Month: May 2019

WEEDS

Tears ran down my face, like the hard rain against a window pane. I was standing in front of my husband’s grave. It is about two hours south of where I live now. I do not visit but a couple of times a year. Of course, I feel sad when I visit. But this cry was not a cry of sadness because my husband has been gone for ten years this October; but rather a cry, from the gut, deep inside. Why was I crying? Weeds had grown in between the graves to such an extent that it looked like a weed patch where no one cared. The rest of the little graveyard looked really nice. It had been mowed and tended to, but they do not keep up the area that my husband’s family are buried, in between the graves.

About two months after my husband and I got married, his family bought a family plot. The plot is in a cemetery out of town on a gravel road. At the time, I was just barely eighteen years old, a newlywed, and here we were buying a place to be buried in. Why did we need to be thinking about this at such a precious age? But, as a good newlywed does, I agreed to getting us two spaces. (Later, when my husband passed away, I was very thankful we had done that so many years earlier. That was one less thing that I had to think about in the middle of my grief.)

Years ago, when my husband’s parents passed away and were buried, my husband’s sister, planted all kinds of flowers, plants and even a little tree in the middle of the grave plot. The people who care for the graveyard were told, by her, to leave in between the graves alone because she would care for it. She and her husband tended to it while they were alive. They would come to the sight and throw a blanket down over her parent’s graves and have a picnic. She visited a lot tending to her “little garden.” I personally, thought it was way too much, but she took care of it, so never said anything about it to her.

 But now, because there is no one who tends to the tree, roses, flowers and now huge weeds, it looked like an uncared-for mess! My son, who has to travel to Arkansas for work from time to time, goes by and tries to care for it a bit and makes sure my husband and my headstone are in good shape, but he has not been traveling as much, and it has gotten overgrown.

I know that having weeds overgrowing the area, is not the most important thing but it still hit me hard. Memorial Day is coming and I felt so sad that people would look at the site and think there was no one who cared for the people who are buried there. We put a Bible verse on my husband and my tombstone, but you could not even see it because of the growth. You cannot see the picture of he and I on our 25^th wedding anniversary that we had included on the stone.

Doesn’t it seem that weeds around our house can grow so quickly? We have had so much rain in the last few days. I am sure there are a lot of weeds around my house, that I will need to tend to after the rain stops. They “pop” up so quickly, even before we realize it.

By now, you are probably wondering where I am going with this blog post. Bear with me. Ever since getting back from that visit to the graveyard, I have been thinking about the “weeds” we have in our lives. The sins in our lives that can slowly grow if we do not “pull them out of our hearts” before they get out of hand. Before they become such a part of our everyday lives that before we know it, those “weeds” overtake our hearts and minds. “Weeds” that intertwine with other “weeds” until there is just a jumbled-up mess, we have gotten ourselves into.

There are some powerful verses in the Old Testament that talk about some “weeds” that can overtake our lives. These verses tell us six things that the Lord hates and lists one that is an abomination to the Lord. Proverbs 6:16-19 reads, “These six things the Lord hates. Yes, seven are an abomination to Him. A proud look. A lying tongue. Hands that shed innocent blood. A heart that devises wicked plans. Feet that are swift in running to evil. A false witness who speaks lies. And one who sows discord among brethren.”  Let’s look at each one of these. Proud look-a person who thinks they can do everything themselves without God’s help. Lying tongue-a person who does not speak the truth. Sheds innocent blood-a murderer. Heart who devises wicked plans-every thought is evil and they plan how to use these thoughts for evil. Feet that hurry to do evil-a person who does not think before doing evil, has no conscience. False witness who lies-a person who gossips and lies about what they have heard. Then the last one, is an abomination or the feelings of disgust or repulsion, is a person who sows discord between people of like faith. I certainly do not want to be convicted of doing anything the Lord hates, let alone anything that is an abomination to Him! There are so many people who do not believe that God can get angry with us. These “weeds” and so many others, can overtake our thinking and cause us to do things that are against all that God wants for our lives. 1 John 4:8 tells us that “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” God loves even a person who might do one or all of the above sins. He is always ready with arms spread out wide for them to turn from their evil ways. God sent His only Son to spread out His arms on a cross for us, to save us from all the “weeds” that are around us everyday and give us hope of an eternal home with him when we die.

Weeds can overtake an unkept area very quickly. “Weeds” in our lives can sneak up on us and before we know it, we have been overtaken by evil thoughts and can become guilty of a sin that the Bible tells us is something that God hates. God does not hate the person, but the acts or lives that a person can be overtaken in before they know it. We cannot let the devil sneak up on us and lead us down a path away from God.

