Seeing Jesus in Melted Candles

People who love candles,

burn candles in every room.

People who burn candles in every room,

spill wax in every room.

I've removed wax from carpeting,

clothing,

table runners,

table cloths

and even hair.

The hair was challenging.

Just in case you haven't become an expert in wax removal,

and not from the ears,

I thought I'd share my technique.

First, look at mess.

Cry softly.

Vow to never buy candles again.

Scrape the wax off with a paring knife.

Make sure you dispose of wax properly, or you'll be repeating these steps.

When there is nothing left to scrape, turn on iron to medium, dry heat.

Place paper towel UNDER the wax spot and OVER the wax spot.

Hold iron over spot for about 20 seconds.

The towel will absorb the wax. 

Keep repeating, but rotate paper towel so you always are using a clean piece.

Be careful to not let it seep through to your ironing board cover.

When you don't think you are removing any more wax,

wash in hot water.  I used oxy on the spots, too.

Good thing I have this technique perfected,

I need this technique often.

Just the other day a brand new pink table runner

gracing a brand new white lace tablecloth

was initiated into our family with blue wax.

I'm still on the scraping stage with those.

An older, godly man has always told us that

Jesus is in every verse of the Bible.

I believe that.

I also believe we can see Jesus in everything around us.

How do I see Jesus in melted candles?

It illustrates agony and suffering.

 Psalm 22:14

I am poured out like water,

And all My bones are out of joint;

My heart is like wax;

It has melted within Me.

Doesn't this accurately describe how we feel

when our hearts are overcome with sorrows and trials?

Psalm 22 is a Messianic Psalm

written about our Savior before He suffered.

Of this Psalm William MacDonald says,

"Approach this Psalm with the utmost solemnity and reverence,

because you have probably never stood on holier ground before."

Like wax on linens,

our heart spills out sorrow and pain.

Whenever our sufferings overtake us,

we must remember His sufferings.

That's where it all started.

The melting flames of tribulation

 cause physical and spiritual anguish

and seem too great to endure.

We may cry out,

"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

He hasn't forsaken us.

He forsook His only beloved Son for us.

His Son promised to never leave us or forsake us.

The purpose of His heartache on the cross was soul-winning.

So is ours.

Pour out that melted, suffering heart,
as an offering back to the Lord.

Let it spill all over the world for eternal glory.

Praying for the Innocent Man

I haven't updated for awhile about the

Innocent Man.

He has now been in jail for three months.

His sentencing is Friday, April 20th.

The parole officer who did the pre-sentencing investigation (PSI)

recommended 13-16 years.

That was a punch in the gut.

He is doing well, spending his days praying, reading the Bible,

singing hymns, reading books, exercising and witnessing.

He has had moments of weakness, but days of strength.

After reading about the stages of grief,  I diagnosed myself at Stage 4.

4. "DEPRESSION", REFLECTION, LONELINESS-

Just when your friends may think you should be getting on with your life,

a long period of sad reflection will likely overtake you.

This is a normal stage of grief,
so do not be "talked out of it" by well-meaning outsiders.

Encouragement from others is not helpful to you during this stage of grieving.

During this time,

you finally realize the true magnitude of your loss,

and it depresses you.

You may isolate yourself on purpose,

reflect on things you did with your lost one,

and focus on memories of the past.

You may sense feelings of emptiness or despair.

***

Last week when the Innocent Man called from jail,

using one of his $5 for 15 minute calling cards,

he asked how I was doing.

I hesitated.

He pressed.

I wept.

I admitted.
It's hard to grasp the Lord's will sometimes,
especially when it means an innocent person going to jail,
possibly for a long time.

The next Saturday during visiting hours,

 when he can see 4 people for 15 minutes,

he asked the believers to call me and encourage me.

They did.

The theory on stage 4 is that encouragement doesn't work,

they're wrong.

It always works.

Tonight I received an email from a believer from

the fellowship the Innocent Man attended the year before his verdict.

Read the edited exerpt below.

************************

Just wanted to tell you how you were all  remembered tonight in our prayer meeting. During the prayer request/announcement time,  parts of the email and letter that we received from the Innocent Man yesterday were read.

Then a brother read Psalm 145...

it is all wonderful, the second half of it just seemed to fit and is so comforting.

Every brother that prayed, prayed about the sentencing on Friday.

