A Sweet Reward

Okay, I heard the sweetest thing last night. After a very busy "out of town" weekend, I rushed home to attend a church event. I threw some cookies in the oven, unpacked the toiletries, freshened up my makeup, grabbed the warm cookies and flew out the door. My suitcase was still to be unpacked and, since I hadn't had internet reception, emails were waiting to be answered. But I could get to that later in the night.

I picked up my daughter and her four children and we headed out to enjoy the fellowship of people we love. It was so fun getting to share some car time with my precious grandkids and listen to the things they had done for the weekend. But, that wasn't the sweetest thing of the night.

As I arrived at the church event, I was greeted by three more of my grandchildren. I had only been gone three days, but you would have thought it was three months. Each one jumped in my arms (even the ten year old—I told my back it was worth it), and gave me the biggest hug. But, that wasn't the sweetest thing.

Later, after we ate and fellowshipped with our church family, we went down to a campfire area where we sang songs of praise and worshipped under the stars. It was such a blessing to have three generations singing and praying together as we looked up into the clear, starry sky. It was amazing, but that wasn't the sweetest thing.

As the evening came to an end, the youngest grandchild, Aevin, began asking to spend the night. My brain was saying, "it's not a good night" but my heart and my mouth said, "Sure." After all, work can wait, but little children grow up way too fast.

So, home we came and, since Aevin had been outside in the dirt all evening, a bath topped our priority list. I ran some water as he scrambled out of his clothes and encouraged me to make it warm. There's nothing like a warm bath on a chilly night, even for us moms, right? Rare, but nothing like it!

As Aevin played with the bath toys and chattered about the things we did at the fellowship that night, I listened with one ear and unpacked my suitcase. Then he said, "I made up a song last night for daddy." Of course, that got my attention. "Well, then, sing it for me," I said. "You know that song, we sing about God? I changed the words," he said. I was intrigued and then came the sweetest thing.

"Oh, Dad, you are my dad and I will ever love you. Oh, Dad, you are my dad and I will ever love you, "Aevin belted out with a twinkle in his eye. How precious is that?

My son is a single dad who works hard every day to make his home one that is God-honoring and secure for his children. His journey has been a difficult one and I have certainly helped him, but I have not taken the job of raising his children away from him. He has risen to the challenge and I think this song of praise from a child to his earthly daddy is proof that he has been successful.

Many of you are living through difficult times, perhaps you're a single mom. Psalms 3:5 says "I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me." Many nights you may go to bed thinking you cannot handle another day, but you do because you know that God will sustain you. He will wrap you tightly in his arms just as a loving earthly father does and when you wake up, you will be renewed and armed to face a new day. Your rewards may not be monumental in worldly terms, but a song, a touch, or a smile from a child who loves you will tell you that you matter and make a difference!

Have a blessed week resting in your Father's mercy and grace.

Hugs, Chrys

The Silent Treatment

Recently, we were able to spend some time with good friends we have known for a very long time. When "old" friends get together, generally the conversation goes back to something that happened in the past that was funny or something that involves our children.

One friend reminded us of a story he had told us many years ago about his daughter. She was one of those challenging children. You know the kind—they LOVE to question everything a parent says and they think having the last word is their God-given right. She was definitely one of those and they spent many years molding and shaping her to be the sweet young lady she is today. But, on many occasions, she certainly helped them fine-tune their parenting skills. You may be in that position yourself right now.

Well, on one particularly trying day, this child had challenged and challenged until her mother had no recourse but to get right in her face and say, "Do NOT say another word and if you do, there will be severe consequences!" (Sound familiar? Yeah, it does to me too.) This normally patient mom was worn completely smooth!

Surprisingly for mom, the child ceased talking and the mom felt as if she had really made some progress. Hearing no sound coming from her normally very vocal daughter, the mom confidently walked away to continue making supper. But, dad, who was peeking from behind a newspaper, noticed what the mother could not see—the now silent daughter had her hand over her mouth guaranteeing no sound could come out, but her head shaking violently "NO."

Many years ago, a man named Art Linkletter bought stories of children who said, as he put it "the darnest things" to the American public's attention. In the above story, this child didn't say a thing, but her insides were speaking loud and clear—she was NOT on the same page as her mother.