My sons and grandsons are going to the cemetery and pull up those nasty weeds and clean it up so that mess of jumbled weeds does not overtake the area again. Yank out that tree so that those roots don’t overtake the area or do damage to the stones.

Likewise, when we have “weeds” in our lives that have taken root in our hearts and grows, we need to stop that growth and “yank” them out of our hearts before the sin buries the person God has meant for us to be.

So, get those weeds cleaned up that are overtaking your garden. Get those “weeds” of our hearts cleaned up and out. God has a much better plan for you!

Till next time!                                                 Keela

STANDING IN THE GAP

Have you ever had someone stand in the gap for you? Have you ever had someone step up to help you through a trial, a physical illness by bringing your family food, or sent you a card that you got on a particularly hard day and it brings you some joy in the midst of pain? I have many times. What am I talking about? I am talking about someone taking action to physically or spiritually stand in the gap of pain, in the gap of sin, in the gap of all the things the world wants to try to throw our way.

Let me tell you a few times that family and friends have stood in the gap for me and then we will think about some people in the Bible who stood in the gap for others.

My husband struggled with congestive heart failure for several years before his death. He started having to go into the hospital about every two weeks for them to “drain” this fluid that caused him to have problems breathing. His heart doctor felt like that if they replace his aortic value, it would help the fluid to stop flowing into his chest cavity. When he went in for the surgery, I never even let the thought cross my mind that he might not come out of the surgery alive. The day of the surgery, there were about twenty people with us the entire day. People brought food. Several throughout the day, took care of my little grandson, pushing him in his stroller down the hallways or sitting in the floor and playing with him. After about twelve hours the doctors called me back and said the surgery was a success, the valve was working properly but the fluid that had caused him so much aggravation, kept flowing within his chest, but they would continue to try to get it to stop. I remember going back to the family and friends and sitting down. I felt like I was going to vomit. One friend went and got me a cold wet towel. Another rubbed my back. Another held my hand. I asked if we could all pray holding hands. They stood in the gap of disbelief, physical pain and prayed for us. Finally, the doctors called us back and said his body just could not stand any more and he had passed away. I remember just sitting, staring at the wall. People were cleaning up our area and coming to me with hugs. I felt someone behind me embracing me in a strong warm hug. It felt like when you have a shawl and you are really cold and you wrap it tightly around your shoulders. I turned around to see who it was, but there was no one there. I feel God was letting me know I was going to be ok and He would be right there with me every step of the way. God steps into the gap of our hearts and calms those fears of the future and pain of loss.

Over the next week, friends and family were always with me, standing in the gap for me. My husbands work had just direct deposited his paycheck on Friday into our account. His surgery was on Monday. When they found out that he had passed away, they took that paycheck out of our account until my husband’s life insurance had come through. That meant, I did not have any money at all. There was so much to do and pay for. My oldest son stood in the gap. He was so amazing trying to take care of all the details. Friends came from everywhere to stand in the gap for me. I remember just sitting on the couch in disbelief and grief and a friend came in and sat at the kitchen table where my son was, and opened her checkbook and asked him what bills needed to be paid. A friend came in and started dusting, cleaning the bathrooms, vacuuming, doing the laundry. Another made calls for me, like to the company that had my husband’s oxygen equipment. Three women walked in the door and handed me a big wad of money. They said it was for the flowers for the funeral. I did not even have money for that. Food just kept coming in the door. We had to take some of it to a friend to put in her freezer. Another friend made the overhead for us that was shown at the funeral. A dear friend flew in to conduct the funeral. Friends made the trip a couple of hours to where my husband was to be buried, to be there for us. So many precious friends and church family stood in the gap for me. The gap of reality of immediate physical needs and emotional support. There are so many times I could tell you about, during the ten years before he passed away, that people stood in the gap, helping me to take one step in front of the other. That will be for another time. Thank you, God, for You and others standing in the gap for me and my family!

