What's Your One Thing?

            I never wanted to own a beauty salon, but I spent 43 years behind a styling chair in countless salons where God was never mentioned except in crude language. I vowed that my salon would be different and it was. People confirmed their encounters with God’s Presence often when they came for appointments with my staff. It was a “Steel Magnolia” meets “The War Room” kind of place. Before those years in leadership, I worked in a boutique and as a cosmetics consultant/sales director for a major direct sales company. Later I managed an accounts receivable department for four years at an automobile dealership. These early jobs prepared me for ownership and management including many lessons about how I would lead if given the chance though I shunned every opportunity.

            During my career, God helped me survive difficult circumstances and marital relationships. Some were consequences of my poor choices and others were situations beyond my control. God, in His mercy and grace, used every experience and today, I thrive only because of His Spirit at work in me. Of my accomplishments, my proudest trophies include my marriage to William, three adult children and six grandchildren. But apparently, God destined me for His domain of Beauty. I retired from cosmetology four years ago and I spend my discretionary time in the studio painting or at the computer editing my photography. I write occasionally.

            In this post, I want to emphasize three words as I ponder the gifts and callings of God on our lives: transition, suspension and sustain. Since my last name is Word, God grants me creative license to use words. At our house, we challenge, teach and encourage each other with words. We especially employ synonyms to amplify deeper understanding and I’ll demonstrate as I go further.

            Every life experiences transition. All humans face states of flux and instability during passages. Jobs, relationships, educational pursuits, births, serious illnesses, and eventually death involve process. Seasons change and even plant life endures dormancy and pruning. As creatures of change, we potentially respond in two ways: resist or yield. Speaking for myself, I naturally resist the very thing to which I should yield.

            Generally, people know their most common reaction. We either rebel, refuse, ignore and ultimately delay God’s purposes with our kicking and screaming, and our lives become like suspended particles in liquid. Or we surrender, submit, and our collaboration with Holy Spirit sustains us through the process. This soul tension between resistance and surrender teaches us to trust God for the outcomes and His greatest works manifest as we obey.

            The Biblical phrase, “glory to glory” perfectly describes a transition moment in the middle with a two-letter word, “to.” As Holy Week approaches, imagine Good Friday “to” Resurrection Sunday. Not much is said about that Saturday, and we can only assume the paralysis Jesus’ disciples felt as their hopes for deliverance from Roman rule died on Golgotha. While everything seemed suspended, the stone at the tomb merely served as a gateway from one reality to another, and Jesus Himself experienced this mysterious “glory to glory” transformation.

            Are you held in suspension right now? Is your life disrupted? Your goals inhibited? Dreams hampered? Do you feel cramped, hobbled or trapped in some situation? Take heart because as horrific as Good Friday was, a victorious Resurrection Sunday arrived! The gifts and calling on Jesus’ life were irrevocable as are ours recorded in Romans 11:29. Irrevocable means irreversible, unchangeable, binding, permanent and carved in stone. Psalm 139 also reveals our gifts and calling as predestined and predetermined having been written in the book of days before our birth!

            Sadly, some people live their whole lives in suspension, never knowing their life purpose, gifts or God’s calling. Last year when I attended the Global Leadership Summit, I heard John Maxwell speak and purchased his book, “Intentional Living.” I recommend it highly if “Suspension” is your potential epitaph.

            In his book, Maxwell writes about discovering your “One Thing.” I know that I am a creative individual. I spent my professional life as an artist, albeit behind a hairstyling chair. But as a child, it wasn’t my dream to be a beautician, an artist, a nurse, or a number cruncher. I wanted to be a mother, and oddly enough, life assaulted me here in my “one thing.” I suffered a hysterectomy at 26 and later adopted two babies. Divorce from their father strained our relationships as did geography when they chose to live with him and his new wife 500 miles away. Patient, intentional pursuit of my kids transformed our distant relationships though I grew weary many times.

            Today I know God uses my passion for motherhood to express the “Mother’s Love of His Father’s Heart” like a heavenly umbrella. Everything I do while nurturing family, life-coaching, mentoring or sharing art with kids expresses not only who I am, but Who God is in me. Motherhood is how He sustains me. Synonyms for sustain include strengthen, support, comfort, help, encourage, hearten, endure, or to give someone energy and hope. Holy Spirit ministers all these and more when I recognize and embrace the beauty of surrender.

            You can know God’s purpose for your life. His purpose is the same for everyone in His Kingdom.

1. Give Him glory, thanks and praise for your life whatever the circumstances, no matter your failures and mistakes.

2. Live a transformed life, not merely a conformed, religious likeness. Godly sorrow brings true repentance.

3. Be a voice of redemption. God’s redemptive plan always uses people.

4. Be a voice of hope.

Share how He called you out of darkness into His Marvelous Light (1Peter 2:9). When you do, you grant hope for the mystery of Christ that rolls away the stone and inscribes “Sustain” across a heart’s door.

