Unbridled Joy in Community

By Diane Mayfield –

I am filled with joy today, filled to overflowing.

I asked God what to write about this month. I presented Him with several options, such as sitting in the hospital waiting room with my dear friend and sister in Christ while her forty-two-year-old daughter underwent breast cancer surgery.

Other options flooded my thoughts as I talked with God. I could write about my girls’ trip to the beach. Six Christ followers talking, laughing, praying and crying with each other over a four day trip. We were brought together by our love for movies and the Savior—not in that order I hope.

A third option was to write about standing with my sister as she goes through the process of ending a twenty-four- year marriage.

One other choice is the joy of planning a wedding shower for a friend I’ve known for thirty-three years. At times she questioned whether she would ever know the joy of her daughter finding a life companion. What an answer to prayer!

Which one of these, Lord, do I write about? Pondering as I often do, I was aware of the feeling of abundant joy and peace in the midst of my quandary. Why? What about all of these options produced such a response?

It’s the joy of Christian community. For years I’ve prayed for a real sense of Christian community, a sense of Christian family. I wanted the real, authentic kind where you are so different, but you love each other anyway. It’s sharing the nitty gritty of daily living life together, not just saying hello or shaking hands on Sunday morning.

What God has given to me now is not because of my children’s activities, though when I was raising my children, I deeply valued those friendships, or my husband’s work or even my work. These are relationships based solely on Jesus. He is the starting point.

What’s so overwhelming is that I never dreamed at this stage of life, an empty nester and grandmother, I’d have the joy of new relationships in Jesus as well as the treasured friendships of years past. I am richly blessed by His gift of this Christian community.

So, whether it’s praying with a small group family enduring a life-altering accident with their grandson or the joy of a much prayed for and highly anticipated wedding, Christian community provides an abundance of joy. It’s a blessing and a privilege to be involved in others’ lives at each turn of the journey.

As I sat in the hospital waiting room at MD Anderson Cancer Center with my dear friend, we ate, we talked, we laughed, we walked and most of all, we just waited. The waiting seemed to last forever. When it was unbearable, we prayed. Then the surgeon came out and said the words we longed to hear. “All went very well. There is no cancer in the lymph nodes.” Then we cried and hugged and rejoiced.

So, today, when I think through all these events, and these are just a few, I am filled with joy. My life is abundant because of the Christian family God has given me. For me it is the richest of blessings

“Thank you, my Lord, for the incomparable gifts of your riches that I experience in this dear Christian family.”

Lessons Learned from Downton Abbey

Diane Mayfield –

I’m obsessed with Downton Abbey. I cannot get my mind off it. While I was sick, I watched Seasons I, II, and even III, non-stop. I love the clothes, the glamour, and the big house. I love the downstairs drama and the upstairs drama. I think about the characters constantly. I’m even having conversations with them in my dreams.

For those who are not familiar with the English drama presented by Masterpiece theatre, here’s a short summary. Downton Abbey, located just outside London, is the inherited estate of Lord and Lady Grantham and their three adult daughters. It has been in the family for generations. The story revolves around the lives of the upstairs aristocratic Grantham’s and the downstairs family of servants that care for them and the home. I hate to admit it, but I long to be part of the aristocracy.

Finally, I had to confess to Jesus my obsession. It was actually interfering with my conversations with Him. I just had to get it all out on the table. It seems so wrong to be focused on such worldly, temporary concerns, and to want a life of elitism. This is what He showed me.

After my confession, in His forever-gentle way, He helped me to see what eternal value I could glean from my obsession with this show.

In Jesus, I am an aristocrat. I am the daughter of a king and not just any king, the King of Kings. He has built a place for me, a mansion, just like Downton Abbey is a mansion. Lord Grantham didn’t gain Downton Abbey by his own hard work. He was born into it and inherited it. I too will inherit my eternal home not by works but by faith in the blood of my Lord.

