Author: desertspringblog

“He (Joseph) traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee.  He took with him his fiancee, Mary, who was obviously pregnant by this time.  While they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, Because there was no room for them in the village inn.”  Luke 2:4-6

The young couple had made their plans.  Mary was now engaged to a young man in her village, with the blessing of her father.  Joseph had had his eye on her, asked for her father’s blessing to marry, and was in the traditional practice of preparing their future home attached to his father’s house.  It would normally take a year to get everything ready for their new family to begin their life together.

That’s when everything in their happy, traditional little world “blew up.”  Joseph had been working on their future home, Mary had gone to her beloved cousin Elizabeth’s home for six months of “women time.”  But when she had returned, it was obvious that she was pregnant…with no reasonable explanation.  Their dreams crumbled.  He was planning to end their marriage promise…she was now viewed as a shameful woman.  To make matters worse, the Roman military was forcing all citizens to go to their family’s birthplace and pay taxes to the government that had devastated their nation, and stolen their freedom.

Their sweet, traditional love story, and their lives, had literally fallen apart.

But God was right in the middle of their turmoil and heartache.  It was His Plan that was behind all of this upheaval.  And His Plans are always Perfect, even though we humans usually miss that part.

After God’s Messenger explained to Joseph the Plan God was orchestrating, the young couple headed to Joseph’s family’s origins, Bethlehem.  In the chaos of Rome’s occupation and very unhappy people forced to give Rome their sorely lacking tax money, they could find nowhere to stay.  They ended up in a cave shelter for animals. Mary was in hard labor with the birth of this Baby, Who was not even their own….He was God’s.  No Mom or Aunties with her at this “first.”  Having watched her cousin Elizabeth give birth to her “miracle baby” (John) months earlier, Mary at least had that experience to draw from. 

When God is “Creating” new realities on this earth, our human minds and perspectives usually see it as “disrupting”, “chaotic”, “upsetting”,  . . . it makes us want to scream, “God!  Where are You?!  This can’t be right!”   That’s when we have to cling to Him more tightly, look in His Eyes with more focus than ever, and hold onto all the Truth we know of Him with a steel grasp…no matter how out-of-control our personal world becomes.  His Ways are so far beyond our human understanding that we just have to keep walking forward, holding onto Him as tightly as we possibly can. 

And then, in the darkness, will be those moments when Light dawns . . . we glimpse what He has been preparing. . . and a quiet, “Oh…that’s why…”  will escape from our hearts.

The newly-wed new parents in Bethlehem may not have had “The Moment” while on this turbulent, dangerous earth.  But it’s the “Well done…good, faithful servants,” from the Father’s lips to our ears, that matters in the End.

“Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod.  About that time, some wise men from Eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn King of the Jews?  We have seen His star as it arose, and we have come to worship Him.”

Matthew 2:1-2

Scientists….astronomers…astrologers…Kings…. The three men were highly respected experts.  They studied the heavens, and understood the laws and patterns of the stars, planets, galaxies, and Time.  They knew  and understood the implications on earth.   They knew things that few humans knew, because they could read the heavens. . . celestial communications from God’s own Space.  It was all very scientific, and predictable.

Until one night, when a New Star appeared:  The Creator’s Own.

They had one decision to make:   Either focus everything to pursue it, or stay put where they had always been and continue in what they could learn from there.

They packed up their most essential tools, charts and supplies and began their journey to follow The Star.  But, because of what they were ‘reading’ in the heavens, they also packed three extraordinary Gifts:

 Gold . . . the gift befitting  a King

Frankincense . . . the precious spice that only the High Priest used for worshipping in God’s Presence

Myrrh . . .  the precious, costly spice used on the body of the highest royalty, for burial.

They had probably never imagined that at their destination, those priceless, precious gifts would be given to a tiny newborn King, not in a palace on a throne, but in a cave…a shelter for animals;  his cradle… a feeding trough.  

