An Early Morning Lesson in J*O*Y!

Well, my friends...Last week was pretty silent here on the blog!  It was "Christmas Tea Week" at my church and our week is pretty much SLAMMED every. single. day.  This did two things:  First, it put us right on time with the actual celebration of Advent, AND it had me thinking about PEACE all week long. Which, by the way, God came through sweetly in the midst of all kinds of crazy last week.  Now I am ready to sink my soul and heart into some J*O*Y!

There is a wonderful phenomenon that happens most mornings.  Whether you are in the country or the city, if there are birds and trees around, you can witness something awesome.  But you have to get up early.

 I love to get up before the sunrise.  It really is a peaceful time of the day. I feed my animals (The LAW I was taught from my father, the son of a South Dakota rancher: "Your animals eat before you do," and it has stuck to this day), get a bit of breakfast, make a good cup of coffee and then settle in with my Bible on the sofa in my living room.  On nice mornings, I open the windows and the doors because I know something is coming with the dawn, and I wait for it.

As soon as the sun just peaks up over the horizon, the birds begin to sing and I mean SING!  ALL of them!  Dove and ravens, finches and quail, sparrows and orioles, blackbirds and chickadees, mockingbirds and meadowlarks...  It only lasts for a moment, but it really is pretty spectacular because for that moment sunrise has this beautiful, overwhelming sound of JOY coming from creation itself! 

The Light has come!  This is a resounding message I have heard over and over this week!  The Light has come into our darkness and we have reason to celebrate with great joy for this simple reason we are reminded of EVERYDAY:  There is NO darkness the Light cannot overcome...ZERO...NONE...NOTHING IS TOO DARK. 

Can I encourage you to set your alarm clock this week early enough to sit in the stillness of that darkness before dawn and wait for it?  Wait to see how God has given us this beautiful reminder that Light invades the darkness and watch the darkness flee.  

The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His light brought life to everyone. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it." John 1:4-5

Celebrating with great joy!

Cherri 

 

Hannah's Story

by guest writer Susi Rowley

Seventeen years ago this month my life was changed forever.  My brilliant, nearly four year old daughter, Hannah, was diagnosed with leukemia. The fact that statistics said she had an 80% chance of survival up to five years wasn't comforting to read, even when told by the staff at CHLA (Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles) or to hear repeatedly from our friends and family. Yet I heard it often. A 20% chance my amazing Hannah would die was no comfort at all.  At that time, I had been a Christ follower for eighteen years and little Hannah had given her heart to Jesus just three months earlier.

 

Over the next four years and nine months, the fear and reality of death was all around us. The Lord brought so many families into our lives, most of whom had children given about the same odds for survival as Hannah; however, many of these precious babes died.

 

How do I keep going with death and sadness all around? First, I wholeheartedly believe that our family, including Hannah, was put in that hospital "for such a time as this.” It wasn't fun or easy, but minute-by-minute we as a family chose to let the Lord be glorified in each situation.

 

That being said, seeing the Lord seemingly ignore our plea for help and call our amazing gift home to be with Him, while she suffered the unimaginable pain of an intestinal infection and leukemia ravaging her little body, broke my heart. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to think that the Lord was going to be more glorified in Hannah's death than He was in her life.

She was so very loved in her short eight and a half years. Once she got sick, God's people loved our family incredibly well. People all around the world were praying for Hannah, which meant they were drawing closer to the Lord through her journey. She once told me she would live a life of sickness if it brought glory to her Lord. She also used to encourage me to remember that if the Lord chose to take her home with Him, she would be in the presence of the Most High God, and I should rejoice and not be sad. (She also prayed fervently for several moms she knew who had lost their children to cancer and weren't able to minister to their other children due to the grief they were experiencing, and she certainly didn't want that to be me.)

The truth is God can't be glorified in the "why.” Picture your own child begging to go play at the park, "daddy is on his way home and mommy has to make dinner, maybe tomorrow" you say. However, no answer you provide is sufficient for your little one who only wants to hear you say, “YES.”  If I repeatedly ask God why, even if He gave me a legitimate answer, my response would still be "but why"? I would be responding just like my child's response to me. No answer God gives me will make sense.

We simply need to cast our fear on the Lord and trust Him for the strength to go through whatever valley may come our way. You WILL NOT have the strength ahead of time. Stop worrying about the "what ifs.” Only if a tragedy hits your family, will God flood you with the strength to go on. Fretting over all that "might happen" or "could happen" won't bring glory to God and will hinder your ability to serve and minister to your most precious gift…your family.

Hannah has a beautiful younger sister who is currently in Guatemala on a mission’s trip; she is also praying about serving on a ten-month mission trip in early 2017. It would be so easy to quench her desire to serve the Lord because of fear of losing our Abigail. My husband and I have purposed in our hearts to trust the Lord on her behalf and not let the death of our first child cause us to hold Abigail back from God's calling in her life. We also have seen first hand that we can't choose to live or die. We can however wholeheartedly trust in the One who holds the keys to life and death.