There are many lessons to be learned from this child's response. One would be that even as adults we may be silent, but our body language sends messages to our husbands and children that may not be God-honoring. Another and a more important one would be concerning God. How many times do we silently let God know we are unhappy or disappointed or in disagreement with Him? We don't verbalize it, but our actions speak for us and those actions tell God that we do not trust Him to handle the situation.

Our God is a deliverer! It's that simple. What He promises to happen, will happen! And we are promised that if we put our hope in Him, He will take care of us.

I will leave you with the same message Paul gave the Romans found in Romans 15:13:

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Don't give God the silent treatment. Open your heart and let him FILL you with joy and peace.

Hugs,

Chrys

 

 

 

 

Put God on the Decorating List

Well, the rush is on. While pumpkins are snuggling down in the pumpkin patch, the Christmas trees pace the floor to gained the prized position. In fact, Christmas decorations no longer get their own season as the familiar green and red colors now share shelf space with scarecrows, pumpkins, and an assortment of pilgrims and turkey platters. No wonder time goes by so quickly these days. Marketing geniuses have us living three seasons in ONE! I find myself confused as to which holiday I'm supposed to be decorating for!

This marketing strategy is also partly to blame for the "stressed to the max" feeling we can get this time of year. What's a busy mom to do? Here's one thing we can do. Don't get distracted by all the glitz and glamour of upcoming holidays and forget about what is really important. Take a minute to breathe and remember the words to an old hymn, "I need thee every hour." Now, here's where another distraction could happen. Don't be distracted by the word "thee", which is "old school" talk to us today. Rather take a minute to think about what that hymn really says. I'm going to modernize the words for us all so we can eliminate one distraction. Read with me:

I need You every hour, most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Yours can peace afford.
I need You, O I need You;
Every hour I need You;
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to You.

We do need God every hour, don't we? Sometimes we have him on our calendar book in terms of weekly or maybe daily, but in reality, we need Him hourly. In around 1968 hours, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, but we shouldn't let one hour pass without celebrating His greatness, goodness, and love. As the "stressful" holiday season is fast approaching, you can quickly de-stress by closing your eyes and praising God. Truly, there is no voice like His, no comfort greater than He can give, no joy that can measure up to what He can supply.

So, while you're out and about either looking for a candle to make your home smell as comforting as an apple pie on chilly day or new decorations so your home will look as festive as the White House at Christmas, remember to stop, look and listen for God. He's the decorator of all things beautiful and He never has to be put up in the attic.

Have a GRRRR-EAT day.

Hugs,

Chrys

Test Assured

Friday night football, backpacks, new clothes, homework, book reports, mediocre lunches. Does that list sound familiar? If you pretended you were on the game show The Pyramid and answered, "Things associated with school" you would have won the prize. Here I am on the first day of school with five of my ten grandkids.

Reading the "school" list may have sent fearful chills down the backs of some of you and others of you were smiling thinking back to the "good ole days!" Here's another word associated with school that will probably cause all of you to squirm just a little. TEST. There it is. Probably the most dreaded word in "school vocabulary." If that's true then I would guess the worst two words are POP QUIZ. I can still get butterflies if I think about it very long.

To be quite honest, I really had a love-hate relationship with tests during my school years. I hated a test that I didn't study for, but I loved a test I was totally prepared for. Are you with me? Remember how fun a "fill-in-the-blank" test was when you knew all the answers? I would write as fast as I could so I wouldn't forget an answer before I had the chance to put it on the paper. Now, educators are smarter than they used to be and most tests are of the multiple choice variety. We had them when I was in school, but they were the "easy" tests because the answer was at least on there somewhere and the choices weren't too hard.

But somewhere in the eighties, educators learned that memory work is the lowest form of learning (who knew?) and sought a way to measure higher level skills of thinking and processing information. Thus, the new multiple choice tests were born. They now include at least five choices, sometimes six, with two of them sounding alike, one totally opposite of the other five, one having nothing to do with what was taught, but you're not really sure, maybe you didn't hear her say you were to read that chapter, and then just for good measure they throw in "none of the above" and "all of the above". Those are the tests that cause you to walk out the door with a headache yelling, "I have NO idea how I did!" And you truly don't.

