Heart Trappings

Bubble Gum Smiles…

by Debbie Allen

Pastor Jonathan juggled his brief case and a steaming cup of coffee, while making his way up the crumbling, cement steps of the Presbyterian church on Maine Street, in Olde Towne Littleton.   It was his church, as well as a second home to him, for the last twenty years. With great difficulty, he struggled to turn his key in the hundred-year-old arched, oak entryway door. Placing a weary shoulder up against the door. he gave it a hefty push until it flung wide open.  Once inside the foyer, he secured the door again; knowing it would be a couple of hours before anyone else would enter the building.

 A set of double doors which opened up into the small sanctuary before him drew his gaze.

“Hmmmm…someone must have left the lights on last night.” he thought, heading for the switch inside the doors.

 Poking his head inside the double doors, his jaw dropped.  Hundreds of tiny strands of morning’s first-light streaming in through an eastern exposure of stained-glass windows splattered an array of color across the entire sanctuary in kaleidoscopic beauty. In the midst of this rare display of quiet splendor, Pastor Jonathan’s eyes fixed themselves on his pulpit. It had been beautifully transformed into more of a pedestal of Hope. Stretched out across the top of it, lay a perfect smiling reflection of the little Baby Jesus. 

“Good morning, Lord.” Jonathan uttered, smiling back.  “And thank you. Thank you for giving me such a beautiful picture to dwell upon this morning.“

Sipping on his coffee, he lingered a moment longer in the sanctuary and then added softly, “I know You surely must mean it as the replacement thought for that dreadful image of the empty green chair that haunts me every morning. But Lord, my heart…it’s still so tender.  And the emptiness…well, it just seems so incredibly big.” 

Pastor Jonathan continued praying silently, while walking down a narrow corridor leading him into his study.  He looked upon this early morning refuge as more a place of solace than of duty.   Lately, these early hours provided him a much-needed hiding place, to escape his unwanted thoughts of the empty green chair back at home. His wife, Lorna’s chair. The one sitting so silently in a corner of his living room.

“Only six short months ago…” he thought, shaking his head. That’s when the cancer stole her away from him so suddenly. Every morning since then, he tried to turn his eyes away from the chair as he passed by it. But the image remained…as if branded into his thoughts. Plagued by the thought of it, Pastor Jonathan made his way over to his desk and sat down to try and focus on Sunday’s sermon.

Opening his Bible, he read quietly for the next hour and a half.  Thats when his eyes fell upon these words in Ecclesiastes.

     “Everything is appropriate in its own time. But though God has planted eternity in the hearts of men, even so, many cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” he read aloud. (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

His Bible still in hand, he walked a few steps beyond his desk to bask in a shaft of warm sunlight, streaming in through a cathedral window.

“Everything is appropriate in its own time.” he repeated again.       

“How true this is, Lord. Even as a man of God, I can barely see my way past this one green chair in my life.”

“E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.”  No doubt this word includes my emptiness.” He said in a reflective tone.

Glancing up from his book, Pastor Jonathan caught sight of a group of small children waving at him from the courtyard below.  He couldn’t help but smile as they giggled and ran away the very minute he acknowledged them. In a remote corner of that same courtyard, he spotted a young couple almost hidden by a maple tree reaching over them like an enormous umbrella.  Studying them for a bit, he shook his head sadly, as he watched the young man storm-off in another direction, leaving the girl sobbing in the corner by herself.

 “Emptiness again, Lord. It is in every corner of our world these days.”

Returning to his desk, he grabbed his pen.  Eyeing a blank page in his journal, he began to write:

Monday…Oct.4, 1998

Concerning ‘emptiness…’

A blank piece of paper.  The silence of a song whose melody remains unwritten.  A green chair where no one comes to sit anymore.  The strained beating of a heart steeped in the pain of a broken relationship…

All of these are reflections of the shadowy side of life.  They each speak of a hidden void which eventually seeps into every human soul, as we encounter our battles in life. Each in its own way reeks of the cruelty of emptiness. But Lord… Is it ever possible for emptiness to present itself as a ‘gift’ in this world?

By now Pastor’s two deep-brown eyes had taken refuge under the precipice of his great brow.  Spidery creases ran throughout his forehead like little tributaries, cut there by a swelling river of concern for the needs of those all around him.  In the midst of wrestling with life, Pastor Jonathan glanced up to find three-year-old, Jenny standing silently in the doorway; just looking at him.

 “Well, hello Jenny.”  He said, surprised to see anyone standing there. 

Jenny had been one of the children who waved to him from the courtyard a few moments earlier. 

“Just what is it that brings you in here today, little one?” he said, kneeling down to her eye level.

Jenny immediately flashed a million-dollar smile back at him before answering.

“Mmm…nuffing, Pastor Jonafin.” she managed to say before shrugging and looking down at her feet. “Mommy is parking the car.  She said for me to wait here… an…ummm…I have sumfing for you.”

With these precious words, Jenny opened her tightly crumpled fingers revealing three shiny, new pennies.

“For you.”  She repeated, her eyes sparkling like diamonds as she spilled them out into his giant hand.

Carefully, she folded his fingers up around the pennies, pushing his hand gently away from her. 

Even though her hand was now empty, Pastor Jonathan could see that her heart remained as full as any three-year-old’s heart could ever be.

You see, as she stood in the doorway of his office earlier, she studied the look he wore on his face.  Every line…. every grimace…every fold troubled her. Though she could not begin to understand the reason for them; somehow… in the wisdom of a little child, she knew she needed to do something to bring back his missing smile.  The one she so loved seeing on his face.

“Thank you, Jenny…thank you!”

His heart still melting inside his chest, he reached up and pulled her face into his gaze.  He could find no more words, but she seemed perfectly content with the ear-to-ear grin he now displayed.

“It wooked!” she shrieked, giving Pastor Jonathan a big hug.

Right away she remembered the joy she felt when her Mommy placed those pennies into her own hand that morning.  Immediately, visions of pink bubblegum began to dance in her head!  And…in the mind of this three-year-old ‘visionary’, the same miracle just worked for Pastor Jonathan too.

Watching her skip out the door, Pastor Jonathan sighed, feeling as though he’d just been given a bear-hug by God Himself.

“Whoever thinks to look for the answer to some of the world’s biggest problems in some of the world’s smallest places…in the hand of a child?” he marveled silently.

With pen-in-hand, he again sat down to write.  Seeing the three shiny pennies on the desk before him continued to warm his thoughts, filling up his heart like the warm waters of a sweet tea descending into an empty cup. Closing his eyes, he pictured Jenny’s little hand laying in his own giant palm. When those three pennies fell from her hand into his, he clearly remembered hearing a still small Voice within him saying, “Come to Me…and let Me teach you.”

Inspired by Jenny’s generosity, Pastor Jonathan’s thoughts flowed faster than his ink could form the words on paper.

“Truly…” he wrote, “…even emptiness, is appropriate in its own time.” Within the next thirty minutes, he completed Sunday’s sermon.  He entitled it, “Unselfish Giving”.

