Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. ~John 8:32

Author Archives: Dee Baker


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Practice Makes Progress

The room was spinning when I woke up the morning of the first Candle Wishes 5K walk/run last month. Although I’ve had occasional trouble with dizziness and nausea for some time now, the doctor still isn’t sure what’s causing it, perhaps migraines without the headache.

I just take the meds he prescribed, and it usually clears up quickly. So I took my meds that morning and, even though I wasn’t exactly steady on my feet, with the encouragement of my son, James, and a dear friend who walked with us I did manage to finish the course.

Last year I had told James that I was planning to walk the four-mile course of Borodash on Thanksgiving Day, and I asked him to join me to help keep me motivated. He, unfortunately, thought I understood the need to train in order to be able to do that! Duhhhh—you’d think I could foresee that need. Okay, sure, I’ll try to do a little walking to prepare for it—I promise!

Well, I did do some walking. I even went to the gym two or three times a week with a friend in an attempt to lose some weight, too. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really very serious about training. Oh, I managed to lose a little weight and on Thanksgiving morning I walked the entire four miles of Borodash with James’ encouragement. I thought that was quite an accomplishment! But, lo and behold, he then proclaims I have to do at least two 5K walks/runs this year in order to prepare for this year’s Borodash. Okay, but this is getting to be quite an ordeal. I guess I can do it, but I don’t have to like it!

My first practice walk, the Candle Wishes 5K, is now complete. Did I train for it? No, I walked not even a single kilometer in preparation. Will I find and enter another 5K before Borodash? Yes, but only because I promised my son I would. Will I train for it? That remains to be seen.

2015 Borodash - James & DB - reduced

I certainly know the need for training. Had I trained for the first 5K, I’m sure I would have done better than finishing ahead of only one person—a lady who had recently had knee surgery and whose husband had told her she wasn’t ready! (Happily, she kept trudging along and did finish!)

Why am I not preparing properly for the races? Probably for the same reasons I’m not into exercise and a healthier diet right now. I easily find excuses for not doing what I know I need to do: I have too much to do; I’m too tired so I need to rest a while; let me check my email first—oh, and my Facebook account; I just can’t think about that right now—I’ll think about it tomorrow (the Scarlett O’Hara syndrome); this is hopeless, I may as well give up!

Motivation is the key in any race. Maybe reaching my goal weight or increasing my stamina just isn’t enough motivation for me. I may even decide to drop out of the next 5K.

There is one race I have no intention of quitting…the one Christ has promised to run with me. Paul tells us in Acts 20:24 that we can persevere if we have the right motivation: However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

Testifying to the good news of God’s grace, the anticipation of bringing another person to Christ—now that’s motivation! With that motive we can without a doubt complete the race.

Does that mean we won’t stumble or fall? No. Does it mean we’ll never want to quit? No.

But just as James kept telling me I could finish the four miles of Borodash, we have plenty of encouragement to keep us going: Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls! (Hebrews 12:1-3, The Message)


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Was Jesus Too Busy to Talk to His Dad?

If you were walking and talking with Jesus in the flesh, can you imagine his telling you that he’d really like to spend more time with the Father, but He’s just too busy today? Oh, the people who need me today…it’s just overwhelming! I just don’t have time to be still and know that He is my God. What He might instead say to you is, Oh, the people who need me today…it would be overwhelming were I not first to be still and know that He is my God!

Can you imagine Jesus telling you he has a secret sin, and no matter how hard he tries, he just can’t get rid of it? That could have been him since he was truly human. However, that is not who He was. It seems to me the reason he didn’t become that person is that he spent so much time with the Father.

Staying busy has been one of my “greatest” accomplishments in life. Could it be the evil one wants to entice me to accomplish “good things” under my own power? Perhaps in that way he can keep me too busy and distracted to become who God created me to be. Instead, I want my life to reflect the power of God’s love in my every thought, word, and action.

The only way for my life to be a reflection of His love is to continually listen to Him. If I stay too busy doing first one project and then another in a seemingly endless assembly line of projects, then I’ll have great difficulty listening to Him.

footprints-JesusJesus wants me to talk with Him and walk with Him and learn from that everyday walk how to be like Him. If I want to figure out who I am and why I’m here, I must first figure out who He really is and let Him transform me to be more and more like Him.

