Ranting and Raving

By Elaine James –

She was ranting and raving. “This can’t happen! My house will not be worth anything. If this goes through I will be staring at walls five feet from my house. This could cause my house to be flooded even more. I must go fight city hall, this just can’t happen!”

As her blood pressure went up, I prayed “Oh Lord, what can I say to help this woman?” She has battled a severe illness in the past and she doesn’t need this stress now. Really none of us do. Neighbors were complaining that she was saying things that were not true.

“I will be praying for you,” I promised.

She stopped. A look of shock came over her. “Well…..I, I, I” the words slurred out of her mouth. She knows Jesus. We have talked about Him before.

I was reminded of the words I read just this morning in Deuteronomy 28 “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you if you obey the Lord your God; you will be blessed in the city and be blessed in the country” (Deuteronomy 28:1-3 NIV).

“Come here and give me a hug,” I uttered as I opened my arms to her. As I embraced her, she sniffled. Tears began flowing down both our cheeks. I whispered “You are God’s child. He will not let you go. He loves you! Whatever the outcome, He always promises to be there for you. And getting all worked up can’t be good for your health.”

Maybe you too have been ranting and raving about something. Sometimes the pressures from life cause you to worry and be fearful of the future. It can be too much to handle. As a result, things come out of our mouth that should not.

Has this happened to you?

Thankfully, I had just visited with my Savior! Otherwise I probably would have been tempted to rant and rave along with her.

PRAYER: Father in heaven, I have been so worried about______. Help me to stop. I want to be able to give this to You. Forgive me for ranting and raving. Thank You for blessing me with the ability to give this to You today. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

When Life Gives You Lemons make Limoncello

By Elaine James –

When my family and I arrived in Naples, Italy we found out our luggage was lost. We had to leave to get to Sorrento. After 24 hours, we got back from a tour and were ready to change clothes, but to our dismay our luggage was not there.

Immediately, I was freaking out inside. Trying not to yell at the front desk girl, as she was our interpreter, but it was becoming increasingly harder. She presented the only solution, which was for my husband to travel an hour to the Naples Airport. But, not only would they not bring the luggage, they refused to pay for the driver.

Still, I could not calm down. I wanted to be a good sport in front of the front desk girl and my children, but was failing. I hid in the bathroom, praying that God would help me to let this go and accept the situation.

My husband left with the driver. My kids said “Mom, stop. What is the big deal?” I yelped back “The big deal is we only have so much time and we can’t miss being together. Time is wasting.”
I was so disappointed in myself that I just couldn’t get it together, but we decided to go to dinner while my husband was gone, leaving a note for him to explain where we were.

My mood lightened as we ate delicious food. We actually started to laugh. As we finished, my husband appeared in the doorway with a huge grin and spring in his step. “What is going on?” I asked.

He told us about his adventure with an Italian driver. There were no glitches to get the luggage, they were just in and out. The driver, with his broken English, reported on the history of the town and their great produce: lemons.

What seemed like a “sour” part of our trip suddenly turned around and become quite “sweet.” The driver offered his family’s secret recipe of Limoncello. My husband was so excited, and I was filled with peace when I saw how God took care of everything.

I apologized to my family. I learned that when life gives you lemons, you can either get emotionally worked up or wait it out and accept the things you cannot change. And my husband learned when life gives you lemons, make Limoncello!

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55: 9 NIV)

Get a Grip

By Elaine James –

I like this! “Send me some more like this and we can probably do an e-book,” the editor stated.

I was so excited, so I took the next months to edit and rewrite all 31 devotions. That moment of truth had come for the manuscript was just an “enter” away on my computer. I said a prayer “Lord may these writings bless others and may You get all the glory.”

On January 2nd of this past year, I received in my inbox an e-mail from my Editor. I breathed deeply and opened it. It stated “Elaine, our board passed on your Devotions proposal.” They went on to give a statement of what they were looking for and some suggestions to my future writings.

My son writes music for songs. He has experienced rejection too. It is not easy.