(c)2017

HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU'VE BEEN FORGIVEN?

         I heard some awesome news this week. My former husband is getting married! Now, this is "awesome" because he said he'd never marry again. (Well, I did, too, for that matter.) But God had different plans!

   

         I'm really happy for him and his new bride because everyone should be as happily married as William and I are. I want that for you, divorced reader, but I especially want that for my former husband. I remember how much I shut myself off from others to live "safely." I didn't date. I worked, went to church and Bible Study, but I lived an isolated life. A self-imposed isolation that seemed to protect me from my relational lot in life, "hurt and be hurt." 

         Last week at Bible Study, our leader asked our group some provocative questions about our progress as Christians. You know, how are you doing in this area of your life? He began with, "How do you know you have forgiven someone?" The discussion approached the typical responses of "forgive and forget," plus more. 

         Jesus and Bill helped me to remember the good memories of my past marriages because there were many. When a painful memory surfaced, I quickly recalled, "Oh, but I have forgiven him for that." I learned that if I am bitter and resentful when I think of a person or an event, then I have not fully forgiven and there's more work to do. But when I remember the wound or the offense and I have total peace, then forgiveness is complete.

         The second question he asked is the title of the blog post today. "How do you know you've been forgiven?" The best response came from a young woman who said, "You know because they don't remind you of what you did." 1st Corinthians 13 says that Love, unconditional love, keeps no record of the wrongs done to it. OUCH! 

         Today I marvel at how God restored and is continually restoring my life. Over three years ago, He spoke to me through a dream, and its interpretation shook off my hermit life to create a community life that I could never have dreamed of. It could not have happened had I not been willing to yield to His Will and to risk experiencing “hurt” again. And so, I am happy beyond words to hear that my former spouse opened his heart to romance again and yielded to God's Will for his life.

         It's never too late to live happily ever after. So, "Dare to dream!"

     

ABUNDANT LIFE...MY CUP RUNNETH OVER!

      In spite of his pressing health issues, my desire to introduce my husband at our family reunion prevailed and we changed our plans to attend at the last minute. A quick getaway trip over a long weekend was “just what the doctor ordered.”

        Afterwards, William and I returned home and resumed the daily routine. Our custom is morning devotions before breakfast. Armed with warm coffee, our Bibles and two devotionals for guidance, we settled comfortably into the wing back chairs by the window. And like most mornings, the reading stimulated dialogue for possible life applications. From October 20 in Sarah Young’s “Jesus Calling,” I read aloud,

          “I am your living God, far more abundantly alive than the most vivacious person you know. The human body is wonderfully crafted, but gravity and the inevitable effects of aging weigh it down. Even the most superb athlete cannot maintain his fitness over many decades. Lasting abundant life can be found in Me alone.”

          I finished the page and Bill asked,

           “Kate, what does abundant life look like?”

        It is his way, asking what something looks like to further our understanding. I remembered the Amplified translation of John 10:10 and I heard myself repeating words like, “full, to the fullest, till overflowing.” Our discussion turned a corner when Bill looked squarely at me and said,

          “In my adult life, I’ve never been to a family reunion quite like yours.”

           “What do you mean?”

          “Kate, if I were asked to describe an abundant life, I’d begin with kitchen counters filled with rich meats, vegetables, breads, appetizers and desserts with coffee and teapots that never emptied. As absent soldiers’ pictures stood like sentinels guarding the chow line, proud parents and siblings paid tribute to their military family members as they milled freely about. Against a panoramic view of the Texas hill country, a table filled with homemade craft items and baked goods competed for the highest bid to help fund the next reunion. River walks, tractor rides, skeet shoots, hula hoops and rope toys, scrabble games, wildflowers, centipedes and dragonflies enhanced the menu as well as cows mooing, dogs barking, children laughing, men whistling, and women chatting. Aunts, uncles and cousins alike perused the family albums and told memorable stories to help bridge the generation gaps. These are the conversations that cannot fit on paper or paintings fit for a canvas. This picture of abundant life is a colorful palette of variety that could never be improved with Photoshop."

          For a moment, I was speechless, but it was true. He had just described the reunion. Our family works hard to create these Kodak moments that anyone would covet. I never realized how covetous until Bill shared his observations.  I am a part of a family that can’t be owned, but ours is a true wealth that can be possessed. This is the prosperity of my soul.

          Bill continued,

          “Many people acquire these relational opportunities, but few truly apprehend them. Just like some folks never truly apprehend their divine identity and enjoy a genuine, relational life in Jesus.”

          I confess I have taken my earthly family for granted. Some of these relationships have been white water rapids and others, placid tidal pools. You probably have similar relationships in your life. In either case, an abundant life begins with an invitation “to dive in,” a permission “to look around and see what you find.” But “life exchange” requires a response to the invitation.

