Full Extent of His Love

October 30th, 2013 dsisler

Take a look at this verse of Scripture. “It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” (John 13:1 – NIV)

 

In the past I have related this verse to Jesus’ sacrifice. That certainly would show us the full extent of His love. But what I’ve never connected to this verse is that it was written just before Jesus washed the disciple’s feet.

 

Perhaps service toward our fellow man is showing the full extent of Jesus’ love to them.

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I spoke with a woman yesterday whose home had not been filled with mud through the recent flood, but water had poured into her home and has damaged all of the electrical wiring in the house. They are unable to get assistance from FEMA or their homeowners insurance. They’ve been told their home is unsafe, the smoke detectors have been removed due to malfunction, and there is no fire service to their town. They have no money to stay elsewhere, so they have no choice to live in this home and pray for God’s safety and peace.

 

The only thing I could do in this situation was listen to this beautiful woman’s story, hold her hand, pray for her, and turn in her flood relief assistance form to our accounting department. I felt as if I hadn’t done anything.

 

I continued to listen to her story. A home destroyed in Hurricane Sandy. A disabled husband who has been diagnosed with PTSD. Hours of waiting for contractors to supply work quotes (and then contractors not showing up). Days and weeks without water or electric. Giving up one vehicle because they can’t afford the payments. And this list could go on.

 

But through all our conversation, this sweet woman smiled through it all. I’m sure she has deep hurt and pain beneath that smile, but to the world, she looks and acts as if there is nothing wrong.

 

While I don’t feel like I did a lot, sitting with her to acknowledge her pain and suffering meant so much to her. I pray that through me she was able to see the full extent of Jesus’ love for her.

 

So many outside of our little bubble believe everything is back to normal after the floods. We are far from that. While Samaritan’s Purse has pulled out of our parking lot, we have a projected 3-year, long-term plan to continue to work with people to make their homes safe and secure.

 

We are in winterization mode right now. Making sure that water pipes are well-insulated for the colder months ahead. Through the winter we’ll be able to work on the inside of homes and then in the spring and summer, there will be outside work to complete.

 

I drove past a road yesterday that is still completely destroyed and impassible. This is a reminder of the damage and the work that still is ahead of us.

 

Jesus had His work set before Him as well. Yes, this act of washing the disciples’ feet seemed small and unmeaningful. But when connected to the verse above, we know how very important our service to others really is. We are showing them the full extent of His love.

 

Please continue to pray for the folks here in Colorado who are still dealing with flood issues. Pray that God will give them the strength and courage to face today. Pray that they will not feel like they’ve been left behind and that there are still people here who want to help them. Pray that God will be glorified through it all.

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

 

Donna

 

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Lost and Found

October 29th, 2013 dsisler

Yesterday had its challenges. The day started off with cold, misty weather (and never stopped I might add). Meetings filled my morning. My new laptop computer for work wasn’t working as it should. We had a fire drill (recall the cold, misty weather mentioned above). But after all of this, the real challenge of the day hit me.

 

skyAs I mentioned, I had meetings in the morning and one of my duties is to take minutes in our leadership team meeting. Since my computer wasn’t set up completely, I had to type the minutes in Wordpad instead of Microsoft Word. That program has its own set of challenges which made my minute taking pretty miserable.

 

After the meeting, I saved the document to the desktop of the laptop since I couldn’t save it to my private drive on our server.

 

After the fire drill and lunch, our IT gal finished the set up on my laptop. It was good to finally have everything at my touch and it all seemed normal again.

 

Until the time for me to work on the meeting minutes from the morning.

 

They were gone. They were not on the laptop desktop. I ran a search. I looked in every folder. They simply were not there. This is when my stomach began turning into knots and a sense of dread washed over me.

 

Another call to our IT gal. She began her search remotely (which is pretty cool if you’ve never experienced that before). She too was unable to find it.

 

She then remembered that when she first started working on my laptop earlier, it wasn’t connected to the right server. It had connected to the main server that no one should have been able to log into. She logged me back in to that server and there it was. My meeting minutes! I was ecstatic. The lost had been found.

 

There is an entire chapter of Jesus’ teaching on finding what is lost. Luke 15 contains the parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:1-7), the Lost Coin (Luke 15:8-11), and the Lost Son (Luke 15:11-32).

 

There are several lessons to learn from these parables and probably more than I have time to share here, but take a look at a few.

 

The first lesson I see is that when we realize we are lost and not living within God’s guidelines, we are to repent. We are to turn away from that particular sin in our life that is hindering us from a close relationship with our Heavenly Father.

 

These three parables speak of rejoicing when the lost is found. When a repentant heart finds its way back to God. That is just as it should be.

