The Path I Take

"Oh, how abundant is thy goodness which thou hast stored up for those who fear thee, which thou has wrought for those who trust in thee, in the sight of the sons of men!" Psalm 31:19

It seems like a long time since I have been at the blog, but in reality it's been about the same amount of time as usual. A lot has been packed into this week. As I begin a new chapter in my life of working full-time, my blog posts might become a little less frequent or a little shorter, but it is still my intention and desire to continue writing this blog on a regular basis. I now have completed my first week at my new job! Actually, yesterday was my first full day of being in the office the entire day because I had to complete 2 1/2 days of extensive new employee orientation classes. Because I work for a government entity, there was required training in things like ethics, security, conflicts of interest, and protocol, in addition to the usual employee training in responsibilities, policies, and procedures. It has only been a few days, but I am already very much enjoying my job! The environment is very pleasant, my co-workers are really nice and friendly, and the work of talking with and assisting various customers is enjoyable and challenging without being stressful. It's fun to dress up for work every day, to be learning new things, and to be meeting new people. I'm so thankful for the grace of the Lord in His provision of this new job for me!

Something that has become so very evident to me in the past week is that the Lord definitely has had His hand on me and our circumstances the past few months. Of course, we already knew that. But sometimes it is just a special encouragement to be able to SEE it! My job that I had for the short time before we sold our house and moved from Williamsburg was the perfect preparation for the job I have now. At the time, I wondered why I got that particular part-time job, especially when I ended up being there for such a short time. The Lord knew what He was doing - He had a plan! He knew I needed the experience of working in a local government setting, as well as the letter of recommendation I received, because both were instrumental in me being hired for my present job. Not only that, but I learned some procedures as well as some vocabulary and acronyms that I am using now - and I never would have known without having worked at that job. I work for the planning division of the 4th largest county in Virginia and deal with plans every day, but I couldn't have planned that if I tried.


God is always faithful to direct our path. When I think back a few months to when we were in complete upheaval, and all that has taken place since then, I can only praise Him for the way He has led us. In the course of daily life we find ourselves often having to change paths, or choose the path that we will take. There are many Scripture verses that talk about those paths. Probably the one we think of the most is Proverbs 3:6, "In all they ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." That's a promise that we can depend on. It is comforting to know that as our Shepherd in Psalm 23, He will also lead us in the paths of righteousness.

As I think about these things, another verse of Scripture comes to mind. Psalm 16:11 says, "Thou will show me the path of life, in Thy presence is fulness of joy, at Thy right hand are pleasures forevermore." That verse reminds me that although the Lord is faithful to lead us in the right path if we pray and sincerely seek His will, that the real place of peace and joy is in His presence. It's easy to become distracted with the path that we are on and forget that it is God who set us on that path in the first place. We should never come to the place where we stop depending on Him.

When you are looking for the right path, remember that God has a plan. He knows the path we should take. Commit your ways and your decisions to Him and He will never let you down!

Taking the Time

We had a special milestone in our home last week - my husband celebrated his 60th birthday. I considered writing this whole post about him, but I knew he wouldn't like that. Besides, I also turn 60 this year and I know I don't really want that much attention given to it! Because of our work schedules, we had to divide up his birthday celebration. We went to lunch on his actual birthday, and then we were able to go to our older son's home this past weekend. He cooked a fabulous birthday dinner (how about steak and homemade crab cakes?) and we had a wonderful time playing with our 4 grandchildren, attending church services together, and just enjoying some special family time.

As my  husband and I sat across the table from each other the other day at lunch, I remarked how unbelievable it was that we met when we were only 16 or 17 (we got married young after high school graduation), and now we are 60! We have been together for basically a lifetime. One of the many things that is special about my husband and has contributed to the success of our marriage is that he always has taken time for me and for the kids. Even when he was simultaneously a full-time student preparing for the ministry and working full time, he always made family time a priority, even if it was just playing a game, a bike ride around the block, or a trip for ice cream. When he was a student, he would have the kids help him study. When he had to work, he would give them little jobs to do so they could be with him. How thankful I am that now I see that same characteristic in all three of our grown children as they are parents! They always take time to play, to listen, to have family Bible time, and to explain and teach.

