Christian Potpourri

I know I hurt him. I sat, full force, upon his little cat body. He ran as soon he could to the nearest hiding place.
I walked through the house calling to him, “Winston…Winston!”
He wouldn’t come to me and I wondered if he would ever forgive me.
I found him hiding under a bed. I took him his favorite cat treats to cajole him so he would let me pet him, but he wouldn’t. I felt awful that I had hurt him and I wasn’t able to communicate that to him.
Then, it wasn’t even fifteen minutes later and he came to me as if nothing had happened at all. His little cat brain had either forgotten it, or he had decided to forgive me. I kept looking at him expecting him to hiss at me or run the first time I extended my hand to pet him. He didn’t. It was if it had never happened. I believe Winston chose to forgive me.
And I pondered, “What must it be like to be able to forgive so easily?” “Would it be the same if I sat on him on a daily basis?” There is a sliding scale to injustice and how we forgive according to our scale. I’m not sure of Winston’s sliding scale, and I’m not going to sit on Winston every day to find out.
But I will think a bit about forgiveness and how the Lord wants me to do it and do it right, so that when someone sits on my pride, my ego, my ‘right’ to something, I can forgive. I will give up my right to hiss and run.
Excuse me while I find Winston and love on him a little. I find I appreciate him even more now that I am forgiven.

We’ve been doing some serious praying lately, for jobs, for health, for loved ones near and far. There’s so much going on out there for so many people, and a lot of it isn’t good news. Some of it is downright awful.
I knew that I had been pretty emotion-less. I knew I had been steering clear of anything that would bring on tears, sad stories on TV, sweet and touching videos on YouTube or elsewhere. I didn’t realize how I had been ’steeling’ myself against what was really happening, in real life. So when the phone call came and it was an answered prayer, my relief came out in wet tears.When my daughter said she wanted to give God a hug for the answered prayer, I almost completely broke down, but not quite.
But I was moved. It’s one thing to be older like I am, and recognize God’s beauty and bounty. When you’re younger and haven’t been through the trenches, it’s easy to take the credit and think it’s all about you. She did not. Glory and praise were on her lips for the God who had seen her through; there’s a new maturity in her thinking, a wisdom and knowledge. She knows that prayers were answered.
I’m so happy for my girl…and I honestly don’t know which is bringing me the most joy…the job or her acknowledgment that this was God moving in her life.
There are a lot of things still hanging out there for friends and family that are not good.
But for now, today, I have sighed with relief and it feels pretty fine.
Thank you, Lord. Thank you.
Thank you for this answered prayer!

When it was time for prayer requests and praises at a recent Wednesday night prayer meeting, one of the church members, Ruth, asked if she could read two emails aloud to us.
Ruth had received the emails from her friend and her friend’s husband, Fred, who is a pastor in a town in Ohio. The emails pretty much tell the story and I have been given permission to print it in “Christian Potpourri”. What you read below is unedited. I have only changed the font to italic for readability purposes.
The first email Ruth read to us was a prayer request; the email that followed was a report on the prayer request.

“What I am writing to ask you all is for your prayers on Thursday 11/5 at 6 p.m.
Our church is bidding on a vacant elementary school building. The school system has had declining enrollment and consolidated the students into the other 2 schools in town.
The building was renovated 9 years ago and is beautiful. it consists of 20 classrooms, a gym, kitchen, cafeteria and offices.
Fred has had a vision for how it can be used to reach the people of Windham. Over and over this vision has been confirmed to the point of monies being given by The District office of the Christian and Missionary Alliance and their full verbal support. Our own church people are busting with excitement as to the possibilities and have volunteered their time and abilities to make the ministry work. Plus, we have already been receiving monies and pledges from the congregation in support of the project.
The name would be Renaissance Family Ministries.
The last big piece of the puzzle is the actual purchase of the building. The building and property is being auctioned first.
If we would get the building we know that God is moving in other incredible ways. We know that for it all to work out it must be a total God-thing. But we are ready and willing to be there for what He wants.”

That is the end of the first email.

Below is the second email.