The Lord was with us in that hospital room in the final day of precious Hannah's life. He hadn't abandoned our amazing little girl in her greatest hour of need. She was awake and alert and in unimaginable pain yet she suffered holding onto her faith until the very moment she reached over my direction looking far above and beyond my eyes, smiled the most beautiful smile I had ever seen and said "I'm in, I'm in.”

 I believe that death isn't in our DNA. Because God created us as eternal beings and death only came after the fall, dying never sits well on our hearts. Even if a loved one lives a long life, we don't want them to go and miss them terribly after they are gone.  I always told my girls that death is the devil's last-ditch effort to get us to denounce our Savior. Many times and certainly in Hannah's case, the horrible suffering is just the devil working overtime. We give glory to God in and through our suffering. Oh, the crowns my little girl must have received when she entered into the presence of her God! We made a pact that day that we would meet her at the Tree Of Life... We truly have a little treasure in Heaven, and Heaven is a very sweet place for our family.

Chocolate Cisterns!

I could have told you this would happen.  I am spending the summer reading and writing about joy, and at this moment, I don't have a joyful cell in my entire being.  I am usually an "up" kind of girl...which has been annoying to my family at times.  I can nearly "Pollyanna" them to exasperation.  Well, not now.  Circumstances have slid my heart and mind right into the "pit of despair"...especially at night.  During the day I can distract myself...keep myself busy doing and doing and doing some more.  But at night, that is when the enemy's voice is no longer drowned out by busyness.  And he is brutal.


I had to let go of a dream recently.  One that I have thought of and pictured a thousand times.  A dream I have looked forward to for decades.  But lately I have been praying THAT prayer,  "Lord, if this is not your will show me and help me to see it clearly so I don't waste my time striving, thinking and planning for something that is just not You."  And He did.  I cried buckets of tears in the process of letting this dream die.  Still sadness remains.


And then other just plain weird stuff happened.  Circumstances that sucked the joy right out of my day and left this hovering feeling of "badness."  Even when I was not directly thinking on these things...I felt them hovering...just there...always in the back of my mind. I hate that feeling.  


So tonight, rather than toss and turn keeping Peter up, I decided to read the devotion I had skipped earlier in the day.  Honestly, I wasn't even surprised when these words were the first I read: "Joy Instead of Despair."    Of course that is the chapter I am on!  The Lord has done this more times than I can possibly count.  Oh, girls, in moments such as these He whispers to me:  "Cherri, I see you.  I see you."  I am humbled by this kind of sweet, intimate attention.  


Angela says, "The heart falls into despair when we forget.  When we forget who we belong to and how very powerful God is."  I have lived long enough to have seen many seemingly impossible circumstances turn completely around.  I have cried out to God and He has answered over and over.  He has moved powerfully in my life.  And still I forget.


Over twenty years ago Peter and I built a "spec" house with our very dearest friends, the Palms.  It looked like the perfect opportunity for us.  Our friend, Bill, was a contractor; Peter was a surveyor and between the two of them, they had many, many friends in different trades.  The house was built on a beautiful piece of property in the foothills of Palmdale overlooking the lake.  At the time all the homes in the area were on wells, but that wasn't a problem...EVERYBODY hit water when they went to dig their wells.  So we got busy with construction and before the house was even finished, it was sold for the asking price!  Then we dug our well...and another one...and another one....and another one.  ALL dry holes.  We borrowed money from Peter's dad and dug more, still no water!  We had sold a house with no water.  Not good.  The people who bought our waterless house did not take the news well.  They wanted to sue us for the amount homes had gone up since they signed the contract.  Not only that, we were told we could not sell the home because no bank would finance a house without water.  Believe me when I say the night our families got together to try to figure out what to do was a pretty despairing evening for us all.  We had absolutely no hope of getting out of this mess...zero, zip, none.  So we prayed.  We called all our kids together and got on our knees and asked God to help.  One thing we were positive about was this:  There was no way out of this except the mercy of God.  Then the phone rang.  I don't know who answered it.  I don't remember who said the words:  "You're not going to believe this!"  But I sure remember the words that followed..."The people who bought our house want to pay cash."  Even today I think back in wonder...They paid cash for a house with no water except what was trucked in and pumped into a water tank installed on the property.  We were stunned by His goodness...still am.


I forget the times He has been unmistakably visible in my life.   


I got up this morning and turned to the chapter I am on in Kay Warren's book Choose Joy, and there He was again:)  Twelve hours later my sweet Lord greets me with this chapter heading:  "Drinking From Dry Wells."  Not kidding!  Twelve hours ago I was begging for his joy and actually settled for the peace He gave last night so I could have a good night's rest and now I sit here smiling as I type.  Redeemer.  He reminds me over and over.  He is a Redeemer of everything.  He redeems even dry wells.


Kay shared a scene from her life that I TOTALLY related to....On page 80-81 she writes that when she is heartbroken over a situation and joy has completely vanished, leaving her feeling "upset, lonely, scared and anxious" she goes through a series of "cistern digs" to try and create joy.  She will call someone to talk and pray...it helps for a moment, then despair rises again, so she distracts herself with music; it helps for a bit, then despair rises.  FOOD...eat something, nope...doesn't last.  Chocolate!  Even chocolate cannot beat back despair.  I could have written those paragraphs myself.  I have been going through this cycle lately...The other afternoon, I even  got out a bag of frozen chocolate chips to eat (and that was after all the crackers and hummus was gone)!!!  I was desperate for joy even for a moment.


