PRAYER PROMPTS

11/11/09 Prayer is to be on-going----“pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) So how does one do that? What prompts one to pray?

Years ago Mother was on a plane from Nashville to New York and at take-off the passengers were advised that there was a problem and to please assume crash position. The plane then turned sharply heading back to the airport. Immediately Mother began to pray.

Crisis is a great prayer prompt.

Mother said that she felt a real sense of peace as she prayed and was assured that I would take care of Daddy. She lived many years after that chaotic landing. Since her death it has been my brother, Bobby, who is Daddy’s main caregiver. Just remembering that, fills me with gratitude and I begin to pray for Bobby.

Gratitude is also a great prayer prompt.

Today is Veteran’s Day. I am reminded to pray for Daddy and lift praises for my favorite “purple heart” vet.

Holidays and celebrations are great prayer/praise prompts.

The biopsy was positive, your spouse has walked out, the injury resulted in paralysis. (Psalm 119:71)

Affliction is a great prayer prompt.

Amy Carmichael said, “Do we ever bring His own words to Him and find that He turns away? Never.” (Edges of His Ways, p. 204)

Scripture is a great prayer prompt.

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) theologian said, “The true spirit of prayer is no other than God's own Spirit dwelling in the hearts of the saints. And as this spirit comes from God, so doth it naturally tend to God in holy breathings and pantings. It naturally leads to God, to converse with him by prayer.”

God’s Spirit is a great prayer prompt.

Panic prayers, grateful prayers, fearful prayers, and breath prayers are all links that connect us to God day in and day out. But what about those times when we don’t know how to pray? What to pray? Prompt without the purpose.

26Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26-27 (ESV)

Perfect prayer from the Perfect Prompter.

PRAYER PONDERINGS

11/10/09
Because of technical difficulties with my Word program---probably me---today’s blog just got changed to what I can control by cutting and pasting with minimal typing. Hopefully, “Prayer Prompts” will follow tomorrow.
I have included some prayer quotes by scholars/theologians,---mainly from authors whose writings I have read.

Let me know if any speak to your heart! Or share a new one with me that is meaningful to you. Ponder away…….

• Some people pray just to pray and some people pray to know God. --Andrew Murray

• Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire? --Corrie Ten Boom

• We look upon prayer as a means for getting something for ourselves; the Bible idea of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself. --Oswald Chambers

• To pray is to listen to the One who calls you "my beloved daughter," "my beloved son," "my beloved child." To pray is to let that voice speak to the center of your being, to your guts, and let that voice resound in your whole being. --Henri Nouwen

• When we sing, 'Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,' we are not thinking of the nearness of place, but of the nearness of relationship.……We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts. --A.W. Tozer

• In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart. --John Bunyan

• There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God. --Brother Lawrence
  

3M

11/9/09……… Monday’s meditation musings
“When He was alone with His own disciples, He explained everything.” A Streams in the Desert entry that I read while in Dallas, encouraged the practice of being alone. Sometimes this involves dismissing the crowd just as Jesus did. (See Matt. 14:22.) Even well-meaning people can be a distraction when we’re trying to be alone with Him---seeking more of His dust. (“….until only Jesus was left with the woman still standing there.” John 8:8)

May our (my) soul yearn for, and practice that kind of solitude in times of meditation with Him. May we (I) practice dismissing the crowd. May we (I) “Be still and know”---He is God; (Psa. 46:10)

5 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done,
And Your thoughts toward us,
There is none to compare with You
If I would declare and speak of them,
They would be too numerous to count

6 Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired;
My ears You have opened;
Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.

7 Then I said, "Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.

8 I delight to do Your will, O my God;
Your Law is within my heart."

9 I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation;
Behold, I will not restrain my lips,
O LORD, You know.

10 I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation.

11 You, O LORD, will not withhold Your compassion from me;
Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me.
(Psalm 40:5-11)

May I practice Thy Presence today---within my practice of solitude---just Me and Thee---heart to heart, beating as one.

GLORY BUMPS

“GLORY BUMPS”
11/8/09 Glory bumps……………an ljj e-mail informed me of this pithy term---2 short words with a big connotation. It’s similar to the goose bumpy feeling that one gets when reading a Hallmark card or a story that touches the heart. But “glory bumps” are more than that. Glory bumps are precipitated by an awareness of a “God thing” --- those incidences in our lives with a spiritual connection. God incidences--not coincidences! Glory bumps might result from seeing a miracle or a moving of God’s hand or just from experiencing the grand sense of LIFE that is beyond our comprehension/understanding.

