Humility

I learned another lesson in humility today. As one who is not so gifted in the vocal realm, I realized its vanity that keeps me from singing as loud as I might. Today the woman who sat behind me singing in church is a throat cancer survivor. You know the drill, she has the voicebox that she has to push on in order to talk to you in her mechanical sounding voice. But I listened to her singing her best this morning. She truly had a song on her heart, and was letting the world know it. I decided I take too much for granted. For those of you who are gifted vocally...you'll just have to start tolerating the rest of us!

Lost and Found

I got a call late last night. She said, "I hope it's not too late, but I always call you when I have trouble, and I just knew I needed to call you tonight." I met this person in the parking lot one afternoon. She gradually moved into my life through her problems and the fact that I "allowed" her to be angry with God over some things. (Like we need permission to have emotions or can stop them!) She came into the office one day recently to talk about all her problems, but there was a change. She knew she had problems because of her own actions, and because she wanted to get herself right with God. We've had some deep conversations lately, not just talk about her problems.

One of those problems was financial. We worked out a plan.

She's reset priorities in her life, and worrying more about her family than her own problems...in a healthy kind of way. The call last night was to share how God had worked things out in her life so that the threat of losing her heat was gone...for the sum of $3 and some odd change. She said that she knew God put me in her life and that scared her. Any time she got close and trusted people, God took them away from her. But she knew He'd put me in her life and she was thankful. I think in the next day or two it'll sink in that it was her putting God back in her life that has helped her!

The sermon Sunday was about finding God and how He wants to be found. What a wonderful example this week!

My Hand

It’s been an interesting week with issues with my hand. Sunday I noticed a sore spot on the back and when looking at noticed it was quite swollen. I joked with someone about how the older we get the longer it takes for bug bites to affect us. By evening it was going down, and I figured it was just that…a spider bite.

The next day I noticed redness on a knuckle next to the area that had been swollen. I watched as it grew and started having concerns. After work I did the web medical search thing, of course. It seemed to point to nothing more than a bruise, and I couldn’t figure out what would cause it. I checked with Dr. Mom (we’re never too old to do that now, are we?!) and she was just as puzzled. I decided to watch it and wait.

Well, by Tuesday, another knuckle had started bruising. Now I was getting annoyed. There was no pain, but it was beginning to look a little nasty. As the day progressed, the knuckle in between reddened and it now looked like something traumatized my hand. Still no pain.

But during this time, I’d had a conversation with my pastor about some people who’d prayed on Sunday, and I recounted how the woman I was with had squeezed my hand harder than I’d ever had it squeezed before (and I’ve had a woman in labor hanging on for dear life!) It dawned on me then that it was bruising from that. Still no pain, but at least half of the back of my hand is seriously bruised. (The bite was just a coincidence.)

I share this because she has no internet, and those of you who know her are under strict orders to not say a word…it would hurt her severely. But what a wonderful reminder to me for as long as it lasts to be in constant prayer for this new Christian. Not that I haven’t prayed for close to a year since meeting her. Not that she’s not on my mind anyway. But I suspect she needs some extra prayers, and so I was given a reminder for just that purpose. If you happen to think about her, could you pray for her, too. She’s got lots going on in her life right now, and God knows the details. Thanks!

Lydia

The past ten weeks have been kind of crazy for my family, and thanks to all of you who have been praying and asking about Lydia. She was here for a short visit this weekend, and gets discharged from the clinic Tuesday. As much as I've loved spending time with her, I won't miss the almost weekly trips to visit her.

God has really blessed her through this. When her insurance money ran out two weeks ago, she received a scholarship from the clinic's foundation to continue with treatment for free these past two weeks. They only award about six of these a year. Lydia believed God wanted her there. This was important because she was there voluntarily. She found out this past week that both of her part time jobs are waiting for her when she gets out and will have had a couple of weeks to adjust to being on her own again. Her prayer was that if God wanted her to work two jobs despite what the experts told her, that He would keep them for her. Though some of us felt she needed to focus on her health, who are we to argue with God's answer to her prayer?! The chances the jobs would be there were pretty slim.

Rebekah, Lydia's older sister, is coming home for a visit in another week or so. I know Lydia is anxiously waiting for that. I'm excited to be able to see them as well in a couple of weeks.

Lydia is 3/4 of the way to her goal weight, and they've allowed her to begin exercising. She'll be facing struggles in the weeks ahead, but her faith is strong, and her attitude has been positive through this whole thing. There's things we don't understand about the disease, and the cost, even after insurance, will strap her for awhile, but she's here, and amazingly healthy for what her body has gone through. I sometimes reflect on why so many young people are starving their bodies these days. Then I sit in awe at how the body can survive some of the things it does. We are truly created in a way that is beyond our comprehension.

Lydia and I talked about how her trial has impacted so many people in the extended family, and how wonderful it has been to be a part of God working in so many lives. Lydia's spiritual journey has been one that, I believe, has strengthened her faith. I love the young woman she has become and am proud to be related to her.

If you think to pray, remember some of her needs. Being out of work for ten weeks obviously will have an impact on her and all these medical bills. She needs to be moving in the near future, so please pray for affordable housing for her. Pray that she will be able to apply all the things she's learned about her disease and future health as she returns to work and her old lifestyle, which attributed to her severe decline. She will need wisdom as she makes practical decisions, and pray that she knows when to listen to medical advice and when to just have faith.

Thank you from Lydia and myself for your vigilance in prayer. God has heard and continues to answer.

What Language Do You Speak?

So often we talk our own language, let’s call it Christianese today, that we forget that we use words and phrases that others don’t understand. I became aware of this years ago when the church I belonged to had a deaf ministry. I was so accustomed to the deaf being a part of our service and congregation that I didn’t realize the work it took. Later when we moved to another community and the sister of one of our deaf friends was a part of the church, I thought nothing of inviting a new deaf friend to church, promising someone could sign for her. It was then that I found out that someone who is not familiar with church or Christ must learn the “language” in order for the signing to work. We use words like Jesus, salvation, sin, etc. that are not a part of everyday signing to the unsaved world.

Today I was again reminded that I need to be clearer about what I mean, especially in this technological day and age, when words are all we see. I commented on a relative’s Facebook page about 9-11 bringing us to our knees. For a Christian, that would mean humbled before God in prayer. For a stranger reading the comment, they assumed it meant broken and beaten in war.

So again, I must think more carefully how I talk, and how others will interpret what I say. It’s important in our day to day conversations, but more important when we talk about spiritual things in a Godless world.

Supporting Others

Watching my family over the past months has been a learning process, one that leads me to share with others. When tragedy hits someone, many lives are affected. As everyone struggles with all the questions and emotions, tension can grow among those who would ordinarily be leaning on each other.

Those outside the immediate circle don’t know what to do or to say, so they do and say nothing. Please, reach out to everyone in the family. Give them the opportunity to share with someone who is not emotionally attached to the situation. Let them know that though you may not understand what they are feeling or experiencing, that you care about them. Doing nothing can hurt more than accidentally saying the wrong thing.

I’ve had two nieces struggle with serious health issues over the past few months. There were similarities and differences in how the two families reacted. I’d encourage you to read what one mom wrote about her twelve year old. It might help you understand how you can reach out to people in your life.

And if you think about it, pray for Zoe and for Lydia as they continue their lives with illnesses that will affect them the rest of their lives. And pray for their families. Telling people to lean on God is easy, but doing it when going through a trial can be a different story. They need your support.

(Thanks, Janet, for sharing what you are going through...hopefully it will help others.)

Just Thinkin'...

You know how your mind wanders sometimes and you wonder how in the world you got there? Well, I had one of those moments today. Somehow I was remembering back to middle school age where I learned the great art of debate. We had to draw two slips of paper, one was the topic, and then when the topics were paired up, we had to figure out if we had the pro or con. I was pro-abortion.

Now you have to keep in mind that abortion wasn’t legal when I was this age, but it was a hot topic in current events. You also have to know that I was in a parochial school, so the concept of pro-abortion was as foreign to me as anything could possibly be.

[I need to digress here, since my mind did the same thing at the time. The only thing I knew for sure about abortion was my grandfather’s reaction to the topic. I was with them alone this one particular evening when the news came on. I never knew my grandfather even had a Bible so close to his chair, to say nothing about where he had it hid, but quick as a wink, he was on his feet with that Bible in his hands, ranting and raving around the living room about what an abomination the country was coming to talking about such things. (I must come by my passion naturally!)]

Back to the debate. I won that argument (and never participating in another debate). I learned that whether you believe in something or not, you can argue it and influence others. Any potential career in law faded in my eyes, as I realized it wasn’t the law, but the giftedness of the presenter that won.

But today I thought about that class. Did my adolescent arguments impact any of my classmates? I hoped not. (I assume others have vivid memories of their earlier years and have been influenced by them.) And where did all this back-flashing come from? Then I realized that someone from class that day needed prayer, and that even if I didn’t know who or why, I lifted them all up to God. I don’t know who of those people I’ll see in heaven…but I know at least one of them needed prayer today.

I have to reflect on how God lays people on my heart sometimes. Sometimes it’s just sitting around thinkin’….

The Tapestry of Our Lives

We all have a different image of God, and mine is him sitting at a loom, weaving the giant tapestry of our lives together. The back side, which is what we see, is a mess of colors and knots. But His side is the most awesome picture.

Tapestries are typically very large, sometimes done in pieces and hung together. Though you can get a rough idea of what the front looks like from the backside, it’s never nearly as wondrous as the finished front.

Anyway, that’s what I see happening in my family these days…lives being woven together as only God can weave. As many of you have been praying since late last year, the family is dealing with a behavioral disorder that it is impacting. But the way God is working in each and every person is like the weaving of a tapestry. And this is only the beginning of the adventure (“adventure” sounds much more exciting than “trial”)…

1. Though months and months of prayer went into Lydia, it is clear now that it was God’s timing on when the treatment began. Earlier, the immediate family would have been without a pastor for the spiritual support they need through the crisis. Later could have been too late for Lydia. The prayer prepared the way for today.

2. Health issues that should exist are not there, I believe this is by the grace of God in answering our prayers all these months. Though things are not going as well as everyone would like physically, its clear God has protected Lydia from more serious, permanent physical harm.

3. And God takes care of us in every aspect, or I don’t believe she would have the positive attitude that she has. The staff at the facility is amazed at how much she wants to work with them and get better, quite the contrary from the average resident they have.

4. Family members are coming together, not without a few bumps in the road though. In the end, I believe relationships will be healed and the family will be stronger than ever. I feel sad that one person has to pay such a high price for all this healing, but I can’t think of anyone else God could have used better than our sweet spirited Lydia.

5. I believe we’re going to see a stronger marriage come out of this, and ultimately a stronger, Godlier family. And what better way to glorify God than to build strong marriages and families in today’s world!

6. There are lots of lessons to be learned, and one by people are learning them. A new level of faith is being developed in some of the younger family members. A new level of compassion is coming out of others. Resetting of priorities is always a good thing for each of us. And communication has taken on new depth.

Thank you everyone who has been praying, and please continue. There are continued health concerns, financial issues, and decisions to be made over the weeks and months ahead. Things are progressing slowly in the physical realm. But I am humbled with gratitude for the spiritual and emotional testimonies coming in these few first weeks.

Knowing a Murderer

It's an interesting feeling when you find out you know a possible murderer. I found out today that a kid I grew up with was arrested for murdering a young woman ten years ago. As I try to sort through my own emotions, I can't help but think about how his family (he was living with his parents) must be dealing with life today.

Television was always "pretend" in my life, but as I get older, TV becomes more real for me. As a volunteer sexual assault advocate, I'm privy to "CSI" exams. Today's news makes all those Cold Case shows take on a new perspective. No wonder I watch less and less of the tube.

This week has been an emotional one for my family and our own little crisis. Watching everyone deal with things in their own way makes my heart ache for those involved with this murder. From the victim's family to the suspect's family, to the people they both worked with...how much more intense must their emotions be! And how could the suspect live for ten years with this on his conscience! Yep, it's going to take a whole lot of sorting for me....

Friends

I had an interesting conversation yesterday with someone who was crushed that their best friend didn’t seem to be interested in what was going on in their life at the moment. (The person was in the midst of an emotional crisis.) That led to a conversation about how the pastor of their church didn’t seem interested either, though this was big enough that it was impacting the extended family.

The Daily Bread today had a devotional about friends and my mind wandered back to yesterday’s conversation. I thought about times I wished my friends had been calling. I thought of the solitude I felt, and imagined how this person felt. And I recalled the sadness when your spiritual leader doesn’t seem to care either.

But more than that, I thought about the churches today. Pastors don’t seem to have time or the inclination to visit the sick or new members like they did in the past. (I'm not saying that was the best use of pastorl time.) I struggle with the balance that’s needed in this area. Some churches, which can afford it, have someone on staff doing visitation, or they have a volunteer team.

Then I thought about Christ and how much time he spent “visiting.” I couldn’t think of a lot of examples. He even took his time when Mary & Martha had sent an urgent plea out to him on behalf of their brother. Then I thought about what Jesus was doing that made him too busy for “visitation.” He was winning lost souls.

Sometimes I think our pastors are forced to spend all of their time doing the work of maintaining a church building and overseeing the running of all the programs, leaving them without enough time to do the work they were called to…reaching lost people, and helping others grow in their faith so they in turn can do God’s work. And I wonder if we would be so hurt when we don’t hear from our pastors during a crisis time, if we knew they were ministering to other people, or sharing Christ with the lost.

And I wonder where I fall in the grand scheme of things when it comes to friendship and ministering to others in my church. It’s no wonder people spend so much time on Twitter, or on Facebook, or MySpace. And I wonder, what kind of friend am I?

Do We See Hurting People?

Why is it so easy for us to see the lessons God wants others to learn while wearing blinders to Him working in our own lives? Maybe it’s that proverbial log (Matt. 7:3) we’re carrying around in our eye. Sometimes I think I have an entire forest that blinds me.

As I watch my family struggle through a situation that impacts many lives, I’m reminded that God is still in control. As I think back to times when my children were little and I wanted to protect them from everything hurtful and sad, it dawned on me: that’s what builds character. And if God gives each of us free will, who am I to interfere in His plan?

It’s interesting how when disaster strikes one person, those around her learn lessons too. For me it’s that God still hears my prayers. For over 6 months many of you have joined me in prayer for my niece, Lydia. And as I watch her mother’s blog, I pray harder. And I see His answers. Lydia has chosen treatment instead of staying in the typical denial mode of peers in her situation. Her family, one by one, is seeing that she is ill and needs help. And one by one as they go through the process of acceptance, I see God’s hand on each of them.

My prayer now is for the entire family to heal and for Lydia to know how loved she really is. Whether she ever moves back home or not isn’t important. The fact that she’s getting help is. And though it’s difficult to not worry about finances, God has that under control as well. Sometimes He wants us to reset our priorities, but money is of this world, and we are not.

So once again I am reminded about how we grow the most when pruned by the Gardener. And there’s a lot of pruning going on in my family these days. Please pray for them all, and for your own family. We never know what’s going on in those around us. I’m reminded of the Casting Crowns song, “Does Anybody Hear Her?” There’s a lot of struggling people out there. Do we see them? Do we hear?

Lydia

Many of you know the prayer requests I have asked for my niece Lydia. She is now in treatment and her family has posted a blog to keep everyone up to date and to keep prayer requests current. If you feel led to keep her in your mind, please visit at: http://trulylyd.wordpress.com. I know the family appreciates all the prayer they get.

Who's Closer to God?

I remember as a child taking a trip through the Indian reservation that was near my grandparents. I was surprised to see that tar-paper shacks really did exist and people lived that way in my lifetime…that it wasn’t just a piece of history I learned about in school.

I recently stopped by to drop something off for someone who lived in what, by definition, is nothing more than a flophouse. I recalled the amazement that something that I’d only read about or seen in movies or on TV really existed so close to me in my life in small-town America…and this was over forty years later.

More amazing to me was my reaction. I was introduced to all the residents, and given a tour of the property. It was obvious that these people lived a life I’ve never seen firsthand. But as much as I was saddened that someone is making a small fortune off these people “down on their luck,” I found that I had no desire to share my comfortable lifestyle with the one I was there to help. But I could come up with a list of excuses a mile long for not helping more.

That saddens me and even more, embarrasses me. Here I work with people less fortunate, cry out against others who don’t have compassion for them, and am willing to “minister” at places such as rescue missions, etc. But when I examine my own heart, I don’t have the faith to move someone in with me who has a history of making bad choices and associating with the wrong crowd. I enjoy my comfort more than I maybe should, and am maybe a little more afraid of risk than I’d like to admit.

And though I’m appreciative for the things I have, and recognize that it’s only by God’s grace that I’m not in the same situation as these people I met, I also know that my Lord and Savior didn’t even have a place to call home while He lived here. Are these people I have so much compassion for really closer to Jesus’ lifestyle than self-righteous me? Maybe, just maybe, I got a better glimpse of the Beatitudes through this person’s life than through my own.

The Fortress

Like so many others, our church and individuals in it, are receiving their fair share of trials. For us I think it's because we have chosen to move outside the walls of our church. Our pastor preached a message September 7th that said "These walls must come down!"

Slowly, but surely they are coming down, and what we are learning is great stuff. People are coming to know Christ and turn their lives around. We're coming in contact with more and more people in need of human compassion and eternal love. Dreams we had for ministry are starting to grow and bear fruit. But as we do more all this, we are tried more.

It dawned on me the other day that when we take the walls of our church down to be in our world helping people, that those walls also provided protection, as a type of fortress. I would never discourage anyone from going outside the church to do God's work. Instead I would advise that you be ready to stand firm with much less protection that you're accustomed to. The battle is God's, and He's already won it. Sometimes we struggle with remembering that, especially when in the midst of a trial. But if we are armed and ready, we can do it! So go ahead, take the walls down in your church and reach out to the world as Christ did. Satan tried to tempt Christ, why would we think it would be easier for us!

Compelled

I recently read something that used the word "compel." It's not a word we use often, but I like the word. You know, there are just some words that have pleasant memories, or special meaning. I think for me it's a song (the Hornet Song) from long ago about how God doesn't make us do anything (that free will thing) but He can compel us to do things. (It's

Anyway, I was thinking about how I'd often wanted to just give up the whole free will thing so it would be easier to know and do what God wanted. (I'm lazy by nature.) I realized that free will is what makes us who we are, so God would never remove that. But I could ask Him to start compelling me.

It's amazing what you get when you ask for that. All of a sudden I didn't need to think twice about doing things anymore. I just knew something needed to be acted on, and it was second nature to me. No second guessing, just second nature. And to see God working when you are doing what He wants when He wants is so amazing. Surprising sometimes, yet a blessing.

But just like praying for patience brings adversity to teach us that patience, asking God to compel me had its downside. You see, the thing that gave me that knowledge of what to do, was an increased sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. With that came the sensitivity to pray for others more. Knowledge that things might not be right. Knowledge at times that I wouldn't have thought of someone let alone pray for them. A sensitivity that produced empathetic emotions...sometimes the tears and actual pain of that person.

As they say, be careful what you pray for...but I'd encourage you to think about praying for ways for you to become more sensitive and decisive in seeking out God's will for you.

How Do You Talk to God?

I had an interesting conversation with a friend last night, where she pointed out to me that, though she didn't think it was wrong, I certainly had a different way of conversing with God than she did. (I'd had an "argument" with Him this past week about how much hurt I thought I could take, and I was thinking of choosing my will against His in my life...He won.)

I guess I didn't realize that everyone didn't talk to God that way. But it certainly made sense. Some of the things people have said to me in the past started fitting together. God and I have our own way of conversing about many things.

This friend and I talked about how each of us has our own unique relationship with God, just like our relationship with every other person on the planet is unique. And that's some of the wonder of His creation.

I shared how I first discovered this "familiar" way of conversing with God. It was at least 20 years ago when I was so unexpectedly overcome with emotions from a lifetime of hurt, that I got downright angry with God. I penned and cried for what seemed like a very long time. I screamed (in my head at least) "why" over and over. And when I was done, I felt the physical exhaustion of being released from this tormenting past, but I also felt His comfort...His love...His patience...His understanding of how I felt. I realized God could take it all. And willingly did. And He wanted to give me His peace and love.

So when people tell me they are angry with God, I tell them it's all right. Because if we can't be honest with God and have that conversation with Him, we won't heal. Not everyone feels that type of emotion, but those who do, need to learn to talk to God in a way that they feel He's listening. Because we all know that when we feel we're being heard, we listen better ourselves.

Nobody Knows the Trouble I Seen

I had an interesting conversation with someone recently. And though their emotions weren’t unusual, they are wrong. When bad things happen to us, we ask some pretty strange questions sometimes. We might ask, “What did I do now to deserve this?” “Why do you hate me so much, God?” “Will this life of trouble ever end?”

Or we could ask, “What can I learn from this?” “How much of Your strength will I need to get through this one, Lord?”

Or have you reached the point in your Christian walk where you have learned to ask for trials?

I think many of us think of poor Job when we face trouble. If anyone got hit hard and for no reason, it was Job. He lost it all, and even his friends were of no help. Another favorite is Joseph. Yeah, he was probably a little snotty to his older brothers, but nothing merited his being sold into slavery! And though we think about Job having all these catastrophes happen close together, good old Joe seemed to have a lifetime of false accusations thrown at him. Yet in the end he achieved what most people never dream of. I’m not talking about being second in the kingdom stuff, or even reuniting with his family. He was used by God to save a family and set the groundwork for one of the most amazing history stories of a nation to happen. And he recognized that God was in control of his life the entire time.

So, how do you react to problems? Do you question and blame or do you embrace the learning experience? And what do you use as a meter to gauge how bad really bad is? Lastly, what do you do with the trial when it’s past? Do you bury it deep inside, or do you share the experience so others can learn from it, be blessed by it, or see God through it?

The Shack

OK, so I was leary about reading the book The Shack. Come on, comparing it to Bunyon's Pilgrim's Progress! It was loaned to me, and I finally read it. I think people will love it or hate it, and I happen to have loved it. It provokes one to think about some deep issues. It helps you understand possible answers to some of those age old questions that people ask us about God such as, what's this stuff about good and evil? If God is love, why does He let so many bad things happen? Why would God send people to hell if He really wants everyone in heaven? and so on.

In a nutshell the book is about a guy who experiences a tragedy in his life, and his encounter with God. Now the God character will surprise you, and you may bristle at first, but I encourage you to read on, because there are some wonderful nuggets of wisdom in the book. My favorite is when God tells the main character that He lives in expectancy, not with expectations of us. The conversation about the whole verb/noun thing might get you to thinking.

I enjoyed it enough to buy my own copy. I'm already loaning it out since I'm told the waiting list at the library is 400!

Conflict Resolution

Matthew 18 has been a topic of discussion lately for me. It’s the part of scripture that tells us how to resolve differences or gripes we might have with other people. We either hate it because we hate confrontation, or we love it, trying to justify every petty thing we perceive someone does to us in our lives. I’ve seen both extremes of this practiced in churches.

This time though, I went beyond Matthew in my reading, and got some new insight into this type of internal strife that can destroy relationships and entire organizations.

First, I looked at examples of quarrels in the Bible, and read how they handled conflict resolution. First were Lot and Abram when their servants started fighting over land because they’d become so wealthy. Then there was Isaac & the Philistines when water was a little scarce because Isaac had become so wealthy and had too much livestock. (Do I hear “jealousy”?) Joseph even gave his brothers a warning not to get caught up in bickering when Pharaoh sent them to bring back their families. (As long as they’d been apart, he still knew the dynamics of that family!)

I read about the Children of Israel and their beef with Moses in Exodus, and that they were frustrated with other things and God, but took it out on Moses. (Hmm, have I ever misdirected anger?) Exodus goes further to give us laws about making restitution when we wrong someone. (Unintentionally, of course.)

I looked at the story of Naaman (the leper) with new eyes. The king was upset that Naaman came for healing, when who Naaman really needed to see was Elisha. (Wow, miscommunication, assumptions, overreactions…sound familiar?)

When I looked in the New Testament, I found general advice (besides Matthew 18) about this subject. James 4 tells us where this stuff comes from (deep inside our carnal nature.) And Colossians 3 has great advice about how to move forward with forgiveness.

What am I trying to say? In a nutshell, when we are offended or upset with someone, first look at our own hearts and see what might be causing that emotion. If it really is us, maybe God is trying to tell us to clean up a part of ourselves. If someone is truly doing something wrong, look at it from the perspective of the Body of Christ, and how God will be glorified in it. And always ask yourself how you would feel if someone were coming to you with the same issue.

Patriotism vs. Faith

Someone recently sent me an on-line video. I watched it, and though there is something about patriotism that moves me, there was something terribly wrong with the message.

First of all, I don’t believe my hope lies in the Bible and the Bill of Rights. It lies in the Bible alone. It has stood the test of time, and though without our Bill of Rights, life might not be so pleasant, our only true rights are God-given.

When writing a recent theological paper, I came to the realization that Christianity grew the most when history was at it’s darkest. Then I had to admit that a candle casts basically little if any light in the noonday sun. As we pray for revival in hearts and in our country, can we demand for life to be so good?