselves that we show to the world) if we fail to clean out the dark corners? Only through Christ can we truly shine the light on, and clean out, the dark places in the closet of our hearts.

Jesus~He offers the best house-cleaning service with which no other can compare.

You Have No Power Over Me

Almost everyone knows who David Bowie is~the pop-culture icon with one blue eye and one brown. A few years ago he starred in a movie, along with Jennifer Connolly and some of Jim Henson's Muppets. When my girls were young, they would watch it often. Only recently have I seen the analogy of a spiritual journey hidden in the storyline: how we meet the enemy face to face, to "take back the child that [he] has stolen."

In the movie, Jennifer's character, Sarah, wishes the Goblin King (Bowie) would come and take her little brother, Toby, so she~a thespian wanna-be~ can continue her acting without the responsibility of looking after her baby brother. Once he is taken, she realizes her mistake, and sets out on a journey to get him back through the evil fantasy-land created by the Goblin King. Along the way, she meets a myriad of characters, some sent to hinder her progress, and some of the most unlikeliest of characters that risk 'The Bog of Stench' to help her.

In a very symbolic way, this movie depicts the spiritual battle that goes on in almost every Christian's life at one time or another. We, in our humanistic rebellious state of mind, are greedy, selfish, with no compassion or empathy for others who get in the way of our 'dream.' In turning away the innocent, and shirking our responsibility, we 'banish' them to a 'dark place.' Then, when the convictions hits us of the wrong we have done, we begin a journey to, not only to correct our mistake, but during the quest, realize our own strengths and weaknesses. Those weaknesses can then be used to make us stronger through the leadership of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives. With God on our side, we can pursue the captor through every type of terrain. (Romans 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?)

Near the end of the movie, when it looks like all hope is lost, Sarah remembers the line she had been rehearsing when the baby was taken. She realizes that it is the key to the whole search, and in speaking it out, will rescue the child, and win the war over the Goblin King. Jesus tells us that He gives us power over the enemy. (Luke 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.) 

Paul tells us we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (Roman 8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.)

We have the power of the Holy Spirit living inside us; therefore, we can say to the enemy: 'You have no power over me.'

Is Jesus In Your Boat?

As parents, when our children are very small, we keep a constant, watchful eye on them. As they grow, so does our confidence that they can play, or be otherwise engaged, for longer periods of time without our checking on them. We don't watch our kindergartners as we would our newborns, nor our teens as our kindergartners. We learn (most of us, anyway) that we can trust our children to 'behave' when we're not present, and they learn to trust us to be there when they need us. As the years accumulate, our children mature into young adults that are not 'clingy' or 'needy' as toddlers or infants would be. They learn to have a healthy respect for the dependence and independence they have in their lives.

When my children were babies, my older daughter developed  her independence early on. Then my younger daughter came along a short time later; she cried constantly. She was four years old before she slept through the night, whereas the older had began sleeping through the night at three weeks. She would allow no one to hold her but me; not even her father could hold her more than a few minutes before she would start to cry for me. I'll never know what the problem was but, thankfully, by the time she was eighteen months old, she had 'grown out of it.' But in her early weeks and months, there was definitely a level of insecurity that, to me, miraculously worked  itself out.

That whole scenario makes me look at the story of Jesus calming the storm a little closer. Most mothers, and people in general, would agree that there is nothing more beautiful, or peaceful, than a sleeping baby. I can't help but have the same feeling toward Jesus asleep in the boat, crossing the rough waters during the storm. For Jesus, the tossing water acted as a rocking cradle, while the wind howled a lullaby. Here is the man that had performed miracle after miracle, had throngs of people approach Him for teaching and healing, and besides all that, He spent a lot of nights alone in prayer with His Father. His body was tired-He needed the rest.

But all the disciples could do was worry about the oncoming storm. How many times had they sailed those same waters before? And how long had they been following Jesus when this happened? Surely long enough to know that He would protect them from all harm. But these children didn't want to play unsupervised. Here they were, in their adolescent discipleship, acting like toddlers. The storm would have passed-that's what storms do. The winds that were helping Jesus to sleep would have continued to carry the dark clouds away where they would do no one any harm. He admonished them-where was their faith?-and calmed the storm that would have passed on its own anyway.

Are there times when we 'wake' Jesus to whine and complain about our present condition when, by the very nature of the problem, it will pass? Do we have enough faith in Jesus to know that He will be there for us when we need Him? The lesson Jesus taught them (and should teach us) was that He is ever present, always protecting, even when it looks like He doesn't know what's going on.

So, the question to answer is: Is Jesus in your boat?