Praising Persistently

Praising my Savior all the day long...

I have not been one who has ever understood the endorphin high that you are supposed
to get from exercise.  There is nothing about getting my heart rate up that feels good to
me.  It feels more like torture to me actually.  The only way I can make myself do it at
all has been in an aerobic dance class when I'm embarrassed to give up too quickly the
way I do with an exercise video at home or when trying to run/walk my dog.  Until 
Zumba that is. Now I get it.  In fact, there is something about the Zumba beat and the
unabashed unleashing of inhibition as even us oldsters shake a tail feather along with
the young gals, that totally is worth getting to the gym by 8 a.m. Can't believe I can say
that. 

 

Now this is something else I can't believe I'm going to say - and maybe you won't
understand it unless you actually try Zumba yourself.  But, I'm going to say it...I find
myself praising the Lord through this exercise in a way that totally gets me a natural
high! Yep, Praising Persistently though Perspiring!  I know it sounds crazy to be
thinking about the Lord while shimmying to the beat of totally secular music - 
"uh, uh, I work out."  But I'm here to tell you that is what happens everytime I start the
Zumba dance.  I get this picture of heaven where we all will be around the throne with
the legions of angels all dancing in perfect unison - a majestic wave of praise pulsating
up  and down and back and forth in  a beautiful syncopation. I also get this picture of
David and the old testament Israelites dancing in delight and worship.

All of the women there may not be thinking of heaven but the smiles and giggles as we
put ourselves through the gyrations tell me that it is truly community in the finest
sense.

I love those transcending moments, because as I grow older, I see the world in direct
opposition to heaven, as it really is, with all the sorrow and the pain that inevitably hits
us all.  Unlike the immortality thinking of youth I now know that we all  get a chance
at some point to feel like a modern Job, wondering what God is doing when He

doesn't always answer our prayers in the way we'd like. I used to think that meant
something was going wrong. But now, though none of us can know the mind of God
and understand why He allows certain pain and suffering that seems so unfair, I finally
have come to understand that He does use pain so that we can share in His suffering. 
Growth often comes because of the direct relationship to how we need to depend on Him.
The more intense the suffering the more we finally get the message that we aren't in
control and need to rely on a Strength beyond our own. 

 

Right this moment, I can think of a childless couple who would be great parents, a single
mom who has become paralyzed and blind with an autistic child, a woman who became 
homeless with three children evicted from government housing because her husband got
caught selling drugs.  Where is God in this?  And yet, if we look hard enough and wait on
Him, we can see how God does work all things to good (Romans 8:28).  I see the
friendships developing because of the prayers and the empathy for this couple.  I see
the testimony of this little mother who has so much physically working against her,
who continues to have a platform for shouting her testimony of faith by her constant
cheerfulness in the face of so much hardship.  I have watched this homeless woman find
an apartment and get a job, hitching rides for weeks until she had a downpayment on a
car - teaching her children what strength is and how important hard work is compared
to relying on the "easy money" that left them on the streets.  Not that all is well, but if
we look, we can see God shining bits of light through the darkness.

I recognize that this world was not meant to be heaven...and that any moment of joy
at all should be returned as praise.  The book "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voscamp 
speaks this message in beautiful, heartfelt prose.  A young mother, married to a pig
farmer in Canada  tells of trying to raise five children without getting caught in the
doldrums of unending chores and thankless moments of dealing with the demands of
children.  Recognizing that she is missing so many blessings, she sets upon the task of
watching for and making a list of one thousand ways she is blessed, until thanksgiving
becomes a way of life, smoothing the bumps in the road with a new way of seeing the
path. This book affected my own thankfulness sensitivity deeply.

 

And so as I began to recognize the praise welling up in me as I thank God that I can
still move my often aching body to the Zumba beat, I also recognize that it has taken
me years to begin to seelife from God's perspective.  To watch and pray (Mk. 14:28)
in the sorrows, and to lift up amazed gratefulness for the glimpses of heaven that we
forget we don't even deserve but that keep us from going under in the hard times is
the way to persistently remain in an attitude of hope and praise. There are so many
blessings that we  often overlook: the quiet of the morning, the smile of a friend, the
easiness of being with family.  And Zumba! Try it you might like it!

