“BE STILL AND THOUGHTFUL,”

SAID THE WISE OLD TREE.

“LIFE MAY SEEM LONG,

BUT TIME WILL FLEE.”

–Angie Weiland Crosby–

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A Place of Grace

by Debbie Allen

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

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

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

-D. Allen-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-D. Allen-_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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

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

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

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

-Tony Evans–_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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

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

In Jesus’ Name…Amen

“I love these little people. And it is

not a slight thing when they who are

so fresh from God, love us.”

–Charles Dickens–

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Cries in the Darkness

by Debbie Allen

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In JESUS name we pray, AMEN

 

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by Debbie Allen

Once upon a time…is usually the perfect beginning for a fable or a fairytale written for children.  However, once upon a time…currently speaks of a one-of-a-kind tale in our present history we’d rather not have to tell to anybody’s children. The COVID19 virus.   Its details have invaded our thoughts and our headlines, filled our hospital beds and big-screen TV’s, and impacted nations, cities, and lives around the globe for many months. Our hillsides aren’t enchanted anymore…they’re infected. In an effort to avoid an invisible enemy, the Kings and Queens in this story sit on disinfected thrones inside quarantined castles. Its Princes and Princesses are restricted from dancing inside each other’s arms at the Royal Ball, which has been cancelled, in the name of social distancing.  The Royal Couple now stands no closer than six feet apart, having exchanged true love’s kiss for a mask.   This story’s final message is anything but a fairytale. And if the truth be known, it’s not going to end with the heartfelt words, “And they lived happily ever after!” At least not while we’re living on earth.

If ever there was a time in history when we longed for fairytale living…it is now. This surreal story we are living in is pummeled with daily unknowns, mounting impossibilities, and endless, unshakeable foundations, in our past that have been shaken to literal pieces.  With financial and health institutions floundering and businesses large and small, struggling to eke out new ways of finding their way back to Prosperity Road; life is anything but predictable. Stability appears to be a thing of the past.  This is not just true of our own nation but, all around the world. Each of our lives has been deeply affected…and countless lives have been infected by this dreaded invisible enemy, COVID19. I find it interesting that this disease settles in the lungs; stealing away our very breath from us…the breath that was meant from the very beginning to bring praise and glory to our Creator in life. Maybe this virus comes to us with its own message?

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“Maybe…just maybe this COVID19 Virus comes to us with its own message?”

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It’s extremely humbling to wake up one day and find ourselves face to face with the truth of our own human frailty.  Or at least, it should be.  Though President Trump and many world leaders have proclaimed formal ‘days of prayer’ to seek God’s help and wisdom during this critical time in world history; there are still a brazen few, in the leadership world, who refuse to acknowledge their need for either; even in the heart of this crisis.  As he watched the Corona Virus curve begin to flatten in his own state; the Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, is quoted during a press conference to have proclaimed:

“The number is down because we brought the number down.  God did not do that. Faith did not do that.  Destiny did not do that.  A lot of pain and suffering did that…That’s how it works.  It’s math….”  (https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/new-york-gov-cuomo-we-flattened-coronavirus-curve-god-did-not-do-that)

Governor Cuomo’s words sent chills down my spine.  Denying God’s active Presence in the pandemic ?  Just a few hundred feet away from where he spoke, could Cuomo not see Jesus was working fervently through the hands of first-responders, loving and caring for those quarantined lives hidden away in a field hospital, now standing in Central Park? Did he not notice Jesus helping prisoners find the strength needed to throw one more shovelful of dirt down onto wooden coffins filled with the unknown, dead; being buried in a mass grave site on Hart Island? Was it Cuomo’s heart breaking for all the tears that flowed down onto the hundreds of masked faces who lost loved ones to this virus? No, again.  It was Jesus’ Heart. The Heart from which flows only Good.  Cuomo saw his own pain and suffering, and simple math, as the reason for the Corona Virus curve flattening.  I saw Jesus, His Pain and Suffering, and the high cost of loving others greater than yourself.  I saw the Presence of God in the midst of all this chaos. And what about answered prayer?  Without a doubt in my mind, I believe God did this!  Faith did this! God’s Greater Purposes allowed this!

