Guest Blog - So What Does Baseball Have to Do With Women?

In honor of America's favorite pastime and that one of the teams playing in the World Series has been my hubby's favorite team since he was a little boy and that I try real hard to love things that he loves...I am posting a tribute to baseball, on this our women's blog.  Thanks to Focus on the Family for an incredible blog and GO CARDS!

Joanie

http://www.focusonlinecommunities.com/blogs/Finding_Home/2011/10/19/why-baseball-is-more-than-just-a-sport

GUEST BLOG - Rebecca Metzger - God's Faithfullness

When Joanie asked me to blog, I said of course!  What a great opportunity to share a testimony about God's promises and his faithfulness to me, right?  Well, putting it on paper has been a lot more difficult than I could have imagined, but I'm grateful for the chance.

Erik and I were married in July of 2002.  We were already in our mid-late 20's so talk of children had already begun and we were ready!  I could never have imagined how difficult it would be to get pregnant.  Year one went by, then 2.  Year three I had surgery to remove endometriosis, and was sure that would be the end of our infertility.  Year three came and went but still no pregnancy.  Pressure was mounting from everybody.  We prayed constantly for a child. During this time, Erik received a promise from the Lord that we would have children.  Not a child, but children!  The Lord did not give me that same promise, and as more time went on, I began to lose faith in the promise. 

That 3+ years felt like an eternity, but I found myself pregnant and we could NOT hold it in.  We felt that after all that time we were going to shout it from the rooftops that our God had answered our prayer and kept his promise.  We threw a party and told everyone about how God had answered our prayers, and looked forward to the blessing of this baby.

Nine weeks into my pregnancy I went for my first prenatal visit, only to find out that our baby had no heartbeat.  I stayed in denial for a few weeks, convincing myself that it was just too soon to hear the baby's heart and that I would leave my next appointment rejoicing.  I miscarried at 11 weeks, and the result for Erik and I was devastation.  We named our baby Hope and gave it back to the Lord. 

In the fall of 2006, I got pregnant.  We were thrilled but cautious.  I remember Erik praying with me and telling me that we would have to trust God, lay it at His feet, put it in His hands, and not live in fear.  I praised God for every little sign of my pregnancy, including the morning sickness!   On the night of Thanksgiving, I started to have familiar signs of a miscarriage.  We went to bed feeling numb.  During the night it got worse, and there was no doubt in my mind that I was losing the baby.  In the morning my parents came in and prayed with us.  I was angry and tired and really didn't see any point in praying at that point.  My dad prayed confidently in the blessing of our baby.  I remeber him asking me, "why are you so quick to believe that lie?".  I could not believe his faith!  I felt so sad that he was going to be disappointed.  I thought maybe he didn't understand what was happening to me.  How could I explain it?   I just listened without any faith in the words coming from his mouth.  We wondered how we could go on hoping for something so hopeless.  A few days later my dad called me and said the Lord had given him a verse for me.  It was Phillipians 1:6, be confident in this, that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it...

I did not go to the doctor that week, I wanted to let "nature take its course", and delay the inevitable.  When I felt like it was over, I called my doctor to let him know what happened.  He asked me to come in just to get checked out.  I  told Erik not to come with me.  I knew what they were going to tell me and didn't think there was any reason for him to be there.  They took me back for an ultrasound,  which I felt was completely unnecessary, and asked me a few questions about my previous pregnancy.  I remember looking away from the monitor and willing myself not to cry.  I heard her say "good news" and even laugh a little.  I looked at her in shock, wondering if maybe I had just won a car, and she pointed to the monitor and said "there's the heartbeat".  I could see it too!  A beautiful tiny amazing miracle heart pumping at 156 beats a minute!   Through my tears I said "thank you Jesus", and the tech raised one hand to heaven and said, "yes, thank you Jesus".   I cried myself out of the hospital, through the parking garage and to my car.  I called Erik who was driving at the time and told him to pull over.  He started shouting Praise God!  Praise God!  He says he shouted so loud and cried so hard it gave him a headache.  Now that's pure joy!

It's awesome to look back at a time when I had to have so much faith in God, only to realize how little I really had.  I'm so thankful for the people that God has put in our lives who were able to have faith when we couldn't.  Together, Erik and I learned so much through the trials which ultimately brought us closer to God.  We need to remain humble in our walk with God , trusting that He is in the midst of doing something great all the time.   It may not make sense to us, but in the end God's wine is always best and he often blesses us with a double portion.

We thank God for our miracle baby Beau and the very best of His double portion, baby Will.

