Christmas Left-Overs

January 11, 2024 at 2:10 pm
Image by jcomp on Freepik

“To be grateful is to

recognize the

Love of God

in everything!”

–Thomas Merton–

Christmas Left-Overs

by Debbie Allen

New Year’s Day marks the beginning of a brand-new beginning. Ironically, this new beginning for me, always begins with   putting the pieces of the old year away.  Christmas trees and ornaments go back into their boxes, festive holiday dishes are slipped back   into the darkness of the buffet once more, and all the greenery and lights we strung up to warm our hearts throughout the Christmas season are suddenly stripped away.  In that first week after New Year’s Day, the stark barrenness of my own severely, un-adorned house nearly overwhelms me.  But then I remember I still have what I ‘ve come to call, my ‘Christmas leftovers’ to look forward to. Those things left behind from the un-decorating process that never made it into the storage closet or the trash. Each time I run on to one of them, they become the hints of a season gone by that enable me to s-t-r-e-t-c-h the memory of Christmas just a little further into the new year.  These leftovers can be something as simple as a run-away ornament that rolled under my couch, or a Christmas cup still stored in the recesses of the dishwasher. Other times, they’ve been a belated Christmas card re-discovered in a stack of mail, or even the surprise discovery of a forgotten tin of pizzelles, hiding out at the back of the pantry. This year, however, one of those Christmas leftovers surfaced in a most unusual place! It turned up in one of the farthest corners of my own heart.   Much to my surprise, it was hidden right out in plain sight…as if beckoning to be found once more.

All of my former Christmas leftovers, up until now, transported me backwards to treasured memories… but this one was different. It was propelling me forward, into the new year. 2024 was scrawled across the top of it, in an all too familiar Handwriting, The Fingerprints of God were all over this memory. I recognized it to be the Macy’s department store, 2023 Christmas commercial! It’s beautiful and inspiring message had touched my heart from the beginning! Even reminiscing over its contents once again was all it took to re-capture my whole heart!

This commercial begins with a father who is trying to keep up with his six-year-old son, doing some Christmas shopping inside a Macy’s store. The son is the only one shopping. First, he samples a generous squirt of men’s cologne.  Nose wrinkled and shaking his head, he walks away, climbing on the escalator with his dad. Jumping off on another floor, we see him racing in a new direction. We watch this little boy trying out cookware on his own. It’s obvious he’s out to find the perfect gift for someone. Maybe his mom…or even his dad?  As the camera pans a red-satin bedspread adorned with white fur; this little guy takes a flying leap and lands on his back in that bed, where he begins making a snow angel in the midst of all that white fur. Adorable! Even that’s not good enough for him. (By now we know that mom is holding a spot for her son in the l-o-n-g line of kids waiting to see Santa) Knowing time is growing short, we see both dad and son bolting through the store to get to mom in time.  When the boy passes by the toy department, he quickly shields his eyes from even being tempted to look in the direction of all the toys he loves. Once again, adorable!  Just as mom steps to the front of the long line, the little boy comes running up behind her. Then, he walks over to Santa, holding something behind his back. As the little boy steps in front of Santa, he presents him with a pair of men’s designer slippers, all tied-up with a red satin bow.

 “For you…” the boy tells Santa in his raspy voice.  “This is for after work.” He adds with a smile of satisfaction. 

Needless to say, this little boy’s selfless gesture renders Santa speechless. In the last scene, Santa’s face radiates uncontainable joy, and the little boy knows in his heart he’s chosen him the perfect gift. The bold caption which appears on the screen over them both in this moment reads:

“GIVE LOVE”!  “GIVE STYLE!”

Obviously, this inspiring commercial more than captures the spirit of love and giving. But every time I watched this commercial on T.V.  something else stood out to me too.  It was this little boy’s thankful heart.  He displays an unexpected devotion towards Santa, for who he is and for all the good gifts Santa’s brought to him over his young life.  Such devotion and appreciation are rare. It can’t be seen in the long line of kids still waving their ‘gimme’ lists in Santa’s direction. In the wisdom of a little child, this young boy miraculously grasps the importance of giving over getting.  He sees value in expressing a heartfelt ‘thank you’ instead of just becoming another of this world’s endless ‘gimmes.’  Though the commercial portrays a pair of designer slippers as being the perfect gift…I believe it was the rare and beautiful gift of this one little boy’s grateful heart that moved Santa’s own heart beyond words!

I share this Christmas leftover with you because I believe God placed it in that corner of my heart for a much greater purpose. This leftover wasn’t about me and my memories this time…it was about remembering Him.  This commercial magnifies, in a very real way, the grateful heart that God desires all of His children to have as they stand before Him. When I look at the little boy in Macy’s commercial…I see him as so much more than an adorable marketing strategy to boost yearly sales.  He is a picture of adoration and awe, devotion and thankfulness as he stands in the presence of his gift-giver.  In a world full of gimme hearts, this boy’s grateful heart stands out far, far above the rest.  And so should the hearts of all of God’s children.

Our God is so worthy of every thankyou our lips will ever spill forth in praise before Him; plus, ten thousand more besides. He is the Greatest Gift-Giver our hearts will ever experience. He’s given us the Greatest Gift mankind has ever, or will ever, know since the beginning of time: His Only Son, Jesus, our Savior.  Should not our own hearts respond by giving Him, the greatest “Thankyou” we’ve ever offered to Him? You see, the praise and thankyous flowing from a grateful heart, are also good indicators of our spiritual health.

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“The Praise and Thankyous flowing from a grateful heart, are also good

indicators of our own spiritual health.”

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As you and I step into this coming New Year, may the greatest desire of our lives be to become a more extravagant display of our devotion and appreciation to the Lord; in a world growing ever more saturated with gimme hearts. Much like the little boy who captured my heart in the Macy’s commercial; may we strive to walk out our lives in 2024, with more grateful hearts. God is constantly giving us more than we need or deserve. It’s His Goodness and Generosity that should spur us on towards living out of a more grateful heart.  A heart that is filled with genuine devotion for our Greatest Gift-Giver; so that our own lives and actions will become His living testimonies on earth.  You see, we are His commercials in this world, meant to play out our roles in 2024 in a way that captures every eye, and points every heart towards God’s Love, Generosity, Mercy, Forgiveness and Unending Grace.  As we stand in the Presence of our Generous Gift-Giver at the end of every day; I pray the advertising tagline, written in bold letters over our heads reads something like this:

“GIVE LOVE…GOD STYLE…WITH A GRATEFUL HEART!”

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your Name; to declare Your Lovingkindness in the morning, and Your Faithfulness every night.”

(Psalms 92:  1-2 NIV)

Heart Trappings Prayer:

Dearest Father in Heaven, You alone are our Greatest Gift-Giver. You are so worthy to receive our thanks and praise. You remind us in Your word that ‘Giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors You” (Ps. 50:23).  Please enable us to do so, knowing this is the way to keep our own ‘gimme’ hearts in right relationship with You. Keep us from forgetting that You are our Greatest Gift in life. Strengthen us and continue to teach us how to live before you in this coming new year, out of the abundance of a grateful heart.

In Jesus Name…AMEN.

 

“The Pumpkin and the Carver”

October 31, 2023 at 2:49 pm
“LET’S ALL GO PUMPKIN PATCHING!”

“Only the knife

knows

what goes on

in the heart

of a pumpkin!”

–Simone Swartz-Bart–

__________________________

“The Pumpkin and the Carver”

by Debbie Allen

As the end of October arrives, the radiant foliage that captured and raptured our hearts for much too short a time, has all but disappeared now. There’s an uninvited crispness hanging in the air, further reminding us that fall has truly fallen…and the first frost has permission to brush its icy masterpieces onto the faces of every pumpkin growing in the pumpkin patches all around town!

