Hearing….Listening….Obeying (Part 1)

During the study, “Grace Walk Experience,” Dr. Steve McVey taught that in our personal walk of grace with the Lord we need to stop “trying” to do everything in our own strength and begin “trusting” Christ to be our strength and to guide, direct, and lead us to experience His grace and peace evident daily in our lives. I have found that the constant “trying” becomes so very tiring and frustrating and, like gravity, just pulls me down! Since the Scripture tells us that as believers we have the “mind of Christ,” we can live “trusting” the Holy Spirit to give us the thoughts to make life so much more calm and peaceful. But then there are those times when I hear the prompting from the Lord, but think I don’t need to listen, and choose my way. When it doesn’t turn out well, I’m reminded of my poor choice, my “willful sin,” and must ask His forgiveness for hearing Him prompting me, but not really listening and obeying.

During the month of December, I experienced an incredibly peaceful month in the midst of all the busyness and preparations before Christmas as I allowed the Lord to direct my time moment by moment-the promptings to “do this first; leave that until later,” just kept me peacefully trusting, listening, and obeying, prayerfully leaving the timing of the many enjoyable celebrations of remembering Christ’s birth to His direction.

I am grateful to have experienced the joy and peace of trusting and obeying Jesus, the All-sufficient One, “El Shaddai,” in a life-changing way during this past Christmas season making it memorably calm and blessed.

“I will hear what God the LORD will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints.” Psalm 85:8 NKJV

“…In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15 NKJV

DeEtta Marsh is on the Women’s Addiction Recovery Team and also serves with her husband, Stan, as Coordinator for Families for Christ and Host at the Keswick Campground

If I told you once…

I heard those words on more that one occasion growing up. As a mom, I said them more than once. “If I told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times” are often the words of an exasperated parent. It communicates to the child: you should have this by now.

As I have been working my way through two of the major prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah, I can’t help but notice that it seems as if God is repeating Himself over and over warning Judah to return to Him. I asked myself why God committed 118 chapters of Scripture to say basically the same thing. Could the message not have been given in 10 or 20? Then it dawned on me, what I am reading in weeks, was written over a span of 107 years! It is believed that Isaiah was written around 740-680 B.C. and Jeremiah to have been written around 627-580 B.C. What evidence of God’s patience and longsuffering. As I read what is recorded by the pen of these men of God, I can hear the passion of God calling His children to return to Him. He pursues them with great purpose and intent. He repeatedly warns them of the coming destruction if they refuse Him. If Anyone could say, “If I told you once, I told you a thousand times,” it is God. And it would be literally true.

Lest we think the people of Judah were thick-headed and slow to listen, I believe the very same could be said of us. I know in my life, if it were not for the longsuffering of God, I would already have been consumed. For without a doubt He has told me things, the same things, more times than I care to count, yet I still refuse to listen.
Thank you, Lord, that you plead with your people over hundreds of years to repent and return, and forgive me for my own stubborn heart.

Diane Hunt is the Director of Addiction Recovery Ministries at America’s KESWICK.

IF LIFE IS JUST A BOWL OF CHERRIES…WHY AM I IN THE PITS??

Erma Bombeck wrote a book with this title a number of years ago, and if truth be known, some parts of it are really very funny. I was sitting in my office this morning thinking about, well, stuff and my eye caught the cover of our new summer brochure, The Thrill of Victory. The cover shows the silhouette of a man with upraised and outstretched arms and the word I immediately thought of when I saw it was “exuberance.” The thrill of something so exciting that he cannot restrain his joy.

My life this week bears no resemblance to that man. I am tired physically and emotionally, so tired that I am on the verge of crying if someone even looks at me the wrong way. If I had time, I’d throw myself a pity party except that I feel like I have no time, money, or energy to do even that. So here I sit – defeated and depressed.

But, you say, you work at America’s KESWICK, where God speaks to hearts and transforms lives. You have the opportunity to see God work in so many ways every single day. What have you got to be depressed or defeated about? What, indeed??

And that is my point. I had made plans for a special couple of days off that got cancelled this morning. Instead of taking that change as from God and seeking His direction as to what to do instead, I allowed myself to slip into “the pits.” I let my self-pity get the best of me and forgot that my plans were just that – MINE. God had other things He wanted me to do for Him.

And you know what? The funny thing is that those two days were nothing “special” in terms of my life at KESWICK. It was ordinary stuff – the sort of things I deal with every day. Surely God didn’t cause my plans to change to stay home and do ordinary things. But the problem here is that I was looking at it from MY perspective, and not HIS. Whatever I do here is not about me, or what I want; it is about Him and what He desires to have me do – for Him. And that, my friends, makes even the “ordinary” special indeed.

Jeremiah 29:11 tells us “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'” And His plans for me do not include being defeated and dwelling in “the pits.” His plans for me are to be thrilled and exuberant with what He is accomplishing in me and will continue to accomplish in me. I just need to keep out of His way and allow Him to fill me so full of joy and hope that pity and depression have no room at all.

