Karen's Crossing~~~A Full Plate

It was time for another trip to the doctor 's office. Leaving two patients alone in the chemotherapy room appeared dangerous today. Dangerous in the fact that the longer the lady next to me and I sat waiting for our treatment the more we began to giggle. Soon laughter was rolling around in the air and nurses began to dance to the tune of our silliness. At the end of our disruption we suddenly determined the fact that clinic was the one place where they keep asking you to come back in, in spite of your hang ups.

After raising chaos in the chemo room it was time to see the doctor.  The news he had or me was my RBC count was dropping, anemia was still an issue.  However, that wasn't where the list stopped. When he did stop he paused for a minute and asked me how my "fighter" was. After all, he added, 'you have a lot on your plate. You've had it pretty rough." 

When I got home I thought about what the doctor had said. As I thought I began to list the things on my plate. It wasn't like the plate a kid might fill. A plate where mom and dad can tell them they have a little too much on it so they need to choose what to put back.

Unfortunately sometimes it isn't as easy as that to do. Some things we find on our plate are naturally there, there by choice or by accident or by the luck of life's draw. They can be too much of a good thing and not enough of another.  

As I stared down at my plate I just created I looked intensely at the things I would like to take off. Through tears and anguish I quickly filled the top six on my list. They were my four cancers, which in turn would make medication maintenance and chemo treatments number five and six. 

As Jesus dealt with His anguish of asking God to remove what He was going through so did I (Mathew 26:39). In tears I cried out as Jesus did asking if it was possible to let the six things on my list pass from me and permanently be taken from my plate. 

It was there I felt a pause in my prayer. I had prayed as Jesus did but not completely. I stopped before adding the part, 'not as I will but as Your will be done.'  As much as I wanted a lighter plate it was going to have to be up to God and I needed to accept that. 

Life happens and we find ourselves holding a full plate. Our job is to not add unnecessary things to an already full load. Recently one thing I added unknowingly was the loss of my hair. Little did I know I wasn't accepting the inevitable. I was mourning the loss one hair at a time. Finally after breaking down I cut my hair and latter my husband shaved it for me to make it look better. 

The deal is, I needed to be like the lady and I were in the chemo room. I needed to be spending my time waiting for God in praise and laughter making those around me to join in song and dance. Dancing to the tune of 1 Corinthians 10:13 where we are promised by God that He won't give us more than we can bear. Praise the Lord. 

This is why, Jesus is the one, who like the clinic, is willing to ask us back no matter how goofy we are or worldly in our worries and fear. Therefore in a last attempt to hold up my full plate properly I cried out again and again:

Come Jesus help me hold my plate.
Come Jesus lighten my load.
Come, Jesus I am waiting
Come Jesus the Savior I know. 




Copyright March 2015 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing 
Sent from my iPhone

Karen's Crossing~~~ God's Not Dead

Just as the day was lined with busyness and laughter it looked like it was going to follow us into the evening. After trying on grandma's wigs and watching their grandpa model one too the grandkids and I settled down to watch a movie they wanted me to see.

Little did I know what had started out a funny evening was soon going to turn into one of tears. Tears of joy as well as pain as the movie was one of great value and worth. 

It was the movie I had missed in the theatre when it first came out. The movie called "God's not Dead." Interesting enough when the movie was in the theater I was all ready to see it. Hot in my pocket was the money I had set aside to take my grandkids to it.

Unfortunately we never got to go then as my cancer was acting up. In fact soon I would find out my medicine had stopped working and my cancer was spreading. Fear and worry was in the air. 

However, a year later here I was not in the movie theater but in my own house about to watch what I once missed. Tonight as I watched the movie the tears of yesterday year came back to me. I knew in my heart I owed God a big thanks for stopping me from seeing the movie back then because neither my grandkids nor I would have been strong enough to listen to the message it had to give. 

In the heart of the story one of the characters finds out she has cancer and her boyfriend leaves her.  Another character was mad at God because his mom died from cancer when he was a little boy. His argument was how can you believe in a God who allows such a thing to happen. The girl with cancer was hoping what she was hearing about God was true because she knew she was dying. 