Their one-of-a-kind Star led them through the Great Desert to the tiny King who had come to Earth, the planet of Man.  He was the Only One who could be the Great Sacrifice through whom anyone … kings or shepherds, could find the Door to forgiveness and an eternity in Heaven.

“The LORD is my SHEPHERD”

God is the GREAT PHYSICIAN Who is with me.  Because of that absolute fact, 

“I lack nothing”

The Great Physician knows every detail of every emergency – And will give me what is necessary to walk through each detail of every patient in my care today.

“He makes me lie down in green pastures…

He leads me beside still waters,”

Although the circumstances that surround me are dangerous and chaotic,  I know that He has gone ahead of me and He knows every detail of where I am.   I can trust that.

“He restores my soul.”

When I  become overwhelmed by this place where I serve,

He is there. . . His Hand on my shoulder, His Whisper in my ear,

Gently setting me back on my feet to keep going.

That includes providing needed rest.

“He leads me in the right paths…”

When I don’t know what to do, He is there.  

He will guide me as I step into all the chaos, the pain, the fear as I live out, in this place, what I have been called to do.

“For His Name sake.”

In bringing me into this role, His own Name is at stake.

I want to represent Him well, making choices consistent with Who He Is.

He has entrusted me with His Name.

I serve, representing Him.

“Even though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death…”

The Front Line of this deadly pandemic battle is full of danger, caring for those who truly may die in my care.

Exposed to this great risk all around me,

My own mortality is very much in my thoughts.

“I will fear no evil…”

Somehow, knowing my Great Physician is present, I have a sense of protection and care in my very soul.  

Why??

“For You Are With Me.”

The Great Physician is not in some remote location.  It becomes very personal now. You are in the room.  You are in the hallways.  You are right here….with me.  No mask, no isolation, no contamination concerns or layers between us.  

You are with me.

“Your rod and Your staff  give me courage.”

Your ROD fights back the evil that wants to destroy me.

Your STAFF draws me nearer to You…an extension of Your own Hand on my shoulder.

You are in this battle with me.  

I am not alone.

“You prepare a ‘table’ for me, even tho’ the Enemy is watching, 

Even right in the room.”

God has blessed me in the medical field, giving me the knowledge of sickness, disease, and medicine.  I have so much to draw from as I step into the room…to the bedside of people fighting for their lives from its evil effects.

You, Great Physician, are with me here.  Not just as an observer, but if I pay attention, You give me thoughts, bring up knowledge at moments so desperately needed.

“You anoint my head with oil.

My cup overflows.”

My mind is full of knowledge of the body, how it works, medications that help, and training for bringing healing.  As The Great Physician, I look to You to use my knowledge, and things beyond my knowledge that You may bring to my mind, to know what is needed for each patient to begin to heal.  Things beyond my own knowledge,  I look to You to bring into my head ‘for such a time as this.’

“Certainly, goodness and mercy will stay close to me all the days of my life,..”

As I serve those  . . . the sick and the dying , . . .may I hold tightly to knowing how GOOD You are . . . how much You LOVE to show MERCY, as I care for those who are in such fear and suffering.  May Your Goodness and Mercy flow from my heart, my mind, and through my hands to each person who comes under my care.   And please continually re-fill my emptiness when I have spent all I have to give.  Every day.

Always.

“…and I will remain in the Lord’s house for days without end.”

As I look to my own time of leaving this earth, may it be without fear, knowing that You are with me…here, There, and whatever days come until then.  

May Your Presence be with me today, tomorrow, and all the days I face in this role of “Physician….Healer” into which You have placed me.

“I am the living BREAD that came down from heaven. 

Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”        

 John 6:51 niv

If we pare life down to the bare minimum, bread would probably make the list.  Who doesn’t know what bread is?   Who hasn’t ever eaten it?  It is a globally common food . . . from the most ancient of times.

I like bread.   I enjoy the great variety of bread that creative bakers have come up with.  I would guess that every nation, people group, and family on earth has bread that they have eaten their whole life.  I can’t imagine anybody on earth would not know some form of bread as a regular part of daily life.

