A Song of Ascents. Of David... I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” Psalm 122:1 ESV
The other day I told someone on facebook, “See You Sunday!” It was a short response but a loving one, as I was excited to see this person at church in a few days. Some people are just so precious, you miss them until you see them again at church, right? The Lord is so good to bless us with the friendships of His other children. For what other reasons do we look forward to Sunday?
We get to SEE many things! We see families coming together to praise Jesus. We see a spirit-filled praise band sharing their passion with us. We get to see people come forward to pray for help from the Lord. We see little ones bouncing around the sanctuary, excited to see their friends. The list goes on and on. I see these things as gifts straight from the Lord. He binds us in His family with lots of family love and shows us, everywhere we look around the church, how blessed we are!
Who do we mainly want to see? We want to see the Lord of course! We can say, “See You Sunday,” to Him and be excited it means we look forward to experiencing Him in His house. Do we ever say that to Him? Maybe not, because we pray and worship at home too. But I am thinking, maybe we should say that to Him!
When we say, “See You Sunday” to friends, it is something to look forward to, for sure. However, we can see and experience Jesus in our hearts every day! His throne is anywhere we let Him rule. I am trying to imagine what the Lord sees when He looks down from heaven, but also looks out from our hearts. It must make Him happy that we love each other and love Him and look forward to being together. See You Sunday!
“The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.” Psalm 29:11 NIV
Peace is not an easy-to-achieve blessing. We have to ask God, serve others, compromise, change and work together on a common goal, in order to make it happen. It takes all of us. It is my prayer that we do put down swords and lift up our hands and hearts in prayer.
Choosing Peace
Guide our leaders, Lord we pray. Help them as they start each day.
Send them wisdom from above. Let them know that they are loved.
When it comes to policy, let them not so hostile be.
When they start to fuss and fight, send them peace to make things right.
Show them how to work things out, so peace will reign as love wins out.
May we play a part as well, encourage peace among ourselves.
Knowing right and doing wrong, we all have bickered far too long.
We, a nation must unite, drop our swords and do things right.
Teach us Lord Thy will to see and give us grace abundantly.
A hurting nation at unrest needs all of you to do their best.
Give us eyes that we may see the path that leads to unity. Amen
Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:3-4 ESV
This is my second story from a hospital visit. If you didn’t catch my first story from our visit to the hospital, check out the devotion from two days ago, Love’s Story, Tuesday,May 3. Suffice it to say, I was really impressed by the healthcare workers in Carillion’s Cardiac Wing.Here is a true story, the exact words from my notebook on that day.
Love is Alert
Oh, wow. In the bay next to ours, a man’s alert bell is going off. I hear him calling the nurses with the remote and also with his scared voice. I hope he is okay! With the curtain to our room closed so John can rest, I hear the stranger’s frantic cry for help. I now hear several nurses’ feet shuffling quickly to him. He seems confused and anxious as he moans to them, “I’m having a problem.” Poor man!
I could tell the nurses were compassionate because they seemed to put their love into overdrive to rescue this man from his distress. I heard and admired their care-filled words.
“Aw, honey, you know you’re just loving those bells.” And from another nurse, ” No worries. We got you. You’re in good hands now.” and from another, after they apparently got him situated, “You’re all set now. What else can we do for you?” And, “We are real close so just call us if you need anything else.”
That’s the story of love that touched my heart. I probably need to send that wing this devotion so the unknown nurses know what seeds of love they accidentally scattered to me. Just to hear their hearts without knowing them at all is a precious gift. If I ever do write a book about love’s story… I am praying about it…this will go in it. Why? Those nurses taught me something, three wonderful things actually:
Love means relieving someone else’s stress. They ran to him at the first sign of trouble and cared for him. They were eager to do so. Love is automatic and compassionate like that. Love is on alert.
Love means verbally committing to someone. They told him they had him, that he was in good hands. They took responsibility for him. Love commits like that.
Love means doing more than you are asked. Love cannot help but do that. It spills out abundantly. After they met the patient’s need, they didn’t say “so long,” they asked him what other things they could do for him. Love says, “How can I care for you even more?”
Questions for you and I to think on…Who is it that we need to commit to care for? How can we relieve the stress of one of our neighbors? Have we verbally committed to anyone outside of our family? Who does that…Offers more than someone needs? (Our Lord does!) Has someone besides the Lord, ever seen us loving abundantly and committing and being generous with our heart? How cool that we can be witnesses of God’s love!
I never expected to learn so much about love that day, but God’s plans are always amazing like that! Thank you, Lord for allowing me to be a bystander to seeing love in action and showing me what active love looks like. I will try to look more through eyes of love like You do.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Ephesians 6:12-13 NIV
Here is a song I wrote, that I hope encourages you. We are in a battle which is already won by our own personal friend and Savior! He won it for us! The enemy in the world tempts, taunts and terrorizes us, trying to take back the victory. Just say, “Not today, World!”
This battle on the ground is not my final one. Any troubles here last just awhile. The world can try, but never get my soul’s embrace. My Jesus lives inside.