That term, “Glory bumps,” has given me “pause to ponder” today. I have had more than my share of glory bumps these past 11 months. Here are a few of the earthly unexplainable incidences that come to mind and keep me all “a shiver” to the depths of my being.

MAC GLORY BUMPS

1. Michèle---a fellow MAC cancer survivor found by “my” Molly’s tireless “google” search before I even knew much more that the name of my very rare cancer---certainly not the extent of it. Meeting her stateside was a lifetime of glory bumps—one giganic glory bump in and of itself.

2. The Ridleys---Mary Flo and Dave who opened their home and their hearts to me in Dallas before God even completely secured my team there. (Thanks to Sally Klinke, a 1st Evan friend, and her “best friend” connection to Kari S. at Park Cities Pres in Dallas, who knows Mary Flo very well) The Ridleys continued to open their home for each subsequent surgery and for my bevy of nurses that accompanied me. I now call them friends---dear, dear friends.

3. My Team---only God leading Dr. Louis Carter from Africa and Dr. George Burruss from Memphis to a team in Dallas that went full circle from an original recommendation from Dr. Jay Burns (son Buddy’s friend in Dallas) to UT Medical, to Methodist Germantown, to St. Louis, Houston, Dallas Southwestern, and back to Dallas Baylor and Dr. Richard Ha at Dallas Plastic Surgery Institute, office of Dr. Fritz Barton, Dr. Rod Rohrich, (friends of Dr. Carter) and their colleague, Dr. Burns---Buddy’s friend! What a full circle---one that truly reflects the hand of God!

4. Jesus Calling---the little devotional book by Sarah Young that has kept so many of my family, friends, and cyberspace acquaintances on the “same page.” My family tried, unsuccessfully, to find info about this special author on-line, but to no avail. But God………..through a forwarded e-mail from friend, Beth, located her for me. We have since been in touch (from Memphis to Nashville to Overland, KS and to Perth, Australia) Sarah has become a prayer partner and encourager. I hope I have become the same for her.

5. dotsydetails.blogspot.com---Last January, I didn’t even know what a blog was ---but God…………has used it as a way to connect with so-o-o many folks, both known and unknown to me. The blog has allowed others to view “my Dance” with all my missteps and challenges and to learn with me along the way.

6. Prayer---from the first one I prayed on January 10, 2009 after reading the Jesus Calling entry from that day. “Lord, if it doesn’t matter for eternity, may the storm that’s coming into my life not be cancer.” (It was very much cancer--a very rare cancer--so I knew it mattered.)

• Jeff White, pastor at Park Cities Presbyterian in Dallas, during staff prayer time “chose” my name and realized that he in fact, knew that name because Larry Liles had been his racquetball coach at UM. I now know what it feels like to be “be lifted up in prayer”---like a calm after the “glory bumps.”

• Surgery Day prayers at First Evan

• My name above Dr. Albritton's desk to remind him to pray.
  

• Muslim student telling me that she had never seen faith like mine.

• Worldwide prayer warriors---it would take pages to explain the breadth and depth.

• Brother Buddy and Charlotte being baptized Easter '09---it has mattered for eternity and that’s all that really matters.

7. Connections and Reconnections---distant family, my 4th grade teacher, life long friends, high school chums, college roomies, Rawls Hall folks, Pi Phis, former students (and their parents and grandparents) HHS faculty and staff, 42 years of education colleagues and new cyberspace acquaintances-----to name a few.

8. BEST possible outcomes for each surgery. The first prognosis was so grim that Larry asked the docs about tattooing me so that he would know for sure that he would be taking home his wife. I am indeed a “walking miracle” as Ann E. dubbed me. “The most astonishing thing about miracles is that they do happen.” G.K. Chesterton

9. Insurance coming through at just the right time on several occasions-----11th hour took on new meaning!

10. “Puddle Experiences”---a result of too many glory bumps at once—which reduce me to tears! The surprise from friends who lined the end of my street in March with balloons and posters to send me off on the first surgical part of my MAC journey, immediately comes to mind.

GLORY BUMPS, INDEED!!

MY REMINDERS OF GOD’S GOODNESS! I TREASURE EACH ONE OF THEM---THOUGH THE NUMBERS ARE TOO HIGH TO COUNT!

TO GOD BE THE GLORY

Stay Abed Day

11/7/09
Somehow the 8+ hour trip from Dallas to Memphis seems to have taken its toll----and I don’t mean $$. I am wiped out! This is definitely a “stay abed” kind of day.