As a little girl, I can remember my heart racing at the first thought of making a trip to Jackson’s Pumpkin Patch, with my brothers and three younger cousins. My mom and my aunt drove us there nearly every year. It was the highlight of our October!  Dressed in our warmest sweaters, my brothers, cousins, and I raced through the pumpkin patch in opposite directions with one idea in mind. To pick a pumpkin we could call our very own! After an hour of what we kids liked to call, search and rescue in the pumpkin patch; each of us toted our selections back to the car. My brothers loaded the six pumpkins we chose into the trunk of my aunt’s car, while mom found a place alongside of them for twelve muddy shoes.  Then we headed back home to enjoy the hot spiced cider and doughnuts mom set out for us before carving our pumpkins. With very little help from the adults, six sets of children’s hands went to work, eagerly designing our personal pumpkin heads. With bursts of laughter and occasional sighs of frustration echoing out of our hollowed-out pumpkins; we all sliced and diced and scraped; poked, prodded, and pulled-out everything that hindered our pumpkin heads from becoming the masterpieces we intended them to be. Their expressions ranged from cute…to comical…to creepy (my brothers pumpkins were always the creepy ones).  But nothing our own hands carved that day could’ve brought those pumpkins to life any more than the candles we placed down inside of them when we were finished. The moment my mom lit a match, and its flickering flame collided with the tips of the candlewicks; a magical transformation occurred inside each of our pumpkins. For us kids, it was like watching new life explode inside each pumpkin head! Every beautiful expression carved… came alive in that moment! Needless to say, our own faces lit-up at the sight of them, too!  When darkness fell that evening, we carried our new creations outside and lined them up on the front porch step for all the world to see. After all, who wouldn’t want to share something so beautiful? 

Every one of those pumpkins we carved as kids, had its own unique story to tell the watching world. Because of the willing hands of a few young carvers that day, every pumpkin head’s story was literally transformed from its former life in the pumpkin patch; into a story of light…not of darkness anymore.  You see, the carver is the pumpkin’s only hope in this world!

Though you and I are anything but a pumpkin in this world, still…a pumpkin’s journey from the pumpkin patch to our own front porches; uniquely points our hearts towards the process of what it’s like to become a child of God:

The Pumpkin Patch!

–Much like a pumpkin, God (The Heavenly Carver) sees you in a field ripe for harvest; and runs for you. Then He picks you up, washes the dirt off you, and calls you His very own. You become His chosen treasure.  

God tells our own hearts this in His Word: “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean.  Your filth will be washed away.” (Ezekiel 36:5a NLT)

The doorway leading to the pumpkin’s heart.

–The pumpkin, at this point, knows the carver can be fully trusted.  The pumpkin invites the hand of the carver in, willingly surrendering as the carver works to make a new opening in the pumpkin’s hard outer shell.

God tells our own hearts this in His Word: “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice, I will come in…” (Revelation 3:20a NLT)

The carver wields the blade of his knife deep into the heart of the yielding pumpkin.”

–The carver’s hand again, wields his blade deeper into the pumpkin’s heart…removing all the seeds of sin, doubt, lust, impurities…cutting away the excess…scraping and smoothing its walls; all in preparation for the gift of light the carver plans to leave inside of the pumpkin.

God tells our own hearts this in His Word: “I will take out your stoney, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.  And I will put my Spirit in you…”  (Ezekiel 36:26a,27a NLT).

The carver places his gift of ‘light’ inside of the heart of his pumpkin!

–No pumpkin on its own can ever come to know this priceless gift of light inside of it without the touch of the carver’s hand.

God tells our own hearts this in His Word:

“Your lives light up the world! So don’t hide your light!  Let it shine brightly before others, so that your commendable works will shine as light upon them, and then they will give their praise to your heavenly Father in Heaven.”  (Matthew 5:14a, 16 TPT)

The Carver calls you out of darkness to ‘experience’ His Gift of Light for yourselves.

Only the carver’s hand can give the pumpkin new eyes to see with…eyes capable of seeing far beyond the darkness of the old life it once knew, sitting in the dirt of the pumpkin patch. Finally, the carver’s blade leaves the pumpkin with a giant smile…reflecting to the watching world, that nothing in life compares to the gift of being cleaned from the inside out! Seedless… the pumpkin now gratefully, bears the precious light of the carver himself!

–God tells our own hearts this in His Word: “But you are God’s chosen treasure, set apart as God’s devoted ones. He (The Heavenly Carver) called you out of darkness to experience His marvelous Light, and now He claims you as His very Own. He did this so that you would broadcast His Glorious Wonders throughout the world. For at one time, you were not God’s [children] but now you are.  At one time, you knew nothing of God’s Mercy, because you hadn’t received it yet, but now…YOU ARE DRENCHED with it!” (1Peter 2:9b, 10 TPT) 

HEART TRAPPINGS PRAYER: Thank you for choosing us, Lord…for rescuing our souls from this world’s deep darkness and placing Your priceless gift of Light down inside of us. Our hearts are so grateful for the Gift of new eyes to see with…eyes now capable of seeing life from Your Beautiful Perspective. May ‘our eyes never fail to see there’s great delight in following Your ways’ (Proverbs 23:26). As Your Own personal creations…Your Masterpieces…  You set us out on the doorsteps of this world to shine for You. So those living in the darkness of this world ‘will see your beautiful works and have a reason to glorify You…’ (1Peter2:12b TPT). May we never forget that we are chosen by Your Hand and uniquely fashioned…to BE THE LIGHT OF THIS WORLD! Empower us to do just that until You come back for us.  IN JESUS NAME…
AMEN

The Whispers of Fall

September 29, 2023 at 10:05 pm
The Autumn Season offers us a beauty all its own.

“Autumn shows us

how beautiful it is

to let things go.”

–unknown–

The Whispers of Fall

by Debbie Allen

I once heard it said, “The only constant in life is change.” If ever there was a season in life that typified this truth, it is the season of autumn.  I’ve always loved it!  At the first sign of it, my heart begins to yearn for another glimpse of the indescribable colors God paints in broad strokes, all across the face of the Rocky Mountains.  Sometimes, as I look at those glory-splashed hillsides I feel as though I’m seeing a combination of hues taken from God’s Own Divine Palette that may never be there again! That’s when I can hear the Artist Himself whispering down into my spirit, “For your eyes only….my child!”  What a privilege it is as His child, to bear witness to this limited-edition beauty of God’s Handiwork.  His Hand-Painted Masterpieces brushed onto the mountainsides of my own world! Who wouldn’t want to glimpse such splendor?   It’s the very reason my husband and I faithfully embark on our mountain drives every fall season. In all the years we’ve been going on these fall excursions, my heart has only been disappointed once…and it taught me something my heart will never forget.

You see, I have a tendency to set myself up for disappointment by assuming things are going to be the same as they’ve always been.  A few years ago, when the fall season descended on me, my spirit was particularly thirsty for a glimpse of those glory-splashed mountainsides.   I’d undergone several surgeries on my right eye for a detached retina and for most of that particular summer, I was restricted from any sort of mountain drives, due to the pressure change it placed on my healing eye. When that constraint was finally lifted by my doctor, both my heart and my eye leaped for joy!  Jim and I climbed into the car and headed straight for Squaw Pass; a favorite mountain retreat from which we love to view the Aspens.  A recent summers-worth of hardship behind us now, I fully expected a show of glory-splashed hillsides like no other. But as we rounded each curve, near-empty aspen branches already shivered in an early fall breeze.  The entire forest echoed with the crunch of coffee-brown leaves being scattered all across the forest floor.  These were not the colors I’d expected from the Artist’s Palette.  Only once did we spot an aspen tree with golden leaves still clinging to it. Though I understood that this scenery, too, was the Handiwork of God’s Brush, it was hard to picture this one splotch of gold standing in the midst of a mountainside full of barren branches as being the feast my eyes and heart came to devour.  Worse than this, an unanticipated silence reigned in my soul because of it.  To me…it seemed that the only thing highlighted in this particular day’s scenery was disappointment.

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“Like Autumn leaves…we fade, wither, and fall.”

(Isaiah 64:6)

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The following morning, I headed for my parent’s house to help care for my 83-year-old Dad, still recuperating from surgery.  As I walked through his front yard, the sound of my feet crunching in ankle-deep, fallen leaves shifted my focus back to yesterday’s disappointment. Though I was standing in a different corner of my world; the scenery surrounding me was strikingly similar to the mountain drive we’d taken the day before. Barren branches, broken limbs, and a sea of lifeless, mushroom-colored leaves, yielding one last time to the chilly, autumn breeze.  Had it not been for a single, burgundy, maple leaf that wafted down from a neighbor’s tree and came to rest in the middle of this sea-of-sameness; this landscape, too, was void of any color at all.  I stood there not quite sure of how to react to another of Heaven’s one-splotch-of-color Masterpieces.  In response, my beauty-starved spirit prompted me to pull out my phone and snap a picture of that single burgundy, maple leaf. And for the second time this autumn season, I left that scene in silent disappointment.  Thankfully… the story didn’t end here.