The following Sunday, Pastor Jonathan delivered this message to his congregation.  Not one dry eye remained in the sanctuary by the time he finished speaking…including his own. As he stepped from behind his podium after the service, a man intercepted him before he could reach the foyer.

“Here you go, Pastor. These are for you!” a man spoke through a toothy grin, before dropping three quarters into his hand.

“There’s one for each of Jenny’s pennies.” he explained. “Thank you.” Pastor said, still somewhat taken back by such a gesture.   On his way to the foyer, another member of the congregation stepped forward and placed three one-dollar bills in his hand.

“Powerful message…” the lady said still daubing her eyes as she walked away from him.

To his astonishment, one of the choir members intercepted him in the parking lot, handing him three one-hundred-dollar bills. 

Watching the man walk away, Pastor Jonathan sat humbled, and speechless in his car; overwhelmed by the generosity and response of so many in his congregation.

“How could I have ever doubted what You are able to accomplish through the hand of a little child, Lord?” he pondered on the drive home.

And so, it went throughout the next week. Every morning when Pastor Jonathan entered his study, he continued to find new stacks of donations in a pile on his desk.  After giving it much thought, he decided he needed to do something special with the money.

“Janice…” he said, peeking his head out the door in search of the church secretary.  “You know that drinking fountain we’ve been needing in this foyer for so long?”

“Yes, Pastor…” she replied in a hopeful tone.

“Go ahead and have it installed.” “Oh and…one more thing.  I need you to have a bronze plaque made with these words inscribed on it,” he added walking towards her.

Her brow scrunched; Janice picked her way through the scribbles written down on the little piece of paper he handed her.

“JENNY’S THREE PENNY FOUNTAIN,” she read aloud, a giant grin of approval overtaking her frown.

“That’s right, Janice.  I want to dedicate the fountain to little Jenny. I want it to be a constant reminder to those of us who pass through this foyer, of how God takes such small beginnings and turns them into a much greater end.”

“I’ll give her parents a call, too.”  Janice added, turning to pick up the phone.

On the following Sunday, Pastor dedicated that new drinking fountain to little Jenny. Slipping her small hand into his own, they both approached the fountain together. 

“Do you know what that sign says, Miss Jenny?”  Pastor inquired, pointing up at the little bronze plaque hanging above it.

Tilting her head to one side like she’d been reading since birth, Jenny recited, “Jenny’s Thwee Penny Fowtain.” 

“That’s exactly right…and now you get to take the first drink from your fountain,” he said, picking her up so she could reach the spigot.

“Mmmmm…the water’s just prefit!” she said in a very grown-up way, wiping the overspray from her cheek.

Pastor smiled, knowing she’d meant to say perfect.

“Indeed, it is, Jenny.‘ ‘Prefit’ in every way!” he added letting a mouthful of the cool waters tumble into his own open lips.

Waving good-bye to Jenny, he watched her walk away with her parents, still wiping water from her face.

Bending down to sip again from the fountain, something else occurred to him:

The Greatest Blessing that this world has ever known also entered into this world through the emptiness of a little Child’s Hand.  God’s Child…the Baby Jesus.  From the emptiness of a manger, Jesus’ little Hand reached out into the darkness of this world. Those tiny fingers contained the price of One life, which He willingly spilled out into the hands of this world, to purchase a Fountain for His Church...a Fountain that flows Forevermore!

Pastor’s eyes fell upon the bronze plaque once more.  Running his fingers across each individual letter, he whispered softly,

“Lord… Your plaque would’ve read, “Jesus’ Fountain of Living Water.”

Touched by this thought, Pastor Jonathan continued to marvel at how many ways God had chosen to weave the story of Jenny’s ‘Three Penny Fountain’ into his own emptiness. Heading into his office for the last time, he sat down at his desk to make one final entry into his journal for the week.  Eagerly, he wrote the answer to his question from the Oct. 4^th entry.

Sunday…Oct.16, 1998

Concerning the Gift of Emptiness:

Lord…I ask this question once again, “Is it ever possible for ‘emptiness’ to present itself as a gift to this world?”  From the perspective of both a Pastor and a child of God, all of the wisdom that is needed to answer this question still lays in the Hand of a Child…Your Son, Lord. From the Wisdom of a little Child my heart has come to know these truths:

Carefully, she folded his fingers up around the pennies, pushing his hand gently away from her. 

Even though her hand was now empty, Pastor Jonathan could see that her heart remained as full as any three-year-old’s heart could ever be.

You see, as she stood in the doorway of his office earlier, she studied the look he wore on his face.  Every line…. every grimace…every fold troubled her. Though she could not begin to understand the reason for them; somehow… in the wisdom of a little child, she knew she needed to do something to bring back his missing smile.  The one she so loved seeing on his face.

“Thank you, Jenny…thank you!”

His heart still melting inside his chest, he reached up and pulled her face into his gaze.  He could find no more words, but she seemed perfectly content with the ear-to-ear grin he now displayed.

“It wooked!” she shrieked, giving Pastor Jonathan a big hug.

Right away she remembered the joy she felt when her Mommy placed those pennies into her own hand that morning.  Immediately, visions of pink bubblegum began to dance in her head!  And…in the mind of this three-year-old ‘visionary’, the same miracle just worked for Pastor Jonathan too.

Watching her skip out the door, Pastor Jonathan sighed, feeling as though he’d just been given a bear-hug by God Himself.

“Whoever thinks to look for the answer to some of the world’s biggest problems in some of the world’s smallest places…in the hand of a child?” he marveled silently.

With pen-in-hand, he again sat down to write.  Seeing the three shiny pennies on the desk before him continued to warm his thoughts, filling up his heart like the warm waters of a sweet tea descending into an empty cup. Closing his eyes, he pictured Jenny’s little hand laying in his own giant palm. When those three pennies fell from her hand into his, he clearly remembered hearing a still small Voice within him saying, “Come to Me…and let Me teach you.”

Inspired by Jenny’s generosity, Pastor Jonathan’s thoughts flowed faster than his ink could form the words on paper.

“Truly…” he wrote, “…even emptiness, is appropriate in its own time.” Within the next thirty minutes, he completed Sunday’s sermon.  He entitled it, “Unselfish Giving”.

The following Sunday, Pastor Jonathan delivered this message to his congregation.  Not one dry eye remained in the sanctuary by the time he finished speaking…including his own. As he stepped from behind his podium after the service, a man intercepted him before he could reach the foyer.

“Here you go, Pastor. These are for you!” a man spoke through a toothy grin, before dropping three quarters into his hand.

“There’s one for each of Jenny’s pennies.” he explained. “Thank you.” Pastor said, still somewhat taken back by such a gesture.   On his way to the foyer, another member of the congregation stepped forward and placed three one-dollar bills in his hand.

“Powerful message…” the lady said still daubing her eyes as she walked away from him.