To listen to her cry out, "I'm dying I'm dying," brought tears to my eyes as I heard it in my own voice. A voice once crying out in the wilderness of despair and pain at a concert one night I had went to with my family. Crying silently inward drowning in my own pain were the words, "I'm dying I'm dying, this could be my last concert I'll ever see. What exactly did tomorrow have to hold?"

Self pity and fear was in the air and like in the movie I needed someone to remind me God wasn't dead He was more than alive. Slowly that message was reinforced in my heart as it was in the movie. One by one the characters in the story, thanks to a young boy, came to the conclusion God wasn't dead. In fact He was surely alive as the Newsboys put it in their song.


Just because we get cancer or dad comes down with dementia or mom has a major stroke or a child dies in a car accident doesn't make God dead. Life happens as it happens to all of us. What we do with what happens is up to us. 

Getting mad at God won't change the circumstances. Blaming Him and the world isn't going to improve the situation. Running into a dark corner to hide won't bring light to an already dark situation. Drinking our fears away may work for a night but they always seem to return to haunt us another day. 

The best thing we can do is to know God isn't dead. He hasn't left us or forsaken us just because things happen. It's because He is alive that we can live for all eternity if we so choose. 

Lately I've been told by several people that if God calls me home the one thing they will miss the most about me is my writing. To God be the glory on that one. It's because He is alive I am able to write thru a gift He has given me. The ink may be mine but the words are His. It's a gift that has allowed me to leave a paper trail to Jesus for those around me to follow. 

It would do us all good to remember God is as alive as we allow Him to be in our lives. However, it's important to realize He's never as dead as we make Him out to be simply because He lives. 

To quote a famous song once written, "because He lives I can face..." a lot of things such as:
Because He lives I can face my cancer. 
Because He lives I can face my dad's dementia. 
Because He lives I can face my mother not being able to talk to me because of her stroke. 
Because He lives I am able to face the pain alcohol can cause to some people or the pain of my cancer. 
Because He lives I can smile when the world tells me I should really be crying. 
Because He lives I can get out of bed in the morning when my cancer stricken body says 'No stay in, you've got a good excuse.'
Because He lives I can go to church in pain and come out refreshed and ready to face tomorrow 

Because He lives we all can face tomorrow. It doesn't matter how many we have left to face we can face them. 

So to you my wig wearing grandkids with me tonight and all my others whether mine by blood or adopted by love I say to you, "This is the trail I leave you on because God lives so does grandma. And so can you. Seek God, the one who's more than surely alive."

Love forever, 

Grandma 

Copyright 2015 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipe Publishing

Sent from my iPhone

Udder Words~~~~~Wow, what a pep talk

Deuteronomy 31:8 And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”

In this scripture from Deuteronomy Moses is giving the people one last pep talk before entering the promise land. As he reminded them of their past journey and the things they did wrong or right and what God did for them he adds this little note. The note telling them once again that the Lord is the one who goes before them. It is the Lord that will be with them throughout their future adventures. He told them that God would not leave them nor forsake them and that they did not need to be afraid or dismayed.

When you look at it, this pep talk is not only for the Israelites traveling into the Promise land but it is for us as well. It would do us good to remember that God goes before us but never too far ahead that He isn’t still with us always. He promises us that He will never leave us nor forsake us and that is great traveling words. It beats the traveling promises we get when we sign up for a cruise or something.

 

When we travel with God we don’t need to be afraid or dismayed. In spite of the lies Satan tries to tell us to be scared we need to stand up to these false accusations using the promises of God as our map to our next destination. It will make our journey better and the end results more pleasant.

 

It will do so because too often when we give in to fear we always run away from something we should be confronting. Another promise to pull out to use as our map is the one found in 2 Timothy 1:7. Here God tells us He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Oh really? That’s not what it feels like sometimes.

 

Somewhere along the line we have gotten mixed up the things in life we should be afraid of. Instead of being afraid of high places, water, elevators, bridges, spiders, mice, or whatever else we are afraid of we need to stand up to those fears and abandon them. Sadly enough the one fear that needs to stay, the fear of God, seems to be the first one we have abandoned all together without any help from any psychiatrist, counselor, or advisor.

