After the Rain

After the rain...comes the rainbow. Looking over my last post in March I see that waiting to get over winter, I had no visions of the storms that come with the springtime. While driving on a recent warm, but stormy afternoon, I was blessed with the appearance of 3 different rainbows in the fields passing by the interstate. It wasn't but a few days prior that I had seen a picture of another rainbow while scrolling through the pictures of the devestation from the tornado that leveled Joplin, Missouri. That one made me pause: a perfect double rainbow over the aftermath of the twister. Another caught my eye also: a sillouette against stormy skies of a cross still standing over the ruins of a church.

After the rain...comes the rainbow. I don't know where that well-known phrase originated, but it definitely is biblical in nature. For Jesus told us in John 16:33: In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world. The world...full of heartaches, anxieties, worries and hassles. And yet, we get glimpses of heaven - in the sunny day after the storm, the spring after the winter cold, the new love after being widowed, the precious baby after the pain of childbirth.

He has overcome the world. Many times we get to experience that promise in the blessings that remind us to have hope, though sometimes it is only the hope of heaven that sustains us. For He has overcome even the final suffering of death. I always wonder how those who don't believe can face the sufferings we all face eventually without that hope.

But the question remains - how to negotiate the storms while we wait for the rainbows? We can learn from the Israelites who built altars along the way when they had an encounter with the Lord. Psalms 84: 5-7 tells us: "Blessed are those whose strength is in You, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage...They go from strength to strength."

Therefore, we see that when we are being buffeted by the winds of life, feeling weak against the elements, we need to remember our blessings and trust they will come again. We need to savor them and build an altar of praise in our heart, recognizing that we've been assured, "I will be with you always."

We need to cling to that hope and abide. We need to take a deep breath and ride out the storm, drawing strength that the rescure is coming, which gives us the ability to hold on. As the old ballad tells us, "Hold on through the wind. Hold on through the rain, though your dreams be tossed and torn. Hold on. Hold on, with hope in your heart, for YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE."

And remember - after the worst storm of all that flooded the entire earth, Noah was given a rainbow.


After the Rain

The rain is so cold.
The wind is so strong.
I'm hanging on Lord,
but I wonder, for how long?

You say you won't give us
more than we can bear,
That You're with us always,
That we can rest in your care.

But this storm disorients.
I feel no strength to withstand.
My fingertips seems to be slipping
from the hold on Your hand.

I don't know what to do,
what to think, where to turn.
Yet somehow, deep within
I know this is where I learn...

To depend, to surrender,
to know it's not in my hand.
That it's only here in the storm
where I'll begin to understand...

That You're sovereign. You know
the end of this path I can't see.
Please show me the next step.
Please reveal it to me.

For I've been here before.
And You saw me through then.
Give me faith to trust now,
to upon You depend.

Help me to weather this storm
with quiet dignity,
Knowing all is up to Your
all powerful divinity.

Though there be rain now,
help me to know.
You have overcome this world.
There WILL BE a rainbow.

After the Rain

After the rain

March Snow - Time to Cling and Cope!

Good grief, will this winter never end? While I can't believe that I haven't posted a blog since January, I can believe less that there are at least 4 inches of snow on my deck on March 14! Yet as the little wildflowers grow up in the mountains despite all odds, I also believe spring will push through! However, I probably won't get to enjoy my hyancinths that were already pushing through last week when the first hint of spring appeared with temperatures in the 60's! There are some calamities that we just have to deal with!

How do I know spring will come? Well, it always does! The ebb and flow of the seasons promise it, even though there is not one bit of evidence of it today!