As I have been working in the restaurant industry the past few weeks before beginning my new job next week, I learned a great many things - besides the fact that I don't enjoy that kind of work! My last evening working I observed two customers in particular. One was a grandfather who brought his two toddler grandchildren into the restaurant for supper - alone! He was rather overwhelmed, to say the least, and was very apologetic about asking for two high chairs, more napkins, wet wipes, and all things that eating out with toddlers require - but he was obviously thrilled to have this special time alone with his grandchildren. The other customer was a young father with his daughter who was upper-elementary school age, perhaps 9 or so. He carried on an animated conversation with her about school, her friends, and what interesting things had happened that day - he was unmistakably genuinely interested in her. I couldn't help but overhear and smile as I cleaned tables nearby.

Why did I especially notice these customers? It was because they were the rare example of parents (or grandparents) who were taking time for their children. Over the past few weeks, I have observed that 90 percent of the families who came in to eat spent the whole time on their phones! Each of the parents, and the children if they were young teens or older, would be glued to their respective phones and barely speak a word to each other the entire time! If the children were young, the parents would give the children an Ipad or a video game to occupy them, and then proceeded to spend the entire time on their phones. I can't tell you the number of times I wanted to scream, "Put down the phones! Look at your kids! Talk to them! Don't you know how quickly these years pass and you are not taking the time to know your kids, much less parent them!"  I cringe to think what kind of relationship they will have (or more accurately, won't have) with their children, and what kind of parents their kids will become.

There are many passages of Scripture that speak to passing on the things of the Lord to the next generation. We are familiar with Deuteronomy chapter 6 in which God commands us to teach our children about Him. One of my favorite verses, which I have written about here on the blog before, is Psalm 78:4 - "We will not hide them from our children, showing to the generations to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His wonderful works that He hath done." Verses 6 and 7 continue the thought: "That the generation to come might know them, even the children which shall be born who should arise and declare them to their children, that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God but keep His commandments." Psalm 89:1 - "I will sing of the Lord forever, with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations." Parents, you will never accomplish this with your children without taking time for them.

Maybe your children are grown and out of your home. We still need to be reminded that relationships are to be our priority. They are a gift from the Lord. One of the benefits of the recent changes in our life which began last summer is that we try to have a sharing and praying time together on a more regular basis. Now that we have opposite work schedules for awhile, we have to be more intentional about it. You cannot achieve intimacy in your marriage without making time for each other for meaningful communication, and also for having some fun together.

Time is important to God. There are many references to it in His Word. Psalm 90 in particular has a lot to say about how quickly time passes and culminates with verse 12: "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."  I hope you will remember to just take the time.

Thoughtfully,
Kathi

Being Found Faithful

"This is the Lord's doing, it is marvelous in our eyes." (Psalm 118:23) Isn't that a great verse? The word marvelous in this verse has the idea of wonderful or extraordinary, something that only God can do!

This has been a big week for us as we continue taking steps in this journey.

The week brought a special blessing for me, in that the Lord answered prayer and I received a job offer as a result of an interview I had for a job I really wanted. I accepted the offer and am excited about beginning my new job in 2 weeks.  It is a job that is very different from the one I have had the last few weeks - one that is more fitting to my skills, experience, and personality; is easier on me physically than the one I have been coming home exhausted from being on my feet and doing physical work for 8 hours; and one which will be of greater benefit to us financially. It was also so encouraging to me to see once again the sovereign hand of the Lord in our lives over the past few months. The job that I had before leaving Williamsburg was definitely in the providence of God - I was not there very long, but I gained necessary experience in a government setting, as well as a recommendation from my supervisor there. Both were instrumental in my being chosen for this job. God is so good to let us sometimes see that He indeed is with is and is working out His plan for us, even though at the time it may not seem that way.

And as we continue taking steps, yesterday we took a big one as we became members of the local church we have been attending. If you have been following my blog, you will know that we have been through a lot the last 8 months. But for me, more than any other change, the decision to join a church was the hardest one. Harder than selling our beautiful house and moving into an apartment. Harder than downsizing and having half of our belongings in a storage unit indefinitely (even though I just had to go out and buy all new cake pans because somehow my cake pans did not make it to our apartment and are buried in the mountain somewhere in the storage unit!) Harder than having to go back to work full-time.

The whole church-searching process was difficult. Partly because good, conservative, Bible-preaching churches are very hard find these days. If you are members of one, you are blessed. Don't take it for granted. It was also difficult because due to either being in school (when my husband was on staff of a large church so we did not have to make the church-membership decision) or being in the pastorate, we had not had to search for a church home for over 30 years - since our children were babies! I have learned a lot. I know what it's like to get up every Sunday and think, "So where are we going to go to church today?" I know what it's like to feel like an outsider at church services and events. I know what questions to ask and what to look for, when you are tired of having to critique churches. I know what it's like to cry coming home from church because no one spoke to me the entire time I was there. (That was not the case in every church we visited, and certainly not in the one we just became members of - I want to make that clear!) But if the Lord calls us to another ministry, I always want to remember what it feels like to be on "the other side." It will help me to be a better pastor's wife.