 

Praise the Lord God has not abandoned us that He continues to go before us. It would do us well to remember this pep talk as we travel forward towards our Promise Land. For when the road forks and the only destinations left are Heaven or hell we need to be on the one that leads us to where God has gone before us. The place He’s prepared for the arrival of those willing to believe He would never leave them nor forsake them. That all along He was always with them.

 

Wow, what a pep talk! Wow, what a journey!

 

© 2013 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing       In Udder Words

Udder Words~~~~~~~~~Sailing With Jesus

 

“The devil brings storms into your life to intimidate you. You glorify God when you continue to do what you know is right anyway.”

 

The lesson for the preschool class on Sunday was the story of Jesus calming the storm. To make the story come alive for the kids my assistant Delores was gracious enough to make us a pretend boat on the carpet of our classroom. As the kids approached they began to wonder what it was that was taped to the floor, to help stir their imagination I put paper fish around the boat. “Oh yeah I see now,” was their reaction. As each kid sat in the boat with my assistant I told the story from outside the boat. Short of actually throwing water in their faces we acted it out the best we could.

 

Once the lesson was done Dugan decided to get back into the boat and play some more. Acting like he was drowning he reminded me of how we act a lot like the disciples in the boat that day screaming out to Jesus, “We’re going to drown!” It is so true that Satan brings storms into our lives just to intimidate us. Unfortunately it’s not that difficult of a job as we seem to be easily frightened at times.

 

In order to glorify God we need to keep on doing what is right and not let life’s storms affect us. For each person there are different levels of storms just like storms in nature. The storms they have in Florida are ones we will never see in Oregon. Well, I hope we never do. Ha Ha. No matter what the degree of storm that hits our lives we can all be the same in the fact we need to continue to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord in order to glorify Him.

Doing what the disciples did and going into a panic attack will not calm the storm. Trembling in fear of what will happen to us will not make the storm go away. I have to admit when the storm of the news of my cancer hit there were many times I wanted to curl up in a corner somewhere and cover my head with a blanket and never come out. Although I never did it, in my heart it was my way of dealing with this big storm.

 

Later I found the better way to handle it would be to go on doing what is right and that is to trust God to see me through. I have always relied on God for my strength to endure and this situation was no different. It was a storm too big for me but not too big for God. I just needed to sit calmly in my boat and allow Jesus to navigate me and my boat thru the rough waters into calmer currents.

 

I could either act like Dugan was laying on the bottom of the boat kicking my feet screaming out to God or I could sit upright in my seat and continue to do what needed to be done. Something I learned about this storm that seems like a simple “duh” kind of a thing but it’s a trick your mind likes to play on you is the fact that I’m in this one for life. There will not be a day in my life that I won’t have to deal with my breast and bone cancer and the constant pain it creates in my body.

 

Getting scared won’t make it go away. Thrashing around in a frighten mode won’t end it all. Jumping ship doesn’t solve any problems, only creates more. Screaming out to Jesus, yelling “I’m going to drown” wasn’t going to cure me. If that was the case it should have cured my cancer the night in the emergency room when the doctor said those words, “You have bone cancer.” My backache I was dealing with wasn’t a backache that was going to go away like all my others did. This one was created by my bone cancer, it was here to stay like it or not. The storm that hit was a storm that wasn’t going to go away.

 

The best way to ride it out would be to continue to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord. It would start with trusting the Lord, turning my fears over to Him, reading God’s word for navigational help and continuing to be obedient to God’s commands and words. Allowing fear to overtake me wasn’t the answer, my emotions were certainly not trustworthy they were wounded by the shattering news.

 

What is right was to remain upright, living out the storm being the best sailor I know how to be with God as my captain. Someday the other sandy shore will come and the storm will finally cease until then I’m sailing with Jesus, Him and me.

 

© 2013 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing       In Udder Words Tuesday

In Udder Words ~~~~~~~~Giving God our ALL

Proverbs 3:5,6 Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your way know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.                 Amplified Bible

 

Why is it that we are always one phone call away, one moment away, or one conversation away from shattering life changing news? As unpleasantly true as it is we can’t go around living our lives as if it was fact and not fiction. Wow, imagine that!  We’d all be living in fear of the next “moment.” Now there is a phobia for you that could do a lot of damage.