         As believers, we said, “Yes” to His outstretched hand when we were drowning. Then the Lord gave us to a spiritual family that continually invites us to safely wade in deeper. Hopefully, you are finding refreshment and leading others to the River of Life. From the Gospel of John, we read,

          “Now on the final and most important day of the Feast, Jesus stood and He cried in a loud voice, ‘If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me [who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me], as the Scripture has said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow [continuously] springs and rivers of living water.’” John 7:37-38 AMP                                                                

Come on in, the water is fine!

©2014-2016

TRANSITIONS

#1 BRAZIL

Your interest this month pushed your position to #2 (behind USA) for the all-time history readership of Woman at a Well Ministries. Thank you so much.

                “Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.” 
1 Cor 3:6 

            I love it when God uses my personal life to teach me about Him. Probably you master gardeners have learned this lesson, but in all my years, I have never witnessed such a marvel. 

            Since my marriage to William last year, I assumed many household duties from our housekeeper. I especially enjoy our personal shopping, laundry, and the outdoor watering of our patio plants. 

            Over the past years, Bill had many friends who endowed their outdoor gardening talents at Aerie Hall. (“Aerie” means a high, hidden and safe cleft in the rock; an eagle’s nest.) Pastor Piersol generously planted beautiful trees and shrubs. While Bob and Nancy resided here, she devoted her green thumbs for transplanting, weeding, feeding and consistently watering all the plants.

            When I arrived as the new gardener, the Texas summer heat had taken its toll and many plants were nearly dead. My own plants struggled with traumatic moves to and from Austin and a few had not survived. I culled through the pots hoping to recover any that showed the slightest life. Some were hopeless. I threw away soil and stacked empty pots in the shed. I pruned other plants radically and simply rearranged the remaining pots under the portico. During the year, I faithfully committed generous drinks of water to our plant life. 

            Following the hot summer, an unusually cold winter froze the remnant. I discarded more plants and dirt and I stacked up a few more pots in the shed. It seemed that deadness generated more deadness with one plant especially. Even so, I refused to give up and I continued to trim its leaves.

            I also watered two dead Dracaena stumps, commonly called “corn plants.” Someone had planted them in the middle of the largest pot with some very lush foliage that flourished as the spring season arrived.

            Midsummer heat cycled back around and after returning from our anniversary trip, I resumed the watering schedule. I made the rounds from pot to pot with the hose and to my surprise, one of the dead Dracaenas had a little bud jutting from the side of the stalk. I had no idea there was the slightest life in that dead stump.

            Soon after noticing these buds, I showed them off to friends and family. One friend remarked,

            “I wouldn't discount that second stump just yet.” 

Even though it appeared limp and mushy, I watered the stump. A few days later, I discovered a new corn plant erupting from under the neighboring soil just as he had predicted.  

   

             Several spiritual applications for this story have touched my life personally so I saw them immediately. You may see others. First, I recognized the difference between surviving and thriving seasons. I noticed the importance of patience during dormancy, willingness in submission to painful pruning and finally, the stewardship of God’s faithfulness.

             Transformation is a mysterious process. The most notable, profound and celebrated transformations happen from “glory to glory.” If you are in the season of that two-letter word, “to,” you, too, are in good company. Remember that a Saturday occurred between the most revered Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. The Gospels divulge little to nothing about what transpired in the disciples’ lives on that Saturday. Can you imagine the pressure and anxiety, disbelief and grief Jesus’ followers must have experienced during this shift in their world? Even an earthquake accompanied the most horrendous evils that Friday, and yet, Sunday came!       

            Transitions are critically necessary for “times of refreshing.” God’s redemptive plan always requires a transition from repentance to recovery. The requirement usually involves some kind of tension in our souls. As long as I consider humility, forgiveness and obedience as merely "options," conflict and uncertainty remain, as does my survival mode. Lost dreams and dashed hopes for a gratifying life, single or married, always appear in the “to and twain” times, but so do the seeds of the most astonishing deliverance! When I am tempted to ask, “Why is this happening to me” I hope I remember the seeds of a dead corn plant that did not merely survive, but thrived because of my willingness to respond.

            God is faithful to provide. He carefully positions and promises colorful, productive maturation in whatever way He sees appropriate. I believe God waters the souls of people where there seems to be no spiritual life. He waters with no apparent motive except Love and His desire to generate prime, wholesome and enduring growth in His children. God blesses the just and the unjust alike to quicken our hearts toward Him. 

            A distinguished Christian author and historian, Philip Yancey quotes H. G. Wells, who was not a Christian, “Every historian’s test is a question, ‘What do we leave behind to grow?’” 

Let all those who come behind find us faithful.

