Bridges to Somewhere!
I've thought a lot lately about bridges. This is a picture of one of my favorite foot bridges at
the Chicago Botanic Gardens that crosses a pond over to the Japanese Gardens.  It connects
people to the beauty and peace of the other side.

Many people have been a "bridge" in my life, helping me to heal from some hurts and wounds
and lostness.  Everytime I see a bridge now it reminds me of those who have served me by
their love, support and encouragement to "get me across" to a more peaceful, better place
physically, emotionally or spiritually. People have been a bridge of prayer in my life, of
hope, of correction, of comfort.  I think all of us could benefit by just making a list of
and thanking God for those people he placed in our life to be bridges "over troubled waters".


I've been realizing how often God uses us to be bridges in other people's lives to help
them take in and enjoy all the beauty of a living, growing, relationship with Him.  I have
been involved in ministry for over 20 years, working with children and women; teaching
and encouraging them to become connected to the One who created them and loves them.
God has used me to be a bridge over some very "troubled waters" in some of their lives as
well; helping them deal with pain and hurt they have gone through, and yet understand that
God is there for them. The pain and hurt didn't come from His hand and He desires to have a
relationship with them where they can find peace and direction for their lives, the way He
intended.

Of course, the Lord Jesus, himself is the greatest example of being a bridge in someone's life.
He bridged the ugly gap between sin and death and redemption and life!  Had I continued
walking my own way in  life and not taken the bridge (Jesus) to New Life, I believe I would have
had a miserable existence and be looking at eternal separation from God.  I continue to be amazed
at the work of God in my life. Of replacing a tendency toward depression with a heart of hope, of
replacing a fearful heart, with a trusting one, of replacing a wounded heart, with a healed
heart.  Those were some pretty big gaps to bridge in my life, but He did it! 

One day I will approach the bridge between life on this earth and life in eternity. The older I get,
the more I look forward to crossing over, because I know that the One who is THE BRIDGE,
will greet me with love, mercy, and grace and welcome me to the other side to enjoy my new life of seeing and
talking to him face to face!  I will also have the joy of being reunited with those who have gone
before me who have been a bridge in my life as well as those for whom I've been a bridge in theirs!

Lord may we help others to see and cross the bridge from darkness to light, as we know this is
a great delight to you.

The promise of Rest!

If you have followed my blog for any time at all, you already know how much nature,  particularly gardens, speak to me and remind me of spiritual principles.  I took this picture near the end of a long walk through the Botanic Gardens on one of my many excursions there last year and I remember thinking how welcoming a sight an empty bench is to a weary traveler!  A place to sit,

put any burdens you're carrying down and just relax and enjoy where you are and the company that may be with you. 

That's exactly how it feels for me when I look to Jesus when I am weary, discouraged, needing help, or experiencing fearfulness.

Whitney Houston performed a song, "I Look to You" that spoke to me in a spiritual way:

                                                                                                                     

As I lay me down,
Heaven hear me now.
I'm lost without a cause
After giving it my all.

Winter storms have come
And darkened my sun.
After all that I've been through
Who on earth can I turn to?

I look to you.
I look to you.
After all my strength is gone,
In you I can be strong
I look to you.
I look to you.
And when melodies are gone,
In you I hear a song.
I look to you.

About to lose my breathe,
There's no more fighting left,
Sinking to rise no more,
Searching for that open door.

And every road that I've taken
Lead to my regret.
And I don't know if I'm going to make it.
Nothing to do but lift my head

I look to you.
I look to you.
After all my strength is gone,

In you I can be strong
I look to you.
I look to you.
And when melodies are gone,
In you I hear a song.
I look to you.

My levees are broken
My walls have come
Tumbling down on me

The rain is falling.
Defeat is calling.
I need you to set me free.

Take me far away from the battle.
I need you.
Shine on me.

I think we have all been through things in life that would have us identify with parts of her song, but I love the chorus "I look to you..." because for me the person I look to when I am in need is my Lord Jesus.  He said  "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11;28) I have found more comfort in knowing He is my resting place in the battles of this life than you can imagine. When I left my military family in Germany at age  17 to travel to the United States to find a job and go to college, I found complete rest from the fears of being alone.  When I decided to leave Ohio and move to Chicago to attend Moody Bible Institute, I found rest in knowing I was obeying God's direction for my life. When I began dating my husband and was trying to determine if he was God's choice for me, I found the Lord to be my resting place as I prayed through that decision.  When I became a mom and had so many concerns about parenthood, I found rest in Christ from insecurities. When my mother died, and later my beloved Mother-in-Law, I had to look to Jesus because I badly needed rest from grief and pain. When my husband lost his job of 25 years, I had to look to Jesus for rest from anxiety about our  finances.  When our children were teenagers and we were unsure how to parent them through some of their struggles, we had to look to Jesus for rest from worry.  When we have faced various financial needs in our 33 years of marriage , we had to look to

Jesus to give us rest from unbelief and worry.so we could rely on Him guiding us through.  We have found His words to be true, and this garden picture above reminds me that He is my promise of rest from many things that He doesn't want me to bear alone.