Jesus not only spent time with the Father, but he also spent a lot of time with messy people. We’re all messy people, but as we say in Celebrate Recovery, God can take our mess and turn it into His message! We’re not allowing Him to do that when we don’t spend time in His presence. Only when you and I are as serious as Jesus about spending time with our “daddy” and attuning our lives to His will—only then will we receive the power from His precious Holy Spirit to accomplish the seemingly impossible task of loving messy people.

Jesus is genuine, humble, loving, and kind. He shows true love to all of us even as he tells us things that are sometimes hard to hear. We can do the same for others but only when we take the time to talk with Him, to walk with Him, to let Him transform us into looking and acting just as He does.

This week post a card on your bathroom mirror with three simple items that will help you on this journey:

  1. Ask Jesus to give you a greater desire to become like Him.
    And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18
  2. Spend as much morning, noon and/or evening time as you can reading/studying God’s Word, even if that’s only a few minutes each day.
    Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.     Psalm 119:97
  3. Spend time praising God and praying for the needs of at least three people every day this week.
    For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. 1 Peter 3:12


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We Belong to the Light

In the past you were full of darkness, but now you are full of light in the Lord. So live like children who belong to the light. Light brings every kind of goodness, right living, and truth. 
Ephesians 5:8-9 (NCV)

Do you get as tired of winter as I do? It’s the darkness that gets me down—so many gray, cloudy days with no sunshine in sight. Yuck! I’m so glad yesterday was the first day of spring. I’m ready for warm days and sunny skies.

Maybe I have seasonal affective disorder (SAD—what an appropriate acronym!). Do you realize that although there are treatments for those of us who need more light, there has not been a single treatment developed for anyone who craves more darkness? Have you ever heard of anyone who wants to be in deeper darkness and despair? No, I didn’t think so.

One of the things I miss in the wintertime are the flowers. Well, everything about me except my sinuses misses them, anyway. I wish I had real flowers on my table all year long like Chick-fil-A does—one of the many reasons I love eating there. Yes, I know there are plants you can grow inside all year. Unfortunately, I have two black thumbs—give me a plant and I can kill it within weeks. I’ve just about resigned myself to artificial ones. They require only a little dusting occasionally, and as long as no one gets too close and tries to smell them, nowadays they could almost pass for real ones.

Farmer's hand watering a young plant in sunshine

So far, the only reprieve in my plant killing spree is a shamrock a dear friend brought to me when I had cancer surgery three years ago. I’ve almost done it in a few times, but it must be very hardy because with a little fertilizer and water, it perks right up. But the delicate little white blooms I love so much don’t appear often. Maybe I could coax it to bloom more if I’d be willing to spend the time to pamper it, but that obviously takes more effort than I’m willing to expend. And, besides, you know—the black thumb thing. I’m just grateful it’s still hanging on despite my abuse.

But I digress. I actually could go with several lines of thought here, such as the quality of care we expend on our relationships causing them to either flourish or die. Maybe another day. Right now, I’m headed in a different direction related to the Scripture above, Ephesians 5:8-9.

Where is the spot in your kitchen that’s the darkest corner available, maybe the place you store your potatoes? Try as I may, I can’t find a place where they won’t sprout. Of course, that has a lot to do with how long I can forget I have them, but it doesn’t take long at all. And it really doesn’t matter how dark and secluded the spot I’ve chosen for them.

It takes only a little ray of light to begin the process of growth which, of course, is my point. In this often troubled and dark world we inhabit, it takes only the tiniest ray of light and hope from God to trigger the growth of His love, no matter how cold and dark the heart may have grown.

We were all full of darkness until the Lord brought us into the light. Our task now is to “live like children who belong to the light” and to share that light through “every kind of goodness, right living and truth.”

sky-bright-sunshine behind cloudsLet’s commit to bringing God’s light into at least one person’s world today. Sometimes all it takes is a smile, a listening ear, and a reminder that God is in control. His love can reach into the darkest hole where the evil one wants our shame to drive us. There we try in vain to hide from God. But God’s light can always find a way into hearts we thought were long dead. And when it does, it produces a life full of hope and joy which then overflows into the lives of those around us.

Won’t it be glorious when we no longer need worry about clouds covering the sun because our light will emanate from the awesome presence of God’s Son!