Similary, in my bible study where I listen to all sorts of sometimes heartbreaking prayer requests, with the people I work with at Love, Inc. who have come there because they are destitute or have just been released from jail, and even just reading the newspaper, I can see where many see no evidence of things being okay. There is little to base the belief that "all things work together for good to those who love the Lord" (Rom. 8:28) when faced with their calamities. Tell that to the little lady I just met who has two children and not one stick of furniture in their house - their clothes are in piles on the living room floor. They've been living off of child support and a settlement from a car accident while she waits to see if her disability will kick in since her arthritis is keeping her from working as a home health nurse. Tell that to my friend who has just been served divorced papers. Tell that to the mother in a nearby town that left her 18 month old for just a minute sitting in the bathtub and came back to a lifeless drowned little body. And my friend who is battling the deterioration of Parkinson's. Tell that to those in the aftermath of the devastation after the earthquake in Japan.

And yet, for those of us who believe, we do have evidence that all will somehow work to the good. It's not as easy to feel as the temperature that is supposed to get to 70 even this week that will indeed let us know that surely this was the last snow. But it is in the peace that passes understanding that Phil. 4 tells us about. And I DO see that in many of those people I just mentioned. Unbelievably, amazingly so!!!

I've been studying As Silver Refined by Kay Arthur in my Ladies Bible study which tackles the hard question of God allowing suffering. She reminds us that Habakkuk offers us an example. We learn that he too questions God: "Why art Thou silent?" (Hab. 1:13). But then we see that he listens for an answer. "I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me. (Hab. 2:1) And then I am drawn again to that lovely verse of belief that says, "Though the fig tree should not blossom, and there be no fruit on the vines...yet I will exalt in the Lord. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength." (Hab. 3:17-19). And then he concludes that "He has made my feet like hinds' feet, and makes me walk on my high places." (Hab.3:19)

We may not understand it, but we can believe it - even though we don't get the answers we want on earth - and our winters of suffering seem to last so long - even until the next life! BUT, like Habakkuk, we can believe even if the fig trees of our desires should not blossom, we have our salvation and our spring WILL come! And in the meantime - He'll teach us to walk, developing the kind of feet that can find the wildflowers even admist the snow, that kind of walking that takes us to our high places that we can cling to even in the worst times of waiting.

That's why I go to Bible study every week. That's why I can offer the bible verses I bring to those destitute people at Love Inc. and to my friends who suffer. Because if they can put those verses in their heart then they too can believe their spring will come! It's the only thing that makes any sense, that can bring hope out of hopeless situations. This study on Habukkuk brought a poem to my heart...

Coping and Clinging

Though the fig tree should not blossom.

and there be no fruit on the vine, (Hab. 3:17)

like Habakkuk our model,

let me be inclined

to still praise You, Lord,

to recognize my salvation, (Hab. 3:18)

to realize no circumstance

can result in its cessation.

No heights or depths can rob me

of my reason to rejoice.

No matter what I suffer

I always have the choice

to turn to the God who is my strength, (Hab. 3:19)

who gives and takes away.

We don't understand it now

but we are promised that someday

all our tears will be over

if we trust Him now on earth.

In life or death or suffering,

He's promised a new birth.

Right now it's still a mystery

how our refining can work for good. Prov. 17:3, Rm. 8:28

So it's by faith we must live

until it's understood.

But if we grow quiet enough to listen,

we can hear Him in our pain

and believe down deep inside

somehow He'll use it for our gain.

For that peace that passes understanding, (Phil. 4)

He gives even as we wait.

If we submit and leave all to Him

we can anticipate...

That if I will keep watch, He will speak to me. (Hab. 2:1)

He'll lead me to high places. (Hab. 3:19)

Though my earthly walk is treacherous,

I can rest in His embraces.

For He's promised He has plans for me,

to give me a future and a hope. (Jer. 29:11)

So whatever He's put in my path,

I can cling to Him and cope.

- by Sherrill Schlimpert, March 2011

Starting the New Year on the Right Path

JOY! Does this pic give you any indication of the purest joy we experienced getting to be a part of this precious grandbaby's first Christmas? Honestly, I was totally unprepared for the pure unadulterated joy of grandparenting - this child hurts my heart - it's the only way I can describe the emotion!

And yet - my aunt signed an email with the perfect description of what life is like - and of course it's not all joy...she signed off "Stressed though blessed - and happy to be alive".