My pastor even drove this home yesterday when speaking about who we were created to be in the beginning. According to him, we were created “kings of the earth, to rule over all God’s creation” until Adam made a wrong choice, ate from the apple and sin entered the world. Now we live on this earth as tillers of the soil and not kings and queens, not yet anyway.

At one point in the show, Lord Grantham says how he views his responsibilities as the Lord of the Manor. He is the custodian of Downton Abbey. His job is to care for it and provide for those who depend upon it for their livelihood. I too am a custodian of all I have been given, which includes spiritual gifts and talents as well as material blessings. Most importantly, I am a vessel of God’s love and grace, a reflection of His image on earth. I have a responsibility to pass all this on to those God has entrusted to my care and whomever He brings into my life.

So, there’s no need for lusting or obsessing about this show. Instead, it is a vision of who I am in Jesus and a picture of where I will be for all eternity, serving my King in the place He prepares for me.

There is one aspect of the show that I am ashamed I don’t long for. I’m not lusting for the downstairs life of the servants. Their clothes are simple, their rooms are sparse, and their lives are not their own. They live to serve the upstairs family. They show deep respect for the aristocracy and acceptance of their position in life. I can certainly learn from such devotion.

The next time I sit down to watch this masterful production, hopefully my focus won’t just be on the promise of the Downton Abbey to come, but also on the servant’s heart demonstrated by the downstairs people. After all, my Lord did come to serve and not be served.

God, help me to be as you are, to focus on serving others while hoping for the promise of what’s to come.

Eight Electrons

By Makenzie Allen –

You know what I love about God? He was, is, and forever will be the greatest scientist to ever live. Not in the sense that He studies and hypothesizes about things He cannot understand. God is a scientist because He created everything using the laws of science, which He engineered. He is the greatest because He designed science itself. You know Adam? Made out of dust, as soon as God commanded. You know atoms? God thought those up during His spare time. Which we all know was zilch time. Since when does God have spare time anyway? I can imagine Him speaking to the angels, “Schedule me a quiet time right between when those dear little children are praying to me and when those clanging cymbals need to be reminded for the seventy-seven times seventh time that stealing doesn’t go unpunished.”

So, in the beginning, God created Adam. And the atoms.

While it took God no time at all to come up with the atom, it has taken some of the greatest scientists centuries to come up with a model of what the atom could be composed of. And the model we now have as our closest representation is still just that, close, but not complete.

This year I am taking a chemistry class, which has sparked my love and fascination for science to a whole new level of awe. One night I sat in bed doing chemistry homework as my friend from Ohio read beside me. Sophia is her name. I call her Soph out of habit. Soph is amazing. She inspires and challenges me to not just offer a place in my heart to God, but to offer my whole heart and life to Him.

As I was drawing molecules—yes molecules. I was stoked!—a thought struck me. “Soph, you know what’s crazy?”

“What?” Soph asked, looking up from her book.

“Everything, not just people, but everything in some way is trying to gain perfection.”

Soph looked at me with curiosity and turned her full attention to me as I tried to explain.

Atoms are made up of three basic parts: the protons, neutrons, and electrons. Of the three, electrons are the most important part as far as chemistry goes. And every atom besides hydrogen has a strong desire for eight specific electrons. Once an atom has eight specific electrons, it is considered perfect and is satisfied.

In this world, perfection is something we all strive for in some way or another. As atoms try to gain eight electrons to be perfect, we might try to lose eight pounds.

“For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out” (Romans 7:18, AMP).

No, we cannot achieve perfection. And God has not asked us to, not on our own. Adam’s descendants, and the atoms, can only attain perfection by the power of their Savior. As Paul said, we have not the power to carry it out. But then, God does. God has the power and by Him we are made perfect, whole, and washed clean. And on that beautiful day, when I am brought to my Father’s house, He will see His power in me, and not the imperfections and insecurities that I was bound to as a fallen human.

Walk, Stand, Sit

By Heather Allen –

Roughly twenty to one. Those are not great odds in a face-off. I did not have a sling or five smooth stones. My life was not at risk, my future was.