I have to wrap my mind around this truth...He, Jesus, my Lord, the Creator and Savior of my soul...He alone is joy.  Last night as I talked with Him about all that was on my mind and my complete lack of joy, I knew the answer was surrender...give it up and lean on Him.  But I told Him I don't want to just say the words:  "I surrender."  I want it to be real.  I don't want to just feel good for a moment.  I want true joy...whenever...WHEREVER.  And I don't want to fake it.  


Then, this morning, Angela had me in Psalm 63: 1-8

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is not water.  I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.  Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.  I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.  My soul will be satisfied as with the richest foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.  On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.  Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. 

And Isaiah 40: 20-31

Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  Has it not been told you from the beginning?  Have you not understood since the earth was founded?  He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.  He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.  He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.  No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on then and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.  "To whom will you compare me?  Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.  Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:  Who created all these?  He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls each by name.  Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.  Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God"?  Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He will not grow tired or weary and his understanding no one can fathom.  He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

As I read these words, joy began to spark again in my heart.  I started "clinging" last night and this morning, rather than feeling despair hovering in my thoughts, the Holy Spirit is hovering there instead.  He is a really good "hoverer."  In fact, He invented hovering...just read Genesis 1:2:)  


Last night as I wearily carried myself back to my bed, I remember thinking, "It is just impossible to be joyful over all this "stuff."  Very true.  There actually is not a the remotest detail I can be even happy about, but I can know this with certainty...He is in this with me.   He has not forgotten me.   "My way" is not hidden from my Him, and I can rest in that.  He is still my Redeemer.  He has proved himself faithful in my life time after time...and in that...I can rejoice!


Love and joy to you, my sweet friends!


Cherri


PS  I took a peak at the next chapter in my devotional and wouldn't you know..."Joy in Surrender"!  

Choose Joy!!!!!

Hello my friends!


This past week I went to Curves to workout, and I received an object lesson in "choosing joy."  There were two women working out at the same time and the vast difference in the words that came out of their mouths and the impact of those words definitely spoke to me about the power of "choosing joy."  Both ladies were elderly.  One came in and from the beginning talked about the difficulties of her week, her aches and pains, why she couldn't possibly eat the way she was supposed to, exercise the way she was supposed to...She went on to explain her various ailments and complaints with a kind of "hands in the air" demeanor of surrender to the all the negative, difficult and troublesome in her life.  This I will say:  she still got out there and exercised!  While she was working out, in walked another lady.  She actually made me smile just looking at her. She was wearing a bright pink shirt, a pink hat and pink tennis shoes.  She looked around the room as she began her workout and said to all of us:  "Good morning, ladies!  Isn't good to just get up in the morning!  I am so thankful I can still move!"  There it was, right in front of us...Joy!  I watched as my complaining exercise companion picked up her step and began to feel the joy this woman brought to the room.  By the end of the half hour, the attitude of self-pity had left her and as she walked out the door, one of the coaches encouraged her to keep at it and she'd lose a pound for sure next week. This lady smiled back and said:  "Two!  I'm going for two!"  What a change!  Living a life of joy has incredible power!  That is why I am excited about the book we will be reading throughout the coming months.


This summer we will be reading Choose Joy, by Kay Warren, as our summer blog book.  Choose Joy is available through Amazon for $14.95.  It is a new release so it is only in hardback format right now.  It is also available though Christian Book Distributors (www.christianbook.com) for $14.99 and because it is a new release, I am sure you will be able to find it at any local Bible book store. 


We will be starting Choose Joy on the "Together We Are One Wise Woman" blog 
the first week in June.  Until then I am going to post whatever the Lord gives to me so that we can practice the whole "blogging thing:)"  I know that some of you have had difficulties in posting comments on the blog.  My daughter-in-law, Jennifer, who is an experienced blogger, told me that it takes a little bit of time to get the hang of it.  She said that when she first started following different blogs, she had a difficult and frustrating time trying to post, but she eventually got it and has been able to post on blogs easily ever since.  She suggested for those of you who have not been successful at posting in the past, to start from scratch.  Re-read the "How to Use (and enjoy) This Blog" link on the home page of this blog to the right of this post.  Jen gives clear instructions on how to follow and post comments on this blog.  Please let me know if you are unable to post.  You can email me at motheruvmny@hotmail.com, and we will work it out together even if we have to get a hold of the people at Blogger to find out what we are doing wrong. 


Just for a little teaser, let me give a few of the chapter titles in Choose Joy:  "Seeking a Life of Joy," "Rediscovering Jesus, the Man of Joy," "Nurturing Joy in Yourself," "Nurturing Joy in Others,"Adopting Heaven's  Value System," and "Seeing Joy in all Things."  I am so looking forward to the summer months as we continue to grow in the Lord while learning to "choose joy!"  


Love to you, my friends!


Cherri