Author Archives: therealmimi

The living what I blog phenomenon

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I am having to read my own words and practice them today…the ones in that last post about being thankful and how it changes our perspective and attitude?

Almost without fail, I will blog about something and then very soon after have to practice what I preach, like my own words get bounced back at me, or like I’m being tested to see if I will live what I’m learning.

Lord, help me to keep a thankful heart today.  I can feel the enemy prowling around, like he always does, seeking a way to devour.  Set my eyes on you, be near me today.

Let all that I am praise the LORD; 
      with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. 
 2 Let all that I am praise the LORD; 
      may I never forget the good things he does for me. 
 3 He forgives all my sins 
      and heals all my diseases. 
 4 He redeems me from death 
      and crowns me with love and tender mercies. 
 5 He fills my life with good things. 
      My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!  Psalm 103:1-5 NLT

Thankfulness = Trust?

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What has the power to turn a heart’s gaze to hope, peel away a complaining attitude, and open the door for peace?

Thankfulness.

Being thankful shows self-pity the door and gives contentment the best seat in the house.

Even in the most meager, terrible, or desperate circumstances we can choose to be thankful for something…even everything.

When I read the book “The Hiding Place” about Betsy and Corrie Ten Boom’s experience in a Nazi concentration camp during the holocaust, I was moved and humbled by Betsy’s constant thankfulness.  In the face of cruelty and horrendous day-to-day living conditions, she kept her face turned toward Jesus in hope.  She didn’t complain but instead kept thanking God for everything, much to the amazement of her sister Corrie, who admitted sometimes she wondered if her sister was from another planet.

One particular situation stands out in my memory:   Continue reading →

Halt. Refocus.

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God our Father loves us. He is kind and has given us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope.  II Thessalonians 2:16  CE

I didn’t even know she was ill.  I wasn’t close friends with the family but I know them and was so shocked and sad to hear that she succumbed to a long battle with cancer and has now gone to be with Jesus.  I’m not sad she went to be with Jesus but sad that her husband, not much older than John and I is now without his partner, and that her two kids, the age of my college girls, are now without their mom when there are still life milestones to cross like marriage and grandbabies and a host of other special events.

It causes my heart to halt and forces me to remember … Continue reading →

Totally Devoted

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Whenever I hear the word “devoted” I think of that song from the musical “Grease” when Sandy is singing about Danny and how much she can’t help loving him.  “Totally devoted to youuuu…” You know that one?

This morning while reading today’s devotional in Jesus Calling this line stood out to me:  “I go before you to open up the way, and I also walk alongside you. There could never be another companion as devoted as I am.”¹  (Jesus Calling reads as if Jesus is talking to the reader personally.)  I looked up the word devoted and found this definition: as a noun – “zealous or ardent in attachment, loyalty or affection” and as a verb – “to give up or concentrate on a particular pursuit, occupation, purpose, cause, etc.” ²

I’ve heard a lot about people being devoted to something or someone, and to God, but hadn’t really thought of God being devoted to us, not in those certain terms.  It does say in the Bible that God is a “consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:24).  He is not jealous of us, He is jealous for us – for our attention.  The Word says that God is love (I John 4:8), that His faithfulness reaches to the skies (Psalm 36:5), that He is always true and keeps His word (Psalm 145:13).  I love the verse in Romans that says if God gave up His only Son for us, how would He not also give us every good thing?  That He is for us and nothing can separate us from His devoted love (Romans 8:31-35).

Why would God be devoted to humans?   Continue reading →

Ready to go

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I’m sitting on my suitcase, lovingly packed, ready for the trip, eager to go.  I can just see the open road in my mind and hear it beckoning me.  I’m waiting for Papa first, though.  I can’t go without Him, especially since He’s the driver, navigator, and planner.  Besides, I’d much rather travel with Him than alone.  No question about that.

I know it’s going to be a great trip, but also that there will be bumps along the way.  To expect a trip without any slip-ups, accidents or near-mishaps, or discouraging moments would be naive and unrealistic.  I know that if I go with Papa, though, I’ll be fine one way or another.  He can handle anything and promised He would stay with me the whole way.  I believe Him.

“I’m waiting, Papa!  Are you ready?  Is it time?”  I stand up bouncing on my heels looking out the open door when I hear his footsteps behind me.  “Okay, let’s go!” His happy voice rings out.  He reaches for my hand and squeezes it tight.  I grab my bag with my other hand and look up at Him with a big smile as we head outside.

The LORD said, ” I will go with you and give you peace.”
Then Moses replied, ” If you aren’t going with us, please don’t make us leave this place.  Exodus 33:14-15 CEV

Wait patiently for the Lord.  Psalm 27:14  NLT

 

Give Me Jesus

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Have you ever eaten lots of “junk” and sugary stuff to the point that the next time you feel hungry you crave real food – meat and potatoes, home cooked, hot, delicious and nutritious real food?

That’s a pretty good description of how I feel (the feeling seems to have grown in the last few years) when I watch some of the Christmas shows and movies on TV or hear some of the songs that are played over the Muzak at work.  Not bad, not offensive, just no real substance.  There is that one song that for some reason makes me want to shoot the speakers with a BB gun.  You may have heard it, “last Christmas I gave you my heart, but the very next day you gave it away. This year to save me from tears I’ll give it to someone special…”  It kind of sets my teeth on edge.