Well, I must say we had some stresses over the holiday to balance out our blessings....first I left for my 91 year old mother's bedside in North Carolina hurriedly with Christmas preparations still undone (dear hubby had to wrap everything and drive up without me this year!) After a week of coaching my mother's breathing during panic attacks, we had to move her to the nursing home - and have the estate sale on Dec. 27 - (thank goodness I had family members to help me this time - the last move to assisted living I didn't). This all ensued in the midst of rushing to the scene of my brother's head on accident in which my sister-in-law broke 4 ribs - although her inability to catch a breath at the scene had us really worried... BLESSED - though stressed.

My mother is convinced she is paralyzed or has had a stroke although she has not and has absolutely no dementia - she is aware of every bit of misery. The docs can find no physical cause - and she can walk with help once she's coaxed to try. I hurt for her terrible depression.

And so, as I start the New Year and get ready for our retreat on Jan. 29: "Starting the New Year on the Right Path", I gear up to continue learning myself about what we'll be teaching on: resting, trusting, praying and loving as our Lord has modeled for us.

I can see already that the "Blessed though Stressed" concept (thank you Aunt Libby) is going to be a continuing theme in my coaching and life planning this year. Be sure and contact me if that idea of looking more deeply into your life with the Lord's help through coaching or life planning catches your attention as a possibility for deepening your walk into the New Year.

Regardless - may you have many blessings and recognize the Lord will help you through any stressings the New Year may (inevitably!) bring. Thanks for being with me on this journey.

Pre-Christmas Ponderings

I love being retired! On Dec. 2, a beautiful clear, crisp sunny Thursday, instead of fighting third graders already crazed by the Christmas season (been there, loved it, done that), I had the privilege of going to a retreat to prepare for the advent season, to take time to look at the Christmas story and to ponder its meaning for today after being retold for over 2000 years.

My main take away was a new look at Mary's response to being chosen as the Messiah's mother. Luke tells us in Luke 2:19 that after Jesus's birth Mary "pondered these things in her heart". That's what we got to do today, ponder the Christmas story in our hearts. That's what I love about Bible study and retreats. Where else do you get to stop the endless onslaught of life and take time to make sense of it, to check if your priorities are in order, to assess your reactions to the life that has been laid before you? (Actually in a life coaching session, but that's another subject:)

Our ponderings will invariably take us to our blessings and our griefs, trying to make sense of the age-old question of why God allows suffering at all and how to respond to it. Today I once again got a glimpse of the answer from the Christmas story. Mary was but one of the many examples in the Bible of one who trusted the Lord in hard times. After all, what could've have been harder than to find out you were pregnant before marriage at a time when that could get you stoned or at the least, sent away in disgrace? But Mary's response in Luke 1:38 was simply, "Be it unto me as you have said."

Shouldn't that be our response to whatever comes our way, be it pain or blessing? For do we deserve any blessing at all? And haven't we been given promises that do make sense of whatever suffering we may be encountering? "All things work together for good." (Romans 8:28) and "Blessed be the God of all comfort who comforts us in our sorrows SO THAT we can comfort others." (2 Cor. 1:3) And another promise from the Christmas story, "Nothing is impossible with God." (Luke 1:37)

I pray as I continue to grow older I continue to get better at saying, like Mary, "Be it unto me as you have said," whether this New Year brings pain or blessing. If it brings blessing I hope my first response will be thankfulness and not forgetting where it comes from with an attitude of entitlement that is so easy to fall into. And if it be pain, that I trust that somehow it will be used to the good, even as I look back on past suffering and see how I have grown because of it, or that it can help me understand and comfort another, or simply that I learn better to depend on God because I know He can see me through anything, yes, anything.

I pray this Christmas finds you finding the miracles in the Christmas story, the story that is a miracle in itself because it keeps giving and giving no matter how many times you hear it.

My gift to you is this poem inspired by the Christmas story and the song, Mary Did You Know?

