This Is Not the Life I Planned!

How many times in your life have you breached a veritable Waterloo spiritually and said under your breath, "God, this is not the way my life was supposed to be." If you are a believer in Christ you've heard the platitude, "All things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose."(Roms. 8:28)

I declare--He has tested that scripture in my life more times than I wish to count. Right now my struggle is with my one remaining nuclear family member, my daughter D. She lives north of Atlanta and is the mother of my only grandson, A., who just turned 4 years old in mid-May. (He gets his blue eyes and blond hair from me, of course.)

Now school is out, and as I wait in the grocery lines, or other stores, I strike up conversations with folks. Invariably someone is bragging about their grand kids being with them for a few weeks this summer. My reply is always, "You're so lucky. I hardly get to see my grandson." One gentlemen said he had been keeping his grand kids since they were age one. He looked about 75 years old and had a big grin on his face. (Envious green crept across mine.)

Quite frankly, I am at the point of tears in being denied access for even a long weekend with my grandson. I pray God will soften my daughter's concrete core. She is 24, and I blurted out just yesterday on the phone, "You know, I'm not going to live forever. I want to see my grandson." D. delivered the usual vague, noncommittal reply, "We'll see." Hmmm.....

Understand, the paternal grandparents see A. every week and sometimes he stays for entire weeks when he is too sick for daycare or D. goes on a trip. To take this kind of unequal treatment any way but personally would be ludicrous. When D. is asked why, she clams up and just says, "You're crazy." What kind of answer is that?

Didn't see him for Easter or get a card. Didn't see him on Mother's Day or get a card. Didn't see him for his birthday or get an invitation down. As a sole parent due to "premature" death of my husband, by all rights I should at least get acknowledged for Father's Day; but "we'll see."

Everyone told me that grand parenting would be the best part of my life. I sure wish it would start. I'm irritated at being excluded from most of the fun and changes the first few years in A's life. In a few more years I am going to be into another decade--one that is definitely not middle-aged. When the grandson gets old enough to drive, I may be in a nursing home for God's sake!

Pray for me,

Lonely in Spartanburg

Let's Not Weary of Doing Good

That is a pretty tall order from the book of Galations (6:9) if you suffer from a chronic pain condition such as Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, or Rheumatoid Arthritis. Since today (5/12) is National Fibromyalgia Awareness Day, it’s appropriate to examine believers who suffer each and every day of their lives. The apostle, Paul, entreats all of us to never weary of doing good. So how do you follow his commandment when you’re in pain constantly?

If there is one thing that saps your energy and motivation more than constant body-wide pain, I don’t know about it. It’s a dangerously self-absorbing condition, too. You begin to think, “How can I minister to others when I can barely take care of myself?”

How would you answer God if He asked you about your weariness in doing good? Would you say, “Lord, you understand why I am mostly home bound, don’t go on mission trips, or attend church regularly”? Would you say, “Until you heal me, Lord, I can’t be of use to the Kingdom of God”? Would you say, “I’ll just wait until the medical profession comes up with a cure before I become your good and faithful servant”?

All of these responses leave out the most extravagant gift of service you can give to any person—prayer! No matter where you are or in what condition or circumstances, a believer’s spiritual heartbeats can always turn his/her heart toward prayer.

I recently saw on a church marquee these words, “If you are having trouble standing, fall to your knees.” How often we excuse our absence from God’s good works by omitting prayer. As Americans we are somehow conditioned to think delivering a meal, manual labor, or a trip to needy believers is required. Our heavenly Father is much more pleased with personal communion than any work we might do.

Stop today and think about praying for your neighbors, your church members, your church pastors and staff, your city officials, your state governing body and their assistants, and your national leaders and Cabinet members. Nothing great in the history of God and man was ever accomplished without the fervent prayer of at least one believer. In many instances, whole bodies of believers were asked to fast and pray.

List now from memory some of the extravagant and seemingly impossible prayers recorded in the Bible that resulted in God’s power being displayed. Remember, even a feeble and frightened person can pray.

Meditate on Christ’s prayer of anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane as he sweat drops of blood from the strain of knowing his torture and death were near at hand. In Christ’s most painful, last moments on the cross, He was still talking with His Father in heaven. Yes, it is a tall order to simultaneously suffer and supplicate for others.

The Ultimate Lily Pad

Throughout our secular, pre-Christian lives, we leapfrog from one person to the next searching for a safe arm to lean upon. When we realize that no one is trustworthy totally, we begin to search for the real truth. When we find that truth in God’s word and our Living Savior, we surrender to the one place where all our trust can snuggly reside. Jesus is the “ultimate lily pad”.

A person said to me recently, "You need to smile more." It was the mirror image of a joyless Christian he saw. I knew it was the devil's second best kill thrill subtracting joy from my life, so I have decided to smile frequently just to spite Satan's efforts. My soul is secured for eternity with Christ, but my joy will forever be the manifestation of this fact. My spiritual heartbeats of joy must orchestrate the tempo of my life to be a better witness and to glorify God.

"Victoy in Jesus, my Savior forever" was not written by a pouty-faced wet blanket, so why do we allow the devil to rob us of our joy? One way is allowing circumstances to be our focus instead of our position within the body of Christ as one of His beloved. Another way is to associate constantly with people who have lost their own Christian joy. Lastly, receding from church, declining fellowhip with like-minded followers of Christ, and eliminating prayer can also bring a halt to our joy.

The human heart can be fooled into thinking death might be better than life, since no more trials and tears need to be born. Even as I see my own life framed by the deaths of so many immediate family members, I see the fallacy of this thinking. If God hasn't chosen to remove me from this world, then His will is for my life to continue and to be of service glorifying Him. We don't decide on death unless we have despaired and turned our back on God in a moment of weakness--a moment the devil relished.