The bench in this picture is empty. But imagine with me, Jesus sitting there just waiting for you to sit beside him and find comfort, rest, and help for all your troubles.  There's an old hymn that says, I must "tell it to Jesus", and I'm sure it was written by a person who found Jesus to be the perfect place of rest for their troubled soul.  Many have written hymns, poems, songs that

remind me of my faithful, loving Jesus who provides me with a place to go find rest.  I even think of an "oldie but a goldie" Simon and Garfunkle song, "Bridge over Troubled Water"  that spoke so much more to me as a believer in Christ. Parts of that song that speak to me of the rest we find in Jesus are:

                                           When you're weary, feeling small

                                           When tears are in your eyes, I'll dry them all.

                                           I'm on your side,  when times get rough

                                           And friends just can't be found.

                                           Like a bridge over troubled waters,

                                           I will lay me down.

                                           I'll take your part
                                          When darkness comes
                                          And pain is all around
                                          Like a bridge over troubled water
                                          I will lay me down
                                          Like a bridge over troubled water
                                          I will lay me down

Next time you're in a garden or park and see an empty bench, let that be an invitation to find rest for your soul by telling Jesus your needs or just spending time with him thanking Him for all he's done for you.  You don't have to wait to see a bench though, just picture in your mind the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed before His crucifixion, praying for you to come to know Him as your Savior and Lord and as your resting place!                             

LIKE RAIN TO A DRY AND WEARY LAND



Like rain to a dry and weary land, so is a mentoring relationship to the life of any Christian woman who is blessed enough to have one.  The book of Titus in the Bible actually directs "older" women to mentor younger women. Older not necessarily meaning chronologically older, but I believe meaning those who have matured to some
extent in Christ and have learned some biblical principles they can share with other women.

When I came to faith in Christ as my Savior 40 years ago, there were women like my grandmother, some aunts, Sunday school teachers, and women in leadership in the church like Joan who was the Sunday School Superintendent when I was a Sunday School teacher.  These  "watered" my dry land. There were also Christian women who I didn't know personally but who I came to know through reading their books; women like Elizabeth Elliot, Anne Graham Lotz, Stormie Omartian, Jill Briscoe, Joyce Meyer,  Beth Moore,Nancy Leigh DeMoss, and many more.  I "heard" their voices and learned from them as those whom I had observed and trusted as mentors.  I remember learning how to start using my Bible for a regular time of reading and studying and was encouraged by these women to pray daily. I learned the importance of confession of my sin to Christ and receiving his forgiveness so that my heart was not burdened down with guilt and shame. I had to learn to love my husband and children God's way and not try to "mold" them into what I wanted them to become to please me.I had to learn about being in relationship with God, not just "knowing" about Him in my head, but instead learning to talk to him through my day as I would a close family member.  I had to be taught that God didn't want my performance, He wanted my heart to seek his presence and to desire Him above other things. I had to learn that I was not to be led by my emotions, but by the truth of God's word which would never fail me. I learned not to remain in "stinkin thinkin" but look for the the lies the enemy strategically tries to sow into my heart. I had to come to understand that God's love for me was irrevocable because He is love and could not deny his own character.  I had to learn to be more like Mary and less of a Martha (which was more my natural tendency).  I was mentored to understand that God will use the pain and trials of my life to teach me more about His great love for me and to bring beauty from the ashes  I was taught by dear sisters in the faith that I must persevere in prayer and not get weary in well doing because there would come a harvest from those prayers if I had even faith the size of a mustard seed. I grew to understand that tithing was a great spiritual opportunity for me to sow into God's kingdom and that God, not my job, is my provision.  I  came to understand that I am a beloved daughter of my Father, God and that I can depend on Him for my needs to be taken care of and that He will comfort me when I face hurt or loss or trials of any kind.  I have been encouraged by my mentors to be obedient to God's leading in my life, even when I don't understand it or feel it doesn't make complete sense to me.  I have been fortified and blessed by the teaching of mentors in my life and I continue to receive mentoring.