 

Instead of living in fear of that next moment we need to be prepared in a different way for it. Our preparation begins with leaning on, trusting in, and being confident in the Lord with all our heart and mind. Stop! Back the typewriter up right there; did you just type, “All your heart and mind?” Sorry to burst any proofreading bubbles looking for typos but that is what I typed, and more importantly it’s what God wrote in His word for our guidance, giving God our ALL.

What God said in Proverbs 3 is exactly what we are to do with ALL of our heart, mind, as well as our soul because that is what follows. The crack in our foundation that keeps us from being totally prepared is the fact that we have the tendency to hold back bits and pieces of our heart and mind for ourselves. We love the Lord, we believe in Him and we think that is enough. However, the minute we hold back pieces of ourselves for ourselves that is where Satan gets his foothold into our lives. It is the very place where the damage to our faith and trust in God begins.

 

We need to forget trying to lean on our own understanding because try as we might there are things in life we will never understand. It’s up to us to know and acknowledge God as we allow Him to do the leading, the guiding, the straightening of our somewhat crooked paths. It’s up to us to trust in and be confident in Him.

 

Too often we lose our confidence when we see bad things happening to us. “If I can trust and lean on God then why did this or that happened to me or my love one” Once again God never promised us a pain-free, no storm, no trouble life if we lean on and rely and trust in Him. What His promises tell us is that He can walk us through the storms in life and get us through to the other side. The journey between the two destinations is where we learn, grow, and mature into the people God designed us to be.

 

Right now in my heart as I type I battle with something having to do with my dad. The news may be bad, it may be not so bad, it may be ok but I won’t know until we talk to the doctor early this morning. I confess the first thought that popped into my mind wasn’t, “Oh I’m leaning on the Lord for this one.” No, my human reaction beat my spiritual response and I worried that the news may be cancer.

 

We can’t stop those thoughts from popping into our heads but we are responsible for whether we allow them to build a nest there or not. The minute they come we need to stop and say to them, “No! Accessed to my heart denied!” Refute them permission to stay as we decide we are not going to lean on our own understanding but lean on God’s instead.

 

God is in control still no matter what the news we receive. Our confidence comes from knowing that in our hearts and living it out in our choices in life, our attitudes, and our actions. Relying on God with ALL our ways with ALL our hearts is the way to go as anything else is only a temporary fix that will eventually fail.

 

God will not fail us; we need to make sure we do the same for Him as ALL our faith is in Him in ALL our ways. He’s reliable and we need to be too. Now not later is the time to give Him our ALL.

 

 

© 2013 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing       In Udder Words Tuesday

 

 

 

Sticky Notes from God~~ Fear, permission denied

Fear is a jail cell locked from the inside. False evidence appearing real; do it afraid what is right

 

As an adult I still remember the words of my mother who always said, “There’s no reason to be afraid, go ahead and do it.” Sometimes I believed her and other times I didn’t. Little did I know at the time what damage fear can do in your life if you give it permission to.

 

Fear is a jail cell locked from the inside and we are the ones who hold the key. Often what we fear is nothing but false evidence appearing real. Good disguise, right? Whether it’s false evidence or something very real like the fear of water after almost drowning in it we need to not let it control our lives. We need to do what we know is right even if we do it afraid and not give fear its permission to stop us.

 

Recently as I flew to Arizona to the Cancer Treatment Center of America I sat next to a gentleman flying home after a business trip. When I asked him if my husband could trade seats with him he said “No, I’m claustrophobic that’s why I book far enough ahead of time to get an aisle seat.”

 

When we finally landed in Salt Lake City I wanted to praise him for doing so well facing this fear he dealt with. He most certainly could have chosen to stay home but he chose to face it afraid.

 

With Christ at our side we can face anything afraid or not. As I told our congregation one Sunday the benefit of having Christ over the years has given me strength to endure and a great traveling companion. A friend at my side that helped me face the fear of seizures, the fear of cancer, the fear of the unknown, the uncontrolled.

 

There are things out there that are going scare us and that’s natural but we can’t let it lock us up in a jail cell with us holding the key. We need to deny fear its permission to control in such a way. To do what is right even if we do it afraid. The best possible way is having the Lord traveling with us, walking along beside us telling us what He told Joshua in the Promise Land. “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Praise the Lord it is true, Praise the Lord we can face our giants even if we do it afraid because we have the Lord who is forever with us if we so choose.