It was so obvious the Innocent Man was on everyone's heart

as all the prayers went up for him and the family.

After the prayers, another brother said that it was so obvious that we are all occupied with the Innocent Man and asked that we sing hymn 209

 with his perspective and as a prayer for him....

Our Times Are In Thy Hand

 Our times are in Thy hand

Father we wish them there;

Our life, our soul, our all, we leave

Entirely to Thy care.

Our times are in Thy hand,

Whatever they may be,

Pleasing or painful dark or bright,

As best may seem to Thee.

Our times are in Thy hand;

Why should we doubt or fear?

A Father's hand will never cause

His child a needless tear.

Our times are in thy hand;

Jesus once crucified,

Now leads His own with tender care,

Our Shepherd, Guard and Guide.

Our times are in Thy hand;

Christ is our Advocate;

No creature power from love divine

Our souls can separate.

Our times are in thy hand,

We'd always trust in Thee,

Till we have left this weary land,

And all Thy glory see.

Please know that so many prayers are being offered up on your behalf...

I told the Innocent Man in an email this morning that I use Isaiah 41:10

when I feel like I have to talk myself down off a wall

 and just say it over and over to myself:

 

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed,

for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you;

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

************************
My blogging family has been a great source of strength,

help, encouragement and prayer during the past 16 months.

We are approaching the next major step,

the sentencing.

Please pray for the Innocent Man,

the lawyers, The Honorable Judge M., and the families involved.

I am so indebted to you all who

comment, pray, and send me emails.

Thank you.

Please.....
keep praying...

Lesson Learned from Bubba's Coffee Bean Business

My grandson Brayden is amazing.

He's affectionately called Bubba,

'cuz ya' know, every Redneck family,

even ones transplanted into a  metropolitan world,

hasta' hava'  Bubba.

Bubba decided that since he lived in Seattle,

birthplace of coffee,

he needed to make some coffee.

His recipe was.....

unique...

Take Gwamma's antique coffee grinder

off the shelf where it was displayed.

(How in the world did a two year old know what that contraption was for?)

Unscrew all the lids from her vintage shakers

and pour all the salt and pepper into the top.

Put the contraption back together and grind.

Keep grinding.

If it gets a little hard to turn the handle,

stick out your tongue.

It weally, weally, weally helps.

Open the little drawer and evaluate the grade of your coffee.

Make the lopsided pirate face if you are disappointed

salt and pepper didn't grind into coffee.

Of course, we are all mature enough to know

that apart from a miracle,

no matter how much you grind,

salt and pepper cannot become coffee.

But, Bubba had an idea.

Bubba had ambition.

Bubba tried to make a dream come true.

Contrary to 1981 LHS senior class motto,

what he dreamed,

couldn't be achieved.

No amount of

grinding and grimacing

could help the elements overcome their natural state.

I am a realist.

In sixth grade, I had a teacher who challenged me to

achieve a higher academic standard.

He asked me to read

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

and discuss the literary value with him.

As much as I wanted to please my teacher,

I coudn't match his enthusiasm for the book.

I hated it.

It wasn't real.

I knew a seagull couldn't soar like an eagle,

no matter how hard he tried. 

Even as a child,

I was frustrated with the human reasoning

that the mind could overcome physical impossibilities.

Of course, we all need hope,

but I longed for a realistic hope.

Why waste time wishing for something that could never happen?

 

When I began reading the Bible,

the Lord gave me the perfect solution for those

aspirations to attain high and lofty goals.

 

Luke 1:37
For with God nothing shall be impossible.

 

Ah-ha!

Instead of just dreaming about impossibilities,

I learned to pray.

It would be the power of the Lord that would

teach me to fly like an eagle,

not my stubborn determination or my wild aspirations.

Right now, I am facing several tribulations;

 situations that seem impossible with human reasoning.

I am the salt and pepper in the grinder of the world.
With prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit,
all the grinding and grimacing
will overcome my natural state.

When the grinding is done,
and the little drawer is open,
we will see what the Lord has created
from the salt and pepper.

I am a realistic.

It really could turn out to be coffee.




Or at least gold.

Taking My Vitamins

Winters are hard for me.

A sun-loving Norwegian transplanted into the Pacific Northwest eight years ago,

I don't get as much sun as I need.

We have an average of 226 cloudy days each year.
You do the math.
The sun doesn't shine much.

