Tick-Tock

February 28th, 2012 dsisler

My father-in-law was a master clock maker and repairer. His house was filled with clocks of all size, shape, make, and origin. The room that housed his tools and work bench was amazing. Drawers filled with supplies for his craft. And the sound of the house was memorable. The ticking and chiming of clocks filled each room.

My husband inherited several clocks from his father. Some are unique, while others are classics. Not all of them work, but they mean a great deal to him.

The clock that dominates our home is a large wall Regulator. It chimes on the hour and half hour. It is the one thing that keeps me on track throughout the day. Sometimes I don’t hear it. The chiming has become part of our lives and the routine of the day. I take it for granted.

But mostly, in the middle of the night, when I’m wide awake and thinking, the clock and its chiming becomes my friend. It tells me exactly what I need to know. “It is 3:30 a.m. Why are you awake? You’ve slept exactly 5 ½ hours. You really need to try to fall sleep.” Or perhaps, “It is 7 a.m. Time to get up!”
My family has become accustomed to the chiming, but guests may find it more annoying than comforting. I know when my grandson comes for a visit; the chiming catches him off guard each time. He just doesn’t know what to think of it.
My heavenly Father is much like the Regulator clock hanging on my wall.
  • God keeps me on track. His will is good, pleasing and perfect. His desire is that I live a holy and pleasing, sacrificial life. Only through the transformation of my life and mind can I know what it is like to live this way. Thankfully we have His Spirit and His Word to lend a hand. (Romans 12:1-2)
  • I sometimes take Him for granted…I don’t hear Him. Why is it that sometimes God is my last resort for answers? Oh how I disappoint myself (and God) at times. I want to be like David who’s “soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” (Psalm. 84:2)
  • He is part of my life. Jesus spoke of the Vine and the Branches…the point? We are to remain in Him. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. (John 15:1-17)
  • God is a friend. In that same passage, Jesus tells us that we are His friends. He gave His life for us. Why shouldn’t we desire to share in that same friendship with God the Father? He is our friend.
  • God can be seen in me by others. There’s an old song…“Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. All His wonderful passion and purity. O my Savior divine, all my being refine, Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.” (Author: unlisted, Words: Public Domain). These few lines say it all. May His beauty be seen by others in my life.
The past two weeks have brought silence to our home. The clock has not been wound and it has simply run out of energy to continue. Winding the clock is my husband’s job…my fear of breaking it far outweighs my desire to hear it chiming. So I’ll wait. Wait for the Regulator to spring to life yet again. Thankfully, God, our Father, will never run out of energy and will always be there when we need Him. Thank you God for your faithfulness!
Grace and peace be yours in abundance,
Donna
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Full Measure of Joy: “Good to the Last Drop”

February 27th, 2012 dsisler

Full Measure of Joy: “Good to the Last Drop”: You’ve heard it before…the advertising slogan for Maxwell Coffee. Or what about, “The Best Part of Waking Up?” If you are a cof…

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“Good to the Last Drop”

February 27th, 2012 dsisler

You’ve heard it before…the advertising slogan for Maxwell Coffee.  Or what about, “The Best Part of Waking Up?” If you are a coffee drinker, you know that these are more than just words, they are a lifestyle! Whether you like it sweet, flavored, with cream, or black, there is just something about coffee that makes life okay.

I’ve often said, “If there were a coffee perfume, I’d buy it!” The aroma brings such comfort to me. I enjoy walking down the coffee aisle in the grocery store for that very reason. It is a simple pleasure in life that brings fulfillment like nothing else.

For my family, coffee drinking is a social thing. When we get together, you might as well know that the coffee pot will be working double time. And it’s been that way from my early childhood. Saturday morning cartoons with a glass of coffee, milk, and sugar are etched in my memory. And I’ve been told, we were given coffee in our bottles…there are some benefits to this…but that’s another story.
I purchased a coffee bean tree. Or bush. Whatever it was, it was to produce coffee beans. I nurtured it. But in the long run, like all other plants I’ve “adopted,” it died. With nary a coffee bean to be produced.
In the past year, I was told by my doctor to back off on the caffeine. Half caf. Oh, say it isn’t so! But alas, it had to be. I searched for the best decaffeinated coffee I could find. I mix it with my regular coffee to create the perfect brew. It isn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but still, it’s just not the same.
I believe that in the past, coffee was more important to me than almost any other thing in my life.
Guess what? God doesn’t want that to be the most important thing in my life. Years ago I led an Elizabeth George Bible study on the Fruit of the Spirit. She made one comment that made an impact on my life. “I reached a point when coffee was controlling my life! Coffee—not God—was my first waking thought. Coffee—not prayer—was my first waking need. Serving myself coffee—not serving my family—was my first concern each day.”[i]
That single statement made led me to think about what I place between myself and God. Coffee for certain, but I knew there were others. But more importantly, I knew I needed to get my priorities straight.
First priority? My personal time with God. God’s desire is for me to be with Him in a relationship. The only way I can know Him fully is to spend time with Him. Psalm 99:5 says, “Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy.” Oh what joy to be able to sit at His feet. At His footstool to worship Him. Now that is intimate and as He wants my relationship to be with Him.
Second priority? My prayer time with God. God also desires that I go to Him with all my worries, my praises, my needs, and my petitions. “Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for the saints.” (Ephesians 6:18) This is just one verse of many reminding me to spend more time with God in prayer.
Third priority? My Bible study time. Anytime I can read and study God’s Word is a good time. It has led me to truth (John 8:31-32). It has guided me (Psalm 119:105). I have been kept from sin (Psalm 119:11).  And I have seen the goodness within its pages (1 Peter 2:1-3).
These three priorities keep all the others in line. They help keep me focused on the right things and how that focus can be used for God. Coffee is still a large part of my life. I’ve often said that I hoped I never had to give up coffee for some reason. But in reality, I’m half way there!
Grace and peace be yours in abundance,
Donna