Yes, school is tough. Measuring a learned skill is tough. For most of us, those kinds of tests are now either happily tucked away in our memory banks or, if your had a very organized mom, in a plastic bin waiting for your own kids to discover and taunt you with later. In any case, most of us would rather not relive those days of studying and cramming information into our brains and are quite content to help our children get through the ordeal without ever mentioning our own "test" history.

But on closer examination, a test isn't always a bad thing. A good teacher uses tests to measure how well he or she was able to get across a new skill and a serious student does the same. Actually, testing can be a most effective tool for evaluating many areas of our lives.

II Corinthians 13:5 says, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless of course, you fail the test?" Just as a serious student of math or history would need to be tested, we, as serious students of God's word, need to take the time to ask ourselves the hard questions. Not just the memory work, but the multiple choice questions that really make us think. And if we don't come up with the right answer, we need to study a little harder. Then be ready for a pop quiz or two, every now and then!!

Here's wishing you all a great week. Live this week and every week knowing God loves you!

Hugs,

Chrys

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

A few weekends ago about seventy friends and family members headed out to Atlanta to see the Braves play the Cardinals. Well, truth be known, some of us went to see the game, but the majority of us went to see my son- in-law, who is Willie Robertson, The Buck Commander and one of the stars of the reality show by the same name, sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame at the seventh inning stretch.

It was a much anticipated event and many have asked me since, "Is he a good singer?" thinking that is the reason he was asked to sing. My answer remains the same, "He does sing pretty good, but this wasn't about his singing ability, it was more about his celebrity in the hunting world and the fact that he is quite a character." Due to Willie's reality show, event planners had seen evidence that he could entertain the crowd of 40,000 plus that day.

They were right. It was successful from everyone's angle. Although just a beat behind the pre-recorded music, Willie led the crowd with gusto and finished with a strong, "For it's one, two, three strikes your out at the old ball game!" The crowd cheered and our little "drop in the bucket" seventy fans from Willie's hometown smiled at the accomplishment of our hometown hero.

I am rarely in a stadium that the scripture in Hebrews 12 doesn't come to mind. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

The word "surrounded" is perfectly depicted in a stadium. Synonyms for surrounded are words like encircled, bounded, bordered and enclosed. A stadium is all of those words and Willie stood right on top of the dugout, surrounded by fans of both the Braves and the Cardinals, most who had never heard the name Willie Robertson before that day. But, they were all witnesses that day to his singing ability and his connection to the duck and buck hunting world.

Another question I've been asked is this one, "Was he nervous?" And I have to say, "Yes, he was." But, he threw off everything that could hinder him from performing this task which he considered a high honor and persevered in front of the fans, friends, and family who were pulling for him. The picture I posted with this blog is one of my favorites from that day. After he sang, his wife, children, and other family members encircled him and told him, "You did great!"

The previous scripture I mentioned is found in Chapter 12, but in Chapter 11 of Hebrews we are told the names of men and women who have walked this road of life before us and are witnesses to God's goodness and power. In verse 39, it says each of these men and women were commended for their faith.

Just as Willie stood, surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, we are also. Moses, Abraham, Sarah, David, Rahab and many more have gone before us and now say to us by their example, "You can do it! We've walked the walk you are walking and we surround you with our message of hope, love, grace, mercy, peace. Keep up the fight and, in the end, you too will be commended."

Just think, one day we will walk through the gates of heaven greeted, surrounded, encircled by those who have walked before us and they will say, "YOU DID GREAT!"

Have a great day. Live today God's way.

Hugs, Chrys

Say Thank You

Like many of you, last Friday night meant the first high school football game of the season. We were thrilled to discover a tiny cool front had made its way to our hometown which translated into a much welcomed pleasant evening. Usually, the first game of the year involves lots of sweating from both players and fans, so this was a very nice change for us southerners.

Another change we noticed this season is our grandkids are older and no longer trample on our feet and sit in our laps while we weave and bob to catch a few of the football plays. Now, they run up and get money for water or popcorn (I know, we're mean grandparents and refuse to support the candy addiction in our country), then they go back down to play with friends. We actually get to watch the game in peace (except for my constant worry that they have been hurt or lost).