That same evening, I sat at my desk reading a passage from Philippians 4:

“Be cheerful with joyous celebration in every season of life.” (vs. 4)

“Fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising Him always.” (vs.8b)

These words spoke directly to my heart that night. In the silence of the next few seconds, I pulled out my cell phone and glanced again at the picture I’d snapped earlier…the one I’d deemed anything but beautiful.  That’s when I heard the Whispers of the Artist Himself speaking again, “For your eyes only…my child.”  Though His words had made perfect sense on all our drives through glorious, color-splashed mountainsides, I struggled now to understand them in the context of His one-splotch Masterpieces.” Before I could utter even one question back to God, He was already gently, reminding my heart of this, “I am here, too.” 

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“Beauty still resides even in the midst of this world’s barrenness.”

–D. Allen–
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His last four words impacted me in a way I will never forget. Nor will I ever look at the gift of God’s one-splotch Masterpieces quite the same. In reality, His words were His Signature on both of them. As my husband and I drove by those barren hillsides that fall day; we missed the true Beauty of that One-splotch of Gold we did see.  In our disappointment, we also missed seeing the message that every aspen tree’s barren branches were pointing our hearts towards: Beauty still resides even in the midst of all this world’s barrenness.  

Sometimes the things that we deem as ‘anything but beautiful’ in this life… are anything but what we deem them to be. God’s Perspective is as far removed from ours, as His Ways are higher than our own. Even so…just how often are we intentionally looking for Him in the circumstances of our seasons? Many times, I’ve regretted not having looked deeper at my surroundings that day while I stood in my dad’s front yard, ankle deep in lifeless leaves and broken branches. Had I done so, I may have seen it more as the timely Masterpiece God wanted me to see all along. I would’ve seen His Signature scrawled across that single, burgundy leaf, and I would’ve known that He placed it there as a reminder to my fragile heart in its own season of struggle, of this Beautiful Truth…  “I Am here, too.”  Here in your barrenness.  Here in your brokenness. And here, standing before you as your Greatest Hope in the midst of all this world’s hopeless-ness.

“Fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising Him always.”

(Philippians 4:8b TPT)

HEART TRAPPINGS PRAYER

Dearest Father, help us to see the beauty you are continually painting onto the mountainsides of our own seasons in life.  Open our physical and spiritual eyes to see the Beauty in both the Glory-splashed, Hand-Painted Masterpieces you set before us…as well as those one-splotch works of art that our frail hearts tend to question so frequently. Whatever season we find ourselves standing in…may we cry out in the words of King Asaph, “How we thank you, Lord!  Your mighty miracles give us proof that YOU CARE.” (Psalm 75:1) Teach us to look for Your Signature…especially in our brokenness. You are our only Hope in the hopelessness that surrounds us in this life.

In Jesus Name…AMEN

The Glory of Friendship

August 31, 2023 at 10:52 pm
The Debbies…”Life is better when we are two-gether!”

“God has a bigger vision for

our friendships than we can

ever begin to understand.”

–Angela Sackett –

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The Glory of Friendship

by Debbie Allen

There is a divine beauty to be found in that moment when we first discover the gift of friendship has come our way in life. Instantly, two hearts can feel at home in each other’s presence. Even though they may have just met, they already feel like old friends. Ralph Waldo Emerson put this another way: “The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship.”

Nearly a lifetime ago now, just such a friend stepped into my life. The first few moments of what was to become a life-long friendship, began in the hallway of the Baptist Church we attended with our families.   My best friend, whose name was also Debbie, and I were both young mothers still in our twenties, at the time.  After church one Sunday, Debbie and I decided just a smile-in-passing wasn’t enough anymore, so we stopped to chat face-to-face. Conversation flowed comfortably between us from the beginning. The only thing that was uncomfortable as we stood across from each other that day in the hallway was me. I couldn’t imagine Debbie seeing me as anything but a giant olive standing on two toothpicks! You see, I was v-e-r-y pregnant with my youngest son at the time. Of course, that was anything but true from Debbie’s perspective! She eventually shared with me that what she’d really seen that day when she looked across at me was… ‘the friend she’d been praying for so long for God to bring into her life.

 You can imagine how very humbled this ‘olive standing on two toothpicks’ felt in that moment! SO humbled…but at the same time SO very grateful; for I, too, received a gift that day! The gift of true friendship which I still treasure, now over forty years later!

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“A friend loves at all times.”

Proverbs 17:17

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Debbie’s always been a true friend to me; the kind of friend whose footprints will remain imprinted in my heart for all eternity.  She and I have shared so many precious times together. At one point, we were seen so often together, we were dubbed by others as, “The Debbies”. Our response? “Two-gether is always better!” No one ever argued the truth of that!

Whether Debbie and I were away on a church women’s retreat, sharing coffee and chat at our favorite Starbucks, or sipping on a glass of cabernet while doing crafts in her basement, the camaraderie only grew sweeter and the friendship deeper because of those times we chose to pass sitting in each other’s presence.  Eventually, our friendship expanded to include our husbands and children.  In our younger years, our families camped, hiked and canoed together, times too numerous to count.  Debbie and I still reminisce fondly over all the memorable weekend getaways she and I planned and spent with our Hubbies.  There were also the seasonal concerts we attended, and the family sleepovers we participated in on New Year’s Eve for many years. Such occasions provided us the perfect back drop for engaging in an all-night game of Pinochle or Texas Hold ’em! And last but not least…there were the good old days of the Backyard BBQ’s and Bubinga Nights that will never be forgotten! Bubinga was a very special telescope Debbie’s husband, Bruce, designed and built by hand. He spent so many hours and such late nights working beside Bubinga; that Debbie came to refer to this ‘thing of great beauty’ as ‘the mistress.’ Of course…we all understood Debbie was just kidding. And yet… somehow Bubinga ended up in pieces; stashed between the bedroom closet and the farthest corner of the garage.  Perhaps Bubinga’s silent message to the world in all of this is, ‘Some friendships are meant to be, and some are not. LOL!

In all seriousness, friendship is not to be taken lightly in this life.  All friendships are built on a certain level of love, devotion and trust, but I consider Debbie and I’s friendship unique, in that it was also founded on the wings of prayer. God was and still is at the heart of our friendship. Because of that, the time we share together…whether in seasons of great blessing or in great sorrow, the bond of friendship is both deepened and heightened by God’s Greater Love present between us.

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“A sweet friendship refreshes the soul.”

Proverbs 7:9

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Finding a true friend who’s willing to take time out of their own life, to strengthen you with their presence and prayers, bless you with their love and devotion, and faithfully, encourage your heart with fresh hope and inspiration; is a rare and beautiful gift. Ecclesiastes 6:14 speaks of such a friend as being “a great treasure.”

 Through this legacy of friendship Debbie and I have shared down through the years, God has taught me that true friendship magnifies God’s Heart in so many ways. Friendship is about just ‘being with’ someone who allows you to be yourself in their presence; and they love you anyway. Over time, they become our most trusted confidants, and the prayer warriors our hearts can count on, to drop to their knees at a moment’s notice and struggle alongside of us in every season and through every storm of our life. We always have the freedom to laugh or cry and sometimes both, in the trusted presence of a true friend. Friends are always a phone call or text away, and never fail to step in and act as the timely voice of wisdom when our hearts are hurting the most.

Even as I write these words, I can’t help but see the Goodness of God’s Heart woven throughout the gift of True Friendship.  Every aspect of it points us to God’s Unconditional Love and His Abundant Grace. If I look a little deeper, I see the glory of friendship as two-fold. From my own experience I’ve come to look upon this gift as both a rare treasure and a great reward.

 A rare treasure, in that as we walk side by side in a true friendship before others, we become God’s earthly reminders to a hurting world that we don’t have to walk through life alone. There is Someone Who Loves us for who we are, no matter what. 

God also intended the gift of friends to be a great reward to you. When you feel the warmth of a friend’s arms around your shoulders, hear the voice of encouragement in your ears, or sense the strength that rises when a friend comes alongside you in your pain; your heart can know without doubt… that it is the very Presence of God Loving you through the gift of that friend He gave to you!  And that has to be the Greatest Reward that any true friend could ever receive on earth!

