I love roller coasters, but it hasn’t always been that way. When I was a kid I was terrified of them until my cousin talked me into riding one…just once she said. I survived the ride but was ready to get off.  Unfortunately, the safety restraint got stuck and they couldn’t get us off. The attendants said this had happened before and if we just go around again it usually would release. Three or four times later it finally let us off! The up-side was that I now loved roller coasters!

I should qualify that statement. I love amusement park roller coasters. The roller coaster that is my life these days I am often not very fond of.  The last couple of weeks before our big move from NY to FL I realized that I had a familiar feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was the feeling that you get when the roller coaster is climbing to the top of that high plummeting drop-off. You know it’s coming and part of you is excited, but part of you is terrified.

I saw this status on facebook….”Life is like a roller coaster, it has ups and downs but it is our choice to scream or enjoy the ride.”

There have been a few times lately that I have heard screaming in my head. I look around to see who it is and realize it’s me. Those are the times that I am just looking at the circumstances and have taken my eyes off the One who controls those circumstances….the One who, when I do keep my eyes on Him, makes the ride enjoyable.

This is what the LORD says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen.  (Jeremiah 29:10-12 NLT emphasis mine)

I know this promise is for the nation of Israel but the principles apply to us as well. After all, God tells us through Paul in Romans 8,

 “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.  For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. (28-30 NLT emphasis mine)

So as I have come home to FL I can enjoy the ride…..Even when the quick turns and ups, and downs come fast and unexpected, if I keep my eyes focused on God and the knowledge that He is working all things for my good as He conforms me to the image of His precious Son.

Steven Curtis Chapman always has such a way of putting things in words….

I watch you looking out across the raging water, so sure your only hope lies on the other side 


You hear the enemy that's closing in around you and I know that you don't have the strength to fight  but do you have the faith to stand and... 

Believe Me now, believe Me here, remember all the times I've told you loud and clear I am with you and I am for you so believe Me now, believe Me now 

I am the One who waved my hand and split the ocean. I am the One who spoke the words and raised the dead 
And I've loved you long before I set the world in motion. I know all the fears you're feeling now but do you remember who I am? 

So believe Me now, believe it's true I never have, I never will abandon you. And the God that I have always been I will forever be so believe Me now. 

I am the God who never wastes a single hurt that you endure My words are true and all My promises are sure. 
So believe Me now. Oh, believe Me now.  (Believe Me Now by Steven Curtis Chapman on his All Things New album)

So let’s stick our hands up in the air and delight in the ride!

As I sit and write my regular Wednesday blog I am filled to overflowing with the three emotions that make up today’s title. This is due to the fact that on Sunday we will be ending a season of our lives and launching into a new adventure. When I think about all that God has done in our lives so far, I have great anticipation to see what excitement this next step holds.  I am overwhelmed with gratitude when I reflect on the joys of ministering among the amazing group of people that God has blessed us with at Mortons Corners Baptist Church. We have been blessed to see God work and share in the joy of seeing many come into a personal relationship with Jesus, and others deepen their walk with Him. Oh, I do feel truly humbled and blessed!

Now to the dread. Let me start by saying that I hate good-byes. There are television commercials that reduce me to tears because someone has to say goodbye. There are old episodes of MASH that, even though I have seen them many times still make me cry…and I’m not talking just a tear or two. I recently cried during the preview of a movie because someone dies in it! Well, you get the picture. This Sunday we have to say goodbye to a lot of people who have become simply precious to us over the last six years and to say that I am dreading that seems like an understatement of epic proportions!

In the midst of all of this I have been reminded of three different verses. One is from a song and the other two are Bible verses. Let me share them with you.

First is actually the chorus from an old Michael W. Smith song called Friends.
And friends are friends forever
If the Lord's the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
'Cause the welcome will not end
Though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long to live as friends.

How wonderful to know that even if we never have the opportunity to see each other again this side of Heaven that in Christ these friendships last forever.