To his astonishment, one of the choir members intercepted him in the parking lot, handing him three one-hundred-dollar bills. 

Watching the man walk away, Pastor Jonathan sat humbled, and speechless in his car; overwhelmed by the generosity and response of so many in his congregation.

“How could I have ever doubted what You are able to accomplish through the hand of a little child, Lord?” he pondered on the drive home.

And so, it went throughout the next week. Every morning when Pastor Jonathan entered his study, he continued to find new stacks of donations in a pile on his desk.  After giving it much thought, he decided he needed to do something special with the money.

“Janice…” he said, peeking his head out the door in search of the church secretary.  “You know that drinking fountain we’ve been needing in this foyer for so long?”

“Yes, Pastor…” she replied in a hopeful tone.

“Go ahead and have it installed.” “Oh and…one more thing.  I need you to have a bronze plaque made with these words inscribed on it,” he added walking towards her.

Her brow scrunched; Janice picked her way through the scribbles written down on the little piece of paper he handed her.

“JENNY’S THREE PENNY FOUNTAIN,” she read aloud, a giant grin of approval overtaking her frown.

“That’s right, Janice.  I want to dedicate the fountain to little Jenny. I want it to be a constant reminder to those of us who pass through this foyer, of how God takes such small beginnings and turns them into a much greater end.”

“I’ll give her parents a call, too.”  Janice added, turning to pick up the phone.

On the following Sunday, Pastor dedicated that new drinking fountain to little Jenny. Slipping her small hand into his own, they both approached the fountain together. 

“Do you know what that sign says, Miss Jenny?”  Pastor inquired, pointing up at the little bronze plaque hanging above it.

Tilting her head to one side like she’d been reading since birth, Jenny recited, “Jenny’s Thwee Penny Fowtain.” 

“That’s exactly right…and now you get to take the first drink from your fountain,” he said, picking her up so she could reach the spigot.

“Mmmmm…the water’s just prefit!” she said in a very grown-up way, wiping the overspray from her cheek.

Pastor smiled, knowing she’d meant to say perfect.

“Indeed, it is, Jenny.‘ ‘Prefit’ in every way!” he added letting a mouthful of the cool waters tumble into his own open lips.

Waving good-bye to Jenny, he watched her walk away with her parents, still wiping water from her face.

Bending down to sip again from the fountain, something else occurred to him:

The Greatest Blessing that this world has ever known also entered into this world through the emptiness of a little Child’s Hand.  God’s Child…the Baby Jesus.  From the emptiness of a manger, Jesus’ little Hand reached out into the darkness of this world. Those tiny fingers contained the price of One life, which He willingly spilled out into the hands of this world, to purchase a Fountain for His Church...a Fountain that flows Forevermore!

Pastor’s eyes fell upon the bronze plaque once more.  Running his fingers across each individual letter, he whispered softly,

“Lord… Your plaque would’ve read, “Jesus’ Fountain of Living Water.”

Touched by this thought, Pastor Jonathan continued to marvel at how many ways God had chosen to weave the story of Jenny’s ‘Three Penny Fountain’ into his own emptiness. Heading into his office for the last time, he sat down at his desk to make one final entry into his journal for the week.  Eagerly, he wrote the answer to his question from the Oct. 4^th entry.

Sunday…Oct.16, 1998

Concerning the Gift of Emptiness:

When you find yourself staring into an empty page…let His Words fill in the blanks.

When facing the unbearable emptiness of a big green chair…Know that His Shoulder is already waiting there for you to cry on. 

If it is a song in life, you lack…the melody has already been written for you. It is Jesus’ Love Song, written especially for you.  The Melody of this Song can always be heard…above even the loudest pounding of your broken heart.

Whatever you find to be the ‘emptiness’ in your cup…allow the Hand of Jesus to spill Love into your own hand. Let Him sweeten your life and fill your cup with the Waters which flow from His Fountain.  It is the Fountain that will always flow; with the unspoken and unforeseen blessings found so unexpectedly hidden in the emptiness of a little Child’s Hand.  Though sometimes we can’t see it, nonetheless it is there.  God put it there…perhaps as a reminder to each of us of the “Blessedness of Emptiness!”

“Come to Me…and let Me teach you.”

(John 11:28a, 30b)

“MEMORIES MADE IN THE MOUNTAINS STAY IN OUR HEARTS FOREVER!”

A MOUNTAIN OF TRUTH

by Debbie Allen

“We have to embrace the conflict God has put into our story. Oftentimes, the scenes that we want to skip produces the endings we all love to see.” –Toby Mac–

When I first pondered these words penned by Christian singer, Toby Mac; I’d just faced an unwanted, and very unexpected eye surgery. A major surgery which ended with my doctor injecting a gas bubble inside my right eye to help stabilize the eye from the inside out, while it healed. For the next two and a half months, I peered at my world through a murky brown bubble.  In addition, my doctor also issued a very stern warning to ‘not change altitudes at all; or I risked the possibility of the bubble expanding…exploding…and taking my eye along with it!’ Believe me… that warning was more than enough to scare me into strict compliance!

When God ushered this unwanted conflict into my life, I have to confess, ‘embracing it’ was not even listed on my post-surgery to-do list. Especially when I considered the level of acceptance the word ‘embrace’ was truly asking of me.  Webster’s 1928 Dictionary defines the word, ‘embrace’ this way:

“To seize eagerly; to lay hold on; to receive or take with willingness that which is offered.”

As a frail human being, none of these words describes what was going on in my heart when God placed this mountain before me; but as a child of God, I knew not to focus on the size of the conflict I faced…but to dwell instead on the size of my God, and His ability to strengthen and uphold me as I learned to climb mountains I never planned on ever climbing… with Strength I never knew I had in me!

 Perhaps ‘embracing conflict’ describes, for a child of God, the simple act of putting on our God-Sized thinking; and letting God be God!

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  ‘Embracing conflict’ describes for a child of God, the simple act of putting on our God-Sized thinking; and letting God be God!

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By the time that infamous bubble in my eye shrank down to nothing, and my restrictions to travel were lifted; my husband and I were more than eager to get out of town and see some new scenery. Pagosa Springs has always been one of our most favorite fall getaways… so we packed up our things and headed straight for it! Six hours later, we were standing in the midst of the beauty of a city whose name actually means, healing waters.  What a perfect way to end a season of healing in my own life!

I was thankful to have the ‘medical mountain’ I’d just finished climbing behind me now. My heart was awed by the early morning beauty of the mountains surrounding me in Pagosa Springs that first morning. Looking out on those steadfast and immoveable creations; I heard God’s still, small Whispers inside of me…reminding my own heart of His Presence there in the midst of them.  “My Mountains…” I heard Him speak.

Smiling at the thought of it, I whispered back to Him, “Yes, Lord…these truly are Your mountains; beautiful in every way.”