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Blessings in Pain

How do you deal with your pain in the middle of the night when there’s not enough staff in the emergency room and you have to wait in excruciating pain for five hours? Then you see the mom sitting across the room with her crying baby. You can’t help but wonder what’s wrong, how long the crying has been fraying this poor young mother’s nerves, and what prognosis the doctor must give her later.

What do you do if you have to watch your baby suffer? What do you tell her if you know the outcome is not going to be what you’ve hoped and prayed for? Or maybe you’re never given a diagnosis and you have to live your life wondering if the horrible waves of pain will come again with no warning.

Then you get pulled up short when you enter a tiny room to wait for the doctor and you see the representation of Jesus on the wall. You realize that God had to watch His Son suffer; then He chose to turn away, and He did it all for you. How can you appreciate the depths of sorrow God can feel not only for His only begotten Son but also for you, His beloved child?

It’s difficult to deal with your own pain, but it’s also extremely difficult to watch someone you love go through pain that you can’t stop, that you know you have no control over. That was the task I chose last week. As difficult as it is to endure, God always brings something good out of the pain in our lives and in the lives of those we love. At the very least, we can learn some important life lessons by watching and listening to others as they process their pain.

Here are twenty important things I learned (or was reminded of) while spending twenty-four hours in the hospital with my friend:

  1. hands-loving peopleLoving people is more important than doing important things!
  2. When I’m in pain, I can be extremely self-absorbed.
  3. Five hours of pain, even a full twenty-four hours of excruciating pain, is nothing compared to what Jesus endured for me.
  4. The little things are what make the difference in life.
  5. Loving people is more important than doing important things!
  6. Babies can still make me smile—even during times of great pain.
  7. Friends & family are the most important assets we have.
  8. God is still in charge.
  9. Loving people is more important than doing important things!
  10. I don’t have to allow my pain, whether insignificant or immense, to take my attention off the only One who can heal me.
  11. I may get a spiritual do-over because of Jesus but my body may not get a physical do-over, so I should take good care of the one I’ve been given.
  12. It’s important to care well today for the things and, especially, for the people I’ve been given because they can all be gone in a heartbeat.
  13. Loving people is more important than doing important things!
  14. All the stuff I worry about and the things I think I have to have and do are nothing compared to the joy of being there for someone else.
  15. When I’m in enough pain, it doesn’t feel like a bad option at all to think about God calling me home.
  16. It feels much better to have a clean kitchen when friends stop by unexpectedly to visit the sick.
  17. Loving people is more important than doing important things!
  18. God still reigns in heaven—and in my heart—even when all is not right with the world.
  19. It can be a joy to let people have the run of my house and my heart, but first I have to give them permission to do so.
  20. Loving people is the important thing!


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Today I Choose to Believe

winter tree in fog Psa96.9

Here I am before You, Lord,

Again fearful,

Again doubting,

Again shameful.

 

Lord, teach me to be satisfied

With Your gifts,

With Your grace,

With Your love.

 

How can I not be satisfied?

You gave up everything,

You gave me life,

You gave me freedom.

 

Teach me, Lord, that with You

I am blessed,

I need nothing more,

You are always enough!

 

Lord, today I choose to believe

Your Spirit is living within me.

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
(Romans 8:11)

 

I am Your beloved child, not an orphan.

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
(Romans 8:15)

 

Your Spirit will transform me into the person You made me to be.

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
(2 Corinthians 2:18)

 

You alone will make me bold to live out and to share the good news of Your Son, Jesus the Anointed.

Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
(2 Corinthians 3:12)

 

Only in the power of Your Spirit am I able to choose the right path, speak the truth, and share Your grace and love.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
(Romans 1:8)

 

I have no hope but in You.

Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.
(Psalm 62:5)

 

I have no love but Your love.

God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
(Romans 5:5b)

 

I have no power but the power You give me through Your precious Spirit.

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
(2 Timothy 1:7)

 

Everything I have and everything I am comes from Your gracious and merciful hand.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
(James 1:17)

 

Here I am before You, Lord,

Again courageous,

Again trusting,

Again confident in You alone!

 

Thank You, Lord!