GUEST BLOG - JoAnn Glover

There are many things running through my mind as I sit down to write something for the WM blog.  I have two paragraphs written from a couple of weeks ago but this morning I am moving in a different direction.  I took the day off to spend time with the Lord.  I have been reflecting on a tough year.  So many things have happened; so many lessons learned…learning.  This morning I believe I will share a lesson on forgiveness, changing the way one thinks and as always, prayer.   

My beloved step-dad of 33 years died the week before Christmas.  He was the only grandfather (on my side of the family) my children knew and he was a good one.  He and my mom married following the death of both of their spouses and after seeking council from Pastor Reed at First Church of the Nazarene, who gave his blessings.  We have wonderful memories of great times together.  We loved him and he loved us.  But, for a reason we still do not know, two of his children were against the marriage from the beginning.  Mom and Al were both Christians, both dedicated to the Lord and active participants together at First Church.   I could not have picked a better spouse for either one of them.  They had a good life together, loved one another, worked together for the Lord, and were happy. 

I thought perhaps the resentment against my mom had dissipated after they were joined in marriage, but it did not.  There were many things that happened throughout the 33 years where that root of bitterness reared its ugly head.   As a last deed when Al was on his deathbed, bank account numbers were obtained, online banking established in mom and Al’s names and money transferred from their joint account to the two children’s private accounts.  I am trying to think of a softer way to say this and am trying hard not to make this about “what they did” because other than the root of bitterness taking hold of one’s heart, that is not the point.  But here is the point.

Once this information was learned, what was I going to do with it?  How would you feel knowing your mom was provided for and then oops, no she’s not?   I immediately knew the devil was going to try to get a foothold, ah a root of bitterness in my own heart.  But for the better part of one whole day I allowed those bad thoughts to take hold anyway.  I wanted to react like they do on TV…I wanted to “get them”.   But as the sun went down and the Scripture kept repeating in my mind, “let not the sun go down on your wrath” and as those unhealthy, unhappy feelings gripped my heart, I wanted to be rid of them.   

First, I learned that it doesn’t matter how old you are or how long you have served the Lord.  Satan is a roaring lion going to and fro throughout the whole earth seeking whom he may devour.  He was after me!  One of the benefits of spiritual maturity (old age) is to see with spiritual eyes.  I knew what was happening.  I knew the Lord could take it and turn it around, but I myself had no idea how he would get this out of my heart.  I just knew he would if I asked Him.

So, when the family went to bed I had a talk with the Lord.  First, I asked Him to give me someone in the Scripture who had experienced this kind of betrayal.   This is funny now because there are so many, but I could not think of one person in the Scripture who had had this happen to him and that is just what I told the Lord.  [I always look to the Scripture for help and for examples and they have always been there, but not this time.  Oh how the devil blocks your mind and keeps  you from thinking rightly.] 

The Lord answered immediately.  My mind was flooded with people and examples far worse than my mother’s.  First, He said, what about Joseph?  His own brothers betrayed him and sold him into slavery.  What about Sampson, Delilah betrayed him; David betrayed Uriah, a man that had been loyal to him from the beginning, from the times when they had hid in caves together; what about Absalom, David’s own son?  And then He said this, “What about me?  One of my own twelve, one who ate with me, saw my miracles, even that one betrayed me.  And what about my own Jewish people?  I came to give them life, but they turned on me and crucified me.” 

So now I am weeping and calling to mind how these same people reacted to their individual betrayals.  I won’t take the space here to record all their words but they all forgave.  I will record the words of Jesus on the cross, Father forgive them.

So now, Jesus is changing me, changing my thinking, asking me to forgive them.  Wow, this is hard; harder because they did it to my 84 year old ailing mom who needs sitters to care for her and money to pay for the sitters.  My mom who always loved and prayed for them and tried so hard to make them love her.  But that part was Jesus’ business; He would take care of my mom.  I was the one standing in need.  It was me with sin in my heart.  It was me who needed to forgive and be forgiven.  I said to the devil, I am not about to let you get me after all these years.  I will not let this root of bitterness take hold. 

So I turned back to the Lord and asked for one more thing: Lord give me a different way to think about them.  What I am thinking is mean and unkind and vindictive.  How should I think?  Help me to think like you.   And so He did.  He showed me Al and the love he had for his children and how much he wanted them to spend eternity in heaven.  He reminded me of their mother, Jeanette, who had died so young but was there now in heaven and wanting very much for her children to join her.  He showed me the eternal need; He gave me eternal eyesight.  He told me Al wanted me to pray for them, forgive them.  I saw people standing outside the gates of heaven discussing how the devil had won them.  One was saying, “he got me with lust”; another, “he got me with greed and bitterness”, and on it went, people naming ways the devil won them and I saw how senseless and stupid it was.  How we just give a place to the devil in our hearts and lives and let him take over.   