 

Another lesson we learn about the lost is that we cannot stop looking for it. The shepherd continued his search until the lost sheep was found. The woman persisted in looking for the coin until it was found. The father apparently continually looked for his son to return, for when the son was still far off, the father ran to him.

 

These three parables show us that we cannot give up on searching for the truth of God’s message. Without it in our lives, we may as well be eating slop with the pigs. Keep searching. God is waiting patiently for you.

 

And finally, I believe we learn that we must share this Good News with others. The shepherd, the woman, and the father gathered all of the friends together and asked them to rejoice. There were great celebrations. What was lost was found and they couldn’t contain their joy.

 

These three parables show us that we cannot keep this secret. We must share the Gospel with others. We must ask others to rejoice with us. We must acknowledge that the lost has been found.

 

I don’t know that I went this far with the finding of a small document on my laptop, but I certainly was happy. I didn’t have to recreate something out of nothing by memory (which is a very good thing!).

 

However, when speaking of the lost of this world, I must rejoice when a wandering one comes to know Jesus. I must continue to share the Good News of Jesus to those who need to hear it and I must be persistent in seeking those who are lost. It’s exactly what Jesus did.

 

I pray your day will be filled with searching, finding, and rejoicing. I look forward to a day just like that.

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

 

Donna

 

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“I Need Thee Every Hour” – Monday Musical Musings

October 28th, 2013 dsisler

Today’s musical musing is an older hymn that has caught a lot of attention because of one young man’s a cappella version. The arrangement was all around Facebook and posted continually. The arrangement and execution itself is amazing, but the words lead us to a deeper understanding of where we find our strength and our being.

 

0005030206R-849x565Click here to listen to Sam Thomas Longford Robson’s version of this great hymn of our faith.

 

“I Need Thee Every Hour”

 

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.

 

I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh.

 

I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide, or life is in vain.

 

I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will;
And Thy rich promises in me fulfill.

 

I need Thee every hour, most Holy One;
O make me Thine indeed, Thou blessèd Son.

 

Refrain:

I need Thee, O I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.[i]

 

Apparently the Apostle Paul understood this concept long before the lyrics to this song were written. While in Athens, Paul spoke these words.

 

“For in him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28a – NIV)

 

As we combine the lyrics above to Paul’s words, we find there is nothing outside of God. He gives us the strength to do what we do and then He gives us the purpose to do it. Without God, life is meaningless.

 

And when we think we can do this thing called “life” on our own, we quickly learn that we can’t. God’s voice brings peace to our chaotic lives. God provides the way out of temptation. God rejoices with us in the good times and comforts us when we are sorrowful. God leads and directs us. God teaches us. God shows us the promises He has for each of us.

 

Certainly, we need God. And more often than not, we need Him every hour that passes.

 

If you haven’t made the decision to follow Jesus and walk with Him through your life, perhaps today is the day to accept the gift of grace that God so willingly offers. God doesn’t care if your life is all messed up. He will help you get it straightened out. It will be the best decision you’ve ever made.

 

If you have accepted Jesus but haven’t allowed Him to have a footing in each area of your life, maybe today is the day to make that decision. Allow Paul’s words to reverberate through your life so that others may see Jesus through you. Acknowledge that you cannot do it on your own and that you truly need God every moment of every day.

 

I pray that you will find comfort in the words of this old hymn. Knowing that God is with me in each situation eases the discomfort that may be lurking. It can be the same for you. Just say it!

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

 

Donna

 

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[i] “I Need Thee Every Hour,” Words: Annie S. Hawks, Music: Robert Lowry, 1872

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The Great Throng

October 27th, 2013 dsisler

The Great Throng

 

What a glorious day! The sun is shining. The trees in my back yard are filled with color. The sunrise was spectacular. The day bursts forth with praise to God.

 

Now it’s time for me to prepare for worship.

 

As I looked for passages that speak of worship, I found Psalm 109:30 (NIV). Let’s read it together.

 

“With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord; in the great throng I will praise him.”

 

We don’t use the word extol very much. Some might not even know what it means. It means to praise enthusiastically. King David knew how to extol God. Not just in his actions, but in the way he lived.

 

And King David didn’t extol God alone. He joined the great throng in extolling his God. And that is exactly what we are to do as well.

 

So today, let’s make our time with God more than just worship. Let’s extol Him. Because without Him in our lives, there is nothing to consider praise worthy.

 

I’m sharing chapter 5 of the dollhouse series today. It’s about following directions. Such good advice for our lives. Enjoy!

 

Building a Doll House: Following the Directions – Chapter 5

 

After opening the doll house kit and marking each piece, Mason read through the directions. It didn’t take long for him to figure out that the given directions were not very good.

 

Joy's Dollhouse Assembly 030mMason knew he would be frustrated if he had use this set of instructions. So he searched the internet to find anything that might help work through this process. He found an excellent online resource that gave some excellent instructions. And there were pictures!