A Christmas Pondering

Mary pondered the things since the angel came
Reflecting down deep in her heart
What all had come to pass -
How could she even start
To understand what had come to her
She the mother of God's son!
How did He come to choose her?
Why was she the chosen one?

This Christmas may we be like Mary,
And ponder our lives deep in our heart,
Though we know on this earth
We will never know more than in part
Why we are chosen for our unique path,
Why we are blessed or not.
Why we have sorrow or joy
Why life is so fraught
With so many questions and hardships
With so many times we want to ask God
Why is this life so confusing
Where is the peace on earth's sod?

But Mary shows us the answer
In her response, "Be it as you have said."
So on this Christmas let us count our blessings
And not allow feelings of dread.
For though we may have pockets of sorrow,
We have the greatest gift of all,
The Christ Child came to save us
There is nothing that can cause us to fall.

So let us gather with loved ones, be merry,
Let us stop and ponder anew
That because of the Christmas story
In perspective earth's sorrows are few.

Running the Race

Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. Col. 3:1,2



I've started running just since I've been retired, determined to stay (or get!) fit now that I have the time. It's not always fun. I can handle it on early mornings in the summer, but I'm beginning to dread the cold, gray days of winter when there just isn't any enjoyable time.

Maybe I shouldn't even call it running. My husband once said I should call it "wogging" - somewhere between a walk and a jog. I started out by "wogging" past one house and walking past the next until now I can run all the way up to the field by our house, then down the walking trail. It's progress anyway!

This fall I've been studying a book "Becoming a Spiritually Fit Christian". It amazes me how I've finally been studying long enough that I'm not always learning new things, but old things in a new way. And how, just like staying fit physically, we can't let up with our spiritual disciplines, because we need to keep the sword of the Word talked about in Eph. 6 sharp and on the ready.

As I've been volunteering as a life coach at Love, Inc. (a place where people who those coming out of incarceration, the jobless, the homeless, etc. can go for help), the human condition has struck me anew...all caused because the devil prowls around like a roating lion (I Peter 5). I would never have felt called to minister to these people without my life coaching training, but I'm finding they are no different from me. We all need God just as much every day. In fact, sometimes I'm finding that those who have found the Lord in jail or through circumstances much darker than I've ever experienced see His light even brighter against their backgrounds! I can't tell you how often their excitement in their newfound faith ministers to me!

The message that they need to hear and I need to keep hearing OVER AND OVER has been condensed for me into my latest memory verse - a great simplifier to me - (Col.3:1-2) "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." I needed to hear ONCE AGAIN the story of Peter trying to walk on the water (Matt. 14:25) and sinking when he took his eyes off of Jesus. These words from our study hit me over the head like I'd never heard the story before: "The only way Peter was able to walk on stormy seas toward His Master was by looking to Jesus for strength to obey His command. After all, there are tons of earthly things getting our attention just in the course of living, so the necessity of working out with the Word is so clear to me now. No wonder I have spent so much of my life stuggling without peace when I lived so many days unarmed.

I'm amazed at the statistics that are overwhelmingly in favor of not landing back in jail for those who have become Christians through jail ministries. We all have our strongholds and we all can land right back in them if we are not "keeping our eyes on things above!" Again, I sometimes see these people as seeing their fight against alcohol and drugs and falling back in with the wrong crowd as clear obstacles in their path, whereas mine may be more subtle, but no less deadly! I have the freedom from many cares of the world - I know where my next meal is coming from and that my house payment will be made, but I still enter my day at times with the confusion of all the earthly choices on my path and fall away from living to His potential for me.

I know I'm not saying anything new here. I'm not trying to be Beth Moore. I'm just rambling on about the latest things the Lord has put on my heart - it looks like that's what I'm called to do in my retirment from fighting the fight of improving education.

Now I'm just running the race the best way I know how - and feel called to share what I've learned with anyone out there who is also seeking God's will for their life. For if there's one thing I know - that is the pathway to peace. And I'm having the privilege of knowing this isn't just true for me - I'm seeing that over and over in those who begin to seek Him hard, simply setting their mind on things above.

