2012 Theme: Prayer

Carolyn

It’s Friday, January 13, and I’m sitting at the park while the kids and a friend sled. We finally got our first big snow of the winter. January 12 was pretty late for it to arrive, but this Southerner has enjoyed the first warmer winter since I’ve lived here, now 10 years! We had temperatures in the 50s just two days ago! I stood in the sun outside talking to a friend and loved every minute of it.

The last few years I’ve had a theme for the year. Last year it was the Lord as my Shepherd. Every year, it’s such a blessing to ponder a theme, study more, and it seems to go with the circumstances of the year.

Last year as I was faced with a decision I didn’t know how to make, I realized I wanted to know the end answer immediately. But I had to trust that God knew that answer, and I simply needed to let Him show me one step at a time, to lead me as my Shepherd. Over the course of a few months, it became obvious and unmistakable what His plan was. He led me step by step, revealing just what I needed for each moment.

My theme this year is prayer. I had been in a bit of a rut lately, and two days ago, I finally took time to pray. I was amazed at the things that happened that very day after specifically praying about some things. I asked the Lord for wisdom about a friend, and she literally emailed me less than an hour later telling me the very answer I had prayed about!

I had asked him some things about purpose, like “am I missing anything?” I see some of my friends doing amazing things, adopting, moving around the world — and I was wondering if I was being faithful and pursuing all He wanted me to. It seemed so clear as people came to mind that the Lord was wanting me just to be faithful to the ones He has put in my path.

I needed to go out to get some books at the library, and ordinarily when I need to do that, I just go at lunch. But I decided to go out at 10:30 a.m. I debated this back and forth, this out of the ordinary timing. I was so close to turning around. But I went, and when I arrived at the library and parked, a lady was by her car beside me. When she turned around, we both looked at each other shocked. She is someone I haven’t seen in a while, who doesn’t live in the area, who I only knew through a previous work relationship. She went on to share some heavy burdens, and she said she had thought about calling me to pray for her. She felt sure God had brought us into each other’s path that day. And of course, I had no doubt about that. It was an answer to prayer.

I also was convicted by something the Lord had shown me to do in the past, children He has me outreach to, and its been awhile since I took the initiative. So today at the park, we are all together again, 3 sledding while one sits with me playing on the iPhone. I canceled dental appointments for my kids so we could invite them today after school.

Prayer. God used prayer to open my eyes to things I would have overlooked. He hasn’t asked me personally (at least yet!) to go on the mission field or adopt, though I can love and support those who do, but He has placed before me people to love and encourage, alongside my commitment to my family and my work. I am thankful that the Lord is gracious to lead me as my Shepherd, and I pray I will have ears to hear and eyes to see where He is leading. I pray I will pray with consistency and belief that those moments are powerful and effective because of Him.

A quote from Spurgeon to end: “Prayer must not be our chance work, but our daily business, our habit and vocation. As artists give themselves to their models, and poets to their classical pursuits, so must we addict ourselves to prayer. We must be immersed in prayer as in our element, and so pray without ceasing. Lord, teach us so to pray that we may be more and more prevalent in supplication.”

Happy New Year 2012!

Carolyn

We’ve had a really nice Christmas and New Year. We spent the entire 2-week break in town this year, which is unusual, but it was the most relaxed break I think we’ve had in years! We got a lot done around the house, spent a lot of time with family and friends, stayed up late, slept in, and truly rested!

The worship services at church were the highlight for me this Christmas season. It was a blessing to have church on both Christmas Eve (we went to the candlelight service) and on Christmas Day. After preparing for weeks for Christmas in all the ways that it requires, and enjoying Advent services and the Christmas Carol service along the way, to finally sit at church and rest from the busyness that the season brings and arrive at the reason for it all just fills my heart with great joy! Aaahh, we finally made it to THIS moment, to this time to worship. And to have Christmas Day on a Sunday — I would love that every year!

Surely as my heart and mind reflected on Advent in the weeks prior to Christmas, I worshiped, I hope. But for some reason, it always feels like a bit of a forced exercise for me during the season of Advent to try to read Advent books and keep up the reflection on Christmas. This must sound like an awful admission, but I find myself longing for all the other days of the year where I more naturally want to seek Him without it being in a more prescribed way. And yet I’m thankful that the reflection on Christ’s birth gives opportunity to people for more outreach and evangelism in ways that are unique to this time of year. It seems people are more giving and thinking more of others at Christmas, and all of that is good.

As I think about resolutions, it’s easy to want to say I’ll exercise more and eat better, but it occurred to me that maybe my resolutions don’t have to be centered on me. What about what I can do for others? Just something I’m thinking about as we enter the 2nd week of the year!

We struggled to get a good picture in front of the tree this year. This one will do, I suppose. 

I haven’t blogged in a while, and I don’t feel real eloquent tonight. I figure if you skip blogging on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year, you may not be a real blogger. 😦

I’ll try to gather my thoughts and write about my theme for the new year when I can. But for now, Happy New Year.

An Expectant Heart Filled With Hope

Carolyn

A high school friend Terri has hosted an Advent E-vent on Facebook for all the days of December leading up to Christmas. She asked different ones to write and assigned us dates. Today was my date, so I thought I’d share my Advent reflection here on my blog, too.