Then, almost as if He illuminated my own thoughts and words concerning His mountains; something else occurred to me.  It’s so much easier to physically stand before God’s Mountains in creation and thank Him for their beauty; than it is to be grateful in our spirits for the seemingly immoveable mountains He places in front of us throughout our lives. Humanly speaking, our first response to spiritual mountains set before us, is to look-away or want to run-away; anticipating only the pain and difficulty that always accompanies them.  Much like the ominous clouds I saw shrouding the mountaintops of Pagosa, our own vision too, can become clouded; preventing the eyes of our hearts from being able to see the hidden beauty that awaits us on the mountaintops we’re laboring so hard to reach. The same kind of beauty that I’m so quick to thank Him for in the physical realm…and yet so reluctant to show Him gratitude for in the spiritual realm.

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“Sometimes God wraps His Glory in hard circumstances, or obstacles, or painful difficulties, and it just never occurs to us that within those life-shaking events is a blessing in disguise.”

–Anne Graham Lotz—

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The rugged and indescribable beauty of Pagosa’s Peaks undoubtedly, stood before me as God’s silent reflections of His Splendor, Magnificence and Wisdom; but they also pointed my heart towards the unseen treasures that await us… when we learn to embrace the conflict/mountains God has written into each of our stories.  Like those mountains…God’s Love for His children is Steadfast and Enduring. They stand as Visible reminders of God’s Faithfulness, and His willingness to give us His Strength in those moments when we feel more like spineless worms inching our way up an endless mountain. Even in those moments when we feel like we’re failing Him…He will never fail us. Time and time again, He’s taught my heart that the climb itself will come to an end one day…but the story of the climb lives on forever; touching, inspiring, and changing the hearts of all those who hear about it! The story of your mountain and the way you embraced it…may just be the inspiration someone else needs to hear, in order to make it up their own mountain in life!

I believe with all my heart that God’s Mountains stand in all their majesty, as heaven’s own earthly reflections of Who God is before us…and who we are not.  You and I are nothing like mountains.  We are fragile, lowly, weak human beings, planted here on earth for only a short time. Frail describes us well. We are here today, then withered or gone tomorrow. God is an Immovable, Solid Rock. He is Eternal, Ever-Present, Powerful, High and Lifted-Up!

When you consider the majesty of those physical mountains surrounding Pagosa Springs, alongside the spiritual mountains God places before us in life—it’s vital to remember that every mountain is set before us by God’s design, and for His Purposes. Beyond the sheer wonder and beauty of them all…they stand before us as His Mountains of Truth; every one of them reflecting the beautiful reality of our Creator God, standing before us, reminding our hearts that His Constant Faithfulness and Steadfast Love for us, will always be Bigger than any mountain we will ever encounter in our life.  And for that our hearts should be forever grateful!

When my husband and I left Pagosa Springs three days later, my journal was 10 pages deeper than the day we arrived.  All of the thoughts written on those pages, flowed from the two original words I heard God Whisper down into to my heart on that first morning, “My Mountains.”

 Though I couldn’t imagine there could be anything more left to say about ‘His Mountains,’ God drew my full attention to them once more.  Rounding the last curve before exiting the city of Pagosa Springs, my eyes were drawn to a particular mountain. It wasn’t high and lifted-up like the lush green mountains surrounding it. It wasn’t even beautiful.  Unimpressed, I labeled it barren. But if it hadn’t been barren…I never would’ve been able to spot what God so clearly had waiting there for me to see. It was the shadow of a Giant Hand holding fast to that barren mountain! Oddly enough, the Hand was a Right Hand, as well. The verse that flooded my mind as I looked with awe at that Giant Hand was this:

“Do not yield to fear, for I am always near. Never turn your gaze from Me, for I am your Faithful God. I will infuse you with My Strength and help you in every situation. I will hold you firmly with My Victorious Right Hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

Having almost just turned my eyes away from that grey mountain because it was so barren; these words spoke deeply and so, so personally to my heart. I recognized that Giant Hand to be God’s Hand! His tangible and very visible reminder that even when the mountains we face in life appear so barren…when we choose to ‘embrace’ even the barren scenes God’s writing into our life, seeing them through eyes of faith; His Promised Presence, Strength, and Victorious Right Hand will be found right there in the midst of it!

Truly, this was an undeniable Mountain of Truth set before me! Such Powerful Words from God’s Own Heart to mine, spoken alongside an even more Powerful Image on a remote mountainside in Pagosa Springs. Only my God could’ve planned out this modern-day miracle so perfectly!  And I am still rendered speechless when I think about it…except to express my own High Praises to the Lord in this season of Thanksgiving, singing out with a grateful heart to Him, along with the psalmist:

“Your Power and Goodness, Lord, reach to the highest heavens. You have done such wonderful things.”

(Psalm 71:19a)

“I will give thanks to You, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonderful deeds.”

(Psalm 9:1)

HEART TRAPPINGS PRAYER:

Dearest Heavenly Father…As we step into another Season of Thanksgiving, may our hearts be filled with thoughts of Your Beauty and Grace…the Countless Blessings and the Constant Love that You so richly bestow on us every day; just because You Love us. Help us to broaden and beautify our dim, human perspectives when it comes to seeing Your Hand faithfully at work in the midst of every mountain we stand before in our life; both physically and spiritually. Teach our frail hearts how to embrace the conflict You write into our stories, knowing that sometimes You are in the process of turning our barren places into the unforeseen miracles that deepen our hearts to Your Love for the rest of our lives! We love You, Lord.

In Jesus Name…Amen

“And fasten your

thoughts

on every glorious

work of God,

praising Him

always!”

(Phil. 4:8b-9 TPT)

“Device-ive Living”

by Debbie Allen

In this day and age, we don’t have to look too far to see that we are living in a divided nation. Once, we proclaimed the beauty of the freedom we walked-in, our hearts acknowledging God’s Truths and His Glory in the ways we lived-out our lives in our homes, as well as how we walked and talked before others, including our God in Heaven. We knew and understood the depth of what it means to stand united as, “One Nation under God, indivisible…with Liberty and Justice for all.”  Now…from sea to shining sea, not only is the Nation of America divided on multiple levels, but we as a people are extremely divided… right down to our hearts, minds, and spirits.

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“Now, from sea to shining sea, not only is the Nation of America divided on multiple levels,

but we as a people are extremely divided… right down to our hearts, minds, and spirits.”

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 God created each of us with the purpose of making a difference in this world.  From birth on, every human being enters into this life fully equipped and divinely wired so that we might touch and change our world and the people around us for good, and in a way that makes God Himself ‘Look Bigger.’ A way that reflects His Truth and Ways back into the world. But as I sat in the car on the way to breakfast one morning, inching along in the heavy traffic on a busy highway… I saw the world’s all-about-me ways in full force all around us.  Road rage, driver’s flipping each other off, horns blaring, cars crossing multiple lanes in spite of double-yellow, warning lines painted on the road; and countless accidents waiting-to-happen due to the carelessness of drivers, whose eyes were more focused on their cell phones than the road up ahead of them. It seemed that the drivers in vehicles all around us had a different set of rules to drive by.  Rules of their own…rules reflecting the exact opposite of what the signs and lines painted all along the highway were guiding them to do.  Common courtesy and common sense were both out the window…and with them, the safety, security, and order that comes with driving down a highway strictly, governed by the rules of the road we were once taught to adhere to…or else suffer the consequences.