“The Faithfulness of God’s Love is the very Source of Love

that sustains and nourishes every true friendship.”

–D. Allen–

HEART TRAPPINGS PRAYER:

Dearest Lord, the treasure of true friendship on this earth is one of Your greatest gifts to us. Please help us to walk wisely within them, and to see friendships as the blessings you meant them to be to us. Thank you for the joy they bring us, for the prayers they pray with us, for the shelters they become to us, and for the encouragement they offer our hearts in every season. I praise You Jesus, for being our Greatest Friend in this life; and for the Faithfulness of Your Love, which is the very Source of Love that sustains and nourishes our truest friendships on earth. May our friendships continue pointing others to the One Who Loves them most in this broken world we live in. Your Friendship is our Greatest Treasure and our Highest Reward both now and forevermore! In Jesus Name…Amen

A Place of Grace

June 29, 2023 at 6:38 pm
My children and my grandchildren all climbed into the arms of this Cottonwood Giant, to see if they could, “Touch the sky!”

“BE STILL AND THOUGHTFUL,”

SAID THE WISE OLD TREE.

“LIFE MAY SEEM LONG,

BUT TIME WILL FLEE.”

–Angie Weiland Crosby–

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A Place of Grace

by Debbie Allen

Every night on the news, I hear story after story of the chaos, upheaval, and tragedies that ensue after a hurricane ravages a distant coastline; a tsunami washes away an entire village along with all the people living there, or some dormant volcano erupts unexpectedly, in a faraway country; its fiery lavas sweeping over every living thing in its pathway. These are tragedies most of us will only find ourselves caught in the middle of, when we’re watching a Hollywood disaster movie on our big-screen T. V., while being blown away by the winds of our own earsplitting surround-sound system. Yes…our adrenaline levels may rise to new and unprecedented heights during some of the more intense scenes, but nothing life-altering will ever come from the experience; unlike the headline stories mentioned above.  Disaster only becomes life-changing for us, when it strikes us personally. When we suddenly, find our own hands and our own feet entrenched in the uninvited chaos, upheaval, and sometimes tragic aftermath of a disaster that becomes an uninvited part of our life’s story forever.  Sometimes you only have to travel as far as your own back yard for a personal encounter with calamity. But even a backyard-disaster can strike with enough force to leave your heart changed forever!

My husband and I live in a 55yr-old brick, tri-level with a backyard the size of a football field. When we moved here many decades ago, there were three young cottonwood trees growing across the back portion of our yard. From the very beginning, the tree in the middle was dubbed our favorite. Three separate trunks grew out of the ground to form that one tree. Oh, if only that tree could talk… the stories it could tell! Its branches might speak of the countless variety of birds who built nests and hatched nestlings in its forks.  Or perhaps it remembers the hoot owls who perched in its treetop at midnight; to survey the rich hunting grounds below.  Maybe the incessant chattering of the squirrels stands out…the squirrels who daily turned its branches into highways and escape routes to flee on; after taunting all the neighborhood dogs. In later years, after my three boys came along, those branches provided shelter and cool shade over the sandbox they played in beneath them.  Eventually, every umbrella-like branch enticed all my boys to climb up into the tree; sometimes much higher than I liked! Oh… how they’d laugh at mom’s horrified reaction to seeing them braving such great heights! That is… until their own sons and daughters came along and learned to climb just as high!  For many years on Easter Sunday, we hid plastic eggs in the forks of that cottonwood for my grandchildren to find. Occasionally, I even coaxed my grown sons to climb back up on those branches and sit with their wives, long enough for me to snap their picture! Even in my sons’ adult years, the aged arms of that tree still found the strength to hold them up. Yes…that faithful, old tree was heavy-laden with countless adventure stories, and family memories that spanned the course of 46 years.

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“Disaster only becomes life-changing for us, when it strikes us personally!”

-D. Allen-

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The effects of time ravages all living things; and our cottonwood tree was no exception. Its once giant trunk, whose sturdy branches and leafy fingers beckoned to all my children, “Come on! Climb up! Come touch the sky!” now stood in my backyard as more of a silent memorial. Stripped of its former glory by time, weather, and tree trimmers, and missing two of its three main trunks; what was left standing looked more like a 30ft. monstrous sling shot…without the sling. Unwilling to part with its remains yet, my husband left it standing, knowing he would someday soon, be forced to cut it down.

Time passed and Jim’s “someday soon” never came, but something else did.  The backyard disaster I spoke about earlier. It was a perfect summer evening. Not even a breeze was blowing. No rain was falling, no lightning cracking, and no thunder boomers rumbling across the sky. The fragrance of freshly mowed grass still lingered in the warm sunshine; still left from Jim’s mowing just an hour earlier. Looking out across our backyard you would not have seen any sign of calamity whatsoever lurking on our horizon. And yet…disaster struck!  Overwhelmed by the sheer dead weight of its own unstable trunk; this backyard-giant finally toppled to the ground with a thunderous blow! Remnants of loose bark and rotted twigs flew in every direction. In the interval of dead silence that followed, Jim and I caught sight of our cottonwood’s corpse lying motionless on the ground. We headed straight for it.  Running towards this chaotic scene, my mind raced; trying to stifle the skewed whispers of the voice echoing inside my head. With great persistence, that voice tried its best to stir up anger inside of me concerning what just happened:

“I told you so!  That tree should’ve been cut down a l-o-n-g time ago; and THIS…THIS wouldn’t have happened!”    

“What if one of your GRANDCHILDREN had been ON that slide when that tree fell across IT???”

The thought of my grandchildren being involved in ANY way in this scene knocked the breath right out of me. But I knew choosing anger would’ve only added to the chaos in front of me. Two weeks earlier, I’d prayed, asking God to take away the worry and fear I’d connected to that tree and the danger of it falling on someone. I remembered ending my prayer with these words: “Lord…this tree is way too big for me to handle…so I’m putting it in Your Hands.”

 Standing ankle-deep in scattered bark and debris, my heart sensed this was more than just a backyard-disaster. As I stood there surveying the tree and recalling the words to my prayer; I began to see God’s Fingerprints all over the trunk of that giant corpse!  All my heart could do in that moment was to praise and thank my God for toppling that huge cottonwood right WHERE He did…right WHEN He did…and just HOW He did! I clearly recognized it was by the Grace of God that the only thing we lost that day was the slide on a jungle-gym swing set. However, what I gained was a renewed perspective and a fresh reminder for my heart of what it looks and feels like to be found standing in the midst of what I’m going to call, ‘a place of Grace.’ The place where the air is so thick and rich with the active Presence of God; there’s no denying it.

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“What I gained in that moment was a renewed perspective and a fresh reminder for my heart, of what it looks and feels like to be found standing in the midst of ‘a place of Grace.’

-D. Allen-_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the book of Acts, one of God’s most faithful servants, Barnabas, describes perfectly what I mean by the phrase, ‘a place of Grace.’  Barnabas was sent from Jerusalem to Antioch, Greece; specifically, to see for himself all the evidence of the undeniable work God was doing in the peoples’ lives; concerning salvation. It took Barnabas no time at all to recognize the reality of God’s active Presence there, too. Scriptures tell it this way:

“As soon as [Barnabas] arrived, he saw that God was behind and in it all.” (Acts 11:23a CSB)

“God was behind and in it all.”  What an amazing revelation when our hearts perceive such a miracle! How many times in life have we missed seeing God’s Fingerprints in the midst of our tribulation? When disaster strikes us and the pieces of our world come crashing down around us; how often do we fail to recognize that our own feet may be standing in our own ‘place of Grace’? Too often, we miss seeing it because our eyes are looking down, focused only on the chaos and devastation surrounding us. God’s solution to this dilemma is found in Isaiah 40, where He reminds us to, “Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens.”  For it’s in those moments when we choose to do so, that the eyes of our hearts are opened to see God ‘behind and in it all.’ We can’t see something we’re not even looking for.

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“Sometimes God allows something in your life that only He can fix, so that YOU will get

to see that He is the ONE who can fix it.”