I continue to share my poetry and my life coaching with anyone that falls in my path. Thanks for taking time to share my journey and feel free to share it with anyone you know that may be seeking peace.

Running the Race

We struggle,we work.
We worry, we fret.
The devil apparent
on planet earth - and yet...

We fight in our own strength.
We meet the day on the run,
our minds on our to-do list.
There is much to be done.

We know that the devil
prowls like a lion who roars (I Pet. 5).
Yet we face the day unarmed,
thinking most of our chores.

We begin the day undressed,
with no armor, no sword. (Eph.6)
We take time for our coffee,
yet we race by our Lord...
who longs to remind us,
"Seek me first" (Mt. 6:39),
"Set your mind on things above" (Col. 3:1,2)
Then we wonder why we struggle
and our hearts aren't filled with love.

So let us stop for just a moment
and prepare for our day,
clothe ourselves in righteousness,
stop and seek His way.

Then our way becomes lighter,
no matter what we may face.
We see things from His perspcetive
and we can persevere in our race.

Let us run with perseverance the race
marked out for us (Heb. 12: 1)

Imprisoned by Anxiety

Do you ever feel like anxiety has you behind bars? Where thoughts just keep coming at you so that there's no way to get away from them?

Recently I've begun volunteering my life coaching services at Love, Inc. - an organization that helps people who need help getting back on their feet, many of whom have been incarcerated. This is a whole new territory for me, not having rubbed elbows with people who have faced this kind of challenge. Needless to say, I was a bit anxious as to whether I could relate to them or more importantly, them to me, a person who has been blessed with a life that has never come close to having those kind of challenges.

But that's where I was wrong. All God's chil'un have troubles. We all get imprisoned by sin of some sort. And we all need the same message. That we just can't do life well without God's help. The statistics are overwhelmingly in favor of those who have become Christians through jail ministry becoming successful citizens and not repeat offenders. How exciting! I recently talked to a nurse who worse with breast cancer screenings tell me that she definitely sees professing Christians deal with a bad diagnosis with strength compared to those who are not. All God's chil'un may have troubles but God never leaves His children.  

What could be more anxiety producing than getting out of jail with no job and a record or facing a diagnosis of cancer? And yet we all walk through life with anxiety-producing situations coming at us from all sides even if they aren't as dramatic. We're told in John 16:33 that In this world you WILL have trouble.   

Two verses have come to me that seem to put these clients and I onto the same page quickly.  I Peter 5:12 reminds us of this fact that is pertinent to all of us:  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.   And I Peter 4:12 tells us:  Do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.

But what some may not know, and what we all often forget, is the second part of last verse:  But rejoice, that you participate in the sufferings of Christ so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed.   That is the only real difference between those who handle the adversity that comes to us all.  And that's what we can all continue to learn more about with each valley that comes into our life.  AND  THAT'S what we can all share with others - how He does help us get through.  We don't have to be some kind of verbose evangelist to share that point.   

And so, the next time I'm feeling anxious, I just need to remember the last part of John 16:33, that He has overcome the world.  And that He has brought me through valley after valley in this life.  We're told to "remember all the ways which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness"  in Deut. 4:9. And I can share that which I know with others that might not know that simple but hard to grasp fact.

REMEMBERING - that's the antitode to anxiety.  Remembering His promises, remembering what He has done for you in the past, remembering His word that gives many more verses of comfort than those listed here. 

And so I share here a poem from the Blessing Book by Linda Dillow:

A Prayer of Remembrance for the Wilderness

Even though Your ways
   are not my ways,
Even though Your timing
   is not my timing,
Even though I see no end to this pain,
   I trust You.

And, I remember...
Your ways in the past,
Your timing in the past.
So even though I can't see
   today or in the future,
Remembering turns
   my pain into
Praise.
Praise because of who You are,
Praise because of what You
   have done in the past.
Praise because of what You
   will do now.