 

He quickly bookmarked the website and referred to it quite often.

 

We don’t always get the best instructions for many products in our world. Whether they only include pictures, difficult words, or confusing language, directions can make putting something together difficult.

 

God knows how important good instructions can be. Scripture is filled with advice when it comes to this topic.

 

God asks that we listen to instruction. We would be wise to listen and accept instruction, whether it is His or from a wise person.

 

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.” (Psalm 32:8)

 

“Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life.” (Proverbs 4:13)

 

“Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.” (Proverbs 19:20)

 

Some benefits of listening to God’s instructions can be seen in these verses.

 

“Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not ignore it.” (Proverbs 8:33)

 

“Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.” (Proverbs 16:20)

 

“When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom; when a wise man is instructed, he gets knowledge.” (Proverbs 21:11)

 

By following God’s direction, He leads us in the way we should go.

 

“Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.” (Psalm 119:35)

 

“A man’s steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way?” (Proverbs 20:24)

 

“May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.” (2 Thessalonians 3:5)

 

There is no doubt about it, when we listen to God’s instruction, accept what He has asked, learn from what He has to say, and allow God to lead us throughout our lives, we will be wise, prosper and gain knowledge. Why then is it so difficult to do?

 

Because we want to get involved. We want to change the instructions. We think we know better than God and tweak the directions. Sometimes a little. Sometimes a lot. These are the times we get ourselves into trouble.

 

The online dollhouse instructions proved to be invaluable to us as we worked on Joy’s dollhouse. On multiple occasions, we were thankful that someone had taken the time to document their own journey for others to learn from. That is exactly what God has provided for us. Pages and pages filled with good advice and instruction.

 

It’s all there for your use. Why not pick up God’s instruction manual and see what He has to say to you today?

 

“Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.” (Proverbs 23:12)

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

 

Donna

 

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A Mosquito

October 26th, 2013 dsisler

At 3:44 am this morning, a mosquito began his hunt for blood around my body. With mosquitoes, you can’t say, “Their bark is worse than their bite,” because their bite is worse. But at 3:44 am, their little “bark” is annoying.

 

mosquitoThe buzz around my ear from this mosquito was all it took to wake me up to the point that I could not fall back to sleep. So I got up.

 

I didn’t want to be awake for the day. I have plans to go to the zoo with the grandkids and it would make for a very long day with just a few short hours of sleep. So I read a bit. But still, I wasn’t sleepy. So I read some more. Eventually, I was able to fall back asleep, but I can tell, I’m going to have a rough day.

 

So here’s my question this morning. How can I possibly be effective today with less than adequate amount of sleep?

 

Well, if I rely on my own abilities, I know it is impossible. I don’t believe I can be effective on my own. But, I do believe with God’s Spirit working through me, I can be effective.

 

Here are some Scriptures to back up this statement.

 

Isaiah wrote a message long ago for us to consider. “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.” (Isaiah 32:17 – NIV) When I think of effectiveness in connection to righteousness (God’s righteousness upon me), the result will be quietness and confidence. Now with that combination, I can be effective.

 

Paul and Barnabas were pretty effective guys. But they also knew where their effectiveness came from. God. God’s Spirit at work in them caused a great awakening among the Jews and Gentiles. Look at Acts 14:1 (NIV) to see the results. “At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed.”

 

Paul loved visiting with his Church people. And the Church at Corinth held a special place in his heart. He had a great desire to spend some quality time with this group, so at one point he opted to skip a visit so that he could stay longer the next time…and because of an effective work in Ephesus.

 

“Perhaps I will stay with you awhile, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go. I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me” (1 Corinthians 16:6-9 – NIV)

 

On another occasion, Paul wrote these words to Philemon. “I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ.” (Philemon 1:4 – NIV) Paul was and is pretty good at deepening our understanding of all we have through Jesus Christ.

 

And then there’s the message from James about prayer. I began with righteousness and will end with righteousness. “Therefore confess your sins to each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16 – NIV) Now that is what I call effective!

 

So what can I take from these passages?

 

Through God’s righteousness, I can be effective.

 

Through God, I can speak effectively for Him.

 

Through God, great doors for effective work will open.

 

Through God, I can effectively deepen my understanding of His goodness.

 

Through God’s righteousness, my prayers are effective.

 

I may have a difficult afternoon with these few hours of sleep, but in those moments when I feel the least effective, I know that I can lean upon God and His righteousness and I will be effective.

 

How effective will you be today?

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

 

Donna

 

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  • "I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe." Ephesians 1:18-19

  • I am a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother. I lived in the beautiful state of Colorado for 20 years where I found great inspiration for my novels and devotional writings. Currently living in Jacksonville, Florida.

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