 

When we say to fear ‘permission denied,” and to Christ “permission granted” we can almost hear the clanging of the jail cell lock as it’s released.  All we need to do is hand over the key that locked us up in the first place, our fear of evidence not true, and our fear of fear itself.

 

© 2012 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

Karen's crossing. Oh what a day. UPDATED

 As a woman, well over forty, I should know by now that when I am having an emotional day starting even before 5:00am that I should crawl back in bed and start over at least five hours later. Ha ha. Yesterday was that kind of day. Choosing to watch a movie instead of the morning news I picked one I had never seen before.

It was a movie about a woman dying of cancer. All the emotions she was dealing with were ones I have felt myself. It opened up and released all those things I was carrying inside of me. When that happened the flood water of tears just poured.

The lady talked about how she couldn't believe this was her life. As I struggle sometimes to stand up I think that myself. A common viewpoint taken by anyone that is dealing with something major I am sure. This certainly was not how I pictured my life but who can vision truly what their life is exactly going to turn out to be.

Another shared emotion was the fact she felt cheated. I feel cheated out of having fun verses pain, out of being able to do whatever I want with my grandkids and family with no interference from cancer. I feel cheated out of having a normal life. Cancer or not who is to say what a normal life looks like. Since I can't say then how could I be cheated out of it? No one snuck cancer in me when I wasn't looking to cheat me or do anything to me. Truly we cheat ourselves out of a lot of stuff by hanging on to pity, shame, anger and so much more.

The next shared emotion was feeling like I let my family down. In the beginning I remember looking at my first cancer bill. I thought I really let my family down like I was running up some kind of a shopping spree bill. I felt like I let my daughter down and the grandkids as well as my husband. Unable to be totally independent occasionally I was going to need to be cared for, making me a more of burden than a blessing. Truly the only way I can let them down is by having the wrong attitude, by giving up instead of fighting and allowing my cancer to be stronger than me. The only time I could become a burden to them is if I start to carry the wrong attitude in my heart. Out of the question also is the attitude of just sitting around feeling sorry for myself throwing pity party after pity party. Thanks to the Lord and having Jesus in my life I have been given the ability to do and be what I need in order to succeed.

Then there was the shared feeling of, "I can deal with the cancer I have. I just can't deal with what is yet to come." That kind of thinking is borrowing from tomorrow's trouble. Jesus himself said today has enough trouble of its own. Boy if that isn't true as my “today” proved it.

My appointment with my oncology doctor was supposed to be a checkup from my mouth sores; I had no idea something else would come of that. After sharing my latest aches and pains to my doctor I found out I may be experiencing one of my first “side effects” of the medications I take. Evidently the medicine used to keep my bone cancer pain down to a bearable level has a tendency to breakdown the cheekbone. Between the look on my doctor’s face and the sound of the news fear came over me. Truly another feeling I must have shared with the lady in the movie.

After leaving the doctor’s office I went out to the car where mom was resting from our journey for the day. I wanted to let her know I would be a little longer as a CAT scan was being ordered on my face. The minute I saw her and she looked at me the tears began. Instantly the look on her face changed from “Oh now we can go home” to “I’m so sorry honey, is there anything I can do to help?”

Instantly as I got into the car to talk with her she put her one good arm around me to give me a hug. Still as I remember the vision of her doing that the tears want to flow once more. Her, "Two kind" phrase she says the most since her stroke never sounded so beautiful, it was all the words I need for the comfort I required. The best shared emotion of the day was the love shared between my mom and me.   

Oh “what a day”, as indeed the emotions of the morning had visited my afternoon and dried cheeks soon became wet once more. Tuesday October 2^nd I get my test result but in the meantime my bone cancer med has to be held. This means significant pain until I get my treatment, hopefully on that same Tuesday. Medication adjustments need to be made and attitude adjustments as well if need be. My attitude of wanting to crawl back in that hole I longed to find when I was first diagnosed needs to be stopped now as I stand strong in the Lord. Strong in the power of His might and strength no matter what I face.

One “what a” day at a time, one step at a time as I follow the advice I give to my grandkids frequently. And that is the advice of continuing to move forward. There is no time to stop and play victim, my family needs me just as much as they did when I didn’t have cancer. Just as my mom moved forward after her major stroke so shall I.