(c) 2014-2016

BABY STEPS

      They predicted, whoever “they” are, that 12-21-2012 would bring the end of the world as we know it. The infamous date came and went, but also brought to mind a distant memory…12-21-1968, the day I married my Prince Charming. 

      It could have been the “end of the world” for a young girl marrying with a child on the way. My baby and the marriage miscarried and I began a lifelong quest pursuing LOVE and motherhood in other ways.

      After that first miscarriage, hormones ran amuck and endometriosis wreaked havoc in all the natural plans for birthing my own children. During a third marriage, a complete hysterectomy at age 26 permanently closed every door, even though doctors were titillating my dreams with artificial insemination as they wheeled me into surgery. Yes, it was shocking to wake up to that barren reality, and once again, I thought my natural world had ended…

      If you’ve read all the previous posts in my blog, first, let me say “thank you” and I pray by now, you’ve sensed the common thread I hope to convey. Whether I am writing from a painful memory or declaring a praiseworthy victory, my purpose is to share an intimate knowledge of God’s very real Abiding Presence in our world today, in your life and mine. Of course, not knowing you, the reader, I can only write about my experiences of His Providence in my life. Almost five years ago, as I sat with my Bible, pen and paper to outline my “goals” for the coming year, I read my morning devotion from the apostle Peter’s letter to us in 2 Peter 1:16.

“For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eye witnesses to His Majesty.”

      “They,” the apostles and other followers, didn’t have to make up stories about Jesus because they had seen Him, touched Him, walked and talked with Him. They KNEW Him and His workings in people’s daily lives…they had been eye witnesses.

      During the interim years of goal setting, I continued to take baby steps, but I resisted His call to write because I felt sorely inadequate and insecure. I was much more confident in the visual arts, but recently, I discovered that God’s purpose and desire for the writing does not depend on my clever “word craftsmanship.” He would rather that I merely share with others about His Abiding Presence in my daily life. Someone else might define or describe this as “His Faithful Working.” After all, He is faithful to me and to YOU even though we might not see or perceive it as so. I am an eye witness to His Workmanship in my life. I am still breathing and able to proclaim, “Jesus is Lord!”

      As for 12-21-2012 or some other calamity, and even if the world as we know it ends, He is still Lord of Life. As the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah wrote to us in chapter 31:2-4,

“The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness—Israel, when it went to find rest. I have loved you with an everlasting love, I have drawn you with loving kindness. Again, I will rebuild you and you shall be rebuilt…”

      The rebuilding of my life (and yours) is a lifelong process. Along the way, God has fitted together several key relationships to fill critical gaping cracks in my edifice, primarily, my two adopted children who I know without any doubts, God chose for me and me for them. 

      One other miraculous blessing was birthed through another painful marriage, BUT GOD delivered another daughter to my life who will be 43 on her next birthday, the same age of the child I lost all those years ago. And today, we forge ahead as two women completing my chapter of loss and salving her painful recent miscarriage. Together we grieve the loss of a little boy she will never know…until God “fits” another boy into her edifice walls, or perhaps places a future son-in-law who needs mothering in ways that only she can deliver…successfully to term!

      Yes, God builds our lives in these ways…not just some times, most times, but ALL times. Character, integrity, trust, genuine love, and His Abiding Peace are being built in my life that could only have been built THIS WAY. Understanding, accepting, and embracing this truth has been a great challenge. Sorting through the world’s ideas, other’s opinions, my own stubbornness, making sense of it all, finding God’s purpose and searching God’s Word for a deeper meaning is a quest worth embarking upon.     

      As I read about King David’s despair in Psalm 40, I felt I was in good company. Here was “a man after God’s own heart” sharing about his deliverance from miry clay to a secure foundation with new songs of praise in his mouth for God who inclined His ear to hear his cries. I have no way out of the clay pit by myself. (God knows, I’ve tried!) The question is, “Will I trust God or man, my church, my family, my career or government?” The answer is, “How blessed is the man/woman who has made the Lord his/her trust.” Jeremiah again shows us a comparison in 17:5-8 of a shrub in the desert contrasted with a green tree. Faith in mankind reduces me to a mere shrub in my wilderness while faith in God makes me a SURVIVOR …even while taking “baby steps.”

“For he/she will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will NOT fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to be fruitful.”

     And so, I end the year as I began it, with my Bible, paper and pen in hand.  I find myself pondering about the fiscal cliff, drought, farm bills and the price of milk. Gun control legislation, mental health issues, social security, retirement, and most importantly, “Who will be in the Super Bowl?” But as Martin Luther wrote,

“Sola Fide” by Faith alone

“Sola Gratia” by Grace alone

“Sola Scriptura” on His Word alone

“Sola Christus” because of Christ alone

“Sola Deo Gloria” to the glory of God alone

Lord, chisel this on the doorpost of my soul and help me apply myself to LIVE this manifesto!

(c) 2012-2016