GOT BURNED?

What do you get when you mix flames, bare feet, and fatigue? A taste of life's painful consequences that can teach someone as fiery as me about miracles, about Divine appointments, and about putting out emotional fires when the enemy of my soul is still fanning the flames.

I actually attempted to put out a fire on my deck in bare feet in 14 below zero weather by myself last week (which explains the lack of activity on my blog of late). My daughter drove from Wyoming to the burn unit in Colorado to show me photos of my blackened footprints on the deck.

I later told my pastor I burned my foot stepping in front of the angel who was clearly containing the fire on one side while another guardian angel held my petroleum-based polyester pants away from my skin as they melted from my arch to my calf. 

Prayers were ordered before pain killers, which I somehow never needed, in spite of what doctors believed were third-degree burns across the pads of my toes. None of the melted black plastic material adhered to my skin; so prayers also canceled the surgeon when I finally arrived at the burn center 6 hours later.  Just 40 hours later, I was free to laugh and feast with my other daughter  -- a police academy student, whom I hadn't seen in months. Out of the ashes -- a family reunion. Without boyfriends. A double miracle.

Home to prop up my burned foot and heal, I found myself dozing on the other end of that same smoked deck, thankfully texting this note:

"What could be better for healing than resting on deck cushions in melting-away-winter sun with the bluffing of horses and chickadee chatter for music?"

And then the still soft voice of God posed this question: "Wonder what would feel that way when you get burned by those you love?"

Here's my prayerful answer: "What could be better for healing than resting in the melting-away-winter Son with the bluffing of horses and chickadee chatter for music?"

So, even though I "got burned" on Valentine's Day and even though I'm still fuming about it today, I have a remedy. 

If you don't have Him, you only have pain killers. 

Dear Black Knight and Friends ~

Wow! Young Christian men and women are certainly dwelling on deep theological issues! I'm impressed!

This ever-so-sensitive subject of suicide got me wondering as well ~ especially when I found a post by another young man on a Christian chat forum who sounds like he is only moments away from heading the wrong way down that one way road.
So, Sir Knight and friends, here's something more to wonder about . . .

If it's 'adultery' just to look upon a woman other than your wife and to imagine intimacy with her (remember when Jesus raised the bar in this NT conversation?) where do you think Jesus might set the bar in this case?

Wouldn't just 'contemplating suicide' be sinful in itself? It certainly doesn't make the list of things God commanded us to "think upon". [If you are not a Christian, you may be surprised to learn that there actually is a list of things we are commanded to think upon for our mental and emotional health!] 

Taking a life that isn't yours (if you have promised it to Jesus for saving yours) or that God hasn't commanded you to take (as he sometimes did in the Old Testament) is overriding His perfect plans and purposes.

My adult daughters would be the first to tell you that it is not difficult, especially for women, to 'go down this lonely road in your heart and head when you are grieving deeply, feeling completely overwhelmed, or suffering tremendously physically.

I'm forever thankful that Jesus did not ask anyone in the crowed along His road to Calvary to put Him out of his incomparable and quite certain misery . . .

Aren't you?

Encouragement for Smiles (and others taking flight in Faith)

Let me give you this much encouragement, Smiles . . .

There is great wisdom even in the title of your prayer request! You are wise enough to know (by faith) that God's Direction is better than anyone else's. And you also recognize where some of your struggle lies, as it does for all of us -- letting go and letting God.

A few months ago, my relatively new boyfriend, who is a pilot, (I'll call him Captain) took me out for my first small airplane ride, which I thought I was fairly well prepared for. The plane has something called dual controls, which means that at any time both the pilot and navigator agree, the controls can be exchanged from one to another. After only ten minutes of flying, Captain turned over the controls to me in order to load the camera.

As long as I could see all the way around and out over the horizon, I was only slightly terrified. But when I had to pull up to gain altitude, I suddenly couldn't see anything! I was ready to turn the controls back over in a nano-second.

Needless to say, Captain had hours upon hours of simulated flying ON THE GROUND and then with an instructor (just as we first do to drive!) Captain now has many many years of experience taking off and flying and landing BLIND, using only INSTRUMENTS to tell him when he is level, turning, climbing, or descending. Even in great turbulence, at night, and through unnerving weather, it takes a lot to shake his confidence in the plane's INSTRUMENTATION. He wouldn't THINK of relying on his FEELINGS to keep the plane level or on course.

FEELINGS are not trustworthy. And they can cause you to crash.

I hope this is helpful to you today and for the future ~
Your Sister ~ Val

Dear Abba ~ Wisdom for the Wounded Soul

When I was a teen, I was a faithful fan of the syndicated column, "Dear Abby". I was sure when Abby retired I would be contacted to take her place. The phone from the media moguls has never rung . . . Perhaps I've heard why from the Advisor on High . . .