Next is Psalm 35:27. This whole chapter has been a great comfort to me over the past few months, but this verse really speaks my heart to those who have stood by us.

But give great joy to those who came to my defense. 
      Let them continually say, “Great is the LORD, 
      who delights in blessing his servant with peace!”  (NLT)

And finally what I would like to end with Philippians 1:3-6

Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God.  Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now.  And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. (NLT)

I do give thanks to God for each and every person who the Lord has brought into our lives during our six years in Springville.  Many have tirelessly partnered with us in our ministry here. I am so grateful for the faithfulness of God who promised to continue His work in each and every one of us until it is complete when He returns.

We live in topsy-turvy times. My life right now is especially so. God is here in the midst of it…I know He is. I see glimpses of His hand in my circumstances at every turn. And yet….sometimes, worry sneaks up on me. I’m going along fine, deciding what to sell and what to keep, sorting, organizing, packing boxes and…BAM! The questions start in my head. Where are we going to live? What if it we can’t find work? Why is this happening? Before I know it worry has slithered its way into my head and boy, does it have a firm grip!

The first seven verses of Psalm 37 have helped me a lot.

1 Don’t worry about the wicked
      or envy those who do wrong.
 2 For like grass, they soon fade away.
      Like spring flowers, they soon wither.

 3 Trust in the Lord and do good.
      Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.
 4 Take delight in the Lord,
      and he will give you your heart’s desires.

 5 Commit everything you do to the Lord.
      Trust him, and he will help you.
 6 He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn,
      and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.

 7 Be still in the presence of the Lord,
      and wait patiently for him to act.
   Don’t worry about evil people who prosper
      or fret about their wicked schemes. (NLT)

Notice that this passage is bracketed with two admonitions to not worry. In the middle is four steps that can us get the upper hand on this joy-robber.

1. Trust in the Lord and do good. (v. 3) God promises to provide my needs. He promises that He will work all things together to make me more like Him and bring Him glory. Lack of trust in these promises makes me fretful. Faith and works go together so I need to continue to serve Him while I wait on His timing.
2. Delight in the Lord. (v. 4) To delight in Him is more than just being thankful for what He does for me. It speaks more to reveling and finding great joy in who He is.
3. Commit everything I do to Him. (v. 5) “Commit” means to” throw my burdens.” Doesn’t that sound great? I can just picture taking a big load of stuff that bogs me down in worry and chucking it over a cliff! But actually it’s better than that because the burdens aren’t just thrown off me…they are given to Him!
4. Be still in the presence of the Lord. Ah, peace and rest. That’s what my worried soul yearns for! This brings to mind Isaiah 40:31 “Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary. (NASB)

Trust, delight, commit, be still….take these to heart my friends and find peace for your weary soul!

It was a beautiful letdown
When I crashed and burned
When I found myself alone
Unknown and hurt…….
Everybody likesto have something to look forward to; some people…. like me need it. For as long as I can remember I have lived my life from one event to the next. Some things I anticipate so much that I almost start to dread them because I know what is coming. The event comes, I love it, but then it’s over and the letdown comes.

I had really been looking forward to the last few weeks. My folks came for their annual fall visit which includes a looked-forward to trip to PA with them and one of my kids to work at a craft show.  Their leaving was tempered by the arrival just days later of my best friend coming to enjoy the fall colors and fun times of just being together. As I left the airport yesterday after dropping my friend off I felt it coming….the letdown. I’m not a kid anymore. As a forty-something year old woman I should be able to deal with this by now, right?! Apparently not.

This time the letdown came as I have been studying the book of Philippians. Talk about conviction….I’m over here acting like the Seven Dwarfs’ stepsister Mopey and I’m reading a letter Paul wrote from prison that is all about joy and contentment. Yikes….time to hit my knees.

