Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:1
In tears, I threw my hands up in frustration as I sat at the eye doctor’s office, trying to put contact lenses onto my eyeballs for the first time. For more than thirty minutes, the woman worked with me without me having any success.
I left the doctor’s office embarrassed in both tears and defeat.
For a month, I practiced trying to put the set of trial lenses I was given onto my eyeballs, with no success. Occasionally, I’d get one contact in but need Tom to get it out. I unknowingly wore a lens for four days! It took a trip to the eye doctor to get it out! The goop forming in my eye was the clue there was a problem.
Eight-year-olds can put in contacts. Why can’t I?
I finally succumbed to the idea that it must be true—you can’t teach old dogs new tricks.
I’m sure the doctor was trying to make me feel better when he told me that contacts aren’t for everyone. As much as I wanted contact lenses to work for me, they just weren’t going to. So, instead, I got a new pair of glasses with none other than purple frame
The apostle Paul tells us not to lose heart; that though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
No matter how old we get or how much we fail, thankfully, the spiritual eyes God gives us will never fail.
“Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save”
Isaiah 59:1 NIV
Our son TJ and his bride, Lauren, were getting married. My husband, Tom, was privileged to get to do their ceremony. TJ and Lauren had chosen an intimate garden setting to say their vows and meshing their two families together. It was a hot and sunny day.
Even at the 11:00 a.m. ceremony, the sweltering heat had already arrived. The gazebo was tiered with layers of brick baking the three—a father, a son, and his bride.
While TJ was in the middle of reading his heartfelt, hand-written, emotional vows to Lauren, she staggered, went limp, fainted, and fell. The guests watched in horror, unable to get to her, as her head was heading for a direct hit on the bricks.
In milliseconds, I thought of how she could be injured. A gash, a concussion, or worse—a paralyzing injury. Undoubtedly, her fall would result, in minimum, a trip to the emergency room.
God intervened. In just the nick of time, my husband reached down and grabbed her wrist and was able to safely lay Lauren down. He’s always telling me he has quick, cat-like reflexes. Tom was hailed a hero for saving Lauren, but we know, it was the ARM OF THE LORD who saved her.
A father, a son, and a bride.
Our heavenly Father created marriage to be a metaphor of Christ’s relationship to the church. Just as TJ and Lauren made vows to always love and cherish one another, Jesus makes the same vow to His Church, the body of believers.. Are you passionate about Jesus? Have you given Him your heart? Do you call Him Bridegroom? If not, ask the ARM OF THE LORD to reach down and save you. His Arm is not too short to save.
“The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.” Psalm 118:14 NASB
“The Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction.” – Isaiah 30:20
I had a vision of an unopened package of saltine crackers floating on water. I thought of the words of Isaiah. “The Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction.”
The week had been one of adversity for sure. I appreciated that God would give me a dream to reflect on His faithfulness.
The dream take-away: Saltine crackers symbolized Jesus as the Bread of Life, plus we are called the salt of the earth. (John 6:35, Matthew 5:13) The crackers floating on water–Jesus is called the Living Water. He says, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”—John 7:38.
I grabbed my Jesus Calling devotional, written by Sarah Young. The day’s devotion talked about being joyful amid adversity. God was speaking!
Excited that God was speaking, I wanted to go tell my husband. He was in his office with a friend. As I told my experience, his friend said, “God never talks to me like He does to you. I must not have what it takes to hear from God like you do.”
God speaks to each one of us in the language we best comprehend.
One of my friends once told me that she asked God why He didn’t speak to her as He does to me. And God answered her and said, “Joni is more hard-headed and stubborn. I have to do more to get her attention. I don’t need to do that with you.”
Her words are true. “Sin-ugly” seems too often to rear its ugly head in my life. My husband’s friend got to witness this first hand. As I was telling the two of them my vision and the way God was speaking, my husband interrupted me to show his friend some coupons asking if he wanted any of them. And so there it came…the sin-ugly.
Immediately, I reacted in a way that was embarrassing to me, my husband, and his friend. Adversity. Satan has a way of using those that we love the most to push our buttons, doesn’t he? Yet God’s Word says, “The Lord gives the bread of adversity and the water of affliction.”
Why? Why does God give us adversity and affliction?
The rest of Isiah 30:20 tells us…your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way, walk in it.”