 Every Day is a New Start


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A Lifetime of Yes

As I browsed Amazon in December trying to decide what to buy the family for Christmas, I clicked on Shonda Rhimes’ Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person. I didn’t buy it, haven’t read it, and probably won’t — I already have about a gazillion books that I’ve bought and never finished, thank you very much! I simply liked the title and wanted to see more.

Reading the blurb made me want to write a book myself. If I were to begin such an ambitious project, the book might center around my need to say yes to God whenever He nudges me. My title could be something like A Lifetime of Yes: How to Dance In Praise, Stand in the Son and Be God’s Wholly (Holy?) Unique Person.

IMG_5572So far, I’ve not felt called to write a book — this blog is even a bit out of my comfort zone. Maybe you’re like me and fear doing anything you’ve never tried before. Why is that? What’s the worst thing that could happen? What is it I fear about stepping out of my comfort zone?

Do I really believe God would ask me to do anything that He could not or would not provide the resources to accomplish? Perhaps it’s just that I’m fearful of my motives. Maybe this is not really God’s nudging but my own selfish desires exerting themselves. Whatever my excuse , I believe every time I say no to God, the underlying reason is that I want to accomplish great things in my own power and using my own wisdom. I probably want to take the credit for any successes, too.

When I try to accomplish anything God asks of me in my own power, the waves will always overwhelm me as they did Peter when he took his eyes off Jesus (Matt. 14:30). I too often forget that failure or success is not mine to determine. All God asks of me is to be faithful in following His lead. He will take care of the outcome.

What types of things have you felt God nudging you to do, but, like Moses (Exodus 4:1-12), you’ve always told God you didn’t have the skills or courage to do them? As if He didn’t know how weak and incompetent we are without His power! Exactly how dangerous are the things He’s been asking of you — if not dangerous, perhaps just scary to you?

What if you did “scary” things like telling a friend that you admire her and would love to spend time getting to know her better? What if she ship in harbor - comfort zonerejects you? She might think you’re a weirdo and run for the hills!

But then again … maybe she has been thinking the same thing about you. Maybe God has put her on your heart because He wants you to bring her to Him. A beautiful, even a saving, relationship could develop just because you had the courage to say yes to that impulse to connect.

Let’s pick at least one thing for this new year that God has been nudging us to do for Him. Let’s simply ask him for His strength, His wisdom and His power to do that one thing. He will shower us with His blessings as we are faithful to His calling, not just this year, but for a lifetime of yes.

Father, forgive me for being fearful when You nudge me to do Your will. Help me to listen only to You, and give me the courage to always say yes. Give me the power to trust You and to remain faithful.


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I’ll Take the Gain without the Pain, Please

phone-1052022 copyI’ve recently had cataract surgery on both eyes. Because I’ve worn glasses since the seventh grade, my excitement was running high over the possibility that I would never have to wear them again. Even though my ophthalmologist cautioned prior to the surgeries that it could take several months for the eyes to adjust to their new lenses, I really expected that it would happen sooner rather than later.

For years I’d heard people talk about having cataracts. My husband had already had cataracts removed from both his eyes. I didn’t fully understand what that meant, though, until I experienced it myself.

Good sight is dependent on the lenses of our eyes remaining clear so that the light can enter and focus just as God intended. However, as our eyes age the lenses can become cloudy. It usually happens slowly, and we may not even realize our vision has changed or is not as sharp as it used to be.

I am simply in awe of the intricacies of the human body and especially the eyes. I’m also amazed God has given us the ability to learn about those intricacies and has even permitted us to join him in the healing process.

Cataract surgery allows the doctor to remove our old cloudy lenses and replace them with clear artificial ones. Unfortunately, my doctor was right. It does take time for the eyes to heal and begin working together again with the new lenses in place.

I’ve become rather impatient that the process isn’t working at the speed I envisioned. Not only is my closeup reading vision still slightly out of focus, but if you see me about town you’ll probably find me wearing sunglasses—sometimes even inside. That’s because the new lenses allow much more sunlight to enter my eyes than I can often comfortably endure.

Just as God designed our eyes to see the light of the physical world, so He intended that the eyes of our souls let in the perfect light of His Word. However, over the years our spiritual sight can become darkened. You might say we develop cataracts in the eyes of our souls. Sin darkens our spiritual vision in tiny increments and so gradually that we may not even realize we’re no longer seeing clearly.