Holy Spirit
(taken from Cream for Your Coffee by Sherrill Schlimpert, available on Amazon.com)

Holy Spirit!
So that's what this is!
This wanting to shout
   to everyone that lives
With the joy!
The beauty!
I feel in my heart,
A joy I've recognized only in part.

I've felt it before -
In the heart of young love,
In springtime,
In nature,
All sent from above.

But for so many  years,
I sought it in circumstance,
And despite many tears,
I never stayed long enough
At my Savior's feet
To hear His calming Word,
His perfect heartbeat
That gives rhythm
To such a day as this.
Whether it be sunny or dark,
I can feel His bliss.

It's what I have searched for
My whole life through,
Knowing somehow, someday,
I would find it in You.
It's the Spirit!
Your Spirit!
That's been here all along.
Down deep in my heart
I've heard the sweet song
Of the Spirit,
Your Spirit!
Down deep in my soul,
That gives me these days
When I feel solid and whole.

And it's that same Spirit!
That inspires me now
  to take pen in hand
  and furrow my brow.
And allow thoughts to form
From deep in my soul.
It's the Spirit!
Your Spirit!
That I finally know!

Help me to see it
See it clear
Wherever you send it,
Which releases all fear.
Let me flow with it,
Dance to the beat.
Of the Spirit!
Your Spirit!
That makes me complete.

 

 

 

 

 

The Circle of Life

                                                                                                                    

                        

 
To everything there is a season...I'm reflecting on that as I watch some of life's passages changing right in front of my eyes.  Often changes are barely preceivable - such as when you look in the mirror and think, "How did I get this old?"  But sometimes big changes happen dramatically.

My family is currently experiencing fall, spring and winter at the same time! My son has recently found the woman of his dreams and will be married this summer, my daughter has delivered a precious new granddaughter into our midst, and my mother at 92, in the winter of her life has been peacefully waiting reunion with her husband in heaven and was granted her passage on May 29.

When my faither died at age 62, I remember one sympathy card that said there is nothing that will make you look more closely at what you really believe than staring into the grave of a loved one.  Having said my goodbyes to my mother more than once totally believing she has gone to a better place, watching the new love that has bloomed in my son, and witnessing the miracle of a new, perfectly formed baby has done that for me.

Life surely is a journey - and for me, only makes sense in the light of my faith.  Knowing God has our days numbered, our trials planned for good, and enough blessings to give us glimpses of heaven brings a serenity and appreciation for both the good and the not-so-good days along the way.

It brings such comfort to know that the simplicity of the Serenity Prayer really does give us a blueprint for taking life as it comes...to accept the things we cannot change, have the courage to change the things we can, and have the wisdom to know the difference.  It was an especially great comfort to see a devotional book based on this prayer at mom's bedside the last visit I had with her.  She truly did have the serenity to accept what she could not change at age 92.

So for now, I am basking in the blessings of the fall and the spring and rejoicing that the winter did not bring too much suffering but rather a peaceful fading.  And I wait with expectancy for the seasons to continue to circle - for the spring and fall to fade, for the winter to pass, and for new blessings and trials to continue to emerge with the ever-present opportunity to define my faith, to test it, and confirm it. 


The Circle of Life

Seasons come and seasons go,
Spring becomes summer, winter - fall.
It's beyond our control.  We don't write the script.
It's only God that reigns over all.

Babies are born,
Marriages made,
Death comes to each one
Defying plans that are laid.

And so if we finally accept
What we must
And take what we're given
And forget our lust...

For more than we're granted,
We'll have peaceful days,
Accepting the hardships,
Being ready for praise.

For the circle of life
Comes and it goes.
It includes winter
But in its throes

We must not forget
Any blessings that come
Giving us glimpses of what
Are only some

Of what is in store
If we faithfully keep
Our eyes turned toward
Him who will keep

Us under His wing
Until that day
When the circle stops
And in heaven we'll stay.

 

Glimpses of Heaven

Oh, what peace we often forfeit.
Oh, what needless pain we bear.
I'm reminded of the ageless hymn
As I forget to turn in prayer.


I get so caught up in the cares of earth,
In the busy and hassle of living.
I wonder how often I look right over
The reminders of heaven God's giving.

Gifts that stir our hearts,
That we often look right past
Reminders of beauty fleeting now,
But of what will ultimately last.

For God opens the heavens
To allow us bits of seeing beyond the now,
Of moments of beauty that stir our hearts
And help us to see how...