There was a period of time in history when people chose to become their own authorities in their lives. Without any regard for the lives and security of those around them, everyone acted according to their own opinions of what was right and wrong. The Bible documents this period of time in the book of Judges:

“There was no king in Israel in those days, and every man did what he thought was right.”

(Judges 21:25 LAB)

The results of living in this time period in Israel ended in unmatched mass chaos…and it would be foolish for us to think it will be any different for those of us living in our own culture.  Too many in this day and age are looking only to satisfy their own selfish agendas for living life…instead of seeking the morals, standards, truths and convictions that God designed and knows will provide for, and sustain us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually throughout our lives. Well known author and pastor Tony Evans puts it this way:

“The Lord calls people to submit to His Agenda, not to attempt to honor Him with their agendas.”

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“The Lord calls people to submit to His Agenda, not to attempt to honor Him with their agendas.”

–Tony Evans–

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Whatever goals and accomplishments we’ve scribbled down for ourselves on our own human agendas in life…should never supersede the Perfect Agenda of our All-Knowing, All-Loving God…Who, in His Wisdom, created each of us on purpose and with a purpose; already knowing what’s best for us concerning every facet of our lives, and the ways we were designed to live them out before the eyes of a watching-world!

All of us were ‘made in the image of God’…but only those who choose to walk the path of His Grace and Forgiveness, become His children; those He asks to carry His Light (Jesus) out into the ever-growing darkness of this present world. To be His Light Bearer means embracing God’s Wisdom…not our own. To be constantly searching for, inquiring after, and walking-in the ways of unwavering faith; trusting God, no matter what paths He sets before us in life. Leading with a Perfect Heart and Genuine Love, God calls every one of His children to be faithful, obedient followers who trust their Father to lead them into all the right places…and in all the right ways. Throughout our entire lives, God honors this level of whole-hearted trust in Him; with the Promise of His Presence walking beside us… Providing, Guiding, and Protecting us without fail.

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“God Leads with a Perfect Heart and Genuine Love. He calls all His children to be faithful, obedient followers, who trust their Father to lead them into all the right places…and in all the right ways.“

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But…the lawlessness and reckless behavior I observed all along that stretch of highway that morning on the way to breakfast, reflected anything BUT wholehearted trust. We are fast becoming a culture that shuns the very thought of anyone or anything telling us how to live our lives…or even drive our cars. We love the idea of complete independence; and yet, so easily allow our cell phones to imprison our thinking patterns and influence our behavior; every waking moment of the day.  It seems to me our cell phones have become our god…NOT the Living God, but one driven by Artificial Intelligence. Think about it.  Our cell phones are currently one of the greatest obsessions of this age. They allow us a way to connect and communicate to others without being there…to meet face-to-face without being face-to-face. We give and receive hundreds of directives to guide us through our day.  We have come to heavily depend on our devices to help us find our way in this world and to unknown places and limitless destinations, all using Artificial Intelligence to do so. No one dares to make eye contact anymore because all eyes are focused on a scrolling screen. Even our emotions are being replaced by the use of 3,782 man-made emojis available to us now in 2024; instead of enjoying a personal conversation, sharing between hearts through the five senses God originally equipped us with, in order to help us cultivate and deepen the personal relationships we come to know throughout our lives.

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“Our cell phones have become our god…NOT the Living God, but one driven by Artificial Intelligence.”

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Though I know there is an endless amount of good that can also stream from the devices that are such a huge part of our everyday lives…the ways we immerse ourselves in this device-ive lifestyle our culture so intensely embraces; must be entered into with caution and wisdom. God never intended for Google or A.I. to be the all-knowing, ever-present sources we retreat to when we have questions and doubts…or just need to hear another’s voice speak into our life’s circumstances. The sound of God’s own Voice was always meant to fill that void in our lives. I can’t even imagine trading away the gift of being able to hear the Personal and Tender Whispers of my God deep down inside of me…for the man-made, compassion-deprived, robotic sounds of A.I.’s voice passing over my ears. It would be like being offered a huge slice of the deepest, darkest, richest chocolate cake ever made…and then settling instead for a turnip!

My ride to breakfast that morning on that chaotic stretch of highway, still stands out in my mind as a warning. It was a clear indication to my heart of the reality of mounting chaos, blatant lawlessness, and encroaching darkness that is fast consuming us as the divided people and nation we have become. Instead of making God ‘look Bigger’ before others by choosing His Ways, Truths, and Morals for living our lives…our culture is attempting to remove God and His Ways completely from society. Though ridiculous…that thought weighed heavy on me as we exited the highway for breakfast. But not for long. I looked up into that blue October sky to see a gigantuous Cross formed out of a cloud and a jet stream. The beauty of it stretched out over that chaotic highway, presenting itself to me in that moment as God’s timely and very personal Message for a culture so deeply immersed in following its own selfish ways. The Message that came with it was this:

And God said to His people:

“Stand at the crossroads.

Now, consider your ways

And ask for the ancient paths.

Which is God’s way?

Walk on His Path, and you’ll enjoy

A resting place for yourselves…

But they said, ‘WE WILL NOT.

THAT’S NOT THE PATH WE WANT.’”

(Jeremiah 6:16 TPT)

How frightening it is to think that any nation in history would ever speak those last haunting words to the God and Creator of all things! Knowing that history never fails to repeat itself, I pray we choose to seek to become the nation and people who learn to consider our selfish ways…and turn to repent and embrace the Wisdom of our God in our lives and nation before it is too late. Will you pray with me?

HEART TRAPPINGS PRAYER:

Our Father in Heaven… Thank you for Loving all of your creations; both the ‘chocolate cake lovers’ as well as those who ‘settle for turnips’ in this life. Your Cross stood so high in the sky that day to me, like the Hands on a Cosmic Clock…warning us that time is running out in this world. Yet, You will not force anyone to choose Your ‘Ancient Paths’…but for those who do, it’s the difference between spending eternal life with You in Heaven and spending eternal life without You in Hell. The hearts of those who love You are depending on You.  You are everything we need. Help to keep us walking in Your Wisdom, and steadfast in Your Ways. Forgive our sins, as both a people and a nation.  “Love us, God, with all You’ve got—that’s what we’re depending on! For our hearts shall rejoice in You, because we trust in Your Holy Name” (Psalm 33:21-22).

In Jesus Name we pray…AMEN.

“But the Eyes of the Lord

are watching over those

who fear Him, who rely upon

His Steady Love. Only He can

help us; He Protects us like

a Shield.”