Jesus, the Great Physician, wants to clear the lenses of my soul’s eyes. But He won’t do surgery without my permission. I have to want my vision cleared so that I can see the truth He has set plainly in front of me.

I must be patient with the process, though. Just as with my physical eyes, I want my spiritual healing to be amazing and instantaneous, and I don’t want any pain associated with it. Unfortunately, that is rarely the case. As Rick Warren of Saddleback Church has said, “The truth will set you free, but first it may make you miserable!”

The problem is we don’t like to be uncomfortable, and when we are, we want to fix the situation immediately. Just as I wanted my doctor to fix my cataracts without discomfort and without waiting, I also want the Great Physician to simply heal my soul immediately and without any pain.

However, that’s usually not the way God chooses to work. When we truly know and understand God and what He wants for our lives, it’s not at all surprising that He takes his time to develop our bodies, our minds, and our spirits. He knows how quickly we forget. I think He often chooses to show us in the physical realm what he wants us to learn in the spiritual realm.

It takes time to learn to trust our physicians. As we see their knowledge, skill, and compassion bring us healing, we trust them more and more. The same is true in our relationship with God.

God doesn’t have to take time to heal us. He can do that instantly. It is for our benefit that He takes His time as we see in Ephesians 3:17: “Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.” It takes time for us to learn to trust God, and it may not be without pain, but where else can we go for healing?


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Does God Really Want to Give Me What My Heart Desires?

Be delighted with the Lord. Then he will give you all your heart’s desires. Psalm 37:4 (TLB)

When I was growing up, my three sisters used to tell me that because I was the baby of the family, I usually got what I wanted when I asked our parents for something, especially Daddy. So whenever they wanted something and were afraid Daddy would say no, they would send me to ask him.

Now, I don’t really remember that to be true, but I do remember that it was comforting to hear it. That made me feel special—to think that Daddy might have a hard time saying no to me. I believe my heavenly Daddy—Papa, as I like to think of Him (not only because I love William P. Young’s book The Shack but also because that’s what we called my sweet maternal grandfather)—loves me even more than Daddy did and doesn’t want to say no to my requests.

Unfortunately, I seldom felt that Daddy paid much attention to me, well, unless I did something he felt a need to punish me for. Oh, he was a good provider for his family, but I think I was a bit afraid of him. It seemed he had more important things to do than listen to me whining about something I wanted.

I’m afraid that has carried over into my relationship with Papa. I suppose I’ve always been a little afraid of Him, too. I’ve had a hard time believing that He loves me personally enough to listen attentively to what I say to Him, much less that He wants to give me “the desires of [my] heart.”

bread-789833I take a great deal of comfort in Matthew 7:9-11 (MSG): “Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn’t a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing. You’re at least decent to your own children. So don’t you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?”

I love that: “Don’t you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?” Do we truly believe God wants only good for us, or do we see Him through the lenses of our earthly parents who were anything but perfect?

We are definitely limited by our history, by how we viewed our parents and how they interacted with us. At some point in our lives we need to own the fact that, although our earthly parents are in some ways like Papa, their love for us is only a poor reflection of the perfect love Papa will always have for us. Papa is love (1 John 4:8)…pure, unadulterated love that we can only begin to understand and reflect to others in this life.

The best I know to do is to trust Jesus to continually intercede for me at Papa’s right hand (Romans 8:34). He knows what I’m going through because He’s been through all the same emotions, temptations, frustrations, and needs. Papa now knows exactly what it feels like to be human. I like to think He has even more compassion for us since Jesus became one of us.

Now I am delighted to go to Him with my requests because my heart truly believes He loves me. I understand that He wants to give me the desires of my heart because—only through his power—my heart is becoming more like His heart every day.


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Three Reasons Not to Give Your Husband a Makeover

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2, NKJV)

bath-small-reducedDon’t you love watching shows where they do a total makeover of an old house? It’s fun to imagine what could be done with your own house, too. It’s not quite so satisfying or effective, though, when you try a makeover of your spouse.

Have there been times in your marriage when you felt you had to change your husband or die trying? How did that work out for you?

Have you perhaps tried anger, belittling, whining, temper tantrums, seduction? All those forms of manipulation may produce short term results, but at what cost?