We can live above the pull of the world,
To brave its cares and woes.
A moment of beauty, the light of the sun
Can lift us high from our lows.

Glimpses of heaven to remind us
That what we see now is not all.
One day we'll live well beyond
What's been left here after the fall.

So we must watch for the God winks,
The moments He sends to restore.
We must look for them, seek them and savor
Knowing in heaven there will be so much more.


A Glimpse of Heaven in the Winter

To my cold-natured bones there are some days in the winter that are just plain too cold for a walk. But then I'm faced with the sad, pleading eyes of my little silky terrier, scampering over to stand at full attention any time he sees me start to put on my shoes. After days of being cooped up in the house and the tiny fenced-in area off of our deck, that litle doggy is straining with all of his soul to find freedom even if it is at the end of a leash.

So after a week of temperatures below freezing, I couldn't ignore the pitiful stares any longer - it was time to give in and take him for a walk. And so, on went my long underwear and layer after layer up to my hooded coat and scarf across my face to brave the elements on a freezing, though sunny, day.

We set off and the cold hit my eyes - the only exposed area allowed - bringing tears and taking away my breath. So, slogging through the remnants of a recent snow, we jogged up to the nearby field - my little guide dog gleefully leading me, straining at the end of the leash.

We left the rows of houses with closed doors keeping in their warmth, and turned onto the gently rising slope of the field, and I am rewarded. A hillside of fairy frost, glistening in the sun that has risen just above the swell of the hill. The sparkling perfection of winter creation takes my breath away, this time not from the frigid air, but from the amazing beauty.

And the creator speaks.

I raise my eyes to the beauty of this hill from whence cometh my help. And I am reminded of Col.3:2 - Set your minds on things above, not on this world.

I think of my morning with thoughts filled with the protection of my comfort, not willing to persevere after the discipline to exercise or to brave the elements. And I think of how my shepherd is also beckoning with soulful eyes that look more deeply into my heart even than those of my devoted little pet - of how they both long to lead me to higher places!! And how I'm often reluctant to venture out.

Those moments He surprises me with beauty are what I call glimpses of heaven - gifts on earth that give us a peek into what the New Earth will be like...endless fields of glistening, sun-kissed beauty, perfection, glory, light and above all, His presence unveiled.

I've seen these glimpses before - in the laughter of my grandbaby, in the etherial colors of a sudden rainbow, in the strains of a hymn that touches my soul. I've seen it at the shore of the vastness of the ocean, in the shared prayer among believers with hands grasped in the warmth of true fellowship, in a moment before the fire with a cup of tea, in the fragile buds of springtime.

And I'm reminded of how I often have to focus to really see these gifts. I have to stop and open them before the moment vanishes. I have to look beyond the dailyness of dealing with the world, to be ready to stop for a moment to be still and know that He is God. (Is. 51:3) And yes, when I am nudged - to put on my snow boots and walk with Him.

It will be easier to see in the spring - I long for the season of new growth. But I must remember, He is there even in the winter.

Have a Mary Christmas - the Making of a Christmas Poem (scroll down)

It's been a busy fall for me. I asked God to bless my lifecoaching business - and was reminded again that we have to be careful what we ask for!!!! I sure got it this year! He's blessed me to the point of breathlessness! I've totally been amazed at what God has done in both the clients I volunteer with at Love, Inc. as well as my personal clients. Having the opportunity to walk alongside people's lives and getting the privilege of hearing their story is such an honor and blessing. I get to see God working everyday miracles in many more lives than just those in my inner circle.

I've finally put my finger on what is so exciting to me about all this. It's transformation. It's the miracle of lives that change for the better instead of staying stuck in the same old ruts. It's lives that have been so transformed from the ordinary responses of the world that you can't help but see God's work. It's the young woman with cerebral palsy who has become paralyzed and legally blind with a 3 year old and an 11 month old to care for. Even though as a nurse, she was the major bread winner and is now on disability, the amazing faith and determination she exudes is surely nothing other than other-worldly. It's the single mom who has lost her business due to health reasons, but is starting back up and not giving up. It's the young mom living in the government housing who got a sudden burst of goal-setting, taking on 2 jobs to get out of her surroundings, but as the going got tough, recognized her goals don't have to be given up. She's now tweaked the timetable of reaching those goals now that she has seen that her kids need her at home in the evenings. It's also the woman who thought she had finally found love, who has battled through the dark tunnel of rejection and shattered dreams to realize God is her first bridegroom and who gives her all she really needs (even though she still would like a man with skin on here on earth.) And, it's the girl who hasn't been to church since she was a child, but is finding solace only there after losing a young friend unexpectantly is a tragic accident.

