No white glove needed

Good Tuesday morning!  Isn't it a beautiful day out there?  God is so good to give us the season of fall!

The verse Steve and I are contemplating this week is from I John 4:18.  "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.  For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love."  Isn't that a great verse?  I think so too!

Too much of my life has been spent in fear.  As a child, it was from the wrath of my dad.  As a teenager, it was from the pressure of my peers.  As a college student, it was from the world and what my place was in it.  As a young wife, it was would I be good enough.  As a mother, it was would I be able to supply all my kid needed.  As a teacher, it was would I be able to make that difference that I so wanted to.  As a Christian?  Ooh, that's where the biggest fears came.  Would I be enough for God to always love me or would He leave me as so many had before?

"For fear has to do with punishment" this verse tells me.  How I can relate to that!  Isn't it great though that my performance, my lack of excellence, and my inexperience does not cause God's love towards me to waver?  He doesn't expect for me to be perfect yet at the same time He is perfecting me so that I am suitable for His kingdom.  He's not going to reject me when I don't measure up.  When my best isn't as good as the gal's next to me, He isn't going to disregard my efforts.  And when I mess up?  He's not going to disown me.  I can never lose His love!!

As you go about your week, please keep this in mind:  if God is doing all of this for ol' Stef, He's surely doing it for you too.  We do not have to live in fear.  We do not have to worry and be anxious.  We just need to be still, to know He is God, and to listen for His voice to tell us our next moves.  We have to be ready for His call.  We have to love because God is love.  He set the example for us to follow and when we walk in His pathway, we become more like Jesus, more perfect, and we get to be fearless.

Let's pray!

Dear Lord, for so much of my life I feared You, feared You were going to smite me for all the horrible things I did, and feared that You would not be satisfied with any thing I did because I just never felt good about myself.  Thank You so much for showing me that you are not this way, that You aren't looking to find fault in me but instead, You are seeking to find favor with me.

Lord, as this verse becomes more real to me, I pray that the things in life I still fear will be replaced with faith.  May I trust You more and depend on the love that You have for Your children will more than sustain me.  I love You, Father.  Thank You for first loving me so that I know how to love better.  In the name of Jesus I pray.  Amen.

What would you do?

Have you ever heard that expression "If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"  Apparently, on Friday, these nine were targeted for their faith and found "guilty."

“The shooter was lining people up and asking if they were Christian,” she wrote. “If they said yes, then they were shot in the head. If they said no, or didn’t answer, they were shot in the legs." (New York Post)

As Steve and I pondered this last night, whether we would have stood up for Jesus, I questioned if these people made the right choice.  I mean, it's one thing to take a stand for what's right and for our faith when things are easy.  But when our lives are literally on the line:  would we have stood up, knowing our family was out there, waiting on us to return to them, waiting on us to keep teaching them, waiting on us to be Jesus to them?

Please don't get me wrong.  I admire these people.  Many of you may have seen the meme going around yesterday as to who the bravest person in the world was (the second one who stood after the first had been executed).  Many of you might quote the Bible Verses to me that is found in Matthew 10:32-33:  "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven."

But when push comes to shove, would I have stood?  Would I have unhesitatingly confessed Jesus as my Saviour?  I'm not sure.  Honestly, it's easy to say in the ease of the moment that nothing would keep me from loudly proclaiming Christ but...but...why does it take a shooting to make this so?  Why does it take a life-changing event for me to speak up, to let the world know I am His and He is mine?  Should not every moment of my life scream this out, volunteer it, and no one even have to ask?

I'd like to think had I been in this situation that I would have responded but in a different way.  I'd like to think that I--along with my fellow hostages--would refuse to be victims but rather have joined together to jump this person, to overpower him and stop his madness, and then?  Then I'd like to think the situation could have ended on a more positive note and that my fellow man and I would have later visited with this man and let him know that indeed we were believers of Christ, so much so that we felt the best way to not deny Him was to introduce this shooter to Him himself.  I'd like to think that as a Christian I would indeed stand for my faith, for my Jesus, and for my fellow man and fight.

Please don't get me wrong.  I am one of the biggest chickens out there.  But Christ in me is stronger than any army, any foe of the wicked.  My hope is that if I ever am in a situation of this sort that rational thought overcomes scary emotions and that my focus is on Christ and what He would be saying to me in that moment.  My hope is that my life will reflect His and that I too would not be afraid to declare Him as Lord.

Doggone It!