Now I find myself also in a season of mentoring other women and find such joy in coming full circle. Being a mentor both blesses and challenges me.  I need to be willing to share what I have learned and stay close to the Lord myself so that I will be a mentor with solid integrity and also show God's love to them.  At the same time, I need to consistently be vigilant in prayer for these dear sisters being willing to "go to battle in prayer" for them.  It is a weighty calling that God gives us as "older" women to mentor the "younger".  It is more about depending upon God and allowing him to work through us as jars of clay and showing love to our sisters and offering support and encouragement and spending time with them rather than just developing a formal "teacher-student" realtionship.  It is about being available to share in their pain and frustrations as well as their joys and successes.  It is about sacrificing  time and energy for a sister.  It is about being humble, not proud.  It is about being a consistent, though not perfect example.  Mentoring is about choosing Life.  Mentoring is about choosing fellowship and vulnerability. Mentoring is choosing joy and satisfaction in leaving a legacy in the lives of those we have mentored and seeing the circle of life continue on after us. I am thankful and owe a debt of gratitude for all those who chose to be a mentor (past and present) and chose to spend  time, energy, prayer, sacrifice, love, forgiveness, patience, and so much more on me.  I believe one of my greatest joys in this season of life will be watching those I have invested in as a mentor turn around and mentor some other sister!  It' will be like watching rain fall on a dry and weary land!

One Word

Hello.  Grab a cup of tea and sit with me for a bit will you?  I know it's been awhile since I posted.   The Christmas Holiday was full, somewhat frantic,  and flew by and then before I knew what hit me, it was the New Year, 2012!  A brand new year, full of possibilities and promises.  I always face each new year with positive and anticipatory thoughts and usually think about a few "resolutions".  This year I decided to pick one word to encapsulate my desires for the year ahead.  As I prayed and asked for insight,  I seemed to hear the word BALANCE. 

At this season of my life and with the many things going on in my life, I felt it to be a fitting word for me to concentrate on.  I almost felt as if the Lord sent a special messenger angel whose job it was to keep whispering this word to me that I might not escape choosing it as my compass for this brand new year!  It seemed to stand out as I prayed and be in  BOLD PRINT in my mind consistently during the first few days of January.  As I took it in, looked at it, and tried it on, it seemed to be quite the best fit.

As I walk with the Lord in this season of my life, I am so much more aware of the certainty of less days ahead of me than of those behind me.  I have many things to remind me of this:  my oldest child is 31, my "baby" is now 28, I have a step-grandson who is 8 years old, my husband already gets the "senior discount" in some restaurants and is an AARP member, my glasses have gotten stronger, my sense of hearing weaker, I walk briskly instead of running now,  I need lists to help me remember certain things , I get nostalgic for the dumbest things, and I often like watching the reruns of old shows more than I enjoy the new shows on TV!  Oh well, it happens to the best of us.  But, the one thing that I realized hasn't changed is the need for daily BALANCE in my life, in fact I seem to need it more than ever.

The world has gotten faster, busier and more technological than it was when I was a child.   I recognize that I adjusted to these changes and "kept up" more or less, but as I age, I realize that what I want most now is to maintain a healthy balance so that I can enjoy and make the most of these days of my life. Certainly this is true physically for me.  I  seek balance in eating, exercising,  and sleeping, so that I will have as healthy a body as I can have, and get regular check ups with my doctor. I even started another blog on being healthy a day at a time.  But it is also important that I have time for my emotional and spiritual needs to be met.   I need to invest in my relationships with family and friends and of course to maintain my relationship with the Lord.  All these require time and energy.  One of the things that starts to lag as I get older is my level of energy, so I have to make choices.  That is where BALANCE becomes so much more important in my life now. I have to plan ahead and choose so that I can do the things I need to do and want to do with the energy I have at this time in my life.  I am fortunate that I am enjoying good health and don't have  many health issues yet that drag on my energy, but I still notice a difference.  I can't take a high level of stress like I used to when I was a classroom aide and then teacher for almost 20 years.  I have to prioritize more now and make choices about what I can and can't do with my time. I can't burn the candle at both ends anymore. I am blessed to have a wonderful husband who has allowed me to be in a season of ministry at this time of my life and to facilitate a recovery program for women at my church and even  to follow my creative desire to write, as well as mentor women in my home.  Balance comes in when I have to make choices of how much I can take on and what I have to say no to.  Aye, there's the rub, right?

I am thankful that the Lord pointed me to my one word resolution for 2012, BALANCE.  I know it is the right word for me and I appreciate that He knows me so well and has a "good plan" for me for 2012.  As I take this year one day at a time, I wake up each morning and ask Him to help me to live out BALANCE in all my ways that day.  Believe me, He has shown me right away when I am getting off track and I thank Him for it.  I have shared my one word resolution with family and friends and they support and encourage me along the way.  We all need "cheerleaders" in our life don't we?

What would your word be for this year?  Ask the Lord to give you a word for 2012, and be sure to share it with those you love so that they can support you in sticking to your "resolution" this year.  Feel free to check back to see how I'm doing or to share your own ONE WORD resolution for this year.