And now I was ready.  He had answered my prayers.  He had given me examples, powerful examples, from the Holy Scriptures and he had changed my way of thinking.  I was ready to let the Lord cleanse my heart of all those unkind thoughts; ready to start praying for them.  More than that, I wanted to pray for them.  And so before I closed my eyes to sleep, I obeyed the Lord.  I let Him cleanse me, let Him set me free and I prayed and am praying for their change of heart too.   Oh How Great is Our God!  By His power He changes the heart.  He changes the mind.  He forgives and restores and fills the heart with His precious Holy Spirit.  How Great is our God!  Praise His name forever. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

GUEST BLOG - Aubry Maxson

Because it's really good stuff and because I want it to be part of our blog archives and because you might have missed it the first time...here is Aubrey's blog post. And did you know that you can make comments on our blog?  If you like it, let's us know! 

AUBREY'S POST
Recently I have felt a prompting to focus on the nature of God.  I don't think it's coincidental at all that when I focus in on something, it's as though my senses become heightened to that one object or concept and I begin to see patterns and deeper connections that I previously passed by or overlooked.  It starts to pop up in sermons, Bible study, songs, and conversation with friends - like pieces to a puzzle.  That's when I know that I need to listen to the message and I get excited about how things begin to fit together. 

I've had some disappointment and heartache this year.  Kind of a string of disappointments, one after another.  Every year has its ups and downs, but this one in particular has had one big bump after another.  I don't know about you, but I discovered that I can only get knocked down so many times before I get really wary about getting back on my feet.  That's when the doubt starts to creep in.  I start to think negatively and begin to look for the next thing that's going to go wrong.  I question what I am doing to possibly cause these things.  And then there's the usual, "Why me?"

There hasn't been anger at God.  Just confusion. I thought that my prayers and plans were normal and appropriate.  I thought my dreams and expectations were going to come to pass.  But God shut doors or detoured my path time and time again.  In my confusion I have come to some realizations.  There's been an awful lot of focus on me in those plans, prayers, dreams, and expectations.  And while what I hoped for wasn't necessarily wrong, they were my plans, dreams, etc.  During one especially disappointing day, I caught myself repeating over and over, "Is this about me?" and then everything was quiet and I felt God's very real response - "This is about me."

A friend recently introduced me to the singer/songwriter Laura Story.  I listened to her testimony on YouTube and was struck by a few lines in her amazing song Blessings.  She talks about trying to reconcile her knowledge that God is completely powerful and completely loving but He hasn't healed her husband who is still suffering from the effects of a brain tumor.   Laura sings about how we pray for blessings that we think are good and appropriate, like prosperity, health, etc. but sometimes God gives us what we need and not what we want.   He doesn't cause the trial, the pain, the hurt.  This world, this life does.  But He doesn't necessarily wipe it away.  She says she is learning that perhaps sometimes He lets us stay broken (even uncomfortably) in order for His light to shine out of all the cracks inside of us. She talks about a blessedness that comes in waiting on the Lord and a deeper intimacy with Him that comes when we walk through a dark valley.  There is a reliance on God's word that we only know when everything else fades away.  Even though things aren't unfolding the way we thought or desired, we are still receiving His blessings, His love, His peace.  She sings about deep thirst and aches that the world doesn't satisfy and how these are longings that remind us that this world isn't our home.  Whew!  Powerful stuff!  Definitely convicting stuff.

That immediately takes my focus off myself and instead puts it on God's plan for me and ultimately His purposes and glory.  When I feel as though I can't see or feel Him and I am absolutely unclear about how to proceed, I focus in on the nature of God.  I counteract those doubts with what I know to be true about Him.  I know that I'm a child of God.  I know He loves me with a deep and everlasting love.  I know that while He may not eliminate the pain or the trials that this world throws my way, He will walk with me.  He is the giver of perfect peace.  He is the provider of grace for each day.  It's then that I start to see the blessings He is pouring out.   It's then I begin to feel excitement about His plans.  If my plans (which I thought were pretty good!) aren't going to come to pass, what does He have in mind?  If His will involves a "waiting time", what does He desire of me in this delay?  These things are easy to pray and much harder to accept and actually live out.   I am prompted to pray that I will not only be open to His plans for me, but that I will have His strength to walk along the path where He leads.