-Tony Evans_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

From ancient times to the present day, whether witnessing an unbelievable spiritual transformation, or standing in the midst of our own backyard tribulation, our hearts are transformed in those times when we lift up our eyes and acknowledge that our feet have been planted in ‘a place of Grace.’  In this place…our hearts are strengthened, and our devotion deepened to the reality of the living and active Presence of God, in every detail of both our lives and our struggles. You see, finding your feet planted in ‘a place of Grace’ isn’t all-about-us. It’s about God, and the unfathomable extravagance of the ways He chooses to demonstrate His Love, Care, and Divine Favor in each of our lives.

“Sometimes God allows something in your life that only He can fix, so that YOU will get to see that He is the ONE who can fix it.” -Tony Evans

HEART
TRAPPINGS
PRAYER

Lord, thank you for hearing all the cries of Your children’s hearts. We live in a world filled with impending disasters waiting to happen. We never know when one of them might come crashing down around us. You work in our every affliction to bring good out of it. When we are standing in the middle of chaos and upheaval…enable us to “lift up our eyes and see” that You, Lord, are “behind and in it all.” Grant us eyes and hearts that recognize when our own feet have been planted in ‘a place of Grace’.  For even in our suffering, your Spirit provides a fresh experience of Your Love, Care, and Divine Favor in our lives. We cry out like Job, asking You to help us to “lay our cause before You. You perform wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.” (Job 5: 8-9 NIV).  Yes, the troubles of this world are many and great…but You are so much Greater! Like Your word tells us, “There is no one like You!” Thank you, Lord, for loving us and refreshing our hearts in the amazing ways that you do.

In Jesus’ Name…Amen

Frenzy in the Forest

May 31, 2023 at 5:33 pm
My Granddaughter, 7yr. old Makayla, preparing to hike on some of the same paths I walked on as a little girl, while enjoying time at our rustic family cabin.

“Between every

two pines

is a doorway to

a new world.”

–John Muir–

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Frenzy in the Forest

by Debbie Allen

As a young girl, I remember spending nearly every weekend up at our family’s rustic, cabin during the summer months. My brothers and I loved it! Life was so different up there. For many years it was our home away from home on the weekends. Up at the cabin, my parents were far more relaxed. Even the dirt that seemed to follow us everywhere we went, didn’t seem to bother them.  It was almost as if my mom and dad expected us kids to get dirty. So, we did! We relished the idea of spitting watermelon seeds on the ground, wading in the muddy creek with our shoes still on, and playing for hours, taunting the campfire flames with our sticks; all without consequences.   Though many decades have passed since that time, my heart remains a treasure trove of precious memories linked to both my childhood and those carefree, cabin days. In many ways, those cabin memories and the experiences connected to them, have helped to lay the groundwork for how I chose to live my life out all these years! Let me show you what I mean.

It was early morning at the cabin, over 60 years ago.  While mom and dad were cleaning up after breakfast, I watched my brothers, Danny and Doug, removing a log panel on the frontside of the cabin. It was what we called, the secret door. It covered a hidden storage space.  A few hundred cobwebs later, they retrieved the old wooden ‘Red Flyer’ wagon from within that deep, darkness. Towing the wagon behind us, all three of us raced up the hill to our favorite spot, planning to ride it back down the mountainside! That wagon was the closest thing to flying we ever experienced as kids…even when the ride came to a crashing halt at the bottom of the mountain. Though the flight always came with turbulence, it proved exhilarating too, in spite of all our crash site injuries.

Most of the time, we’d spend half-days flying down that mountainside, but not on this particular day.  My dad’s cousins from Arizona, Weldon and Juanita, and their little girl, Elizabeth; were visiting for the day.  That meant all the men and boys were going to be hiking the wagon trail and exploring the remnants of a miner’s camp, on one side of the cabin property, while 5-year-old Lizzy and I spent our time wandering in and out of the forest trees on the other side of the cabin. My mom and Juanita just planned to sip campfire coffee all day long at the picnic table, while catching-up with each other. It sounded like the perfect plan for all of us…until it wasn’t.

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“IN THE WOODS WE RETURN TO REASON AND FAITH.”

–Ralph Waldo Emerson–

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You see…Lizzy and I, and her baby doll, really did wander in and out of the forest trees for the rest of that morning. We were so busy laughing and talking, playing and gathering pinecones to make her dolly a forest bed to sleep in; I didn’t notice the cabin was no longer in my sights. Realizing nothing in our surroundings looked familiar to me anymore, my heart raced to the tune of my dad’s warnings to my brothers and I, whenever we played out in the forest.

“If you can’t see the cabin, then you know you’ve gone too far.”  

Up until now, I’d always abided by that rule.

“We’d better be heading back to the cabin, now.” I suggested to Lizzie, not wanting to scare her.  One of us shaking in our boots was enough.

Slipping her hand in mine, I picked a direction I thought was right and we started walking. But the trees grew thicker and thicker, and the pathway steeper. Every step I took led me to believe I was still going in the wrong direction.

Stopping to rest, I felt Lizzie’s eyes on me.

“It’s going to be ok, Lizzie.” I said with a forced smile.

My expression must’ve contradicted my words to her, because the next thing I watched Lizzie do was to pat her dolly’s back as if consoling her. 

“Shh-h-h, its ok, baby.” she whispered, “We’re just a little lost.”

I swallowed hard at Lizzie’s words. Hearing her say the word ‘lost’ out loud somehow made the reality of our situation too painfully real. What if we never get back? I thought to myself.

“You’re right, Lizzie…we are lost.” I admitted.  “And I’m not sure which way to go.”

I expected to see crocodile tears welling up in her blue eyes by now.  Even I was trying hard to blink tears back.  But the next thing I knew, Lizzie was wrapping one of my hands around hers, and the other around her dolly’s hand. She followed suit.  Soon, we’d formed what I now know to be a prayer circle, right there in the midst of all our forest frenzy. Our heads bowed; I opened my mouth to pray but Lizzie had already said it all for both of us. 

“Dear God…we’re just a little lost, so please send us a little help?  Amen.”

The forest was so hushed in that moment you could’ve heard a butterfly land on a wildflower.  But not for long. After Lizzie’s ‘amen’, that changed.  Something belted out a squawk so obnoxious, it startled us both to our feet. I felt Lizzie trembling, so I covered her ears and pulled her closer.  I just wanted whatever it was to go away…but it continued squawking even louder. And to that horrendous melody, the ‘squawker’ added chattering and screaming! Finally, still holding onto Lizzie, I spun completely around to find a giant, Blue Jay glowering down at me from one of the highest treetops on the mountainside!   Though I was deathly, afraid of birds, I somehow found it in me to glare right back at him. It seemed as long as I did so, he remained quiet.  In the silence of that ‘little-girl vs winged-beast’ stare down; I was able to capture the distant rumbles of a motorcycle growing closer. By the time its rumbles turned into roars, I knew the motorcycle passed us by, somewhere way up above our heads. While watching the Blue Jay fly off in the direction of the fading motorcycle sounds, something occurred to me. The road my dad drove me up here on must be up above us! All we had to do was climb up the mountainside to get to the road… and then follow the road back to where the cabin driveway intersected with it!

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“HE WILL SHOW THEM THE PATH THEY SHOULD CHOOSE.”

Psalm 25: 12b NLT

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With tremendous effort, Lizzie and I and her dolly did hike up the mountainside to the road that day.  I carried Lizzie a good portion of the way, so by the time we reached the cabin driveway it was a welcome sight. Though our young brows were drenched, our stomachs growling, and our lips parched, our hearts were filled with joy. Lizzie wriggled down out of my arms, and her feet hit the ground running at the sight of the cabin.  I wasn’t too far behind her! If the big-word, hallelujah, would’ve been a part of my little-girl vocabulary back then; the sounds of me shouting it throughout the forest would’ve far surpassed even the Blue Jay’s squawking that day! In much the same way Lizzie prayed for us earlier in the middle of our forest frenzy; this little girl with wisdom far beyond her years, again spoke enough for both of us. For the entire length of the driveway, Lizzie bolted towards our mothers’ open arms, shouting at the top of her lungs, “I been found… I been found!”

 My pounding heart could do nothing in that moment but fully agree with her; for I too… had been found.  By a squawking Blue Jay, planted on a branch and meant to draw my eyes upward…a roaring motorcycle, whose timely arrival pointed out to me the road home…and my God, Whose Hand of Love and Faithfulness I’ve been able to trace throughout many similar experiences, my whole life long.