Adversity and affliction is to teach us the way in which we should walk.
A pastor opened his message with a story of young twin boys. Boys who were completely opposite of one another in personality and character. One was a pessimist, the other an optimist. With concern, the boys’ parents talked to a psychologist to ask how they might help their boys learn to discern matters with the right perspective. The psychologist suggested for the boys’ next birthday to shower the pessimist with all sorts of gifts, and for the optimist with merely a nicely wrap a large box of manure. It was a test to see if the twins would respond any differently.
Staying true to form, the pessimist complained about every gift he opened. Not the right color. The car didn’t go fast enough. And so on and so on. The optimist opened his gift and began laughing. He told his parents, “You can’t fool me. A box with this much manure has to have a pony in it.”
How many times do we look at our situations with the wrong perspective? God showed me in my dream last night that as of late, I’ve been acting like a pessimist full of complaints.
The Dream…
Scene One: Tom and I were standing in the kitchen of a new home my son had apparently just bought. The kitchen appeared to be three times larger than the size of our home. It was incredibly large, had all the newest, most high-tech appliances available, and was equipped with several cook tops. The countertops were oddly about a foot taller than standard height. I stood at the counter, complaining to my husband about the height. Why would our son buy this house? He doesn’t need a kitchen this size. And these countertops! He’s not a giant. Why would he want these?
Scene Two: We spent the night at the new home and woke to find our son had made and left the two of us a breakfast smorgasbord. He’d made bacon, eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy, fruit, and smoothies—you name it—he had fixed it. Yet…I complained. Why did he make all this food? There is only the two of us. I can’t even reach the stove-top. I’ll have to get a ladder to fill my plate. And this mess! It’s going to take me all morning to clean it up.
In the dream, my husband responded in his typical fashion. It’s all right. I’ll fill your plate. I’ll get you what you want and help do whatever you need done.
Scene Three: I see my mother in the kitchen holding up a pair of aloe-infused socks. She said, “I came for these.” I remember thinking in the dream: Why would she go to her grandson’s home to get a pair of socks?
After that, I woke up.
Now you may think this is just a weird dream, but not me. I know how God points out my poor behavior. It’s often in dreams. Under the pressure I was under, I had become a person who began complaining about everything. I was complaining about one thing after another. So…God chose a sermon and a dream to show me my perspective was all wrong.
Analyzing the Dream
The house was not our son’s home. It represented God’s house. He dwells with those who abide in Him. Tom and my son were representing attributes of Jesus.
Our son is always doing more than what is necessary. For example, in his high school speech class, instead of just giving his speech, he dressed in costume. In college, not making the school’s baseball team, rather than just joining a league team, he formed a team. Instead of ordering team t-shirts, He went out and secured a sponsor to provide them. This is what God does. He goes above and beyond what is necessary to meet our needs.
Tom represented other attributes of Jesus: loving-kindness, a generous giving spirit, and one who is always willing to serve others.
The high countertop—the one out of reach—represents this journey that I am on with the Immanuel Quilt. Never in a million years would I have dreamed of being called into a traveling ministry or writing a book. Yet look what God has done. He’s made the impossible possible.
What about those socks? Well, they were special socks coated with aloe to soothe the feet. These are the kind of socks that create a sensation of a spa-like experience, which, of course, brings forth peace and tranquility.
Through a dream, I was allowed to see that I needed to change my perspective from that of a pessimist to that of an optimist and ask God to forgive me.
Glitches with the website forced me to call my domain provider for support. What a blessing the call turned out to be!
When the customer service gal pulled up the website, seeing a photo of the Immanuel Quilt, she exclaimed, “Oh my gosh! I know about this quilt!”
Curious, I asked how she knew of the Immanuel Quilt. After all, when you call for support, you have no idea what state or even country your help is coming from. She told me her grandmother, who lives in California, told her about the Immanuel Quilt. A friend had told her grandmother of it, and then in turn, she passed the story on to her granddaughter -in Massachusetts!
I asked her to tell me what she had heard about the quilt, and she proceeded to tell me exactly what it is. What a blessing to learn that from coast-to-coast people are talking about the Immanuel Quilt.
Who will you be sharing the story of the Immanuel Quilt with?
“We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deed of the LORD, about his power and his mighty wonders.” -Psalm 78:4 NLT