The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me? Psalm 118:6

It all started innocently enough. Steve and I went out for a walk and had stopped to talk to some of our neighbors. While doing so, a tiny little dog came over to check us out. Debbie and Roger were familiar with him and affectionately greeted him. Steve bent down to pet him and let him acquaint himself with it while I--as usual because I just do not like animals--stayed out of his zone.

As we continued our walk, we had barely made it to the crest of the hill when I saw it. It saw me as well and I tensed up, freezing on the spot. Steve softly told me to go ahead, don't be afraid, and all of that garble one doesn't want to hear when her life is soon to be at stake. For you see, in the yard ahead of me was one of the biggest Doberman Pinschers I have ever seen. Instantly my mind was taken back to a weekend I had spent with my oldest sister, who was in college at Western Carolina Univerity. We were at one of her friend's homes and they were all smoking pot. I was fresh off of the farm and just tickled to be away from it for a couple of days so I just sat on the couch and minded my own business until this huge Doberman decided to check me out to see if I was a narc. Never had I felt so much fear from a four-legged beast. The people around me laughed and told me to relax (easy for them to say: they were having a peaceful easy feeling while I was feeling desperation). Yeah. The beast was right in my face and I was so scared! Ooh, I shudder even now at the memory of it.

So, meanwhile, back to last night, the dog started acting all skittish and began whining/barking/prancing about. Still unwilling to get any closer but being gently prodded by Steve to keep going, we saw that the dog was not intimidated by us: it was the tinier dog that had followed us on our stroll and was furiously barking at Cujo that had made its hackles rise. This itty bitty three-pound canine had the eighty-pounds or more Doberman shaking in its paws.

To sum it all up, as we indeed kept going and even chatted for a couple of minutes with the lady and the owner of the dog (whose name instead of being Cujo was Bruce, I think), the dogs got to know one another, and I sighed a heavily thankful breath that this was almost over--until Bruce decided to come over and say hi. Uh-oh. Still filled with dread and hopes that he would just go back to Alisa's yard, I froze on the spot, trying to not let him sense my fear because dogs like this act upon that. Thankfully, my hero Steve was there to buffet the attention off of me and soon we were on our merry little way, with me constantly glancing over my shoulder the whole time until we were out of sight of Cujo. I mean Bruce.

Later, when we got home, Steve assured me that I had had nothing to fear. To emphasize this, he showed me how he already had an action plan in case the dog had decided to attack. First, he would have offered him his left arm and with his right arm? Well, his sweet little hole puncher was there, just in case. Ahh, my hero, always prepared, always there to save me.

So, as you can see, I was well-protected. Even though I feared the immediate threat and couldn't react, my protector was there, waiting with a game-plan, and ready to defend me with no thought of his own possible hurt along the way. Even though in the moment all I could do was be frozen in my fear, Steve was clear-headed, giving away nothing, but ever-ready to defend his loved one 'cause he knows she is helpless without her big, strong hero there by her side.

The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me? Indeed, what can man, beast, or any other supernatural force do unto me with God by my side? Better than the Beretta Tomcat 32 acp Steve had on him, I have the Lord on me, in me, and ready to fight my battles. What more could a girl ask for? Even when I forget to carry my own gear and put on the armor of God, He's got me. Even when I go into the world unprepared for what it may hold, my Deliverer and Defender goes ahead of me, marking my path, and leading me down roads He has already prepared. Guess that's partly why I love Him so much!

Let's pray!

Dear Lord, thank You again for saving me. You know my fear of animals is mostly due to the college experience and perhaps that was a good lesson for me: to be wary around four-legged beasts because one just never knows when they can be set off or what will trigger their attacks. It was preposterous, Father, that this big ol' creature was so intimidated by the rodent-sized canine that barked so ferociously at it but...but maybe that's what I should do when facing my giants. Maybe I should let them know that my size does not indicate my power and that my bark is worse than my bite. Maybe my words will be enough to defeat these Godzillas that threaten me with their mere presence? Season them, I pray Lord, so that they are powerful, more powerful than any two-edged sword, and that they have the ability to bring peace rather than division (especially of my limbs!).

In the name of Jesus I pray and thank You again, Lord God, for being my hero. It's a tough world out there and this reminder to go into it with my armor gear on is a necessary lesson I must learn again and again. Oh, and thanks for the reinforcement of Steve. You take good care of me, Father. Thanks!

And Lord? Thanks again. I love You, too. heart emoticon