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“HOW SATISFYING TO TURN FROM OUR OWN LIMITATIONS…TO THE GOD WHO HAS NONE.”

–A.W. Tozer–

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HEART TRAPPINGS PRAYER

Dearest Father, Lord, and Savior…how deeply intimate and far reaching is Your Love. Yours is an endless Love that is beyond measurement.  It transcends our human understanding…and yet, it’s simple enough for a little child to grasp.  The little girl inside of me still cries out to you, “Show me the right path, O LORD; point out the road for me to follow…” for you are still Faithful to do so in every one of my life’s circumstances. “You are the hope of everyone on earth…” “You formed the mountains by Your Power…” “We stand in awe of Your Wonders.”  “From where the sun rises to where the sun sets, You inspire shouts of joy!” (Psalm 25:5b,6a,8b).  Lord, continue to show us the paths You choose for us and supply the strength and wisdom we need to walk on them in a manner that brings Your Name Glory!

IN JESUS NAME…AMEN

Relentless Pursuit

April 29, 2023 at 4:36 pm

“Love recognizes no barriers.

It jumps hurdles, leaps fences,

penetrates walls to arrive at its

destination full of Hope.”

–Maya Angelou–

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Relentless Pursuit

by Debbie Allen

Spring has long been thought of as a season of new beginnings. Birds are singing again, bees are buzzing, and sleepy-eyed bears stumble from caverns of darkness into warm sunshine after long winter naps. The once cold, and lifeless soils of a season gone by now teem with the tiny, green shoots of newborn daffodils, crocus, and tulips.  Trees mysteriously, unveil both buds and fragrant blossoms, bursting forth on barren branches as a reminder to our winter-dulled senses of the coming beauty this new season holds!  Though it’s true these thoughts all lay at the heart of the Story of Spring, there is something much deeper and more profound than you can imagine still pressed between its pages. if we thumb through the story too quickly, our hearts are apt to miss it.

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“The Lover of Our Souls knows what thrills our hearts and speaks to our souls.”

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Many years ago, when I was still dating my husband, Jim, Spring came and almost went unnoticed. The world was in bloom all around me but, I was too preoccupied to dote on its beauty.  I was a busy twenty-year-old, working full-time as a checker in the same grocery store where I met Jim.  At the time, I was also living in an apartment located extremely close to a set of railroad tracks.  The rent price was right, or my roommate and I would’ve chosen very differently. The novelty of living by those railroad tracks wore off quickly every time the train whistle blew at midnight, and the intense vibrations from the train going by, sent the knick-knacks on my windowsill crashing to the floor.  As it ended up, the good that came from living next to those train tracks far outweighed these nuisances! 

One night, I returned home from work to find a beautiful bunch of Spring flowers in a vase on the kitchen table. 

My roommate explained, “Your sweetheart brought them to you…or should I say, he ran them to you!”

 Seeing my puzzled expression, she went on to explain that Jim, with flowers in hand, ran the train tracks stretching between his house and my apartment that night, just to bring me flowers! He intended to surprise me before he went away on a trip to California for a week. I called him every night he was gone to thank him for those beautiful flowers! Though I regretted missing him that night, the fragrance and beauty of those flowers became a lingering reminder of his sweet presence in my life.  They pointed me to the kind of man Jim was, and to the special love we shared. No one had ever done anything like that for me before.  As I stood out on the balcony that evening, looking down on those railroad tracks, I could only envision Jim running towards me with those flowers in his hand. My heart beat faster just thinking about it. There was something beyond special about being pursued in that way…and I’ve never forgotten it. 

That Spring season in my young life made an indelible mark on my heart. Not only did God provide me a beautiful picture of the heart of the man I was going to marry; He allowed my heart to see the image of Jim, running down those tracks toward me with flowers in his hand, as a stunning reflection of the way the Lord Himself pursues each of our hearts with His Love.   Intentionally…Faithfully…and Relentlessly!

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“With knowledge of God’s Love pursuing us every moment of every day of our life; why would we choose to run in any other direction but towards Him?”

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Not a Spring has passed since this time that I don’t look out my kitchen bay window and see the bold, bright colors of returning wildflowers, and the fragrant, pastel blossoms of the plum tree branches, as anything less than the flowers God is holding in His Hand…while He’s running towards my heart every Spring. They are the fragrant reminders of His Love and Sweet Presence in my life. The Lord’s Love for us is the greatest reason I can think of for calling Spring, ‘The Season of Love.’

Nothing on earth compares to being relentlessly pursued by the Lover of our souls.  Through every facet of beauty planted inside the Spring season, I sense God enticing our hearts to experience for ourselves the depth of Love He feels towards us. Much like the bouquet of flowers Jim surprised me with so many years ago; every petal and blossom of Spring expresses in its own way, the Lord’s desire to ‘be with us’ all the days of our lives. Every Fragrance is a sweet reminder of the Eternal Love He offers us, until His return.  With knowledge of such a Great Love pursuing us every moment of every day of our life; why would we choose to run in any other direction but towards Him? That’s a question each of us must answer for ourselves.  What will be your response, when you look down the tracks of your life and see the Lover of your soul running towards you, Flowers in Hand, in Pursuit of your heart?

“Your unfailing love is better than life itself…”

(Psalm 63:3 NIV)

HEART TRAPPINGS PRAYER

HEART TRAPPINGS PRAYER: Father, my heart is so thankful You are the Lover of my soul. As the beauty of Spring surrounds us, enable our winter-dulled senses to see You truly are the Beauty found in the midst of every fold and flower in this season!  King David cried out more than once, “Your Love is better than life!”  Spring echoes this same cry in its own way at every turn. There is not one corner of creation that isn’t somehow a reflection of Your living Hope, Love, and Faithfulness.  As You did for my own heart years ago, grant each one of us a fresh vision of Your Intentional…Faithful…and Relentless Love, always in Pursuit of our hearts!  We love You beyond words, Lord.

IN JESUS NAME…AMEN

With knowledge of such a Great Love pursuing us every moment of every day of our life; why would we choose to run in any other direction but towards Him?

Cries in the Darkness

March 31, 2023 at 4:50 pm
From the ends of the earth I call to you, my heart grows faint!” (Psalm 61:2)

“I love these little people. And it is

not a slight thing when they who are

so fresh from God, love us.”

–Charles Dickens–

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Cries in the Darkness

by Debbie Allen

As a mother, one of the greatest miracles I ever experienced in my life, was the beautiful act of giving birth to each of my three sons. Though it’s been over forty years ago since my youngest was born, few things in my life have compared to the experience of this miraculous moment!  I still remember the sweet sounds of each of my sons’ first cries; piercing my ears in the delivery room. Those cries always ushered in a look of great relief on my doctor’s face; before he stretched my son’s tiny squirming form out across my chest. I’ve never forgotten the incredible feeling of his tiny heartbeat racing against my own.  Drawing my newborn as close to me as I could, I knew from that moment forward; my life was never going to be the same.  My heart overflowed with the million little things I longed to one day share with this precious gift of love. However, my heart never imagined the immensity of all the things he’d be teaching me. 

Crying is every healthy, newborn’s first reaction to being pushed from his mother’s womb. Even as brand-new parents, Jim and I anticipated our son’s first cries. They were well-received inside the walls of the hospital delivery room.  But, our first night back home, it didn’t take us long to figure out why science labeled the cries of all newborn infants as biological sirens!  The joyous sounds we’d relished in the delivery room, suddenly mutated into ear-splitting cries in the darkness.  Cries equipped with the power to transform our peaceful home-front into a battle-front of sorts. That place where we engaged in a constant fight against sleep deprivation, and everything else that accompanied multiple responses to our baby’s needs all hours of the night!

Answering our son’s cries in the middle of the night, and fighting our way through those trenches of sleeplessness was no laughing matter.  I never imagined there was a level of exhaustion that could be so deep. Though sleep deprived nights proved to be a rigorous training ground for the first few weeks, eventually, the nightlife centered around my baby’s cries morphed into a new kind of normal. My routine didn’t change much, but my perspective shifted.  I began to see tiny miracles tucked inside those midnight runs to the nursery.  One night, half asleep, I scooped my little crier out of his crib to nurse him. In the stillness of those moments, the words of the doctor who delivered my son stormed back into my thoughts: “Y-e-s…” he’d spoken over my son’s first cries, “…these little wonders are wired for sound by God Himself!”  Though I’d given his words no thought at the time, now they captured my attention!