And that's why this Christmas, Mary's response is what stood out to me like the star in the east. "Be it unto me as You have said." What a response to the realization she was to suffer disgrace and shame and heartbreak. "Be it unto me as You have said." What a response to model after. To be able to submit in quiet grace to whatever is put in our path. Mary couldn't have understood all of what carrying that baby was to mean. But because she did, she allowed us all to be saved from utter damnation.

"Be it unto me as You have said." How hard it is for me to have that attitude even when faced with much less discomfort. Instead, the response is usually, "Why me?" , "How long will this last?", "Take this from me, Lord."

A Mary Christmas. I wonder what that would really be? For now, I just pray that I can begin to understand what facing this life like Mary would look like. I begin with gratefulness for all the comforts that I have been blessed with; and a relinquishment of worrying about all that is not right ; resting in peace that He has it all under control. Even when the situation looks really bleak. That's a Mary Christmas spirit. That's peace on earth. May you have a Mary Christmas.


Have a Mary Christmas


The angel came to see her,
and Mary bowed her head.
In humble submission she whispered,
“Be it unto me as You have said.”

This part of the Christmas story
is not the part we sing of most.
We love to hear of the baby
and the singing of the heavenly host.

But Mary shows us the position
we should assume to celebrate
the birth of this Savior
who came to secure our fate.

Not one of just thankfulness,
boasting of the blessings that we’ve been given,
but one of ubmitting to the pruning
we may receive this side of heaven…

To accept that all is not well
here on planet earth,
even though we sing of peace
as we celebrate this birth.

For the peace we have, like Mary
does not depend on gifts under the tree,
or the absence of pain,
or perfect tranquility.

The peace we have is a sword
that cuts through the trappings of earth,
so that even in suffering
we can rest in its amazing worth.

Like Mary we can face
what we can’t always understand,
knowing whatever comes is bestowed
from a sovereign hand.

She walked in quiet trust
though being shamed and misunderstood.
And then the hardest path of all -
seeing her Son sacrificed for our good.

And so as I reflect upon the mother
who bore much to bear this Son,
I feel thanks toward her and the Father
for giving us the One

That is our whole salvation,
that came to wipe our every tear.
And so a Mary Christmas is what
I wish for you this year.

(If poetry speaks to you, be sure and check out Cream for Your Coffee. They also make great stocking stuffers! Just email me at sschlimp@hotmail.com

Let My Life Be a Prayer

Thanks for taking time to read my writing. It's just what I have to do when my heart overflows! For those of you that like the short version, you can scroll down to the poem that summarizes these latest thoughts that I just need to capture from my quiet times. I offer these words in the hope that they might touch your heart as they have mine...,


I remember the day God became my friend.

I was raised a good little Catholic girl with a basic understanding of who God was. Yet I always sensed there was more beyond going to church and following the rules. I wondered what was happening in the churches where children sang Jesus Loves Me and carried their Bibles to church - a book that just sat on shelf in my home.

And so it was one evening in high school when I was invited to a Young Life meeting when I got my first glimpse of God outside of church. I saw Him alive in the hearts of the young believers around me that worshipped in rowdy praise songs and met to open His Word to hear what He spoke into their lives. This was my first glimpse of what it meant to not just believe in God, but to walk daily with a Savior who cared about every step and breath I took. I found myself, at that very first meeting, overwhelmed with the beauty of young lives devoted to Him - not just focused on the struggle to navigate the world of popularity and fitting in and the importance of wearing Weejuns. (Remember those? - the shoes I only had a knock-off version of in my effort to make my place in the world.) All those insecurities and struggles of my teenage world fell away as I heard my peers pray - not from a book, but from their hearts. And I heard myself praying my first out-loud, communal prayer: "Lord, thank you for bringing me here tonight. I want you in my life. Let my life be a prayer."

Little did I know that I was starting on a journey of a lifetime that would begin that night - a journey where each high and low taught me one more thing about the mystery of God's sovereignty and His ways that are so much higher than our understanding.