Now all I have to do is grant myself permission for this endeavor. It feels inactive. Inactivity is what I need. So----what’s the problem? I need to legitimize “staying abed” or otherwise, guilt will have me up and groping around and trying to look productive. Or, if I “stay abed” with my mind in a “stew” because of the guilt, I’ll further compound the issue.
Scripture is the “legitimate” answer.

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. (Isaiah 40:31)

I think I’ll have Larry resurrect Cathy Hasting’s recipe for “Stay-Abed Stew.” That’s a legitimate 7 hours of cooking with the added benefit of a sweet aroma. Sweet aroma of stew and scripture---the perfect/legitimate way to spend the day.

(2 Corinthians 2:14)
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. (--even the bed)

Clutter control

11/6/09 ……………….is needed in my life. Too many options. Too many “just in case” locations for items---even though they might be color coded according to the room or drawer where they "should be" found. This random organizing is understood only by me and lately, even I have trouble remembering where things are, or "should be". Retrieval is most difficult, if not impossible. I’ve been to enough “organizing seminars to know that “organized clutter is still clutter.” Where is that simplicity in my life that I yearn for and try so hard to attain. Aging and a MAC muddled mind are my excuses………….but God.

“Let all things be done decently and in order.” (1 Corinthians 14:40) “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)

For this I need preparation. Returning home from the final surgery as a true MAC survivor, my reentry needs to be purposeful, even as I convalesce. I need to de-clutter my mind before I run around reorganizing, yet again. Rearranging “stuff” is only a pseudo act ---a pretense of control. Mine is a mind game. Only He has the answer for me. The answer is to “Philippians 4:8 everything”, as Kay Arthur taught me. In other words, give Him control in my mind and allow my actions to follow thoughts received from Him.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (KJV)

“……..A mind stayed on Thee” (Isaiah 26:3) will take care of all the “clutter” in my life because there is only one option---the Lord Himself!

Expect the Unexpected---Fruit Facet #9

11/5/09 Yesterday’s ordinary day was in fact an extraordinary day. Why? An ordinary day in my life is not really a ho-hum, mundane kind of day. That would be a “new ordinary” for me, and one that I think I could get used to quite easily. My ordinary days are usually scheduled with work, tyrannies of the urgent and lots of agendas----both mine and others. Yesterday, in my terms, was extraordinary. Extraordinary because it was both “agenda-less” and rare. Maybe I need to find some middle ground between the ordinary (hectic panicky) and the extraordinary (easygoing peaceful). Hm-m-m, that sounds like moderation. And moderation sounds like self-control. And self- control is the final facet of the “Fruit of the Spirit.” (And you thought I’d never get there.) Actually it was unexpected for me as well. But God…………had me thinking about my life yesterday---a life that too easily swings from one end of the pendulum to the other---somewhere between chaos and calm---never quite finding the moderation of the middle---at least not for very long.

This fruit quality might be last on the list but it is an important aspect---one that too many folks try to handle on their own. As with all the fruit facets, the underlying point of reference of self-control must be Spirit led. To grin and bear it is the world’s way. In our own strength (flesh), self-control can often be tempered for a while---but when a goal is blocked or that irregular person reappears in our life, then words can fly like sweet and salt water from the same fountain. (James 3:11-15) Instead of that sweet fruit of the vine (John 15) we produce those bitter berries and wild brambles.

“In the Spirit” is key for this “fruit that comes in nine different flavors.” Thus the lifestyle of the Christian “reflects the selfless and outgoing life of God himself.” (“Dr. Constable’s Notes on Galatians”, p.62) My desire is to give up those acts of my sinful nature and to “keep in step” with the Spirit.
Galatians 5:25, sums up the lifestyle evidenced by these 9 unified qualities that are one fruit. “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by Spirit."

I hope mine looks like a dance!!

EMBRACE THE ORDINARY

11/4/09 Nothing much to say. That's what I, this too often verbose “blogger,” thought as I opened my laptop. Why? For the last few weeks, I have seemingly been caught up in one crisis after another. Crying out to God in fear, panic or pain. Today, none of that looms---just an ordinary day. What does one “do” with an ordinary day? Admission:---I haven’t even opened my Bible or Jesus Calling yet. Warning---Self-reliance can be so subtle!

Daddy’s mantra is “ I thank the good Lord for every day I have.” His days seem ordinary, to me---certainly routine. Yet, there is thankfulness in his everyday existence. In the midst of my MAC (cancer) crisis, I have been focused on seeing God’s hand. Will His hand be as easy to see when my days revert to the ordinary again? Will I only focus on being grateful on “Thankful Thursdays?”