 A week later, at a doctor appointment, I asked Dr. Kirk what he’d meant by that statement. Grinning, he shared, “Humans naturally cater to their own needs; to a me-first mentality. One of the greatest of those needs is sleep. When a baby comes, unfortunately, that need doesn’t change. And if it were left up to moms and dads alone to wake themselves out of a dead sleep… babies might cry all night long. God had a better idea.  He equipped newborns, at birth, with the ability to cry at a decimal level so toxic to a parent’s brain; mom and dad will do anything to stop that sound.  It’s a sound that really can’t be ignored.”

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“God equipped newborns, at birth, to cry at a decimal level so toxic to a parent’s brain; mom and dad will do anything to stop that sound!”

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Hearing the truth behind my doctor’s explanation intrigued my young heart. I was in awe! With a vocabulary of one single word, “WAAAAAAHHHHHH!” my newborn son not only opened my eyes every night, but he also roused in me a deeper consciousness of just how intensely the Lord loves His children…both as newborns and as parents. By wiring newborns for sound the way He did, God in His wisdom, saved parents from themselves, as well as newborns from their parents! Perhaps on a deeper level, He even intended such noxiousness to rouse our sleepy spirits to see there are needs in this world much greater than our own…needs that really shouldn’t be ignored.

As time went on, I began to understand my son’s cries weren’t about the sleep I was losing…but the new insights I gained because of them.  Somewhere in-between his cries, my heart grasped another miraculous truth. The cries of my newborn were no less than God’s invitations to walk with Him in sacred places.  I began to see that every midnight trip I made down the hallway to the nursery, was really a promise to my son’s anxious heart that his cries were being heard; and my love would never fail him.  Pressed close to my heart while I nursed him, my son came to recognize my loving presence as the source of nourishment he could fully trust to satisfy the gnawing emptiness down inside of him. The thousands of miles I rocked him, caressing his tiny features, praying for fevers to break, singing over him and pacing the floor in the darkness while he cried; were all reflections to his innocent heart, that even though life was filled with struggles, our greatest Peace can still be found in the midst of our greatest storms.

As parents, our greatest desire for each of our infant sons was that they sensed through us; the reality of the Lord’s Loving Presence standing near to them on those sleepless nights. Even as newborn infants, Jim and I longed to introduce them to the cast-iron certainty of what it is to hear the encouraging Voice of the One Who Loves them most, Whispering down into their ears.  We prayed our sons would feel the comfort of Heaven’s Touch every time we embraced them in our earthly arms. And by God’s Grace, we hoped each of their tiny spirits somehow sensed the never-ending Faithfulness of the Lord’s Enduring Love surrounding them.

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“The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them.” (Psalm 310:17 NLT)

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So many things in life are intimately connected to our relationship with God, the Father.  Parenthood is no exception. Thanks to the miraculous way God wired my son’s cries, I came to know in a profound way, the beauty of walking in sacred places with my Heavenly Father. Every time I set my foot down beside my Father’s Foot in the darkness, it became a teachable moment for my young mother’s heart.  In the beginning, my desire was to become the perfect parent. But God envisioned something much greater for me. While I rocked my son back to sleep one night, I felt the rush of my Father’s Whispers telling me, “Stay like this little child.”  In the deep silence that followed, I pondered both His words and my son a little longer. I realized My Father, Who is the only Perfect Parent there will ever be; was asking me to consider the ways of my newborn son; and let them teach my heart how to Love Him even deeper.

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“His ears are open to their cries for help.” (Psalm 34:15b NLT)

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“Stay like this little child…” All of God’s children are called to love Him in this way. To love Him unreservedly, ‘with all our passion, prayer, muscle, and intelligence…’ (Luke 10:27 MSG). Like my newborn, we are not to be afraid to draw near to Him or cry out in the darkness that surrounds us. As we listen to the sounds of His Voice rising and falling in our ears, we come to know him as the One Who Loves us most.  His very Words speak Life down into us. They are the only trusted Source of Nourishment our soul needs.  The Father asks that we hear His Voice daily…listen to His Instruction…and walk in His Ways. Only then will our hearts come to know and trust in the Father’s Love without fear or reservation. 

HEART TRAPPINGS PRAYER:

Dearest Father in Heaven, I’m so thankful to be your child. Not only are You amazing, You do amazing things for us from our first breath to our last. From the moment You show us the way out of the darkness of our mother’s womb into the Light of Your Face, You are showing us the Way to Your Heart. Thank you, Father, for the gift of Your Whispers in my spirit so many years ago. I have both pondered them and treasured them my whole life long!  Now, Father, on a much grander scale…hear our cries in the darkness that surrounds us in both our nation and in this world. Open our spiritual eyes to see the greater needs of the helpless and respond. You are our only Answer!  You are our Father…we are Your children, those who never outgrow our need for Your Great Love. Help us to remember and remain faithful to the words You gave me so long ago: “Stay like this little child.”   Hear our cries and anoint us with the courage we need to act accordingly!

In JESUS name we pray, AMEN

 

Love’s Portrait

February 9, 2023 at 5:44 pm
LOVE rejoices with the Truth, always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres and NEVER FAILS.

Love’s Portrait

by Debbie Allen

It’s often been said, “Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning.”  That ‘someone’ for my parents, Norm and Shirley Hutton, was the gift of ‘each other.’  They began their lives together as high school sweethearts, who fell in love and married soon after they graduated. For nearly 70 years, they walked together; side-by-side and fingers entwined, as each other’s soul mates, best friends, and lovers.  Sadly, the beautiful love story they shared over a lifetime was cut short this past year, when my mom passed away in December after a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease.   Over time, Mom and Dad became each other’s ‘everything.’  That’s why it’s not surprising to find my dad’s eyes pointed toward heaven occasionally, in search of her. No doubt, he sees my mom standing on Heaven’s Stairway looking back at him; their hearts both agreeing that if they could’ve lived their lives on earth all over again, they’d have done it sooner…so they could’ve loved each other longer.

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“Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning.”

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 Not long ago, Dad and I sat sorting pictures to be used in my mom’s memorial service.  In all our digging, I ran across a heart-shaped pillow I’d made them for their 50th wedding anniversary celebration.  On one side of that satin pillow was mom’s graduation picture, and on the other side, my dad’s. What a stunning couple they were! And what beautiful memories awaited them at that point in their life. As I ran my fingers over the heart-shaped lace, framing my mom’s young face, I found it hard to look upon that pillow as anything less than a portrait of love.  A precious reminder to me of the timeline so many of us walked with my mom throughout her life.  So many of those good times reflected the richness of who she and my dad were; especially when they were together. One memory in particular, stands out above the rest.

About six years ago, my mom was recuperating from pneumonia, and my dad ended up in the hospital with a septic gall bladder.  He nearly died from all the complications that followed. Recovery from it all was slow.  By the time Dad returned home from the hospital, there were many health restrictions placed upon him; and multiple visits to be made by home-care nurses and physical therapists. In addition, I made daily trips to their house, monitoring and recording his vitals on a chart. Because I was such a stickler about Dad doing everything the nurses told him to do, he lovingly, nicknamed me ‘Nurse Ratchet.’  One day, while I was busy doing all the things I was supposed to do for him, Dad was just as busy doing everything the therapist and nurses asked him not to do.  Eating fatty foods that aggravated his gall bladder, drinking juices that worked against his blood thinners, and walking about the room without his oxygen or walker anywhere in sight!  Frustrated, I felt Nurse Ratchet clawing her way up to the surface of me; more than anxious to deliver an impromptu health and safety lecture, geared for the elderly who hear…but do not listen!  My tongue, a willing springboard for Nurse Ratchet’s stern words at this point; was unexpectedly silenced. Nurse Ratchet was disarmed in a split second by the familiar touch of a Hand on my shoulder. It was Jesus’ Hand.

Feeling His Presence beside me and knowing Nurse Ratchet’s ways were not His Ways; I felt compelled to watch what I’d deemed as unwanted chaos in front of me; with a new set of eyes.  Speechless, I saw my dad pull the oxygen tubing off of his own face again.  But this time he hobbled a few steps closer to Mom. With clumsy fingers, he secured the halo under her nose, rounded it up over each of her ears, bringing it down to a point beneath her chin.  Ironically enough, my eyes were drawn to the undeniable heart-shape the oxygen halo formed, laying against the contours of mom’s face.   