For me it’s not enough to say Christmas is about children, snow, cookies, Santa, shopping, giving gifts, or about family, or about being kind, or about helping homeless or needy people.  Those are all good things but there’s so much more.

I feel a suppressed frustration, almost anger, that the meaning of Christmas has been diluted so much by some in our culture.  To cut Jesus out of Christmas for me is like asking me to survive on a diet of nothing but marshmallow fluff. Continue reading →

Are you ready for Christmas?

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“Are you ready for Christmas?” is the question of the week.  I’ve heard it a bazillion times from friends and patients at work and wherever I go – to the gas station, grocery store, church, on Facebook, etc.  Okay, maybe not a bazillion times, but a lot.

Since we’re planning on a simple Christmas, which has always proven to be the most meaningful to us anyway, I’m not sure how to answer people since they’re probably talking about shopping for presents, entertaining, etc.  This afternoon as I was thinking about it some more I realized I’m more than ready.

Am I ready to celebrate the fact that God loves people, including me, and spared nothing to draw us close to Himself?  Yes.  Am I ready to remember and wonder at the mystery of a bigger-than-the-universe God shrunken down into a human girl’s womb?  To be amazed Jesus would willingly be contained in a body like ours knowing those 33 years of life on this planet would end in betrayal and death?  Always.  He came and joined our temporal, earthy experience anyway.  He loved and gave then, loves and gives now.  Am I ready to have my heart centered again, its gaze locked on the beautiful baby King?  To be nestled in peace?  More than ready.  Am I ready to spend time with friends and family, people I love?  Of course!  How about being ready to welcome Jesus to my heart once more, making sure I’ve cleared away and swept clean every space inside so that He can have all the room he wants within me?

Oh yeah.

I’m ready for Christmas!

The people who walked in darkness 
      have seen a great light. 
   They lived in a land of shadows, 
      but now light is shining on them.
 You have given them great joy, Lord; 
      you have made them happy. 
   They rejoice in what you have done…

 A child is born to us! 
      A son is given to us! 
      And he will be our ruler. 
   He will be called, 
         Wonderful Counselor,
         Mighty God, 
         Eternal Father,
         Prince of Peace.  (Isaiah 9:1-9 Good News Translation)

God came near

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I’ve been telling a friend of mine who has some choices to make that God promised he would give us wisdom when we ask, it says so in the Bible, his Word. (James 1:5) So I’ve been praying that way for her and He is answering, bit by bit, and helping her decide.

Throughout the morning some concerns started piling up in my heart and I knew I needed some quiet time, so during my lunch hour I practiced what I’ve read in the Word about praying and laying all my anxieties before God and thanking Him for as much as my little brain can think of.  (Philippians 4:6-7)  I talked with Jesus as I would any friend and opened up my hands, letting go and remembering that everything is under control but not mine, God’s.  I drove back to work feeling lighter and at peace.

God’s Word is truth, I’ve proven it in my life over and over.  It’s living and active, has the power to convince us to change, to surrender, to try, to wait, to believe, to love.

The Bible says that God’s living Word is Jesus and Jesus is our Emmanuel: God with us.

I guess I missed a day in my “Jesus Calling” devotional because I realized today I was reading December 12th when it’s really the 13th.  It was good, though, because what I read was just what I needed today.  “If you could only see how close I am to you and how constantly I work on your behalf, you’d never again doubt that I’m wonderfully caring for you.”

Why do I doubt it?  Why do I forget that God is as close as my breath, and even closer still than that?  I needed a reminder that God came near and that He chose to do so.  My piddly existence is worth something to Him, a mystery I may never understand!

He is near.  He is living and active.  He is Emmanuel, God with me, near me, by my side and on my side.

He came near and stays near, always awake, always faithful, always present.  He doesn’t turn away or leave or abandon.

Be near, O God.  My Savior, Emmanuel!

 

You’re the reason

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With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.  Romans 8:1-2 The Message

Guilt is described as a sense of remorse or responsibility for some offense or wrong-doing, whether real or imagined.   It plaques every one of us at one time or another and can become oppressive causing us to trudge instead of walk freely, to feel low and even worthless.  It’s like wearing a stack of lead aprons, the kind the dentist lays on top of you when you’re about to have an x-ray.

Where does it come from?   From other people?  After all they can be judgmental and have certain expectations of us, or we can value their opinions of us far too much.  Maybe sometimes.  From ourselves?  Each of us is probably our harshest critic and with help from our enemy, the devil, accuse ourselves ruthlessly.  From God?   Continue reading →

What did you say?

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I work in an Ear, Nose & Throat practice which also houses an audiology department, which specializes in helping people hear better.  There is an awful lot of “What did you say??” and “Say that again, please” and “You have to speak up, I can’t hear you” going on every day.  To top that off, I also have radar ears – ears that strain to hear what’s going on around me so I don’t miss anything.  I guess this could also be categorized as nosiness, but I prefer to call it being aware.  Right?

This can cause problems for me because if the person in front of me, the patient, is telling me something and my ears are also listening to the conversation behind me so I know what’s going on with my co-workers, I invariably have to ask the patient to repeat themselves because I lose focus.  I’m not so great at multi-task listening.  There are times, too, when several of us at the front desk are dealing with several hard of hearing people and the noise level grows so that it’s tricky to hear what we need to hear from the patient we’re trying to help.

I need to just keep my ears “turned” toward the person who’s most important in that moment, the patient, and listen intently just to their voice.

I just read from John 10:27 this morning in which Jesus said Continue reading →