(Psalms 33:18, 20b LAB)

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“The Shield Around Me“

by Debbie Allen

Over seven years ago now, God called me into an unexpected and unwanted journey, involving my right eye.  April 16, 2017, marked the day the light went out of that eye, due to a torn and separated retina. Darkness rushed into the place where I’d known only light all of my life. No rhyme… no reason…no warning. I woke up one morning and was helpless to change my circumstances on my own.   The only thing I could see were the Fingerprints of God, all over an unexpected season in my life.  And if I’m honest…every day up until now.

So often in life, I’ve found that God uses the darkness we encounter in our life’s journey to birth something greater in His children. My eye was no exception. As one circumstance led to another, I was being pointed by God, to a Retina Specialist/Surgeon who believed she could put light back into my eye.   Two days after meeting her, she performed major surgery on my eye; restoring the light inside of it…and sending me down a new pathway in my life; one I would never have chosen for myself. A pathway, that only God knew would bring Him more Glory than my former way of seeing things ever could have.

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“God uses the darkness we encounter in our life’s journey

to birth something greater in His children.”

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Once the inside of your eye unravels, even after being repaired, the chances of it unraveling again remain high. This in mind, Dr. Dee felt it necessary to perform an additional major surgery on my eye only a month later; just to be on the safe side.  She placed what is known as a buckle, or a shield, around the entire outside of my eyeball. This shield holds my retina firmly in place.  It’s my added protection against having to live in darkness again.  It helps to keep everything from coming apart…including me. 

Spiritually, I believe that the shield around my eye also speaks of an even Greater Shield surrounding my entire life. The physical shield protecting my eye, is my ever-present daily reminder to my heart of the Lord…Whose Everlasting Arms are wrapped tight around me…holding me, keeping me from coming apart at the seams even when things look their darkest. Through all the wavering high and low pressures continuously plaguing my eye; and the rigorous mountains and valleys I’ve walked through in my life over these last seven years now; only once did the enemy’s intrusive whispers cause me to question or doubt the strength of the physical shield placed around my eye…or the trustworthiness of my Faithful God. God continues to tell me over and over again in His Word: “I am your Protecting Shield.” (Deuteronomy 33:27a NLT). I believe this truth with all my heart. Even so…one day recently, something changed inside my eye again.

A seven- year struggle to regulate high pressure in my eye suddenly reversed. Now the pressure in my right eye was so low it was no longer measurable. No pressure in my eye; brought with it, not darkness, but a dusk-level of dim light to try and see my world through. On top of this, Dr. Dee reversed a decision that she’d “…done every surgery on my eye that she could do.” Unable to visibly detect what was wrong with my eye; she now stood in front of me saying, “I’m going to have to do exploratory surgery on your eye.”  She speculated that “the shield around my eye was broken, might need to be removed, or had a hole in it, and was pressing down into the white part of my eye causing an abrasion, leakage of fluid, and infection.”  Watching me squirm in my chair at the thought of what just transpired, Dr. Dee put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. She looked me square in the eye, and told me straightforward, “This is something new with your eye…we are on a new journey now!”  Leaving the exam room that day, Dr. Dee’s last words still echoed in my thoughts.  Though she intended that little word ‘we’ as a reference to ‘her and I’…deep inside of me I already knew that it was God who was telling my heart personally that He and I… ‘We’ are on a New Journey now!”

I felt a little like the ancient Israelites, who had only a moment’s notice to pack-up all their things to journey across the desert whenever they saw God (in the form of a Pillar of Cloud) moving ahead of them; leading them towards their next unknown destination. Two days later, I packed-up all my things and followed God’s lead to the Surgical Center for another major eye surgery. Like the Israelites, I’d learned one step at a time, that I could trust God fully with my life…even when being led to unknown places.

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“Let the dawning day bring me revelation of Your Tender, Unfailing Love.”

(Psalms 143:8 TPT)

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The day of surgery, my husband and I left the house just as the sun was coming up.  In the first light of the day, I felt God reminding me of His Presence going before me; especially when we passed a giant billboard beside the highway, displaying a giant JESUS all across it. My heart had to smile! For the verse I read in my Bible before we even left the house was this:

“Let the dawning day bring me revelation of Your Tender, Unfailing Love” (Psalms 143:8).

Just an accident? Maybe a coincidence? Not a chance!  When I was being prepped for surgery, the nurse who was assigned to me, entered the room like warm sunshine. Brimming from ear to ear, she introduced herself as being “the one who would be taking good care of me’, and assured me, ‘I was in good hands.’ But when she revealed to me that her name was, ‘Dawn,’ and told me “I’ll be praying for you!” as they wheeled me out for surgery…I knew God was just showing me once more, that He really was Present and going before me in this new journey. By the light of two ‘Dawns’ I encountered in this one morning…I believe my God was actively revealing ‘His Tender, Unfailing Love’ to my heart, in His Own undeniable and miraculous ways!

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“As we trust, we rejoice with an uncontained joy flowing from YAHWEH!”

(Psalm 33:21 TPT)

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On this side of another major surgery again, I can tell you that Dr. Dee did find a small tear in the white part of my eye and successfully repaired it.  The hole was on the backside of my eye just beyond the shield…so I emerged from the surgery with my eye’s shield still fully intact!  Why is that so important to me?  Over the past seven years, that shield has become for my heart, a tangible reminder of God’s Presence and Protection in my life.  Though it can’t be seen when you look at me, I know it’s a very real presence inside of me, and it surrounds my eye, securely holding things together that might otherwise fall apart.

On a grander scale, life itself is a lot like that unpredictable, right eye of mine. At any given moment it has the potential of coming apart at the seams when we least expect it.  Suddenly, and without warning, our whole life can shift and fall apart. A health crisis, strained relationships, an unexpected death, to mental and emotional trauma or anxiety and depression…and the list goes on.  Yes, there are doctors, counselors, pastors; and even friends and family available to us that can help ‘put’ us back together.  But much like my eye after the first surgery; the risk of falling apart again remains high unless something more permanent is done.  Humanity’s hands are capable of working small miracles when it comes to ‘putting us back together’, but God’s Hands are the only Hands truly capable of ‘holding us together,’ and ‘keeping us from falling apart.’ when seasons of struggle or life-altering circumstances descend upon us.

One of the greatest life-lessons God has taught me through my own personal encounters with blindness, and all the other unimaginable traumas that followed concerning my right eye, is that God Himself is our life’s Shield, wrapped-around all of our life’s broken pieces.  He’s the Ever-Present Help our spirits cry out for in our deepest, darkest times of need. Never will He ever fail to supply us with the abundant Grace needed to empower our hearts to keep moving forward and keep following our God…even when He’s leading us on a journey through the desert… to unknown places. Keep holding onto Him…knowing without a doubt…He’s Holding onto you. He is the Ever-Present Shield surrounding us in life; giving us the hope that the eyes of our frail hearts need to see more clearly: “ALL things really do HOLD TOGETHER IN HIM” (Colossians 1:17).