As we watched the game, I remembered a time when our grandchildren were younger. We had given John Luke, the oldest and eight at the time, money for a coke along with the proverbial instructions on getting change and giving it back to us. Off he went. When he returned, he had one hand behind his back and no change. "Two-mama, I bought you something," he said smiling sweetly. Then, from behind his back, a glorious foam rendition of a green hand pointing one finger in the air came bouncing in front of my face. Of course, I praised him for such a lovely purchase and I held it high in the air. Pleased with himself, he ran off to play with friends.

Later, he returned and sat down beside me. He smiled up at me and said, "Do you know why I bought you that prize?" "Why?" I responded. He said, "Because you're always buying things for me and I wanted you to have something."

Doesn't it feel great to feel appreciated? I was totally willing to forget that John Luke had used my money to buy a large green finger because, in his way, John Luke was showing value and appreciation to me.

One of the surest ways to keep a relationship rock solid and positive is to show appreciation. Saying thank you is one of our earliest learned tasks. Parents are filled with pride the first time a thank you is uttered from the lips of their toddlers. As a child gets older whether or not they say thank you appropriately is soon the dividing line between a child who is well disciplined and one who is not. But sometimes, as adults, we forget this most basic nod of appreciation.

If surveyed, most people would readily admit that a hug, a simple note, or a verbal "thank you" are among the most meaningful of gifts, because those are the ones from the heart. John Luke's gift of a green finger took on so much more value once the words from his heart were added. What I love is that he looked for a way to say "thank you" to me.

Do you ever wonder how to thank God? I hope you do. Just as John Luke wanted to give back to me, we should want to give back to God. Psalm 116:12 puts it this way in The Message:

"What can I give back to God for the blessings he's poured out on me? I'll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God! I'll pray in the name of God; I'll complete what I promised God I'd do, and I'll do it together with his people…"

Wow, that's really pretty simple--just complete what I promised God I'd do and do it with His people.

Look at your life and see if you're giving God all you promised Him on the day He became Lord of your life. If you are committed to striving every day to do just that, I promise God is waving a big, foam number one just for you and cheering you on.

Have a great day!

Hugs,

Chrys

Change Happens

What a difference a summer can make! Close your eyes for a second and imagine yourself as a young teen the second week of August. You're thirteen and you've grown over the summer, your braces have come off, and the excitement is building to the first day of school. So many things happened over the summer. You're eager to tell your friends all about it. In fact, you know your English teacher is likely to ask for a one-page paper detailing the events of your summer. Fast forward to today. Now you're a part of the work world. Summer doesn't mean quite as much as it once did because you no longer have three months vacation. (We could always ask.) Basically, you go to work every day, it's just hotter when you leave the building for lunch.

But still, there's something about summer. Changes just seem to happen in the summer, whether we're on vacation or hard at work. Look at your own personal life. What big or small events happened this summer? In our family, two of our precious children (my grandchildren) were baptized. To me, that's in the big category. Making the decision to follow Christ and give your life to Him is BIG. Then, the long awaited desire for my bangs to grow out finally happened. That's definitely in the small category. The world would absolutely still rotate just fine if I had bangs or didn't have bangs. Speaking of world issues, what changes have happened? Let's see, terrorism is still a threat and our young men and women continue to fight for our freedom, but many troops have returned home to their loved ones. The gulf has gone from a complete disaster to hopefully being saved and up and running by next summer. Many families have found work after months of being without, but many others are now facing months with no income. I'll say it again, what a difference a summer can make!

I'm reminded of one of the summer themes we had a few years ago at our local Christian youth camp. The theme was "Things Change, He Doesn't." In our ever-changing, ever-growing, fast paced world, it's so comforting to remember that God is always there, unchanging. We may not be able to depend on many constants in our lives, but on this we can be sure of! God is our refuge and strength, our ever present help in trouble. Therefore, we do not have to fear, even if the earth gives way or the mountains fall into the sea…Does that verse sound familiar? It's Psalms 46. Read the entire chapter and you will be comforted knowing that whatever happens on this earth, God is in control.

School beginning is full of changes as well. It's not all about new markers and fresh, clean white paper. It's about developing new relationships and acquiring more knowledge and tackling never-before-tried projects. As you encourage your children to "do their best" remind them that God is watching over them. Not in a bad way, but in a GREAT way--to help them through each new adventure. He's their constant source of strength, their refuge in any storm and change has never thrown Him for a minute.

Have a great week.

Hugs, Chrys