Since that night I have never stopped learning more about Him through His Word and His Church. I've also learned much from my constant hunger for reading from Christian authors who have studied His Word and help me reveal its depths. But nowhere do I get a clearer lesson on the application beyond the information in the Word than from His people who have walked before me down the path of praying with their lives.

I collect those stories with a similar intensity to which I study His Word because in them I see His Word offered back in the response of their lives. I see the message of 2 Corinthians 4:16 (Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day) proclaimed in the life of my friend who is battling with grace and faith a rare form of Parkinson's in her mid-life years that were supposed to be her prime. Her battle that combines humor and anecdotes of the many instances God has taught her along this hard and long road are a book of strength that all her know her read in each visit. Despite her suffering, each encounter with her speaks loudly of something much stronger than her frail body.

I've also read the Word in the example of others who have battled betrayal and divorce with forgiveness and an amazing lack of bitterness, living out the understanding of what it means to follow our Lord's response of "Forgive them for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)

I've watched another friend demonstrate sacrificial love, quitting her career as a counselor at a high school to care for her aging parents at the expense of her own financial stability. I see her dependence on the Word that she has hidden in her heart and comes pouring out as an example of how faith really does provide sustenance in the hardest of times.

I've witnessed others bury their children, something no mother and father should ever have to do. Yet I've watched them rejoice in the midst of their sadness that though this world was not an easy place for their off-spring, they radiate a real confidence and peace assured that those they love are in a better place.

Then there is my doctor friend and his wife who had it all, so it seemed... until he had to give up his flourishing practice well before retirement age due to a mysterious and debilitating neurological disorder. What meaning his wife gave to the words, "What profit a man if he gain the whole world and loses his soul?" (Mark 8:36) when she paraphrased with a sermon in her own words spoken eloquently in the foyer of the beautiful house they built in their heydey - a house that has not become the prison that this awful disease might have transformed it into. In an amazing spirit of peace, she was able to tell us that although there are no good days physically - the pain never ceases - it has all been worth it for the gain there has been spiritually. She offered a word picture of being like a stone in a current, with the rough edges becoming smooth and beautiful because of what has come against them. I saw that metamorphasis in their personal transformation, being able to rise above the feelings of grief and bitterness that naturally come against our human nature in suffering to a place of surrender and gain in their significant loss.

I heard the message again this past weekend - this time with a life's prayer being delivered through a more formal delivery. Nancy Guthrie, Christian author and speaker told us the story of her journey at a women's retreat at a Presbyterian church in St. Louis. She spoke confidently of the first hand experience of how God can draw us closer through pain - in her case through the heartbreaking delivery of two babies born within a few years of each other each with a fatal condition. Instead of only her grief, she shared how she considered it a privilege to mother them each for only 6 months. She shared her study of how Jesus and Paul responded when God said no to their prayers, recognizing in His no that He gives a greater yes. Like them, she was able to share how Jesus is enough to get us through the pain of any answer of no to our desires here on earth and use it to a greater good. Her life's messages shouted the truth of 2 Cor. 12:9 which tells us, "My grace is sufficient for you, made perfect in weakness." And as I looked up during a praise song and saw this woman worshipping with pure, unadulterated joy, I saw God's greater yes to the strength of His presence shouting across the sanctuary to me despite the heartbreaking no this woman had suffered.

God has spoken to me loudly through His people. He often speaks through lives surrendered to pain with an unearthly peace. That's when all the confusion of this life slips away when I witness again the greatest Answer to all of life's questions. I have seen again and again the peace that passes understanding lived out. And because of this I believe without a doubt that in our gift of Jesus who walks beside us, we CAN grasp His hands and surrender our lives in a constant prayers.

Though I'm still learning what that means, I'm still praying...let my life be a prayer...

Let My Life Be a Prayer

Let my life be a prayer, Lord,

An offering to You,

A fragrant, pleasing offering

In all I say and do.

Let my joy be in You,

Seeing You in blessings that you bring.

Let my gratitude abound

In each and every tiny thing

That give us a glimpse of heaven -

A sunrise, a baby's smile -

That speak Your invitation...

"Come to Me and stay awhile.

Know that I am with you.

Even though the storm may come.

My light may be behind the cloud,

But every battle I've already won."

Let my response to life

In the good days or the bad

Reflect the grace you've given me

In peace - though glad or sad.

For You are sovereign, Lord.

Help me surrender all each day.

Let my life be a prayer

Offered in all I do or say.

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