I heard something the other day about bread.  It caught my attention, because I don’t remember hearing it before.  So I tried it.   

Get a bread that has been made and baked the simple, old-fashioned way….no preservatives.  Take a bite, but instead of gulping it down, chew it intentionally.  Start paying attention to all the flavors that start to happen as you chew.  I started noticing a hint of salt, but also other flavors I could not even identify.  As I kept chewing, more and more new tastes kept  emerging.  It was so fascinating and good that I was in no hurry to swallow.  And I found that when my piece of bread was gone, I kept getting little “taste memories” that reminded me of that taste-discovery.   It was 

suppertime before I even thought about a meal.   That piece of bread was fully satisfying for my day.  Some of the credit was to the handmade quality of the bread.  But some of it is how God created our mouths with tastebuds, saliva, and the interaction of grains, and simply letting all those elements work together with time.

Jesus said He was the Bread of Life.  For the past 3+ years, I have come to treasure beginning my day reading the Book of Life, and taking in the Bread of Life, Who always meets me there.  Taking the time, unhurried, and “chewing” on it for a while, brings more and more “flavor” to the Word of Life I’ve taken in that morning.  It’s not a time of lightning bolts or big emotional revelations.  It’s the little by little bites, and chewing on each.  New “flavors” emerge, and new discoveries.  Words I’ve known my whole life take on new meaning.  New life.  I don’t have to make the bread.  The Bread of Life comes to me. . . enough for that day.  Tomorrow there will be another.  It will never be gone.

Jesus comes so simply, so basically, in the routine of each day.  “Take.  Eat,”  He said.

“Tell in the daylight 

what I say to you in the dark. 

Shout from the housetops 

what you hear whispered.”  

Matthew 10:27

I have never experienced such darkness as in the night hours in the desert.  The first time I visited the refugee camps, I arrived by truck in the middle of the night.  I could barely distinguish that we had arrived, the darkness so covered the sands and the tents equally.  There were no lights in the camp, no electricity available.  In the headlights of the truck, I began catching sight of the dark tent shapes.  The truck ground to a stop and the driver opened his door…we had arrived.

Exhausted from the long, hard days of travel, I was focused on finding my bag and trying to not step on some strange desert creature that may be lurking in the dark.

Then, I looked up.  And gasped.  A gazillion stars…whole galaxies…filled that night sky.  I had never seen anything like it.  The black backdrop  that covered the entire sky made the sparkling diamonds shimmer and dance.  Shooting stars blazed across the vast sky.  It was breathtaking. I could do nothing but keep looking up at that living canopy stretching from horizon to horizon, unbroken by trees or tall buildings or any obstacles of the earth.  I couldn’t speak.  I could only watch.

Then the Whisper. . . “I Am here.”  

And He is.  

His Light shows up most spectacularly in the darkness.  No matter how dark your world may seem, look up.  Watch.  Listen. Really listen, for it’s a Whisper.   And then share with this dark world what you have heard.

“After the earthquake came a fire…

And after the fire came a gentle Whisper.”

1 Kings 19:12

I live in a very quiet setting, by choice.  But the world around me seems to be shouting.

We are in the midst of an historic pandemic.  It began rather quietly . . . something happening far, far away.  But its echoes have spread and grown to a deafening volume.

Our world has been shaken.  Our lives have been impacted, on a daily basis.

But though the world shouts, God often whispers.

Elijah, one of God’s most powerful Prophets, lived in an extremely difficult time in history.  He feared for his own life.  Powerful, evil voices were dominating and threatening his very life, as well as the existence of his nation.  He was on the run.  His life was full of dama, earth-shaking, life-rocking experiences.  He was in great danger.  But in the face of BIG….LOUD….Earth-rocking events going on around him, God came near…quietly.  A Whisper.

To be able to hear a whisper, you have to find the quiet.  It’s impossible to hear a Whisper when there’s loudness and noise all around.  God will allow the chaotic noise into our lives, but when we begin to long to hear His Voice, we need to position ourselves in  Quiet.  