“There you go, my love…” Dad told her, “…you need this air worse than I do.”

Kissing Mom on the top of her head, his final instructions came to her in a loving whisper.  “Now… just breathe.”

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“You gave me life itself, and incredible Love.  You watched and guarded every breath I took…”

(Job 10:12 MSG)

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That moment took my breath away! So often, God hides His Beauty right in the midst of our everyday struggles. Somehow, our struggles deepen us to His Presence and often leave us with the memory of an experience we carry around in our hearts for the rest of our lives.  Even now, the tenderness of this scene between Mom and Dad that day still brings fresh tears. It wrecks me spiritually, when I think of just how great a Love was on display before me that day. With His Hand resting on my shoulder, Jesus used this moment in my parents’ love story to reflect to my heart the Greatest Love Story there ever was or ever will be! Jesus’ Love Story.  A picture of God’s One-and-Only Son giving-up His Own Breath for us; the day He died on the cross for all our sins. His is the greatest story of True Love and Sacrifice our hearts will ever encounter.  He has already chosen you to be His own.  Will you not respond by choosing His Love Story for your own?  Allow the soft Whispers of the One Who Loves you most, to resonate deep in your soul. Hear His Voice reminding you, “Just Breathe…for not only are you My Love, you are My Life.”    My heart knows well, there is no greater Portrait of Love than this! 

 

“You gave me life itself, and incredible Love. You watched and guarded every breath I took…”

                             

HEART TRAPPINGS PRAYER:

Dearest Heavenly Father, thank you for the beautiful portrait of love You gave me through my parent’s own love story. I will carry this priceless gift in my heart for the rest of my life. It continually points me to Your own Portrait of True Love.  Only Your Love is big enough to fuel our hearts for the many difficulties we are promised to encounter in this life. Stand by us, Lord, in those times.  Steer us clear of the endless counterfeit loves that lie in our paths every day. Tune our ears to hear Your Voice beckoning our spirits to, “Just Breathe…” for there is beauty in even our struggles.  Sustain us with Your True Love and may our hearts find comfort in this great truth:   

 “True Love bears all, endures all, and triumphs in the end!”

IN JESUS NAME…AMEN

The Great Unraveling

January 21, 2023 at 4:19 pm
“My Child, listen to what I say, and treasure My Commands. Tune your ears to Wisdom and concentrate on understanding… seek them like Hidden Treasures.”
(Proverbs 2:1-2, 4b NLT)

The Great Unraveling

by Debbie Allen

“Beautiful things come together one stitch at a time.”

 My Junior High, Home Economics teacher, Ms. Dee, repeated this catchy phrase to my 8th grade sewing class every morning for an entire semester. Yes…every single day that classroom swelled with the groans and sighs of teenagers, cringing at the dreaded sounds of those words filtering through our ears one more time. Despite constant opposition, Ms. Dee continued sowing her repetitious jingle into our minds, hoping that someday it might take root in our hearts.   But, our restless, teenaged, know-it-all ways, prevented most of us from grasping what Ms. Dee was determined to instill in each of us. Her simple, sewing truth:

‘If we took our time, followed all her tried-and-true guidelines and instructions… if we pressed-on one stitch at a time; then the end result always guaranteed us something beautiful in hand.’

A few students caught on to the beauty of her teaching; and sailed through their sewing projects to the finish line. Others of us, however, learned a brand-new lesson the hard way: ‘If we strayed, we paid!’

I, unfortunately, was one of those students who strayed, and paid.  Though it was anything but typical for me to behave in such a manner; the thought of falling behind on my sewing project and nearing the deadline for its completion, pressured me into thinking I had no choice but, to take things into my own hands.  I ignored the teachings of the sewing truth and replaced it with my only solution.  Cutting corners.  So much for Ms. Dee’s one-stitch-at-a-time theory. I stayed after school every night and went in early every morning, sewing fast and furious all the way! If sewing machines had tailpipes, mine would’ve been smoking! Needing to save time, I skipped over most of Ms. Dee’s guidelines, including tying knots in all the loose ends I’d cut; in every section being sewn together.

“After all,” I thought to myself, “who’s going to see it on the underside anyway?”

At the end of my marathon sewing sessions, I turned the jumper I’d made in to Ms. Dee on time; more than glad to be done with it!

The very next day, Ms. Dee called me up to her desk and told me I’d received an “A” on my jumper. I r-e-a-l-l-y couldn’t believe it; in light of the shady sewing tactics, I’d defaulted to.  I breathed a sigh of relief; thinking I’d gotten away with my bad choices and figured life would go back to normal.  That’s when I heard Ms. Dee make an unexpected announcement to our class. Every word of it filled me with dread and kept me tossing and turning every night for the rest of that week. 

“Class…as a reward for all your hard work, each of you are going to have an opportunity to model the piece of clothing you made for yourselves; in the auditorium, before your classmates and parents; at the first Junior High School Fashion Show ever!”

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“Beautiful things come together one-stitch-at-a-time …but, when you stray you pay.”

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The day of the fashion show, the words that pursued our class for an entire semester were now displayed on a banner stretched across the length of the stage: “Beautiful things come together one-stitch-at a-time.”

Most of the students who walked out and stood under those words, did so with great pride and a clear conscience. I felt as though I should’ve been standing under a banner all my own. One that read: “When You Stray, You Pay!”

Hearing Mrs. Dee call my name at the fashion show, I walked out onto the auditorium stage mortified; convinced that any minute all the loose threads I’d cut and left untied throughout my jumper were going to unravel and fall to pieces on the stage floor, while the whole world watched!  I flattened my boney, elbows so tightly down against my dress to help hold it together, my ribs hurt for two days afterwards!  It wasn’t the reward I was looking for.

The greatest reward I received at the Fashion Show that day wasn’t the applause or even the fact that the unraveling pieces of my jumper didn’t fall from my limbs after all. No…as I stood, trembling, beneath Ms. Dee’s sewing truth, my know-it-all, teenage heart finally grasped the reality of the dire consequences that are guaranteed to follow; when you replace truth meant for your own good; with your own misguided ways of thinking.

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“God’s ‘Banner of Truth’ remains hanging over us, regardless of the choices we choose to make.”

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 After the fashion show that day, I scurried home and hung that infamous jumper, front-and-center in my closet; where it remained for many years. I left it turned inside-out; as a visual reminder to my heart of the day of The Great Unraveling…not only for a dress but, for a young teenage girl.

Though this story wasn’t one of my finest moments in life, I share it with you because it still speaks volumes about how each of us are called to live our lives before our Heavenly Father. We are given the opportunity to walk one-step-at-a-time, drawing our instruction and directions from God’s Word. If we let Him teach us, His Word instills Wisdom in our minds—acting as a lamplight to guide us on the pathways of our life. His Banner of Truth hangs over all of us, regardless of our choices. 

This world is our stage and the way we walk beneath His Banner of Truth matters more than you can ever imagine.  There will come a day when God calls your name, Will you walk out and stand beneath His Banner of Truth with unbridled joy, knowing His Word lives inside of you, and your faithfulness to model His Son on earth are His Greatest Joy?    Or will you be the self-guided one filled with regret, who traded away God’s Wisdom for folly, and modeled your own mis-guided ways before a watching world? And when your life came apart at the seams, you realized far too late:

“When you stray from God’s Truth and Guidelines for living life… you pay with your own soul for all Eternity!”

HEART TRAPPINGS PRAYER:

Heavenly Father Above, forgive us for bending Your beautiful Truths and for exchanging them for our own ways. Our world is full of Truth Benders. But, when the untied threads of our earthly lives begin to unravel—we feel the error of our own ways.  Our feeble hearts pound and our spirits reel at the thought of having made so many wrong choices in life, even though deep down, we knew better. Lord, hear our desperate cries.  Strengthen our hearts and keep us from yielding to the world’s mis-guided ways of thinking. Enable Your children to stand strong in this next year, under Your ‘Banner of Truth’. For we are not capable of piecing our own lives back together without Your Truth…Your Wisdom…and Your Perfect Guidance!   We Love You, LORD! IN JESUS NAME…AMEN