In God I will trust,

Karen

**September 30, 2012 Got my test results and there is no breaking down of my cheekbone that my oncology doctor can see. There is bone cancer there. She told me once I had “significant” amount of bone cancer and this is one of those spots I wasn’t aware of before. I still may need to go to the oral surgeon she said to make sure they don’t see something she missed. The question of my medications again will up for discussion. I can’t wait for my treatment, this bone pain stuff is for the birds... J tweet tweet. I must say it did get me to get my oldest sister to lay down on the floor and let me use her as my footstool. Long story, I’ll have to share with you someday.

Tattered to Tethered

This morning for Tuesday’s In Other Words we were told, “You are on our own." Our hostess isn’t feeling well which I hope she gets better soon and our leader has a wedding to prepare for this weekend. Awesome Loni, have fun! So here I go off on my own, generally for me that can be dangerous but let’s see where it leads me. Ha ha

Sitting down and looking at what I might choose for myself my eyes and heart falls on quotes about fear and courage.

Quotes such as these:

• Courage is doing your duty even in fear
• Walk it out, pray it out. Feel the fear and move forward anyway
• Fear is a jail cell locked from the inside. False evidence appearing real; do it afraid what is right
• A secure life is not one without problems but one grounded, tethered, secure in God.

When you go on Facebook the catchy question they use to get people to open up and post something is the question, “What’s on your mind?” Whoa, sometimes the “can of worms” that opens flies out in abundance and other times it’s just a simple little remark, encouragement, or view of the days activity.

Answering that question from my blog today, “What’s on your mind?” I would have to say, “My family, my grandchildren, and what lies ahead.” I don’t necessarily feel fear yet I’m afraid, concerned, worried, distressed, and a few other mixed emotions in the pot of feelings that is being stirred today.

What I like about these quotes is how they encourage me to deal with things in my life even if I can’t pinpoint the one emotion of “fear.” When you think of fear you think of something scaring you, frightening, terrifying or spooky. Today I’m thinking of it in a little mellower fashion. Something more like hesitation, uncertainty, or anticipation of what’s ahead.

The quotes I collected today to help me thru tell me that having courage is my duty in spite of the fear or uncertainty I feel. I’m told to walk it out, pray it out, and move forward anyway in spite of the fear. Truly fear is a jail cell locked from the inside. It is created by false evidence appearing real and no matter what, we are to go ahead and do what needs to be done. In other word, “do it afraid what is right.”

The result of trusting God and having faith in Him is what the last quote covers as it tells me a secure life is not one without problems but one grounded, tethered, and secure in God. Life gets scary. There are things that come up, things that happen, and things that will tatter and tear us apart if we allow them. Uncertainties we are required to walk thru and we need to make it our duty to face them head on with the faith we have in God to see us thru.

There is no doubt about it the best way to travel is to walk it out, pray it out and move forward. Too often situations have a way of paralyzing us into stopping and never going any further. No, I take that back we can’t blame “situations” it’s our attitude, our lack of trust and faith, therefore it’s our fear that stops us.

Fear is a jail cell that locks from the inside of us where we are the only ones who have access to the key. The key of faith and trust in God unlocks the fear that halts us and opens a door we can move forward thru past the false evidence that appears way too real. Afraid or not we need to do what is right in spite of fear. We can’t let it cripple us, stop us, alter where we need to be in life simply because we don’t want to deal with it.

Wouldn’t it be nice if a secure life meant one that was without problems, without fear, without tough challenges, and hard lessons? As nice as it would be it doesn’t happen that way and the sooner we realize that the better off we will be. Too many people think coming to Christ will put them on the list of problem-free living but it doesn’t. The truth is the secure life is one that is grounded, tethered, and secure in God having Him as their foundation, anchor, and guidepost. Grounded by faith and tethered by trust.

It’s like what they say about plants and trees. The plants and trees that often are the strongest are the ones that have survived the storms in life. When a storm comes up their roots firmly dig into the soil to keep them from being taken away by the strong winds they are up against. We need to have strong roots in our faith and trust in God. When the storms in life come up we need to dig those roots into our soul strong and harder than ever before. When the storm passes, the fear is gone, we come out not like a tattered and torn flag that has been whipped around and shredded but a person who was tethered (secure, bound, tied, hitched, fastened) to Christ made stronger by each storm, made securer in each act of trust.