I know when a lot of my letdowns are coming. But don’t we all get broad-sided by them sometimes? Unmet expectations, unexpected bills, scary doctor reports, and on and on….all of these can leave us let down with God. I’m glad that after Paul tells us in Philippians 4:11 that he has learned to be content in every circumstance, he goes on to tell us how we can find contentment too.

      I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned
      the secret of living in every situation. (12a NLT)

(Oh tell us, Paul, tell us!)

      For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. (13 NLT)

Finding my joy and contentment in Christ is the cure for my letdowns. Not only can it be a cure, but as I learn to rest in His compassion for me, His provision for me, His grace toward me, and the depths of His unsearchable, unchangeable love for me I can actually, in a way, look forward to the letdowns as they draw me closer to Him.

……..It was a beautiful letdown
When You found me here

When those times hit you, and they will, find your contentment, your joy, and your strength in Him!

(In case you were wondering…..at the time I am writing this there are 31 days until my brother and his family come, 66 days until Christmas, and 143 days until I go to Florida to run in a half-marathon relay……but I’m ready for the letdown!)

In 1967 the BBC commissioned The Beatles to write a song for the first live global television link. John Lennon and Paul McCartney set out to write a song that all nationalities could relate to and came up with All You Need is Love. When released as a single it went straight to the top of the charts in the UK and here in the states.

According to interviews, the simple message that the Beatles wanted to get across was that love is everything. I don’t imagine that they turned to the Bible for their inspiration but the importance of love is seen throughout God’s written message to those who love Him.

John 17 is called the High Priestly Prayer. After praying for Himself in verses 1-5, the apostles in verses 6-19, He prays for us in verses 20-26 (NLT emphasis mine).  

 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!

 “O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”

Over and over Jesus prays that we will be one and that we will have unity. I can see a couple of reasons that Jesus prays for our unity. The first reason is so that the world will believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I really think the second reason that He prays this for us is that He knows it will be so incredibly hard for us to do.

Jesus said in His prayer that He had revealed the Father to us and would continue to do so. He does that through the Bible…God’s Word. As we learn more about the love of God as revealed in His Word we see that God’s love is sacrificial and giving. Quite frankly, those are two things that I can sometimes flat out struggle with. I don’t always like to give, and I rarely like to sacrifice, because deep down I can be plain old selfish. And friends, selfishness is a major unity killer.

I would never say these things out loud, but in my heart….I want what I want and if you don’t want what I want then you are wrong and I’m going to make sure you know it. I have the right to do something and I don’t care if you don’t like it. I like this way of doing something and too bad if you don’t. Things go your way and not mine and I’m not happy. Oh, I may not pitch a public fit but I’ll get my feelings out there and you probably will too…. because left on our own we are all selfish, and once those feelings are out there the unity-meter drops to zero.

Aren’t you glad God didn’t just leave us on our own? He gave us His Word to guide us and He gave us the Holy Spirit to indwell us and give us the strength to live out God’s sacrificial, giving love every day.

Dear Lord, I am so grateful for Your love, for Your Word and for the Holy Spirit. Help me to daily turn to and rely on these wonderful blessings so that I can live with those around me in love and unity. I ask that the love and unity that is displayed will show to the world the reality of who You are and what great things You can do through those who love You!

He makes me lie down in green pastures,
     He leads me beside quiet waters,
     He refreshes my soul.   Psalm 23:2-3a (NLT)


I have always found it interesting that this verse reads that He "makes" me lie down in green pastures. Doesn't it seem that it should say He "lets" me lie down? But lately, as I have looked at my life, I have realized that sometimes I get so busy....its just go, go, go all the time, that I have to make myself slow down. If I don't do that, eventually, God will bring about circumstances that will force me to find rest in those green pastures. 


So this week I am practicing the discipline of rest. I am on vacation! While I may not spend much time sitting on grass next to quiet waters, I will be resting my body and my brain. I will be spending time allowing Jesus to refresh my soul.


How long has it been since you practiced the discipline of rest? Is your soul in need of refreshing? Perhaps you need to take some time TODAY!