And so today, I say “Thank you, dear Lord, that when I can’t, You can!”

Lynn Randall is the Director of Human Resources at America’s KESWICK. She is active in her church and is a gifted planner and organizer. She has a real heart for people as evidenced by her care, concern and practical encouragement.

“A step is not a walk”

This simple statement was made by Pastor Bill Raws one Sunday morning at chapel service. A step is not a walk. Sometimes the simplest statements can have such profound meaning. A step is not a walk. If you have been a believer for any significant length of time you are probably familiar with the verses about our walk.

“Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him…But take careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul…For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly…Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life…There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit…For we walk by faith, not by sight…If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”1

A step is not a walk. How we wish a single step constituted a walk. A single step in the right direction is just that, a single step. It isn’t until we string a lot of steps together in the right direction that we could say we are walking in the right direction.

I appreciated the reminder that day in chapel, because if truth be told, I often live as if a step is enough, but a step is not a walk.

Diane Hunt is Director of Addiction Recovery Ministries at America’s KESWICK.

1 Deuteronomy 8:6; Joshua 22:5; Psalm 84:11; Romans 6:4; Romans 8:1; 2 Corinthians 5:7; Galatians 5:25

The Best of Times and the Worst of Times

I recently had lunch with a dear friend. I looked forward to catching up on the kids, family and career. Mostly, we just love to find out what God is doing in each others lives.

I should have known that something was wrong. Her voice sounded strange when I called. I even asked her if she was okay but her reply was that she was fine. A few days later I sat across the table to find out everything was not fine. Her husband had been diagnosed with colon cancer, a dear friend was also very ill, among numerous other circumstances. Clearly her plate was overflowing! In time our conversation changed from topic to topic. We were crying one minute and laughing the next. We cried about the painful circumstances in our lives but we laughed at how amazing our Lord Jesus Christ is. At one point I said, “These are the worst of times and the best of times.” Don’t you find that to be true? We are all struggling. Some days we hope to just hang on moment by moment. Other days we feel God’s presence so near and dear that we can’t believe it! These days, even if our plate is overflowing, we need to see that our cup is overflowing in spite of it all!

You and I can not choose to always focus on the worst times. We also need to choose to look for the best of times. In the midst of it all we need to be a thankful people, remembering the goodness of God at ALL times. May I share with you a very familiar Psalm? Please read slowly, ponder long and take heart. David was living in the worst of times and the best of times… just like you and me.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For you are with me; Your rod and Your staff, They comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23 NKJV

Today, your cup is running over! Don’t miss it because your plate is overflowing!

Kathy Withers is on staff full-time at the Keswick Book and Gift Shop. She is married to her husband, Dave, and has two adult children. Kathy is active in her local church. Her passion is the Word of God and encouraging women to dig deeper into the truths of the Bible.

Where did the joy go?

I had my day all planned. In the morning I was going to write; then, in the afternoon I would do some shopping and make some phone calls. I was feeling joyful. I had spent time with God early in the morning and I was set to face the day….the day I had planned.

However, before I could start writing, the doorbell rang. Company. They brought donuts. All we needed was some coffee. I fixed coffee. Then the doorbell rang again. More company! They knew my other guests and they began to chat, and chat, and chat. Suddenly it was lunch time. Let’s all go out to lunch! What fun! By the time I got home, it was time to fix supper. No writing, no shopping, and I was depressed. My joy was gone.

Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever been living a day feeling joyful and content, but suddenly something disrupts your joy? Perhaps someone spoke a derogatory word or your plans were sidetracked. Something earthly happened but it seems to have robbed you of your joy. You are still a Christian. Christ still loves you. Your eternal destiny is settled. What changed? You didn’t get your way. It is up to us to decide if this change in our plans is going to be a robber of our joy. When our emotions seem vulnerable to external circumstances, we can make the choice to keep our joy constant in the Lord.

1 Cor 15:58 “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

Marilyn Heavilin is a speaker and writer, and a friend to the ministry of America’s KESWICK.

Snakes and Sin

It would not be much of a stretch to say I hate snakes. Something inside me recoils in the presence of a snake even if it is neatly tucked inside a cage at the zoo.

The other morning I was out walking on a particularly beautiful, spring-like day. I happened to step over a coiled piece of rope that made me take a second glance to make sure it wasn’t a small snake. Immediately my mind wandered off to a Victory Call.

Dead snakes are somewhat less threatening to me. I imagined myself handling (with gloves, of course) a small dead snake. I thought I’d be somewhat okay with that.

As I continued my walk I recalled a Canadian camping trip as a teen. Someone had struck and killed a VERY LARGE snake. My 35 year memory recalls it to have been about 5 or 6 feet long and about 4 inches in diameter, yech! So I had to ask myself, would I be willing to handle that LARGE dead snake even with gloves on. I don’t think so. No, I know so. I would not be willing to handle a large dead snake. Why? If it’s dead, what’s the big deal? Because if I was honest, though I could see it is dead, and intellectually believe it is dead, there is something deep within me that fears it springing back to life in my hands. That’s when it hit me the similarity between dead snakes and our sin nature.