Due to lack of sun and  lack of thyroid,

 winter  finds my Vitamin D  and calcium dropping,

It ain't perty.

Specially when I forget to take my supplements.

This winter, with added spiritual trials to my physical trials,

I was in a rough patch.

If the sun peaked through the clouds, I dashed outside to soak up the rays,

even when it was cold enough to make my legs look like plucked chickens.

Yea, goosebumps aren't attractive, especially on leprously white legs.

I read books that encouraged.

I planted colorful flowers to overshadow the gray.

I reminded myself to take my vitamins.

It still didn't help.

My dear hubby, who  takes my well-being seriously,
took matters into his own hands.
He knew exactly what I needed.

He ordered Vitamin M.

What's Vitamin M, you may be wondering?

M is for Mommy.

He called my Mom,
told her she was needed on the coast, and they booked a ticket.

We picked her up on Saturday.

The order of business for the coming week,
not necessarily in order,
is to talk,
drink coffee,
shop at thrift stores,
talk,
drink more coffee,
bake cookies,
shop at antique stores,
talk,
drink more coffee,
pull out all my mending,
talk,
make homemade chicken noodle soup,
drink coffee,
talk,
talk,
and drink more coffee.

We all figger after a good dose of
Vitamin M
I should be feeling better soon.


It's just what the hubby ordered.

A Walk in the Dark

I John 1:6

"If we say that we have fellowship with him,

and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth."

For years, I assumed
walking in darkness
only meant sinning.

Ya' know gross sins of the flesh everyone can see.

 Christians going back to sins like a dog going back to its vomit.

This can be a correct definition, but

I also assumed it meant that the person wasn't saved. 

But, in I John 1, the Lord is writing to professing believers.

We understand light clearly.

We KNOW we should be like Him,

the Light of the world.

Darkness can hit closer to home than we imagine.

When we don't walk in faith,

we are walking in darkness.

When we don't trust the Lord for the circumstances

He's allowing in our lives,

we aren't allowing His light on the path,

when we can't find joy in Him and Him alone

when troubles abound,

we are walking in darkness.

 

When we don't give Him glory in our sufferings,

even though we don't enjoy the pain and loss,

we are walking in darkness.

We've all experienced the confusion and discouragment
when a Christian friend forsakes the Lord.

Some turn to the bottle, some leave their spouses.

But walking in the darkness with sins of the flesh

begins

when they walk in darkness with sins of the heart.

 

If we don't turn TO the Lord in all our trials,

our indifference could eventually cause us to turn AWAY.

Not all crisises of faith end up in
 full-fledged rejection and sins of the flesh,

but those little turnings can still cause spiritual damage.

Not reading, not praying, not calling out to Him

with each sorrow that burdens the heart during the day
can lead us little-by-little into darkness.

If you evaluate some that have turned from the Lord,

they've had hard circumstances in their lives.

I met a Christian girl who had a child before marriage.

Her burdened heart revealed her father's affair

 caused her to turn astray.
(He was a pastor.)

 For others, the painful death of a loved one turns them from the Lord.

Still others, physical or financial suffering.

 

Walking in the Light
is a constant practice,

an exercise in changing
 dark thoughts and dark circumstances

into light with His glorious presence.


*****

I wrote this blog weeks ago,

but never posted it.

Today, the Lord used the words to chastise and encourage me.

 

I have felt the darkness this past week.
My troubles and sorrows overwhelmed me,
as I temporarily forgot to practice
turning my darkness into His Light.

Walking in the light doesn't mean there aren't

dark circumstances in your life,
it means you use the light of Jesus
to illuminate your soul and light your path.


Lamps aren't needed in Heaven,
because He's the Light.
He's also the Light of the World.
Nothing else can takes away darkness on earth.


Theologically, we believe He is the Light.

But how do you spiritually keep from
walking in darkness
when sorrows and trials overcome you?


1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light
 as He is in the light,
we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son
cleanses us from all sin.

No One Understands Like Jesus

No One Understands Like Jesus

1.  No one understands like Jesus.

He's a friend beyond compare;

Meet Him at the throne of mercy;

He is waiting for you there.

 

2.  No one understands like Jesus;

Ev'ry woe He sees and feels;

Tenderly He whispers comfort,

And the broken heart He heals.

3.  No one understands like Jesus

When the foes of life assail;
You should never be discouraged;

Jesus cares and will not fail!