Romans 5:5 “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

This Christmas, I find myself filled with a sense of sadness. When I think I’ve pulled it together, it creeps up on me and hits me all over again. You see, my husband and I are losing a close friend. Unless God miraculously intervenes, he will not be with us much longer. Even typing those words weighs heavy on my heart.

It reminds me that the Christmas season is often a hard time for many people who have lost loved ones during the year or who otherwise struggle with sadness. It’s cold and dark outside. So many are celebrating with parties and decorations, some perhaps without a reflection on the true meaning of Christmas, while others lack the enthusiasm to participate. The commitments of time and resources can be demanding, and there is pressure to keep up, and to be “joyful” – or at least appear so.

Many are despairing. Many are discouraged.

It calls to mind the despair the Israelites felt as they waited for their Messiah, longing and groaning and waiting for deliverance.

But there is HOPE!

As we live in the season of Advent, we are reminded we need not wait in hopeless despair. The Savior did in fact come! We have a God who kept – and keeps – His promises.

When I lift up my eyes and see, when I bow my knees and pray, when I speak the truth of who He is and what He has done, when I still my mind to worship and praise and rejoice, I find comfort and rest. I am reminded that the God who came still comes. He has purposes in things we cannot see. He can meet the longings and needs of every human heart. We can trust Him, no matter the circumstances around us. This fills my heart with true joy, hope and peace as I know and trust Him.

As we celebrate Advent, the past Advent, we remember another one is coming! Jesus is coming again! We have a future hope and we can wait with confident expectation that He will again be true to His promises and that His Word is true.

As we look forward to celebrating Christmas, perhaps we can look around and find people who need encouragement and extend the love of Christ to them, invite them to church with us, share the good news of the gospel. For it is more than words. This is a true and living reality that should fill our hearts with hope, with confident expectation. And if He seems silent, keep believing, waiting and seeking. He will come when we least expect it!

Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Prayers for Jeff

Carolyn

This is our friend Jeff.

He and my husband hiked the Alps back in 2007 and again in 2009 when my husband was researching the trilogy that he is now near completing. (Convenient, wasn’t it, that he set the books in a place like Switzerland that required several “research” trips!)
It takes a good friend to go up in a helicopter like this in the Alps and fly down into the mountain canyons and against the steep slopes! I think they both thought the pilot was going to crash a few times!
Jeff’s wife Elizabeth and I have said we all 4 need to go to Europe, but our children were rather young then, and we weren’t up for that much hiking and adventure! We’d travel a little differently, I’m sure.
We met Jeff and Elizabeth when we all lived in Charlottesville. They were doing their medical residencies and working while my husband was working on his Ph.D. in Religious Studies. We were in small group together with them and 3 other couples.
Here is most of our small group at a Tennessee football game.
Here we are hiking in the Smokies together.
Hiking was a huge part of my husband’s life until living in the Midwest! Chicagoland is not like Virginia or East Tennessee where he lived in the mountains as much as possible through college and grad school.
As the years passed, we kept in touch more with Jeff and Elizabeth because we all had family in Memphis, and they lived in TN, making it easier to connect. They were there with us around the time our daughter was born 3 months early while we were in Memphis. I flew down to St. Jude when their son was diagnosed with leukemia. Jeff has visited us in Chicago when in town for medical meetings. We’ve overlapped our trips in summers and holidays in Memphis where we’ve had countless dinners and times where we talk about a lot of theology or medicine.
Jeff and Elizabeth recently adopted a little girl from Ethiopia. While there, he got sick, was taken to the ER where they discovered a brain tumor, and he was medically evacuated back to the States and told to undergo emergency brain surgery upon arrival in Washington DC.
7 months later, we are still praying for a miracle. We went to visit them this last Thursday (Thanksgiving) and Friday for just about 24 hours, a quick flight in and back out the next evening. It was good to be with them and see and understand more of what they are experiencing.
When I think of Jeff, I think of the verse in Micah about what the Lord requires of us: but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. I think that verse well describes Jeff.
As Jeff wrote in October:

“I continue to pray for complete healing and am still thankful for every moment God gives. This is a challenging prayer because, at least at times, my logic and God’s logic do not match up. Then I must rely on Him.

‘… yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.’ Habakkuk 3:18″

If you are one of the few people who read my blog, please say a prayer for Jeff and his family if you think about it.

Friends Adopting

Carolyn

What a sweet morning of worship at church. It was a joy to see our friends dedicate their three daughters whom they adopted from China. You can read about their journey and their beautiful family at my friend Laura’s blog. Laura and her husband were in our small group for several years and she is also in my prayer group. She has always been such an encouragement to me in my faith through her own faithfulness to God and life surrendered to Him, and I am thankful for her and her precious family. They are also now in the process of adopting a boy from Ethiopia!

Another couple who was in our small group is currently in Ethiopia in the adoption process with their son who is friends with the boy Laura’s family is adopting. Mike has written a beautiful post you can read here. He and Sasha inspire me through their love for others and the world, flowing out of hearts of love for God and His love for them!

And a third couple who is still in our small group leaves this week for Ethiopia for the adoption process of their son (who is friends with the 2 boys being adopted by the couples above). They don’t have a blog, but their journey has been exciting. My friend Mary is one of the most compassionate people I know.

I am thankful for these three families and how God has used them in our lives and for their friendship. It has been a privilege to watch as God has moved their families to lead them to adoption and the beautiful picture it is of God the Father adopting us as His children.