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“Though the Corona Virus Pandemic makes its mark in history as the first of its kind; Governor Cuomo’s words and actions are simply another case of history repeating itself. Same sin, different day.”

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Though the Corona Virus Pandemic makes its mark in history as the first of its kind; Governor Cuomo’s words and actions are simply another case of history repeating itself. Same sin, different day. You see God warns us to ‘trust in Him’ and ‘not to lean on our own understanding’ (Proverbs 15:6a) because ‘there is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way to death.’ (Proverbs 14:12).  In the Garden of Eden, Eve ‘leaned on her own understanding’ the day she took a bite out of the apple that God told Adam not to eat; and humanity and all of creation is still suffering for it.   Andrew Cuomo, just as good as took a bite out of The Big Apple, the day he uttered words that reduced the Glory God deserved down to human efforts and simple math; then denied God’s Sovereign Hand in flattening the Corona Virus curve.

Whether we are living in the ancient story of Eve’s little apple, or the modern-day tale of Andrew’s Big Apple; the message is still the same.  We humans are constantly stepping across the boundaries that God draws for us in life, for our own protection. For our own good.  Whether it be in word or deed, if we continue to lean upon our own understanding and self-sufficiency, ousting God from His rightful place in our hearts and in this world…the consequences are going to be disastrous for all of us.  Perhaps they already are!

As I’m sure your hearts have perceived by now, the Corona Virus story has forced all of us to become the characters living inside a story we never asked to become a part of. There is no handsome Prince knocking on your door, holding a glass slipper in his hands; hoping it fits your foot so he may whisk you away to the royal life you’ve always dreamed of. However, the Prince Who is knocking on your door, is the Prince of Peace. Jesus. He holds in His Hands the story of your life.  Not a fable, not a fairytale.  But, a Journey with Him to the Land of Right-Living, and a life you never could’ve dreamed for yourself. Reach out and take this Prince’s Hand. After all… He gave His life for you so your story would have this perfect ending:

” …and they live Happily in the Ever-After!”

 During this unsure time in our world, continue to persevere.  The Prince of Peace stands before you, behind you, beside you and within you as a constant reminder to your heart during these tumultuous times; to set your mind on Him.  He will keep you completely whole and steady on your feet; as you continue fighting through the ever-changing circumstances…unwavering in your faith.’ (Isaiah 26:3).   Above all, continue to ‘trust in Him with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; but, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.’ (Proverbs 3:5-6). 

Like the modern-day tale of ‘Andrew and “The Big Apple”, there will always be those people in this world who live for their own name and renown. But I assure you, their stories will not end well. The prophet, Isaiah put it this way:

“The path of right-living people is level.  The Leveler [God] evens the road for the right-living.  If the wicked are shown Grace, they don’t seem to get it.  In the land of right-living, they persist in wrong living, blind to the Splendor and [Presence] of God.” (Isaiah 26:7, 10)

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HEART TRAPPINGS:

PRAYER: Dearest Father in Heaven,,,It seems our whole world is in turmoil these days. The economy, the church, our community; What once seemed unshakeable has proven shaky and unstable, in ways we never expected. Desperation and uncertainty span the globe, Lord. I cry out to You in the words of King David, as he prayed for his own people during a dark period in their history. “Lord…You have shaken the land and torn it open; mend it’s fractures, for it is quaking.” (Psalm 60:2). Open our eyes to see both Your Glory and Your Presence among us. Continue to fill our lungs with your breath; and may we not fail to utter Your praises daily, especially in the midst of difficult times. For only in You, Lord, will we find both rest and refuge for our souls. With You as our Stronghold…we will not be shaken! In Jesus Name, Amen