[i] A Woman’s Walk with God: Growing in the Fruit of the Spirit, Elizabeth George, Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, copyright 2000, pg. 198.
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A-N-T-I-C-I-P-A-T-I-O-N

February 26th, 2012 dsisler

You know exactly what I’m talking about. That long, almost unbearable waiting for something. At each thought of what is to come, a zap of excitement shoots through your body and you cannot keep that smile from bursting forth. Perhaps you might even giggle. We’ve all been there. Anticipating.
I have anticipated some exciting events in my lifetime. The birth of my children and grand children are high on the list. Of course, their first birthdays were also times of anticipation. Seeing what they each had accomplished in that first year leading up that first birthday was exciting. I wouldn’t have traded any of those times for anything.
But there have been others. Moving to a new city or state. Before I moved to Colorado, I had the months of the calendar plastered on my bedroom wall…each day I would cross off a day, and eventually, the date came when I could load the truck and head to this beautiful state and my husband.
The start of a new job. There have been plenty of those. The months preparing for a trip to Daytona Beach and my first NASCAR race…why I could hardly contain myself! And today, I’m anxiously waiting for the Daytona 500 to start and, once again have a trip to Florida to prepare for within the week.
Yes, these are some exciting times for me. But is it where my focus should be?
Some synonyms of anticipation are expectation, prospect, eagerness, hope, or contemplation. The very nature of the word allows for those giddy feelings to surface. Contemplating the “what ifs” or believing there is hope fuel the building excitement. Expecting a good outcome brings peace during times of anticipation.
Anticipation has been around a long time and can be linked to our faith in God. Just as those living under the old covenant eagerly waited for the coming of the Messiah, we too, eagerly await the second coming of Jesus, the Messiah. It brings hope to this otherwise hopeless world. But that must not be our only focus. We must be anticipating the good things that God wants to add to our lives.
Philippians 1:6 assures us that we should be anticipating what God is doing in our lives. “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
And Ephesians 2:10 gives us insight into what we should be doing with what God has done within us while awaiting the second coming. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
Yes, anticipation is exciting. In our physical lives, but also in our spiritual lives. Oh, I pray that you will anticipate what God is doing in your life. Watch for His workings. Anticipate what He will do with it. And of course, eagerly wait for His return. I know I can hardly wait!
Grace and peace be yours in abundance,
Donna
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Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

February 25th, 2012 dsisler

Several years ago, my husband and I went to an intimate concert of our favorite pianist at a local book store. He was promoting his most recent album release. We arrived and found our place where we could see Jim Brickman up close and personal. Mason saved our place as I went to purchase the new CD.
I was gone quite a while, the store was crowded. When I returned, Mason said, “Have I got a surprise for you!” He was so excited, he could hardly contain himself. I couldn’t think of what kind of surprise he could have put together in the amount of time I was gone, but he had done something.
“You get to go up and play the piano for the sound check!” Again, he could hardly contain himself. “What?” I asked. “Yeah, this guy came out and asked if anyone in the audience played the piano to do the sound check and I said you would do it.” “I have to go up there and play the piano in front of all these people?” “Yes, you’ll be fine.”
My life as a pianist flashed before my eyes. I was a vocal major. Yes, piano was my minor, but I wasn’t very good at it. I recalled a similar experience years before when my dad told the music director of one of our largest churches that I played the piano. I accompanied the 80 voice choir in front of several thousand congregants. Now that was nerve wracking. Surely I could play something here. I was a bit more accomplished since that long ago experience.
Suddenly, it was time. As I walked to the piano, my next thought was, “Jim Brickman will be the next person to sit at this piano and play its keys. What an experience!” Excitement grew and I was there. Sitting in my own little world. It was almost as if a large bubble had surrounded me. I didn’t hear anything or see anyone. It was just me and the piano.
I played Jim Brickman’s arrangement of “How Great Thou Art.” Well part of it at least. All too soon, the young man said I had played enough and that he appreciated my help. I walked back to our seats and Mason was beaming with pride. He had complete faith in me. It was a priceless moment.
I must say, Jesus was full of surprises too. If you look at each of the miracles He performed, there was surprise. Oh there was amazement and wonder and belief as well, but He did surprise people.
Mark 6:30-44 gives account of the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus takes five loaves and two fish, blesses them, breaks them, and then proceeds to feed the crowd with baskets of food left over.
When Jesus first meets Peter, Andrew, James, and John, they had been fishing all night long and hadn’t caught a single fish. Jesus asked them to throw their nets into the water and surprisingly, they catch an astonishing amount of fish. But then, they walked away from it all to “fish for men.” (Luke 5:1-11)
One of my favorite surprises was after the resurrection of Jesus and His encounter with Mary. She believes Him to be a gardener and asks “where the body of her Lord had been taken.” And with a single word, Jesus surprised Mary. He simply said her name. “Mary.” She immediately knew it was Jesus and nothing about her life would ever be the same. (John 20:10-18)
Those who encountered Jesus had surprising changes in their lives. Whether they were healed, raised from the dead, or forgiven of their sins, they knew something had changed. Their lives were changed by the Savior of the world.
Are you looking for God’s surprises today? Keep your eyes open. You just might be amazed by the graciousness of our heavenly Father.
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.

  • I am passionate about helping women find their way to Jesus through Bible study, teaching, speaking, inspirational writing and creative Bible journaling.

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