Last week at Baylor Medical, a small card, labeled ΑΩ, was placed on one of my scrumptious “clear liquid” trays. The scripture (Psalm 118:24) read, “This is the day the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (NRSV) The prayer to the God of all Faithfulness ended with ….be empowered to live well this day.” As I pray this now, I ask God’s power and His strength as I begin this new day. I don’t even want to think of facing any day, even an ordinary one, without Him.

Most of life occurs somewhere between the pit of chaos/despair and the mountaintop of celebration. That’s where the commonplace is. That’s where I am today. That’s where God is. A recent e-mail from Michèle reminded me that she prays for me to have a renewed understanding of the beauty of life “that comes from simply being ALIVE and turned toward Him.”

May I embrace that prayer, today. May I embrace the ordinary. May I embrace Him.

Strawless in Dallas

11/3/09 The call came from the doctor’s office late yesterday afternoon---food allowed albeit with restrictions. Soft foods are best. Eat others with caution and care because remaining mouth stitches have not dissolved. Continue to swish and spit with antibacterial rinse but bottom teeth may be carefully brushed with my tiny “Elmo” toothbrush and “sensitive” gel. All of this was good news and Mary Flo prepared some luscious Yukon gold mashed potatoes, “Neiman Marcus style,” in celebration. Delish!

Today we have to go to pick up a prescription “redo” in Allen, TX where Buddy and Day live so we plan to take them to lunch. Larry and I have become consumed with all the available options! We have planned to treat loved ones to lunch---God is directing our steps. A great idea came---simply lunch, with a simple Memphis connection.

Recently, my friend Katherine and I went to the movie, “Julie and Julia.” There were some life lessons in that movie as a young Julie sought to cook her way through Julia Child’s, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, (524 recipes) in one year and to “blog” about her culinary adventure. Her first attempt, “Potage Parmentier,” had been described by Julia as “simplicity itself to make.” Simplicity! Isn’t that what we all crave? Don’t we all need to pare down---not just in cooking and eating, but in life? What is essential?

Sometimes less is better. Too many options can weigh us down. I can wear myself out trying to decide what is best. Simplicity of “straw dining” has had its benefits. Potato-leek soup from Short Stop in Snider Plaza was one—it must have been made the Julia Child way with heavy cream. It went easily through my straw, tasted yummy and filled my tummy. Nothing else was needed.

Paring down keeps life simpler and that can be a good thing. Sometimes there’s way too much on my plate. Today I desire only God’s requisite essentials for my life.

“He has told you, O man, what is good.: and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8)

Essentials. Simply put. All I need for today!

Communion of the Heart

11/2/09
Unity, spiritual union, close association, relationship. All these are results of an open heart communing with God’s heart through His word. Last night as I was “communing with God” upon my bed, I selected Psalm 4, another psalm of David’s. Subtitle: Evening Prayer of Trust in God.

Psalm 4 (NASB) (notations, mine)

Answer me when I call O God of my righteousness! Thou hast relieved me in my distress. (Amen!)

O sons of men, how long will my honor become a reproach? How long will you love what is worthless and aim at deception? [Selah)
Remember Selah denotes pause. Ponderings from my pause: What am I loving in my life that is useless or of no real significance---Is it robbing me of time and energy of that which is truly valuable. Help me, O Lord to discern.

But know the Lord has set apart the godly man for Himself: The Lord hears when I call to Him. (What a comfort to know that the Lord hears even me.)

Tremble and do not sin; Meditate in your heart upon your bed and be still. [Selah (I can tell You this fear that I am facing tomorrow, and in turning it over to You, I do not sin.)

Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And trust in the Lord. (Sacrifices that are righteous before Him---a broken and contrite heart. (Psalm 51:17) Trust Him not myself---Thee not me!)

Many are saying, “Who will show us any good?” Lift up the light of Thy countenance upon us, O Lord! (THOT: Is it salvation that is the shining of His face upon us?)

Thou hast put gladness in my heart, More than when their grain and new wine abound. (Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing….and girded me with gladness. Psalm 30:7)

In peace, I will both lie down and sleep, For Thou alone, O Lord, dost make me to dwell in safety. (My peace comes from Thee, and Thee alone!)

Today, choose one of these verses that speaks to your heart and meditate on it throughout the day. Tonight, meditate upon your bed and be still as you lie down to sleep in His peace.