“…knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin…Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:6-7, 11

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live…” Galatians 2:20

We are dead to sin. Our old man is dead, dead, dead. We intellectually know it is dead but it seems as if deep down we fear it isn’t. That is how many of us live, knowing that our sin nature is dead but keeping our eye on it just in case. In so doing we grant it credence and act as if it has the potential to overpower us. If in the deepest recesses of our heart we fear that it might spring back to life at any moment, then in many subtle ways we will live as if it can.

We are dead to sin, reckon it so. Whether it feels true or not, reckon it so. Fully embrace this truth without fear that somehow we might be mistaken.

Diane Hunt is Director of Addiction Recovery Ministries and would love to speak for your next ladies event. To schedule Diane, contact Ruth Schmidt at 732-350-1187 ext. 21

Empathy

I read this recently, “Empathy is the capacity for and action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another without necessarily communicating those feelings, thoughts, and experience in an explicit manner.”

The author continues, “The key words here are capacity and action. You must have room for empathy in your mind and heart before you can feel, respond to, and act upon it. And the aim of empathy is action more than words. Empathy is something you demonstrate in how you treat people more than something to be explained.”

How often have we seen someone in a situation to which we can relate: a mom overwhelmed by the job of being a mother; a parent numbed by the truth that their child is not following God; a Christian who feels they are the only one who has failed the Lord; a man who is unemployed and feels he has let his family down; a friend frozen in their grief because of a terminal illness or the death of a precious loved one. Have you ever been in any of these dilemmas? If so, you can put your arm around that hurting person and say, “I’ve been where you are right now, but I made it out of that hole. Take my hand. We can walk together.” That’s empathy.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

Marilyn Heavilin is a dear friend of the ministry of America’s KESWICK. She and husband Glen, serve as counselors-in-residence each summer at America’s KESWICK.

Friendship II

“The four-year-old watched it all in silence.

One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, “What are you making?”
Just as sweetly, the boy responded, “Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when I grow up.” The four-year-old smiled and went back to work.

The words so struck the parents so that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done.

That evening the husband took Grandfather’s hand and gently led him back to the family table. For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.”

Dear sisters, I received the above story in one of those forwarded emails that come and go, often unread because I simply don’t have the time. However today, I took the time and after reading it thought I’d share it with you. This story happened to be one I’d read before and the impact was the same.

Clear as day I can see the person who might be this old man, sitting alone in the corner, feeling rejected, abandoned and unwanted…simply forgotten. It could be any one of us or any number of people we know -a friend, neighbor or loved one- who is in a loveless marriage or one who has simply allowed the hard knocks of life to draw them into isolation and lonliness.

Today the challenge is for us to be that one that sticks closer than a brother; to open our eyes and see the one who has been relegated to the “wooden bowl.” Let’s invite them to sit at our table and partake in the bread of friendship.

Trust me when I say, I know it’s not easy. And, I know that sometimes extending a hand in friendship involves vulnerability and risk. Let’s take the risk anyway and trust God to do the work in us and through us to touch a heart, a life, a soul in need of care. Let’s remember, we are not alone.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Luke 4:18-19

Stephanie Paul serves on the women’s ministry team at America’s KESWICK.

Friendship I

Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend. unknown

“A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year old grandson. The old man’s hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered. The family ate together at the table. But the elderly grandfather’s shaky hands and failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth.

The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess. “We must do something about father,” said the son. “I’ve had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor.”

So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner. There, Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner. Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl!

When the family glanced in Grandfather’s direction, sometime he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food.

The four-year-old watched it all in silence.

One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, “What are you making?”
Just as sweetly, the boy responded, “Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when I grow up.” The four-year-old smiled and went back to work.

The words so struck the parents so that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done…” continued tomorrow…

As I ponder friendship I think of our Old Testament brothers and sisters who, just like us, sometimes struggled to believe that God was really there for them; that He was their friend; for them and not against them. Even though He was literally in the midst of them (as Christ is now in us), they had all the same very human thoughts and feelings, especially in the midst of trial and trouble.

Maybe in the midst of their own dark days they felt the heavy sadness experienced by the Grandfather above. They felt separate, alone and in need of a friend to remind them of their worth and value, to help them remember the dignity of being born of God.

Sister, friend, are you that one who needs reminding or are you the one who needs to go. Whichever one it is, ask, seek, knock, go, receive the Lord’s favor.

“And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.'” ~~Luke 4:17-19

Stephanie Paul, child of the Most High God, is a wife and mother of two grown children. She currently serves as part of the Addiction Recovery Ministry at America’s Keswick as Women’s Ministry Assistant. Her passion is to be an instrument of change in the lives of wounded, hurting people.

According the Urban Legend reference page, Leo Tolstoy is the author of the story and his rendition, “The Old Grandfather and the Grandson” derives from an even older story written by The Brothers Grimm.
¹http://www.snopes.com/glurge/woodbowl.asp