Perhaps there's a need for "Dear Abba". The Greek word "Abba" is "Daddy". It is this name, Abba, with which Christians believe their God has asked them to address Him. For those of you fortunate to have a close, trusting relationship with your own father, it's no doubt the endearment you use even as an adult when you want his loving smile to mirror yours. This is a deep and global desire.

The closest one who does not yet have a divine "Abba" can come to this precious relationship is the lap of the magical benefactor, Santa Claus. Impressive, to be sure, to children under the age of ten; but eventually life demands of us a more frequently available lap and a less materialistic wish list if we hope to grow spiritually and emotionally as well as physically.

To keep growing -- to mature -- declares the ever- reliable Beth Moore requires

"a shift in what impresses me"
Let that permeate your thoughts until it dissolves into your heart . . . even if you are not yet 'spiritual'. If you can accept this, even momentarily, as a fairly solid test of 'maturity', the next question practically asks itself: "So . . . am I 'mature-ing'?"

One could make a strong case that the process of 'mature-ing' reveals itself one decision, one response at a time. This is why pastors strongly encourage their church members to "seek wise counsel" before making decisions that may impact the lives of dozens of others.

Ideally, wise counsel should come from counselors who seek Wisdom. Those of us who have tried (and tried and tried) our own wisdom can share with you the special heartache of that -- in spades. Those of us who have trusted the wisdom of so called "friends", "leaders", "analyzers" and (dare I say it) American Idols can testify to the dreadful futility of that.

For the crisis of conscience we each face day after day, I can only recommend to you Abba --My Wise Daddy. His advice is typically painful to hear and even more difficult to use as prescribed. I assure you that, if taken as directed, it will prevent terminal spiritual, emotional, and even physical disease. I assure you also that, as you lay your challenges before me to ponder, I am swallowing the same bitter pill that I may recommend from Him to you.

Whether you are any sort of "believer" or not, let me lay the heart of Abba's over the decision that keeps you awake at night . . . that leaves you immobilized by guilt or fear . . . that brings turmoil or -- worse -- silent separation to your home.

What have you got to lose? Leave your frustration, your indignation, your "What Should I Do" in the comment box of this blog. Or, if you prefer privacy, email them to me at vkjewell2002@yahoo.com.

Shooting Rampage in Tuscon . . . Words Have Great Power

"We need to dial it back . . . Words have great power.”

These words of Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford's friend and colleague -- shared in an interview with Tavis Smiley Tuesday evening--  so resonated with me that I decided I must use them for my first blog post.

A renowned American psychologist, also interviewed Tuesday evening by Charlie Rose, claims that the “voices in this young man’s head” could have directed him to kill Gabby randomly, regardless of widely televised, violence-riddled political rhetoric. My heart receives that as a pretty lame rationalization, given this young man’s very focused ability to find the right place, the right gun, the right time and the right opportunity to execute the intentions of the “random” voices he obeyed.

The following day at lunch, I overheard two construction workers pour out their scorn and hatred for Jarod Loughner, the mentally ill young man whose own internal dialogue led him to end 19 lives, including an elected leader, a judge, and nine year old Christina Greene. Their conclusion? “They should peel the skin off Loughner slowly and let it heal and repeat that until he dies.” 

I don’t believe these two men expressed words any more hateful than what a dead child’s mother is feeling today.  Or a judge’s wife.  Or a nation’s outraged citizens . . .

Gabby's friend's appeal to the nation – and especially to our elected leaders – made me examine the power of my own words to destroy – just this week –  a fragile relationship just as it was beginning to bloom.

Oh the dizzying power of the sarcastic Word! How satisfying the hot and bloody verbal duel!

Until I pull away in my evening meditations and survey the carnage.  Again.

Any true Christian believes that the awesome power of WORD brought about and continues to sustain our very existence.  Should it come as any surprise that Evil would also avail itself of this awesome power?

Of all creation, only men , women and children use the power of WORD for Good or for Evil. Children do not have to be taught the latter. The bullies of junior high and high school have no difficulty refining it. Batterers of spouses and children come to prefer it, for their arrows leave no visible wound.

The harsh revelation of my Prayers  is that Jarod Loughner and I are not so very different.  I am merely the mercifully fortunate recipient of a far more powerful, restraining voice in my head. How I wish I had listened to that voice instead of my own before I had words with so many others this week.

For those of you who are Christian, investigate with me this month the Power of Prayer -- Having a Word with God--  to:

    * Prepare my Heart
    * Build Unity and Lasting Relationship with God and others
    * Acknowledge Lordship (especially in battle)
    * Establish Trust
    * Point to the need to Forgive
    * Teach Honor, Perseverance, Devotion
    * Silence Evil Voices
    * Slow my own worthless thoughts down
    * Introduce me to Wisdom
    * Reveal Priorities, Purpose
    * Provide appropriate Questions and Answers
    * Restore and Protect me
    * Release Hope, Encouragement, Strength, Confidence, and POWER

Purpose of Prayer courtesy of Tony Forman, Pastor of Cornerstone Church in Sheridan, Wyoming