It seems to me that God has pressed a global “PAUSE” button.  What “was” has greatly changed. . . and not by human orchestration.  It’s far beyond that.  God has things to say.   He’s taking our faces in His Hands, so that we will look into His Eyes, and LISTEN.  

God will use the ‘earthquakes’ and ‘fire’ in our lives to get our attention.  But to actually hear God’s still, small Voice, we need to get quiet, and listen.  

Listen for the “Gentle Whisper.”

 “Let us run with patience.”

Hebrews 12:1

Does the word “patience” connect with “running” in your mind?   It doesn’t in mine.  When I am in the act of running, it’s probably for only a few reasons:

                                    ~          I’m late

                                    ~          I’m scared

                                    ~          I’ve forgotten something urgently needed, or

                                    ~          A grandchild is escaping

Every Saturday morning, I see quite a long string of runners coming down the hill that levels out in front of my home.  Then they run up the next hill and continue on their way.

They’re not running from anything . . . they’re not running to anything, except for a finish-line I’ve never seen.  But they are running for a purpose which is personal to them.   And they are running in a way that is intentional, measured, disciplined, and meant to be sustainable for the long haul.

As they run, I cannot tell what is going on in their lives…in their hearts…  There may be pain, sadness, grief, . . . or joy.  They just keep on running toward their finish line.

When we choose to turn our lives over to God, we enter His Race.  It doesn’t really matter who runs the fastest, or reaches the finish line first.  What matters is that you have joined the Run.  You have set your mind on the Finish Line, even if you cannot see it or know exactly where it is, nor how long it will take to reach the end.  

What we can know for certain is that it is His Race, and He alone knows the Finish Line.

We can be sure that He knows every inch of the Race we run, and that He is with us….in the weariness, the stumbles, the pain that arises, and the limited vision we have of the Finish Line.  He promises to be “There” when we reach it, as well as with us each step along the way.  You may have thought this was just a sprint.  But you’ve come to realize this is a Marathon.  He joins you in the run, and will be right alongside you. You and He will be doing it together.

He has the Purpose in His Mind, and sees the Finish Line.     So, “run… with patience.”

“God’s way is perfect!

 The promise of the Lord has proven to be true.

 He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.”

Psalm 18:30

I used to address a church leadership class as the senior/founding pastor’s wife of the church we established together.  I had also been in church leadership positions within the church my mom and dad founded and led throughout my growing up years.  So my perspective from personal lifelong experience in church leadership was rather unique.

Yes, I could present Biblical principles and examples to the classes, as well as stories from my own experience.  But what I really wanted to say was, “RUN!”  I also had suggested to my husband that the leadership class be given a T-shirt upon  completion of the class, printed with a big target printed on the front and back, with the word       

RUN!!

(He agreed, but not on a T-shirt.)

Leadership is brutal.  Were it not for “the promise of the Lord”  to my own heart, with repeated reminders from Him throughout the years, I would have loved to run away many times.  “God’s way is perfect!” had to become the foundational Truth that was rock-solid in my own heart.  There is a choice in that: choosing to believe it or not.  It has to be intentionally separated from the actions of people, who are not perfect, nor are their ways. 

King David certainly lived a life of extremes (little brother, shepherd, giant-slayer, national hero, future King, man-on-the-run for his life, personal failure, song-writer (Psalms), and ultimately the King of Israel…God’s nation.)   Yet David could declare, “God’s way is perfect!”   He certainly had great cause to doubt that throughout his life. As a great leader, he wrote this looking back from the perspective of having doubted God’s promises in the midst of tremendous pressures, temptations, failures, gut-wrenching losses, and miraculous victories.  

King David cites the experiences in life when he needed a shield . . . needed a refuge . . . needed to feel safe.  God had chosen David when he was just the little brother who had to miss all “the action” with his big brothers, to stay home and watch dumb sheep.  It wasn’t safe, but it was his training ground in experiencing the only truly safe place in this world:   God Himself.