Most of us know of someone, in a moment of weakness, who despaired and turned his/her back on God and His power to revive. We know those who have believed that suicide was a way to escape the tears and turbulence of this life. Long before this person died, the devil was leaking his acid of self-hate into the believer's weakest point of armor. It was killing the believer's joy, the devil's second-best coup to denigrate the name of Christ.

The lily pad is a great image of our position to God and Satan in this life. It lays atop the water, floating and facing toward heaven. It blooms in its appointed season. If it is dragged under by some weight, it dies in dark waters. It goes dormant without the warmth of the sun. So it is with believers--we balance delicately between heaven and earth, attached to the murky waters of life and sometimes tangled up by the weight of difficult circumstances. When we allow the Son to shine into our souls, we blossom and become something beautiful for God and others to see.

My challenge for you is to be aware of joyfulness versus joylessness. Decide which kind of Christian you wish to be for your Savior. Smile toward heaven and others or frown into the darkness of this world--it's your choice.

Here's smiling at you!
L. B. Greer

What Did You Expect?

When you left home and sojourned on your adult pathway, what did you expect? As Christians, Jesus never promised us blue skies and a bowl of cherries for our life here on earth. With every ounce of his blood, body, and breath, He suffered to teach us how to suffer. I Peter 2:21 says "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps."

Did He whine about his lot in life? Did He blame somebody else? Did He refuse to do God's will because it was too painful? The answer to all these questions is a redundant and resounding "No".

Now examine your own answers to these questions. Where do you stand in being Christ-like in your sufferings? I know I have often whined about my life and tried to blame others. I know I am resistant to do God's will at times because it hurts my pride. What a puny Christian I am!

When He returns to call us home, I pray Jesus will look beyond my faults and see my need. We all need Him. Not one of us is an unblemished lamb. Sometimes we try to appear unblemished to those we wish to impress, but as we grow in our walk we must be more transparent and more touched by our frailties.

If it weren't for Christ, where would this poor soul be? I say "Amen" to the great "I am" giving me a purpose and a plan for my life"--and it's not to whine or blame. The Bible says His Name is Wonderful, Magnificent, Almighty, All-powerful,... You fill in your own favorite praise names for the "author and finisher of our faith".

My spiritual heartbeats begin to soar as I count His blessings and His forbearance in my life. He is my portion, my shield, my cornerstone, my husband, and my first love always. I hope Christ is all that and more to each of you today.

The Prayer of Surrender

Have you had a really frustrating day with your computer where you were tempted to throw it from a second story window to the pavement? Today was that day for me.

For the last 3 days I have not been able to find my email or my bookmarks. Furthermore all the icons and fonts were extra large as if I were a visually challenged person. However, this evening I prayed earnestly that whatever God's will was for my life, I would accept it--even if I didn't understand. I surely did not understand what craziness was going on with my laptop.

Once more after putting my three sweet little doggies to bed, I decided to unplug power to my ISP modem, wait reverently for those 30 seconds, replug, and then reboot my laptop. All I can say is that God performed a miracle and gave me back tons of emails and file folders and bookmarks...and my sanity as well.

So, if you ever need prayer over your techie equipment, I will be there for you! I empathize emphatically. Just send me an email to drgreer@charter.net and I will respond.

My spiritual heartbeats can't wait to see what prayer God will answer next. Right now, I could sure use some help putting together a chain saw. I have a huge fallen limb from the snow storm in early March waiting to be converted to firewood.

Remember, dear ones, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Phillipians 4:4-7) "Anything" includes laptops and messed up software, praise God.

End of Semester Blues?

Time to get all the help you can. I am still in business and do private 1-on-1 tutoring for Elementary through Adult learners. My subjects have now expanded into Anatomy and Physiology, Math, Statistics, Geometry, Chemistry, and Physics.

I also recommend that if you a.re finishing your 11th grade, this summer is the best time to take coaching from Academics Upward Tutoring

The Infinite Change of Passage

It was sunny and in the high 60’s when the plane took off from the burgeoning green of Florida. I had just been blessed with about four days of a Christian writers’ conference. As the plane approached and descended to the GSP airport, there was a whitewash of all landscape below lying under a half foot of snow. How opposite the weather can be in less than two hours of flying. Alas, change is inevitable in the landscape of our lives as well.

Can you remember back to your youth and the dreams you had? What did you want to be when you grew up? What did you say when your parents or extended family asked about your future? It is unlikely you said: “I want to be a light unto the world and salt unto the earth.”

After all is said and done, however, this job description becomes a universal tuning fork for those of us who believe in the spiritual heartbeats of a child of God. Each time I hear of one more soul entering eternity, the question of whether this person met God’s job description arises poignantly. This week one neighbor who suffered with cancer and also the sister of a dear Christian writer went to reside with Jesus. My mind grapples with this moment of transition; within a few heartbeats I reverently whisper, “You, child of God--how blessed you are to escape this sin-stained world.”

Whatever mirth, whatever pleasure, and whatever adrenaline rush we may experience in this life, it must pale tremendously to the one last heartbeat within our passage of leaving this world and entering God’s realm of infinite glory. It is the last mystery we must contemplate on ground zero.

Along with our future, we must also realize that we leave a legacy to those still trapped in earthly bodies. What will your legacy be? Will you be known for your spiritual fruit, your sense of humor, or your duty and honor to your country? Some of us may have flashbacks to some traumatic events that dramatically changed our life’s pathways forever. Did we learn God’s lessons in these or did we blindly put one boot in front of the other and trudge on aimlessly?

I hope and pray that at the end of your days, you can say “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Phillipians 4:13)