What do you do when you experience rejection? After you’ve put everything you have into a project, but still feel as if you are not moving forward.

Stop. Step back. Take a deep breath. And pray!

Sometimes, I beg God to show me what is going on. Am I off track? Am I doing the wrong thing?

But I know God has brought me to this point.

Have you been praying for your own journey? Then why would God steer you the wrong way?

There are the right people out there who will appreciate you and your work. Just wait! Wait until God shows you. Don’t believe any other words. Trust God, who placed you on this path.

Maybe it is time to just praise and worship God and stop making requests as to how He should respond. Just spend time with Him. Relax, God is not done yet!

Be wise. Continue, and praise the Lord in all circumstances.

“Praise the LORD, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, my soul” (Psalm 103:1-2b).

Weebles Wobble

By Elaine James –

“…but they won’t fall down.” My friend pointed that out to me as I was describing to her my full calendar. I was upright with regular routines, but quite wobbly with new obligations and commitments. After her comment, I Googled the ‘Weebles’ to realize I was, indeed, looking like the Wobblin’ mom these days. I looked at the schedule and couldn’t imagine getting everything done and keeping my family sane.

Am I the only person in the world to have this problem?

Thankfully, God reminded me of the days when I spent lots of time with Him learning how important to put Him first. He trained me to put family next and to take one day at a time, being careful to say “no” to things that would distract me. I had to stop meddling in other people’s business and stop worrying about how they did things. Each day I prayerfully stay focused making sure not to neglect my time with the author and perfecter of my faith.

We can start a Weebler club. You may find the club members to have financial troubles, lack of job security, troubled friendships, schedule changes or an illness. Our mission would be to acknowledge God’s presence and His willingness to be faithful. He wants to be there for you. Do you believe it?

Even if an earthquake comes; our gravitational force (God) brings us Weeblers back into an upright position. Join with me and make are club motto “We know we will wobble, but with Christ we won’t fall down.”

PRAYER: Be my ever present guide. When I think I will fall help me to be reminded You designed me to not fall. You are there for me.

‘Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the LORD, who has compassion on you” (Isaiah 54:10 NIV).

Crappy Situation

By Elaine James –

My Auntie looked down at her folded hands in her lap and got very quiet. I was at the nursing home. It was a recurring moment of disappointment. None of her three daughters had shown up for a visit.

She broke the silence with tears streaming down her cheeks. “They should be here. I’m lucky if one of them comes once a month. Am I being punished? Maybe I did something wrong. What if they never come again?”

The nurse came in to administer her depression medication. In the last year, she had been hospitalized several times and was put in a closed psychiatric ward for severe depression.

On this day, I had come prepared to give my Auntie a loving message. She said “Life is meaningless. I feel empty inside.”

I explained what it meant to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “Auntie, people will let you down but Christ never will. Your constant battle with sadness is not helping you get better. Are you willing to give this crappy situation to God?” I paused. She seemed to be listening, so I continued. “I know it stinks, but you can commit your life to Christ and allow Him to help you. His loving arms extended wide open on the cross. Jesus’ death was a free gift that paid the penalty for your sins. It opened the door to eternal life.”

She admitted “It never was explained that simple before.” She prayed and asked God to forgive her sins and admitted she needed a Savior. We prayed for her daughters and asked God to help her with her depression.

I dedicated some time daily for a 2-3 minute phone call where we did devotions together. Then I tapered down to every other day and eventually, once per week. Within a month of praying that prayer, two Christian women from the neighborhood started visiting my Auntie on a regular basis. They had much in common and enjoyed each other’s company. Together they read the word and prayed.

When we face such situations, clenching our fists and demanding life be fair is not the solution. It is a continuing punishment that leads to depression. But when we open our hands up to God, inviting Him into our situation, it leads to unimaginable resolutions.

“God looked and saw evil looming on the horizon— so much evil and no sign of Justice. He couldn’t believe what he saw: not a soul around to correct this awful situation. So he did it himself, took on the work of Salvation, fueled by his own Righteousness” (Isaiah 59:15 MSG).

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