The loudest in the group of my would-be friends turned hard eyes on me, her face twisted into a snarl. “You are just a Jesus girl.”

And with that, it was done. The horde moved down the hall, a repetitive bell reminding them school was in session. I stood alone. Wow, Jesus girl? There are moments when Satan’s mask slips. I almost pegged the wrong enemy.

Two solitary school years began that day. No matter who you are, at some point you will have to choose who you are going to walk with.

We drive our daughter to the south where tea flows and generous smiles beam. The brick dormitories that could be her home stand bookishly solemn, reminding me of the lateness of the hour. The breeze catches my sweater. We head for the campus coffee shop. Laughter circulates through the air, companions bend over a paper, a grinning barista is ready to help.

I trail my daughter, wondering how our home will move on when she moves on. The campus President graciously shuffles his schedule and shares lunch.

He looks me in the eye. “There are three questions you must ask.”

1. Does this school and its instructors believe in absolute truth?
2. Does this school and its instructors believe God’s word is literal?
3. If yes to the first two questions, how is the truth of God’s word incorporated into the classroom?

I sit back letting my breath empty. I should have studied for this.

Six people enter the conversation and we start talking about Psalm 1. I squint at the window and up to the clouds. Should I fall on the floor and declare Holy? This passage again. It has been spoken to me at least four times in two weeks. Okay God, I hear you. If Psalm 1 were a location, I just moved in. My attention shifts back to the college President.

“Do you see the sequence? First a person walks with those who are rebellious against God, and then he takes his stand with them, and then he sits and remains in the dwelling of the wicked, who are arrogant and scornful.”

His last words on the subject went something like this,

“If you have trained your child to live righteously, if you have carefully instructed them eighteen years, and this is the first time they are leaving your influence, why would you hand them over to those who are ungodly? Would you have them alter what you have spent so much time building? Why would you pay for your child to walk in their counsel?”

Good questions, thought provoking. Leaving this circular mind with a few more.

We wave goodbye to the South, our time is up. Winding down the Appalachians confident, knowing He will keep us as we journey. He has a path for us. I know He will lead.

“For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish” (Psalm1:6 NIV).

P.S.

By Makenzie Allen –

To: The one I’m waiting for
Love: Kenzie

Last December, on a cold winter night, my dad and I ran from the car into an auditorium. It was alive with all kinds of colored lights. My dad had decided to surprise me with a ticket to go see The Nutcracker and have a night out with him. We sat and watched as the ballerinas twirled around and the Nutcracker fought valiantly against the Rat King. Afterwards, my dad took me to a coffee shop where I was given something that reminds me, almost daily, of you.

It was my purity ring. It means more to me than just being pure. The ring means that while I wait for you, I can learn to love in a Godly way. In a way that will last.

Something that I’ve learned through my teen years may come as a shock considering all the movies, books, and songs teaching us the key to happiness is a significant other. What I’ve learned is this—teen years are some of the most crucial years of life to find who God made you to be and to grow as your own person. The only thing is, you can’t grow as your own person when your whole goal in life is to keep someone’s attention. We cannot compromise our identity for love. I’m praying you won’t.

Right now, as I press through my junior year, my goal will not be to find a boyfriend. My goal will not be to seek a guy’s attention. My goal will not be to sway from my identity for a chance at synthetic love. My goal will be to give God my life, my love, and my devotion. Then someday, when I meet you, I’ll be able to give you a love worth waiting for.

Please wait for me.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NIV).

One of my prayers for you is that you would be a man after God’s heart, and that you would love Him above all else. Even more than me.

I don’t know when I’ll meet you, or if I already have, or if I ever will. It doesn’t matter though. You and I can be content, loving God and living fully immersed in His presence. My greatest fear is that I’ll miss the gifts God has given me in the here and now because I’m too busy craving the future.

Let’s not crave the future, okay? I want so badly for us to not miss daily blessings. Pray for me, as I pray for you.

To the one I’m waiting for.

P.S. Hope to see you in a few years. Wait for me.

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