Hello again everyone……WE GOT IT! It was an amazing night. What was amazing to begin with was that we had close to 50 people from the church there to support Fred and confirm their convictions about this new ministry venture. Then there was the fact that someone was there who could have out-bid us by quite a lot.
When he realized that Fred was one of the bidders, he stopped bidding, not wanting to bid against the church. Then there was the situation where Fred was about at his limit for bidding, and got down on his knees in prayer, followed by our church people either kneeling, bowing their heads, or laying hands on each other. People not from our group were snickering at the sight, but then….there was a thunderclap from out of nowhere, not just once, but twice! Then the auctioneer pointed to Fred and said, “SOLD”. There were such screams and cheering from our group, that I think we raised the roof of the gym about 5 feet. It was incredible. Fred had bid $190,000 and the auctioneer was milking the time and encouraging the other bidder to go higher. WOW!
Thank you all for praying. We are seeing God continue to work and provide. What more does God have in store for us? Love to all, Janna (Pastor Fred’s wife)”

The following is from the bottom of the email Ruth sent me when she confirmed that I would be allowed to re-print this story. Ruth wrote to me:

……..Mary, Janna called me today with more exciting news. They will get the final papers on the 29th of December. The whole community is excited. I learned that the building was appraised at 3 million dollars!
What a bargain! March 20, 2010 will be the dedication. So far the Library in the Village has asked to rent space; the police station is moving in too; the village offices will move there; a counseling service will rent space too; The police and Village offices will provide all the landscape and mowing tasks. Each of these will pay rent to the church. So again all financial needs are being met.
The church will begin holding AWANA Club in the fall. They will offer many other services. Oh yes, the Salvation Army in their town is also moving in to provide hot lunches and to have a small resale shop.

This is not the stuff of fiction, my dear friend. It really happened. In a town in Ohio.
It’s what happens when people pray and God moves.

Don’t imagine it.
Live it! And move into a New Year filled with the possibilities of what the Lord can…and will do.
Happy New Year!

For my Mother’s 91st birthday I headed south, to Greenwood, Mississippi, for a visit. The next day after arriving in Greenwood, Mom and I packed our bags and drove to Vicksburg, to my sister, Penny’s home, for the most auspicious birthday celebration.

After settling in we all sat outside by Penny’s beautiful in-ground circular pool and spectacular garden. It was a nice Mississippi evening and the slight chill in the air made it feel even more festive.

As we sat outside, visiting about this and that, relaxing and soaking in the fellowship, I watched a little yellow rubber ducky circle the pool over and over again in a clockwise motion. The complete trek didn’t last long and I considered timing him to see if he worked like a minute hand of sorts. Later in the evening Penny quizzed us.

“Why do you think the duck is in the pool?”

I goofily replied, “Something to do with the drain?”

“No.” Penny responded.

Mom asked, “Because of the grandchildren?”

Penny said, “You got it! We tell them it’s here waiting on them for when they come. When they get here the first thing they do is head out to see him. It’s the funniest thing how they love that duck.”

I thought it was incredibly sweet. Because Penny’s grandchildren live at least 2 hours away, it would be really easy for her to take the duck out of the pool and plop him back in moments before the children arrive. But she doesn’t. I think the duck circles around and around for my sister, too, kind of like a minute hand counting down the time in anticipation of the big arrival.

What a picture this paints for me! You know, I’ve thought a lot about the glory of heaven that awaits me. But what I haven’t given a whole lot of thought to how much Christ is waiting in anticipation for my arrival.

John 14:3 NIV And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Jesus has prepared a place for me. Incredibly, amazingly, beyond what I could ever dream, He wants me there, where He is! And because I know how much He loves me, I know He’s waiting expectantly.

I close my eyes and see my sister sitting by the pool watching the little rubber duck go round and round like the hand of a clock in expectation, anticipation, of the reunion to come.

When the children arrive, Penny will watch as they run out to the pool to see the duck.

“He’s here! He’s here!”

Yes, he is. He’s been there all along, circling, my sister watching and waiting.

One day, when I will arrive in heaven. Jesus will be there and everything that is within me will shout:

“He’s here! He’s here!”

And He’s been waiting just for me.