Let’s look at an example of someone from the Bible who stood in the gap for others. There is an amazing story of Nehemiah that I want us to look at. I recently went to a ladies retreat where I was their key note speaker and we talked about standing in the gap for each other as Christian sisters. One of the ladies in charge, gave me an article written by Christian Ditchfield that gives a really good summary of how the Israelites stood in the gap for each other in the book of Nehenuiah. I will quote part of that article here. “Standing in the gap is an expression that comes from a story in the book of Nehemiah. For years God’s people had been living in captivity and exile in Babylon, but at last the day came when they were allowed to return to their homeland. They faced enormous obstacles as they tried to re-establish their capital city, Jerusalem. The community was vulnerable to attack because their defenses were down, the city walls lay in ruins. Their enemies used fear and intimidation to try to discourage the people and keep them from rebuilding the walls. And for a while, the strategy worked. Discouragement and despair prevented them from rising up to once again be the people God meant for them to be. Then Nehemiah arrived on the scene. He told God’s people to keep their eyes on Him and ignore all the threats and accusations made by their enemies. He reminded the people of the value and significance of what they were fighting for. And he had them take turns literally standing in the gap-positioning themselves in the broken-down places, the holes in the wall, with their weapons drawn-while those beside them worked to repair and rebuild the protective barriers. The Bible tells us we all have an enemy-Satan-who tries to use fear, hopelessness, discouragement, and despair to subdue vulnerable believers today. But we can fend him off using the same strategy that worked for Nehemiah.” When Nehemiah’s brothers told him about the walls of Jerusalem being in ruins, he wept and prayed to God. Then, he went and encouraged the Israelites to refocus back on God and the fact that He would help them. Then the Israelites literally-physically stood in the gap for each other. This shows me that we first need to see the reality of the physical situation. We must remember to pray to God first, like Nehemiah did, before we try to do things ourselves. There are so many times in my life that I have tried to take care of a situation on my own, without praying to God first. When I did this, guess what I had to do anyway; I ended up having to pray to God to help me know what to do and usually get me out of the mess I had just made trying to fix it myself!

There are so many examples from the Bible of those who stood in the gap for others; Jonathan standing in the gap for his dear friend David: in Ezekiel God pleading for someone to stand in the gap for Him to stand up to sin: Moses stood in the gap many times for the Israelites. One more quick example of someone standing in the gap for us-for all generations in the future. The most important example; Jesus. At the beginning of time, Adam & Eve created a gap between good and evil. A gap between God and all humanity! Romans 5:6-8 tells us “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet for perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Christ died on the cross to stand in the gap between sin and our faithfulness. Christ’s blood poured from His body and filled all the gaps of sin that man created for himself. God gave His only Son to give the ultimate gift of the cross, to stand in the gap for us. Thank you, God!

So, how can we stand in the gap for each other. I shared a few times, when so many stood in the gap for me. But think about how YOU can stand in the gap for another. There are so many opportunities we come across every day. Maybe you are in the grocery line and an older person is having trouble figuring out how to swipe their card, (I am one of those older people!) Ask them if you can help them or help them get their groceries in their car. Maybe someone cuts you off while driving home from work-pray for them that they can slow down and have a better day. You know someone who is having a financial battle. Send them a gift card for gas for their car or to the grocery store. There are so many examples I could give here. We must learn how to stand in the gap for another, either physically or emotionally. If you do not feel you can physically stand in the gap for another, prayer is a powerful tool to stand in the gap in the middle of a person’s pain, a person’s physical need, a person’s cry for help.

Proverbs 18:24 says “A man who has friends must himself be friendly…”  We have to let others know that we are approachable. We have to get out there and shake hands before or after church. Go to someone you don’t know after church and talk to them. In order for us to have friends, we must put ourselves out there-get out of our comfort zone-and share ourselves with others. How else can we be a light to the world and share our faith? How else can we help stand in the gap for someone unless we have talked, smiled, gone out of our way for them. We need to become a SHERO! A warrior for Christ. A person who holds a another’s hand while going thru chemo. A person who takes food if someone had a baby, been ill or had a death in the family. A SHERO is one who listens, without judgment. A SHERO is one who leaves words of comfort on an answering machine of a person who is going through a rough time. A SHERO is one who sends a card or email to brighten another’s day. Even though SHERO is female: this applies to men who are heroes as well. Become a hero for God!

One more thought in conclusion. Have you ever thought that when we are hurting, that we should reach out to someone who we trust? We have to let others know in order for them to be able to be a SHERO for us. I have always said that I don’t know how to pray for someone unless they reach out to me. We need to get out of the comfort zone of keeping to ourselves and not sharing. We must reach out to a friend and not be so proud that we don’t want others to know we are struggling with a trial, a feeling, an illness or any other thing.

In conclusion, I will quote from the same article that I did above. “We’ve got to keep our own focus firmly on the God who loves us and strengthens us and protects us and defends us. We’ve got to tune out the lies of the enemy and tune in to the Spirit of Truth.  Then we take turns “standing in the gap” on behalf of our friends and family, our brothers and sisters in Christ. While they are doing the work they have to do in their own hearts and lives (in a sense rebuilding the wall)-or while they’re gathering the courage, maybe even regrouping after a tough battle-we pray for them, encourage them, affirm them, support them, shield them. In a spiritual sense, we’re standing between them and the enemy of their souls. The good news is that though the battle rages on, the winner has already been declared. The victory is ours in Christ Jesus! “for God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

So, the next time you see someone in need physically or spiritually, get out of your comfort zone and Stand in the Gap for them. What an amazing opportunity God has given us of STANDING IN THE GAP for each other!

Till next time!                                     Keela