If you think you’re being subtle in your attempts to make your spouse over into the perfect “Prince Charming,” you are definitely mistaken. Even if he doesn’t consciously acknowledge your disappointment with who he is (which is what motivated you to try to change him in the first place), he knows, and it definitely harms your relationship. It’s very difficult to have a good relationship with anyone if you believe it’s your job in life to change that person.

There have certainly been times in our forty-six years of marriage that I’ve felt my goal in life was to change my husband.  When that didn’t work out to my satisfaction (which, of course, was always the case), I’ve had pity parties, grumbling sessions, counseling sessions; I’ve experienced depression, anger, resentment, fear — you name it, I’ve felt it.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I think Sam and I have a pretty good relationship. But sometimes we could both use a good makeover. What God has finally taught me to ask myself is this: “Who really needs the makeover here?”

Whenever my focus in life is to make someone else do or be what I want, I have to ask myself, “Who really needs changing here?” Making my husband over is not my job. Actually, even making myself over isn’t my job. My job is simply to submit to God and let him continue to mold me into the image of His Son.

frog-prince-334970 reducedI can’t be who He designed me to be if I keep holding on to who I want to become or what I want to do. And if I keep trying to use the “Prince Charming” template to re-do my spouse, I’m simply denying that God can do a far better makeover of him than I could ever imagine. I’m convinced I’d do a miserable job of it, anyway.

As I’ve finally learned through the Eight Principles of Celebrate Recovery, God hasn’t yet made me the Queen of the Universe, and He has no intention of doing so. Changing people is not my job. God is God and I’m not!

Actually, I’m deeply grateful that I’m not responsible for changing anyone, including myself. Let me paraphrase Paul in Romans 7:14-19, “what I want and intend to do, I don’t do at all, and what I don’t want to do is exactly what I end up doing.” It simply doesn’t work when I try to do a makeover of anyone.

So, what are the three reasons not to give your spouse a makeover?

Reason #1: It’s not your job — God is God and you’re not.

Reason #2: You’d do a lousy job of it, anyway, and probably make matters even worse.

Reason #3: God wants you to learn to submit to His will, and you can’t do that if your focus is on what someone else should do or be.

This week, let’s ask God to help us lose our desire to do a makeover of anyone else. Instead, let’s ask him to give us the makeover he describes in 2 Corinthians 3:18: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (NKJV)


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Are You on Team Grumblers or Team Grateful?

The Lord spread a cloud above them as a covering and gave them a great fire to light the darkness. They asked for meat, and he sent them quail; he satisfied their hunger with manna — bread from heaven. Psalm 105:39-40 (NLT)

bread-baked - blue cloth-hands-reducedCan you imagine getting up in the morning and finding that God has already prepared your breakfast? If I could see the manna spread out over the grass in my yard, not only would I be thinking, “Oh, wow, somebody else did the prep today!” but also, “Yay, no cleanup!”

However, I suspect that if I had to eat the same thing every morning for the foreseeable future, I’d be right there on the bench with the Israelite Team Grumblers. I’m not exactly into the whole let-somebody-else-decide-what-to-eat-every-morning thing, especially if it’s a constant diet of bread with nary a jar of jelly in sight!

What I am definitely into, though, is the thought that my God loves me enough to provide for my every need. That’s an awesome reality that I too often forget.

I don’t have to see manna spread on the ground every day to know that I cannot provide for my own needs, but it would certainly be a constant reminder. I desperately need to keep my mind centered on God and his never failing provision for me. Sadly, I often ignore the daily reminders he sends.

And it’s not just food he provides. He does that in great abundance, but he does so much more. As Nehemiah 9:19-21 tells us, “Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud did not fail to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst. For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing ….”

Even when we’re more like the Israelites than we’re willing to admit, he is faithful to give us everything we need. Not only does he provide for all our physical needs, he also gives us His good Spirit, he has great compassion on us, he lights our way, he never fails us, he never abandons us. In other words, we lack nothing.

When we stay focused on His unlimited provision for us, we can quit grumbling and put on our Team Grateful jerseys!

Father, forgive me when I grumble and complain. Help me to be grateful and praise you always for each blessing you shower on me. In the name of your precious Son, Jesus, Amen.

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