A Glimpse of His Glory

It was early Thursday evening, August 27, and the sun was still high when I pulled my car in front of Teresa’s house. She, Stephanie, another friend, and I had been to a visitation for a friend and past co-worker. Teresa was getting ready to disembark when she asked, “Hey, do ya’ll have a minute?” Stephanie and I looked at each other, nodded and said, “Sure.”
Teresa pointed to the large, stone enclosed circle in front of her house. “You see that? See those flowers in there?” Stephanie and I looked at the flowers and said, “Wow! They are really beautiful, Teresa!” Then she pointed to the house next to hers to the right in the cul-de-sac.
“See this house here? I don’t know if you remember, but my neighbor there passed away four years ago. She always planted gorgeous flowers in her yard every single year. They were just beautiful. After she died, I wanted to plant some in the yard for her husband to have, but I was afraid it would make him sad. I couldn’t decide what I should do. I prayed and prayed about it and didn’t know so I never did anything.”
Teresa pointed back to her front yard again. “Well….the next spring I had flowers in my yard. And they came back, year after year after year, for three years. Then this spring Kurt (Teresa’s husband) went out there and saw nothing but clover where the flowers had been. Assuming there was no way the flowers would come back another year, he got out the sprayer. After he took care of the weeds he came inside and said, “Teresa, those flowers aren’t coming back this year. There was only a bunch of clover there so I sprayed weed killer.”
Teresa went out into the front yard and pushed the clover back with her hand. Tiny little growths were under there, but Kurt hadn’t seen them because they had been covered. The shoots were withered and sad looking, much like the weed-sprayed clover above.
She said, “I began to pray. ‘Lord, you can do anything! You can spread these flowers around as much as You like! You can bring dead things back to life! Show Your glory, Lord; Show Your glory!’ And look! Look what He did! He brought them back, not only in the circle, but in the flower bed close to the house! They’re everywhere! Just look at them!”
Stephanie and I were speechless. For these flowers to come back four years… and after receiving a weed-killing shower was something to comprehend. “Teresa,” I asked, “Would you mind if I write about this?” She gave me a hearty, “Yes!”, and I told her I would be in touch with her soon.
After I dropped Teresa and Stephanie off at their respective homes, I couldn’t get the story out of my mind. A few days later I was still thinking about it. I looked outside the window and thought, “I need to have pictures of those flowers before the fall and frost get them.” I called Teresa and I was over at her house in less than ten minutes.
In the process of taking the pictures, Teresa and I talked and marveled again about what we were seeing.
“Teresa, I can’t believe that these flowers came back again and again and again after you planted them the first year.”
She looked at me intently and said, “Nooooo, Mary. I never planted these. They must have come from my neighbor’s yard. The wind must have blown or something. I never planted ANYTHING. Not one thing.”
Stunned, I stood there looking at the vibrant display of multi-colored impatiens before me. An impatiens is an annual…a flower that has to be replanted every year even in the sunny state of Mississippi. Oh, sometimes they’ll come back, maybe a year, if you’re lucky, two maybe. But FOUR? And spread like wildfire? I looked over at Teresa’s neighbor’s yard. Not one single flower in any of the flowerbeds. Not one. Unbelievable.
Teresa interrupted my thoughts re-iterating, “When Kurt sprayed the weed killer I just prayed. “Lord, you can do anything. You bring dead things to life. And look what He did!”
A thrill coursing through my veins I looked at Teresa and said, “I’m so glad you said that, Teresa! That’s what He does best! Bring dead things back to life!”
“And the circle here, Mary. This circle once had a River Birch growing in it. We had a bad storm one year and lightening struck it. Kurt ended up having to cut it down. We never pulled the roots up. Look…you can see the roots here.”
Indeed, there they were, knotty tree fingers taking up most of the bed underneath the flowers. How in the world had those flowers taken hold?
So many things in this story won’t let go of me. I’m humbled beyond measure at Teresa’s faith and prayer. I am reminded that the simple prayer of a righteous man, or woman, avails much. *
I also feel as if I’ve witnessed a miracle of sorts. St. Louis has cold weather, with heavy freezes. Believe me when I say, flowers like impatiens just don’t resurrect themselves year after year after year after year in our climate with such a display. Especially after being sprayed with poison.
And it makes me think about hope. I know I’ve been writing about hope a lot lately. It’s because I see people, families, communities, and a nation rattled to the core with financial, health and spiritual circumstances. When it shakes the place where you live, your whole foundation can feel as if it’s about to crumble around you and you can find yourself believing that you…and your foundation…will be buried beneath the rubble forever. But we serve a God who brings hope to the hopeless, and life to the lifeless. We serve a God who can bring dead things, financial, spiritual and yes…. physical things back to life.
It is what our God, our Lord, our Redeemer, does best.

*James 5:15 NIV Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

And I want to thank Teresa for letting me tell her story. When I read it to her over the phone and asked her permission to use the photos and to verify the storyline she said, “Mary, you got it all down. Of course use the pictures…that’s what this is about…letting people see God’s glory through these flowers.”

Spreading Seeds
My daughter, Julie made the comment that when I show these pictures, we’re spreading Teresa’s neighbor’s flowers. I hadn’t thought of that.
You never know what God is going to do!