But for me it was especially hard to take the step of becoming a member of another church because it means my husband is no longer my pastor.  It means the official end of our ministry - that after almost 25 years of pastoring we are no longer pastoring, but part of a congregation.  But joining a church was an important and necessary step to take. Why?

Because the Lord requires that His people align themselves with a local church as a place to be spiritually nourished and to serve. And the Lord requires that His servants be found faithful.  I have been studying verses related to and meditating on faithfulness. It is clear from the number of verses and parables on the subject of faithfulness that God prizes it.  Just a sampling: 1 Corinthians 4:2 "Moreover it is required of stewards that they be found faithful." Luke 16:10 - "One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much..."  Acts 11:23 - "When he (Barnabas) came and saw the grace of God, he was glad and exhorted them to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose." Matthew 25 contains the parable of the faithful servant. Someday I want to hear the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"

Many years ago as part of my husband's ordination service, our son sang the song "May the Lord Find us Faithful." It recently suddenly occurred to me that this didn't mean just in the ministry, as we assumed during that long-ago ordination service. It means may He find us faithful in everything, all the time, with our lives. Right now, we are on a detour. Or maybe the detour has become the main road. We don't know that yet. But whatever we are doing, we want to be found faithful. May that be your heart's desire and prayer too!

Lovingly,
Kathi

Place of Rest

I honestly didn't know if I was going to get a blog post written this week. Between working every day and then coming down with a nasty sinus infection, writing didn't look like something that was likely to happen. But in God's grace, He gave me a day at home today to rest. In between resting and taking my medications, I have been blessed to spend my day doing my favorite things - listening to good Christian music, reading, writing, and preparing for an upcoming speaking engagement that God has graciously provided for me.

Today God has also reminded me of something very important - not only physical rest (which I most definitely needed) but the importance of resting in the Lord. When circumstances steal your peace and joy, and make you doubt God's wisdom and goodness to you, the only thing to do is to go back to what you know to be true: the character of God. And the only way to know the character of God is to spend time with Him.

I know I've written about this before. But time and time again, I am convinced that it is THE most important thing in life. I am not talking about reading a quick devotional or a "verse of the day." Those things are good, and certainly better than nothing. I understand there are seasons and situations of life that make extended quality time with God really difficult to come by - I've been there, and I have been going through that myself lately. But if it wasn't for my time with the Lord, I would start to unravel.

Jesus knew the truth of this. In Mark chapter 1, we get a glimpse into His life. He spent His days ministering to others and constantly confronting sin and evil - sound familiar? He was busy to the point where "the whole town was gathered at His door" (vs: 33) But He knew that time alone with His Father was not an option. We are told in verses 35-38 that He made the choice to prepare for the demands of a new day by getting alone with His Father.

It is in the time we take alone with the Lord that we are renewed and refreshed. It is where we are reminded of a particular truth about God, or He points something out to us that we need to know. It has been my experience that throughout the day, Scripture verses meet up with real life. I can be in an unwanted and unexpected situation, and suddenly a verse will pop into my mind. Certain verses carry special memories with them every time I look at them - I can never read or hear Phil. 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" without remembering quoting that over and over when I was put in a cast on our missions trip to Cambodia and had to navigate three flights of stairs on crutches multiple times a day. Just this week I was required to do something that was not what I expected and seemed to be totally unfair, and I was reminded of Psalm 16:5 - "The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup, you hold my lot." and 31:15 - "My times are in Thy hand." I am also comforted that as a child of God, He still has a plan for me. Over and over I have meditated on "For I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil, to give you an expected end." (Jer. 29:11)

Are you getting the picture? How do I know all these verses? It's certainly not because I am a super-Christian. It's not because I am a pastor's wife. It's the result of walking with God, by His grace, for over 50 years and years of reading and memorizing His Word. I wish I had begun doing this much earlier. It wasn't until I was in my 30's and under the mentorship of a wonderful pastor's wife that I really got a hold on this concept. It's getting the Word into me, not just me in the Word. I am also thankful for a pastor-husband that led his congregation in memorizing Scripture. To this day I can still quote most of Romans chapter 8!

As the song I love by Andy Gleiser says, "Forever Rest in My Faithful love." In all that life brings, that is the TRUE place of rest.