So when I get discouraged on the battlefield, Weary of the fight, I lift my eyes. I see your face, and all the worries, Lord, you take them from my mind, You are my saving grace!
Not today, world. I’m not yours to have. Not today, for I am His alone. Any victory, you may have over me, will not destroy. I still have joy! My Father’s on the throne!
When trials come and chase me on the battlefield, I’m tempted to give in and blame you, Lord. I ask you why. You dry my eyes and all the burdens, Lord you help me carry them, and point me to the skies!
He won the battle on the cross. Paid the price to set me free! The world no longer gets to have a hold on me. The battle’s done. I see the Son! He won the victory!
With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:2-3
I am so excited for today’s devotion! Such a cool “God-thing happened while John was at the hospital! This story is a true one and the main character is a health-care worker named Roy. Roy Dillard, if you are reading this, thank you, again, for your dedication to others and to the Lord. You never had to tell me you were a believer. I just knew. Your name tag read “Clinical Associate” but you were a much-needed angel that day. Thank you for giving me permission to share this story.
The following is what I actually wrote on April 13, while John and I were at the hospital for about 12 hours. This may be the beginning of a book I want to write, so it is a bit scary to start. There are so many stories of love to tell:)
Love’s Story
I met the sweetest Carillion employee today. Although his tag said “Clinical Associate”, I would call him a much-needed angel.
So, I am sitting in a hospital room, all set up for a long day of tests for my husband John. His heart has several serious issues that need looked at, so today is an information-gathering day for us all. The surgeons will poke and prod by way of a scope and then a catheterization. They will put a camera down his esophagus and a catheter to his heart. It dawns on me this moment that God knows the condition and issues of his heart, even though we do not have a clue. The doctors are going in to see what God already sees. I trust You, Lord, to help the doctors get to the root of his heart issues. Thank you for them as they are making a difference in our lives for the better.
I am considering how caring and compassionate the healthcare workers are. Do they ever get tired of serving others? Just then a “Clinical Associate” comes in to hook John’s heart monitor up. He is wearing a wooden amulet of sorts, around his neck. I wonder about it, but instead I blurt out, “Don’t you ever get tired of taking care of everyone?”
He looked kind of shocked, but then slowly answered… “People come in here all vulnerable and scared. They have serious conditions. They face their own mortality.”
I wondered how this answered my question, and seeming to catch my thoughts, he said, “Tina, It’s not just me helping people. It’s how they help ME. Their strength, their courage helps ME.” Can I tell you a story?”
“Of course,” I replied, intrigued. Here is the story that Roy told to me about a lady patient that I will call “Helen,” although Roy never told me any names.
“Helen” was in here for a serious heart condition, as are most of the people I see. She asked me if she could tell me a story. She patted the bed for me to sit beside her. I did. I felt bad that she was having to face difficult things. What she told me was a story from her youth.
When this lady was about the age of 14 or so, she was on a school bus on her way to school. She and her friends always sat together in the front of the bus. At one of the bus stops, some black kids got on and instantly went to the back of the bus, as was the norm at the time. She wondered why that had to be, so she turned to the back and told some of the black kids to come sit with her. However, as the invited kids considered it, Helen’s own friends thought she was crazy. They were saying things like, “What are you doing? You can’t do that! and Don’t let them come up here. They belong in the back.” So, after consideration of losing her friends, “Helen” turned back around to them, not wanting them to be mad at her.”
Helen felt such regret for years and years that she did that. She never told anyone until she told me. She dared, after seventy-some years, to ask me, a black man, to sit with her, something she did not have the courage to do when she was young. She apologized to me, saying something like, “I know you are not one of those kids, but I feel so bad that I never apologized to those kids, so I want to apologize to you and anyone of your race. I am so sorry I did that. I did not stand up to my friends and did not make friends with the kids in the back. They did not deserve to be treated that way. I was so very wrong.”
I forgave her and thanked her for sharing that with me. It meant a lot, her having the courage to tell me that story. That’s what I mean when I say I get more from them than I give. She blessed me that day!”
I teared up. He told me he teared up, too, when Helen told him the story. I felt the pain and regret of Helen. It had been building up for years. I also felt the love in the story. Helen loved and appreciated Roy’s care of her and that must have given her courage to tell him a difficult story and admit her wrongdoing. I told Roy this..
“Roy, love made her do that. You cared for her, then she cared for you. She told you a love story, then you told me one and now I will tell others with your permission. As Helen blessed you, you have blessed me, Roy. You are a black man and I am a white woman. You told me that story with courage, knowing I would love and accept it, didn’t you? Helen’s love went to you and yours comes to me and now mine will go to someone else. Love travels like that. Love has many stories to tell. Thank you for sharing that with me. You are here to take care of John and you just worked on MY heart real good.”
THE END
Or maybe the beginning. Love does have many stories to tell. Maybe I will tell you another story sometime:)
I truly love and appreciate you all. May God bless you real good today!
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