 

4.  No one understands like Jesus

When you falter on the way;

Tho' you fail Him, sadly fail Him,

He will pardon you today.

 

CHORUS:

No one understands like Jesus

When the days are dark and grim;

No one is so near, so dear as Jesus--

Cast your ev'ry care on Him!

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I've always loved this hymn and the way it glorifies Christ.

It wasn't until I had sorrow heaped upon sorrow

and trial heaped upon trial,

that my heart understood  the author.

In verse one, the author discovered

humans will fail you.
We love our friends, relatives, spouses and other Christians,

but if we're feeling they let us down during our trials,

then we were leaning on the wrong person.

I don't mean wrong person,

as in choose another friend to talk to,

I mean we need to go to the only Person who won't fail.

In verse two, the author discovered

nobody understood his heartaches.

How could a human offer anything more to you

than their own shattered heart?
Healing only comes from above.

In verse three, the author encourages
to fight discouragement with Jesus' care.

The final verse promises
 pardon for stumbling off the path.

The author also understood the progression of suffering.

1. Loneliness

2. Heartache

3.  Discouragement

4.  Stumbling in Faith

Feeling alone?
Misunderstood?
Broken-hearted?
Discouraged?
Forsaken?
Unfaithful?

When I teach my 2-4 year old Sunday School class,
my questions are easy.
Most of the questions have the same answer,
JESUS!

 

Fortunately, as we age, the life's questions get harder,

but the answers don't.

 

If you answered yes to any of the questions above,

the answer isn't any different than it is for a toddler-

 

No One Understands Like

JESUS!

It's Friday...but Sunday's coming...

Like many who've been

barely surviving a spiritual winter season,

I felt a deep need for

hope.

With a compelling desire to create a Resurrection garden in my front yard

I  watched anxiously for a sunbreak.

Two times the sun broke through the clouds

and I was able to work in the garden without interruption.

That actually was two separate and distinct miracles.

Sun in spring.

No interruptions.

Hallelujah!

As I dug around in the dirt, planting, planning and praying

I began thinking about the disciples.

 It must have been hard for them to view the

 Crucifixion and see their Savior buried in a tomb.

Of course, we know the end of the story,

so it's easy to be frustrated with their lack of belief.

The LORD told them He was going to be crucified.

He told them He would He would be in the grave for three days.

He even told them  He would be resurrected.

He told them everything they needed to know

to endure the coming tribulation.

As they watched the story unfold,

they should have remembered.

But, they didn't.

They scuffled their feet on the dusty roads,

their faces downcast, their hope shattered.

They went back to their lives, broken and forlorn,

doubting everything they'd seen for three years.

We shouldn't mock their disbelief,

as if we have superior faith,

because we have

far more

physical evidence of the Lord's promises than they ever had.

We have 27 books in the New Testament.

We have the indwelling Holy Spirit.

We have hundreds of years of Christian examples.

We have thousands and thousands of Christian books.

We have Christian movies.

We have sermons available with modern media devices.

We have ways of communicating with believers all across the world.

We have no reason to doubt the Lord.

We, of all people, should believe the promises of God

and walk in the power of the Resurrection.

But, we're just like the disciples,

walking through  our trials downcast and forlorn.

We focus on the darkness inside the tomb,

and not the glorious light outside.

~~~from tree to tomb~~~

The inside of the tomb represents the place my sins

and my trials went with Jesus.

He took them upon Him, and took them to the grave.

For awhile, I forgot about the resurrection power.

I was hovering near the tomb, weeping.

I could only focus on the

pain,

and not the coming

power.

 

~~~from nails to newness~~~

 

He overcame it all when He rose from the grave

through the power of the Holy Spirit,

and he wants us to walk in that same power.

He doesn't ask something of us without enabling us,

so He filled us with the same Holy Spirit at salvation.

As I filled my fingernails with dirt

and cleansed my heart from dirt,

I thought of a sermon I heard as a young believer

by Tony Campolo called,

 "It's Friday, But Sunday's Coming."

If we  have placed our

heartaches,

 pains,

sufferings

and trials

at the Cross,

then we should look up

with expectation

not look down

in rejection.

 

Because, dear believers,

It's Friday,

and Sunday's Coming!

Romans 6:4

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death:

that like as Christ was raised up from the dead

by the glory of the Father,

even so we also should walk in newness of life.