Oh Lord…You are the One Who Heals our blindness in this life. You are also our Greatest Remedy for the loss of vision and darkness that continues to plague our world, when it comes to seeing the Truth and Glory of Your Presence all around us.  You remain Faithful to Care for your children even in all our darkness; never leaving us to journey alone in the desert places we are called to face in this life. Please… Pour Your Light into our deepest darkness. Give us peace where worry and brokenness prevail. Allow us joy even though pain overtakes us. Grant us Your Strength to endure and grow from every journey You pre-destined us to walk beside You on, even in desert places. “You alone, Lord… are our Radiant Hope, and we trust in You with all of our heart. May “Your Wraparound Presence (Shield) will Strengthen us” (Ps. 33:20 TPT). 
“When we live our lives in the Shadow of God Most High, our Secret Hiding Place, we will always be shielded from harm.”
(Psalm 91:9 TPT)

In Jesus Name we pray, AMEN.

  

“Seas Life’s Moments“

by Debbie Allen

While sifting through the comments on my blog awhile back, I came across one remark which had absolutely nothing to do with anything I’d written on my post.  Truthfully, I’m not even sure she read the story. For some strange reason, I held off pushing the delete permanently button; allowing this person’s words to wash over my heart again and again. I marveled that a total stranger’s words, randomly shared on a blog she accidentally stumbled upon because she just “…had to share her story with someone”, could connect so deeply in my heart.  I sensed God’s Fingerprints all over this!

A young, single mom, living on the California coast went on to explain how she’d taken her four-year-old daughter, Emmy, for a walk on the beach that day earlier. As they strolled along, kicking up loose sand with bare toes; Mom picked up a shell lying on the beach nearby.  Reminded of her own childhood, she showed it to Emmy.  Mom explained to her how God had hidden the sounds of the ocean’s crashing waves down inside of the shell.  Delighted, Emmy reached for the shell and pressed it up against her ear.  Just as quickly, Emmy dropped the beautiful shell, screaming and holding her ear, crying out, “Ouchy!  Ouchy!”

Puzzled by her daughter’s reaction to what promised only to be a beautiful, Mother-Daughter moment on the beach, Mom picked up the shell again.  Cautiously, she examined it, soon discovering a disgruntled sand crab, the size of a quarter, hiding down inside of it!  Mom laughed until she cried while Emmy just continued to cry!  What had begun as only the shell of a past experience for Mom, ended for little Emmy as a very crabby beginning to her day on the beach!

Every new day holds its own promises for each of us.  Sometimes, without warning, those bright promises can turn into questions and speculations that number the grains of sand on the seashore. Life is a lot like this mother and daughter’s walk on the California beach that day.  One moment you can be walking in the sands of time, content with the promise of the familiar and the beautiful up ahead of you; and the next you are crying out in pain, wincing from the unexpected…or the unwanted.

Though this mom couldn’t foresee what little Emmy never expected…the same is not true of us in our own life. You see, we walk with a God Who Sees our life before we encounter it; even those unexpected things hidden in the darkness.

“He [God] changes times and seasons, He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in the darkness, and light dwells with Him.” (Daniel 2)

We walk through the sands of Time with the God who promises His children this:

“I have created you and cared for you since you were born. I will be your God throughout all your lifetime…”  “I will carry you along and be your Savior.” (Isaiah 46)

What better promises than these are there for the moments, days, weeks, and years up ahead of us?  After all, we know Who holds our hands…Who Directs our hearts… and Who Lights our darkness. Now, let’s just choose to let Him do it… while we kick some sand, walking with Jesus along our own beaches, blanketed with the Sands of Time.

HEART TRAPPINGS:

Have you ever seen the Fingerprints of God in your own life?  Where, in your own life, have you encountered people, stories, or circumstances so unusually placed, perfectly timed, or profoundly simple, they captured your attention long enough to change your heart’s thinking forever?  What will be your response the next time you encounter the un-expected in the middle of your life’s beautiful?  Whose Beach are you walking on?  Whose Hand are you holding?  Whose Light is lighting your way?

PRAYER:

Heavenly Father, countless times I’ve walked the Sands of Time with You. Too often, I confess that when my hopes have been dashed, plans abruptly changed, the un-expected tramples me, or death snatches a loved one away; I am prone to behave more like little Emmy on the beach with her mom.  I turn loose of Your Hand and run away from You, crying and wincing in pain.  Help me realize I have turned loose of the only Hand that can Help me…the Only Eyes I can trust to Guide me…and the only Light I have in my darkness.  Thank You for seeing my life even before I encounter it.  Teach me to trust You more and to Seas the Moments I spend with You in the Sands of this Life!

“The beauty of the rose

lasts for a moment

but its memory can

last for a lifetime!

–unknown–

A Trail of Roses…

by Debbie Allen

Ever since I can remember, my heart has always been drawn to roses. Perhaps this fascination stems from my mother having shared with me as a child, that a vase of pink roses was the very first gift I ever received; after she brought me into this world. As a little girl, mom further cemented in my mind just how special roses are; the day she took me by the hand and showed me a couple of those same little rosebuds from the hospital; still pressed between two pages in my baby book.  Though much too fragile for me to touch, just seeing a lock of my baby hair taped beside its faded, pink petals stirred something inside my heart that day…something I wouldn’t understand or even be aware of until decades later.

That stirring process deepened every time my grandma asked me to work alongside her in her rose garden.  One day after she and I finished trimming-up all of her rose bushes, she stood watching me struggle to arrange a few loose pink buds and roses in a vase on her kitchen table. Questioning my own 7-year-old flower arranging skills, I turned and asked her, “Grandma, does this look ok?”

Without hesitation, she stooped down, pulling my face into hers; and with the world’s biggest grin, she responded, “They are just like you, my little Rosebud…perfect and beautiful!”  Standing there blushing, all I could think to do in that moment was to hug…hug…hug her; for even at the tender age of seven, I’d come to know and understand just how treasured a little rosebud could be in this world; and now I’d become one of them!

Though my grandma has long-since passed away, her endearing nickname for me remains a precious gift to my heart. Even today, when I’m working out in my own rose garden; I still hear the faint whispers of her voice calling me her little “Rosebud.”  That memory continues to warm my heart.  It was no accident that day when God allowed the nickname, “Rosebud” to fall from my grandma’s lips down into my heart.  I believe my Creator…the One Who ordered all the steps of my life and wrote them each down in His Book; already knew my life was destined to be repeatedly shaped and defined by the rose over and over again.

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The Rose exposes in its own beautiful ways; the tenderness of God’s Love for us.

“…the earth is filled with His tender Love.”

Psalms 33:5b lab

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Glancing back over my life since that time, it’s not hard for me to see that a growing trail of roses has been gathering behind me since birth. Not only were there my birthdays, holidays, school dances…my piano recitals, baptism, and graduation; but dating, love, marriage, and eventually the joyous births of my own three boys. Even with all of these, there were still countless other significant events and seasons in my life from childhood on; all marked somehow by the presence and beauty of roses.