God is the one who sees the big picture. All we can do is deal with the little bits of scenery we are allowed to see. I need to trust in God today no differently than yesterday with the knowledge and hope that each tomorrow brings more strength, more security, more faith in God. Done so as I walk it out pray it out as I go from tattered and torn to tethered in Christ.

Dear Heavenly Father, today is in Your hands as it always was and will be. Forgive me for trying to handle it myself, for changing from tethered to tattered just because I allowed fear to come and roost on the doorstep of my heart. Take me through this day that Your will, will be done. To You be the glory and praise forever for seeing us through and walking along beside us to strengthen us where we feel weak and encourage us where we need a nudge to move forward. In your Son’s precious name I pray, AMEN.

© 2012 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing       In Other Words Tuesday

The Taker of Our Fears

True freedom from fear consists of totally resigning one’s life into the hands of the Lord.~ David Wilkerson Resigned into God’s Care (on-line devotional)


In preparation for today’s quote I nobly stepped forward and looked up over 400 scriptures connected with the word “fear.” Grant it, I cheated a little, well a lot, and used Biblegateway.com to look them up for me. One by one I was going to pick out some that went along with today’s quote while weeding out those who had nothing to do with it.

With every intention of finishing the task the following morning my crack of the dawn devotional took me down a different path. The story of the day was about Jesus walking on the water out to His disciples. Scared that they were seeing a ghost strolling around on the lake Jesus spoke to them at once. “It’s all right,” He said. “I am here! Don’t be afraid.” Then He climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped. They were astonished at what they saw. (NLB) Mark 6:50,51.

At least for this morning that one little verse said it all for me, “It’s all right. I am here! Don’t be afraid.” The subject of true freedom itself is a whole different topic but what David Wilkerson says here is “true freedom from fear.” There are all sorts of freedoms when we come to Christ, after all the Truth itself is what sets us free in the first place. But today we are talking just a small piece of the puzzle, the freedom from fear.

If you’re afraid, who would you rather have in your boat? Someone who made you feel safe or someone who intensified the fear you were already feeling? I would go for the one that made me feel safe. Those words Jesus spoke to the disciples still echo in my heart as He has said them to me many a times, “I am here! Don’t be afraid.”

There we have it, the invitation is out. The next part is up to us. We can either turn that fear over to the Lord by totally resigning ourselves to God or we can keep it to ourselves in our own hands. We can either invite Jesus to climb into our boat or life or we can tell Him to keep on walking by and leave us alone. We can either stay afraid or give up our fears to the one who truly can care for them.

I find it interesting that of all the words you can look up in the Bible there is one word you won’t find and that is the word surrender. At least the word surrender when it comes to talking about surrendering or resigning our lives to God. Perhaps it doesn’t say that flat out because its something that has to be our choice. When Jesus was calling His first disciples He didn’t tell them, “Surrender all you have and follow me.” If He had done that it would have come out sounding like some kind of bank robbery. No He just “Come, follow me.”

There is only one way we can successfully come and follow Jesus, the taker of our fears and that is to surrender ourselves over to Him. It doesn’t work to invite Him on board our ship in life and then sit in the back of the boat with both hands on the sides rocking it back and forth. I hate to burst any bubbles but we just can’t have it both ways. Again I have to go with the “Taker of our fears.” What a blessing it is that we have someone who cares we are afraid in the first place, who doesn’t walk on by thinking to Himself, “BOO! HOO! What a bunch of wimps.”

Fear is one thing if we had the opportunity to get rid of it we would. I don’t think there are too many people who would clasp on to it as a treasure to be kept. The treasure to be kept is the security, freedom, and safety we find in Jesus the taker of our fears not the one who is out to scare us.

Once again in order for Him to take our fears we have to willing to surrender them to Him as we resign our lives into His hands. We can’t have it both ways in a on and off kind of choice of when and what we want to surrender to Jesus. “I surrender all” means just that I surrender ALL. My fears for His security, it can’t be beat.

© 2010 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing