Can You Help Me?

By Charlotte Riegel –

While visiting my son’s family, the grandchildren pulled out a bucket of play dough and set to work creating various wondrous things. Lilah, the thoughtful one, quietly began playing with the number molds, filling them, digging out the play dough and lining up the numbers. I wondered if she would soon be setting up a mathematical equation for me to solve.

Silas dug through the bucket looking for anything he could use to make an action figure. He eventually settled on a dinosaur mold that sort of looked like a turtle with holes in the shell for the spikes of a dinosaur. What surprised me was his use of the mold. Instead of filling it to create his beast, he began scraping the play dough across the holes, creating crumbles of play dough, or perhaps sand for his dino to walk in. At any rate, that’s all he did for nearly an hour and I silently wondered if perhaps he might become a chef one day, grating cheese and chocolate.

Zoe sat with a few pieces of play dough and some molds but seemed at a loss as to what she should do with them. “Gramma, can you help me?” she pleaded.

“Of course I can help you. What would you like me to do?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said.

“Well then,” I continued, “if you don’t know what you want me to do, how will you know I have helped you when I’m done?”

She took items out of the bucket and put them back in, then left the table apparently disinterested in play dough activities, and began playing with her dolls.

The next day when I felt at a loss with a circumstance facing me, I cried out to God, “Can you help me with this, Lord?” I immediately heard my play dough activity words to Zoe echo back to me.

“What do you want me to do for you?”

I have never doubted that God can help me, but if I’m not specific with my requests, how will I know that He answered my prayer?

PRAYER: Lord, today I need Your help with organizing my day appropriately to accomplish all that needs doing. And, it would be absolutely fabulous if You helped me succeed without becoming distraught, frustrated, or frantic. Amen.

“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see” (Mark 10:51 NIV).

Questions without Answers

By Kathleen Brown –

Hot coffee. Thank you, Lord.

The café next to the motel is a classic—breakfast served all day, coconut and chocolate cream pies displayed in frosty glass cases, endless refills of coffee. I lift the mug to my lips and tell myself everything is fine.

But the confusion continues this morning. In the tiny motel room, Mom couldn’t find the toilet. It was plainly visible, but she couldn’t find it.

What should I do about this? I don’t even know what “this” is.

Across the table from me, my parents have their heads together over the breakfast menu. I hear my father suggesting ham and eggs. Or French toast. Or how about good ole’ oatmeal? His voice is loud, too loud, but she doesn’t correct him as she normally would.

While I was awake last night, I came up with a mental list of things Mom is doing differently. Or doesn’t do at all anymore. Like answering the phone. It’s always Dad now, though he hates to talk on the phone. And ironing. Every shirt he wore to work for 34 years was washed, starched, and ironed by my mother. Even the pants he wore to work on the car were scrubbed and pressed. Now his khakis are wrinkled and his collars look tired. And gardening. The plants and shrubs she tended so carefully are my father’s charges now.

When did she become so inactive?

Bacon? Ham? Sausage? Dad tells her to just make up her mind, just choose. But Mom keeps repeating, “Whatever you’re having. That’s what I want. The same as you.”

Just choose? An hour ago she couldn’t choose what to wear from her little brown suitcase. If I hadn’t helped, would she still be standing there?

Is Dad doing this at home? Helping her get dressed?

I look at them across the table. Mom’s eyes are fixed on my father. His are scanning the café, probably homing in on the goodies in the frosty glass dessert case. But when he turns from the pies, he meets her gaze in a way I have watched since my childhood. About this, there is no confusion. Their eyes speak clear devotion to each other.

The world seems to settle back on its axis. With a silent promise to expect only good things, I drink my coffee and look forward to the day.

Thank you, Father, for parents who still love each other, in spite of the changes the years have thrust on them. But Lord, I’m scared. Have I overlooked too much for too long? Has Dad been hiding this from me? Why? What do I do now? Who knows how Mom will act tonight? Tomorrow? Ahh, yes. You do. You know, Father. You have always known what this day holds. You have a plan and this day is part of it. Thank you for helping me to see the truth. Open my eyes to see the things that have changed; open my spirit to trust in the things that haven’t.

A Dime for You and A Dime for Me

By Pat Hodges –

Sometime ago my wife told me a testimony of when God came through for her in an amazing way for what seemed like a trivial want. She was at work and wanted a soft drink during her break. She counted all the change in her pockets, which came to forty cents. The soft drinks in the vending machine cost fifty cents. She described that a little voice spoke to her and told her there was a dime in the change slot in the vending machine.

She went over to the vending machine and put her forty cents in. She then reached into the change slot searching for what the little voice had told her would be there. Sure enough, her fingers touched a coin, but to her amazement, she didn’t pull out one dime, but two. After getting her drink, she wondered why there had been two dimes instead of just one. She went back to her work station and found out her co-worker was also a dime short of getting a soft drink. With a big smile on her face, she handed the co-worker the dime.

God is not somewhere off in His own world, totally out of touch with our wants, desires, and needs as we might feel at times. We tend to think our wants and desires are too trivial for God; that He has no interest in them. We need to remember He cares about the small things, not just the big things, in our lives.

An example of this can be found in Luke chapter five when Peter and His brother had been out fishing all night and had come up totally empty handed. Out of frustration, they were ready to throw in the towel and call it a failed night. But Jesus showed up and told them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. Peter protested, but went ahead and obeyed the instruction. To their stunned amazement, there were so many fish their nets broke.

I’m quite certain that if we could go back and interview Peter before this occurrence, he might very well have had the same opinion that a lot of Christians have. God is too busy to pay attention to me and my wants and desires. But here, we see that even though Jesus was about His Fathers business, it was in the heart of the Father to bless Peter and his brother and to give Peter the desires of his heart.

Can you think of times when you might have dismissed praying for something believing your Heavenly Father wouldn’t be interested or would not want to take the time to listen to your heart’s desire? He’s more interested than you know.

Calling the Roll

By Hally Franz –

My children are members of Spring Branch Helping Hands 4-H Club, which formed when some families left the very large club, Spring Creek Lively Steppers. Both groups include kids with busy appendages and busy moms. As the current club leader, I write the monthly agendas, which include the roll call portion of the meeting. At each meeting, a truly thought-provoking question is posed to the young people. Their responses to the question verify their attendance.

Example questions include:
“What’s the scariest movie you have seen?” (October)
“Name a spring bird.” (April)
“What’s your favorite event at the county fair?” (July)

During our November meeting, kids were asked to name their favorite Thanksgiving food. My kindergarten nephew responded “beef – hot beef” with notable male enthusiasm. While his grandparents are cattle people, our Thanksgiving feast includes more foul than red meat.

There are usually a few “huh’s” or “whaaat’s” as we work through the list. These individuals have not paid attention to the assignment and need the question repeated for them specifically. A few members will simply say “here” indicating they choose not to participate. Others, sometimes even those with “W” names, are still pondering the question and require a few extra moments before answering. No problem – there are only 53 members in our group! A few of the younger, lively, helpful children go mute when their names are called, so their parents will account for them. Finally, there are the stars who consistently have appropriate, ready responses when their names are called. God love them!

Last night, we sang “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder.” I wondered about what questions will be posed for us at our Heavenly reunion. Will the Almighty ask me my favorite Bible verse or that I name one of Jesus’s miracles? Will it be something easy or a head-scratcher as I enter the gates?

And, what of my response to Him? Surely, I won’t appear clueless or oblivious, but rather attentive and engaged. I hope to be prepared, so as not to keep Him waiting, and I would wish to be humble, but not speechless. No attention-seeking silliness or comedic answers will do. I’d like to have a stellar response.

Perhaps, I should just hope that our Heavenly Father is less judgmental and more patient than any busy 4-H mom!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, help me to be prepared for that awesome meeting with You that awaits me, and all my brothers and sisters in Christ.

“For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel” (Ezra 7:10 NIV).

Logistics

By Janet Morris Grimes –

God has a universe at His fingertips.

I never really stopped to think about it in those terms. The world is so big. So busy. So diverse. Sometimes I think it has too many people with too many opposing beliefs. How can He possibly pay attention to all of us at one time?

But He doesn’t see it that way. It’s all part of the creation that He so adores. He knows us by name, and I think He thrilled when He gets the chance to prove it to us by using His own created universe to touch our lives.

God has a way of working through the details of our lives—details that He has lovingly worked out in advance because in His world, all things truly do work together for good, for those called according to His purpose.

All things work together for good.

For us.

In my own life, I’ve seen it happen numerous times. My current job is a position opened up for me at just the right time, after a period of years where I applied for countless positions in three different states.

When our daughter was a baby, money was extremely tight. I desperately wanted to buy a coat with a matching hat for her, but it was too costly. I said nothing to anyone about it, but prayed and hoped to find it later on a clearance rack at the end of the season. A week later, my mother-in-law handed me a bag in it with that exact coat and hat.

The gift meant much more because we could not afford it on our own.

When our youngest daughter was only two weeks old, a wicked ice storm caused power outages all over Nashville that lasted as long as three weeks. Our house was the only house on the street that maintained power throughout, something that even our electric company could not explain.

Logistics. What you need. When you need it.

God is the master of this. He is immeasurable. His universe, vast.

He adores you. And if you allow Him to do so, He will prove it to you in the most intricate and personal of ways.

PRAYER: Dear God, You are almighty. We are not. Thank You.

Next Page »