  In more recent years, the rose itself even became the defining moment of my life! By the time I reached 60-years-old, the thought of getting a tattoo began resonating in my head. This was anything but a typical direction for me to be thinking in. I was more a tea-and-roses sort of girl…not an ink-and-tatts rebel.  But, with much prayer, God inspired me to blend these two opposing ideas together beautifully. I designed a wrist tattoo of a little pink rose; bearing the words “I AM His…” and the numbers “1:17” inscribed above it. My desire was two-fold. I wanted first, to convey to the world around me that “I am a child of God’s.”  The number’s 1:17 are significant because they represent my life’s chosen verse: Colossians 1:17, which reminds my heart daily of this truth: “All things hold together in Him.”

For the next three years after this, every morning when I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was that pink rose tattooed on my wrist.  It became for me an ever-present reminder to my heart, that I am precious and chosen by God…and that whatever else my day might hold; my God would hold me together no… matter… what. I believed these words with all my heart; or so I thought.  Then, one Saturday morning, I woke up half-blind in my right eye without warning. By the end of the next day, Easter Sunday, my vision was gone in that eye!  By the time I woke up on Monday morning, even focusing both eyes on my rose tattoo; I could only see half of the rose, and just two of the three words visible above it.  I whispered those two words softly to myself, “I AM.”  Though terrified by the thought of what was happening to my vision, I recognized there was something even more profound transpiring with my perspective.  Seeing ‘I AM’ standing alone and knowing it to be the Name of God; I began to see it differently, in my unexpected darkness. This was God’s Signature across my life in this moment. His lavish way of deepening me to the reality and intensity of what it is to bear His Name on my wrist; and to be called ‘His’.  I believed my Father was deepening me… telling His child, in this unwanted, unfathomable, and deeply personal way:

“Trust in Who ‘I AM’, and rely on Me,”

“I AM” … there were those words again. The words tattooed only skin-deep across my wrist for the last three years, were now descending deeper into the depths of my heart; spoken and planted there by my Father.  There was no question what my part was to be in this unwanted story. My role was to ‘trust and rely’ on the One Who “holds all things together” …including me.

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“If you are walking in darkness, without one ray of light,

trust in the Lord and rely on your God.”

Isaiah 50:10 ESV

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Seven years and three major eye surgeries later now, this child of His can tell you with all of her heart, that My Father did indeed, ‘hold me together’. Not only physically and emotionally…but spiritually, too. When the retina inside my eye unraveled that day…in my human frailty, I could’ve followed suit.  But my God, Whose Purposes far exceeded mine, chose to use my blindness to help me see Him more clearly.  Ironic as this sounds, the little pink rose on my wrist, the one I had tattooed there to draw the world’s attention to me, and my relationship with my God; was never intended by God to point me out to anyone. Only to point me back to Him…the Great “I AM.” The One and Only Answer to all… that I am not.

Too often, most of us don’t take time to recognize some of the most significant moments of our lives. Those Divinely timed moments are meant to help define and shape us into who God designed us to be.  For me, those significant moments came in the form of a trail of roses winding behind me throughout my entire life. I’ve learned to see this winding trail of roses in my heart, as God wrapping His Grace around me in every stage and changing season of my life. Now, as I look back over the memories of the roses planted there, I see roses that taught me how treasured a little ‘Rosebud’ could be in this life. I still hear my grandma’s whispers here. But now I know that even her whispers were meant to point my heart towards a Love much greater than even my grandma’s. They were pointing me to the God Who Loves me and calls me His Own.

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“Roses don’t just talk about God’s Beauty…they show it!”

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Every rose is somehow a reflection of God’s Love. Looking back over my own trail of roses, I see evidence of God’s Grace at every twist and turn. There are reflections of peace and love, joy and celebration, growth and flourishing, passion and gratitude, wonder and awe, and beauty unspeakable.  But… like the rose itself, there are thorns there, too.   Portions of my trail were darkened at times, by unwanted trauma and despair, sorrow and fear, pain and disappointment, sickness, and even death. In these places, I cried out more than once, “No rose could ever survive here!”

 But by the time I reached the other side of those thorns; I discovered I was wrong. Every time I dared to turn and look a little deeper at those thorns… I saw the most beautiful Rose ever… planted right in the midst of what my own heart deemed too broken, and too barren to sustain life.  It was the Rose of Sharon…Jesus, Himself! He was the Beauty in these despairing places.  His Beauty and His Presence were planted there to bring me rescue, redemption, and restoration.  Given the choice, I would’ve bypassed these thorny places; yet… at the same time, my spirit was strangely drawn here by the Presence of this Rose of Sharon, time and time again.  Though weariness often prevented me from seeing thorny places as anything but shadows and brokenness… my surrendered heart soon taught me to perceive them as the Sacred Place He’d chosen to shed His Light into my darkness. To kneel beside Him in these unwanted places is where I saw my faith was expanded and my Hope enlarged. Here…I experienced an undeserved exchange.  I received His Joy for all my tears… and His Wholeness for all my broken pieces.  

Every rose planted along this Grace-Laced, trail of roses still growing behind me; has somehow brought me closer to His Heart. But it’s my Rose of Sharon I still cling to the tightest.  His Beauty and Presence always come with the Promise of life and new beginnings; especially when we are called to walk in thorny places. Jesus is the One Whose timely Whispers brush up against His rosebuds in earthly gardens, and their tender petals begin to unfold, grow, and finally bloom in full. Likewise…the only Hope any ‘Rosebud’ on earth has of finding life, maturing, and flourishing in this world; lies in hearing and responding to the Tender Rushes of His Whispers against the petals of our own hearts.  For His Whispers are His Beautiful reminders of just how treasured a little ‘Rosebud’ can be in this world…and in the next!

“God will always guide you where to go and what to do.

He will fill you with refreshment even when you are in a dry and difficult place.

 He will continually restore strength to you, so you will flourish like a well-watered garden…”

–Isaiah 55:11 TPT–

Father in Heaven, thank you for filling this earth and our hearts with the Tenderness and Beauty of Your Great Love! Help us, Lord, to live making every day our love-gift back to You! You’ve spoken every day since I was born, through the Rose to my own heart. You taught me how treasured a Rosebud can be in this life. Through my own trail of roses…You’ve wrapped all the times and seasons of my life in Your Grace. Youve spoken to my heart of Beauty and Pain…Petals and Thorns…and of Sunshine and Shadow. You are in every season you call Your children to walk through. May we not just see thorns in the hard times; but dare to look deeper and see our own ‘ Rose of Sharon’ planted there in the midst of our brokenness. And like the Rose…enable us to hear and then respond to the brushes of Your Whispers against the petals of our own hearts; so that we may find at the end of all the thorns, we too, have blossomed and bloomed for Your Glory!

IN JESUS NAME WE PRAY…AMEN

“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)

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.

 

“Only the knife

knows

what goes on

in the heart

of a pumpkin!”

–Simone Swartz-Bart–

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“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:

–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 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’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).

–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)

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) 

“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)

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

“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–

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