Well it seemed like a disaster. A trip across the country to see my extended family and my neice’s wedding was on the verge of collapse. Nasty weather up and down the entire east coast had closed the airport hubs. After sitting for several hours in the airport, it was clear my flight, the day before the wedding, was not going to happen. Due to the multiple closures and thousands of rerouted passengers, who must have been more savvy than I, there was no flight possible to Seattle for the next two days. The wedding would be over, the family members all returning home.
I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t. But I did. I collapsed in a puddle of tears as the gate agent told me there was no way I was getting to Seattle in time for the wedding. And here is the final kick in the rear: no tissues in my purse. I had every other emergency equipment known to man in my huge backpack and belly pack but not a single tissue to stem the flow of snot and tears.
Something broke in the heart of the beleaguered gate agent. She disappeared for twenty minutes while I wiped my nose and cheeks on my soggy sleeve. When she returned, she had a flight. It would get me to Seattle the following day, two hours before the wedding. I may or may not make it in rush hour traffic, with the venue an hour and a half from the airport...but it was a glimmer of hope.
And I was booked in first class. I was to be wined and dined like the rich people. I’d always envied them in the past as I’d mooed my way into cattle class in the back of the plane. What did they have that I didn’t? Besides oodles of money?
I am here to tell you: spend the extra $300,000.000 for a first class ticket. Who cares about retirement or eating next week? It is worth it for one hour in first class.
OH. MY. LORD. AND. SAVIOR.
If heaven is EVEN CLOSE to as good as first class, we believers are in for a real treat.
First, they show up with smiles and beautiful ladies tell us that they are there to serve us. Then they take our drink orders. We can have anything we want. As much as we want. Then the menus are rolled out. The lunch offerings would be half my monthly grocery allotment. By the time they reach me, they only have one item left. It doesn’t matter. I am convinced Jesus has returned and is sitting in the first row. Nothing else explains it.
Then they bring the food. Now I had not eaten for 9 hours which may have something to do with how I responded, but folks, I was groaning out loud with every bite. I would have licked my plate if my seat mate was not already shooting concerned glances my way.
They brought warm washcloths for us to clean our fingers. Held out to us with tongs...like we were royalty.
As I write this, I don’t know if I will get to the wedding in time. It doesn’t even matter. If my First Class experience is only metaphorically a taste of heaven, I am ALL IN. Seriously, if you are on the fence, ask Jesus to be your Lord now. Submit your life to Him. Now. You cannot believe what you have been missing.
Update: I made it. I saw the lovely bride and groom exchange vows and loved every minute of the evening. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. I love how God gives us glimpses of His Glory. While I was using a humorous analogy in the joys of First Class air travel, one of the most telling glimpses of His glory is when His love is revealed through others. Family gathering from afar, despite rather daunting obstacles to celebrate the love and major events in each others’ lives is one of the most beautiful examples of love, I think.
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.””
A couple of weeks ago, a sidewalk ministry from another city referred “Zoe” to me. Zoe was about to be homeless with three young children, escaping a life with an abusive boyfriend, with no money or hope. The woman was referred through Sharon of Happy Warriors for Life, a ministry of The Upper Room. Sharon and her friend had been working with this woman for months. They had helped Zoe out of suicidal intent and desperation over her unplanned pregnancy. However, with limited resources and the need for Zoe to leave her home and her city in a matter of weeks, Sharon contacted Cities4Life to help.
Zoe was determined to start a new life in Charlotte. She had even found a job, due to begin mid-June. However, she had no money, no home, no childcare, and a litany of strikes against her from her past, due to poor choices and limited options.When she called me, the first thing we did was discuss God. I shared the Gospel, and explained that rebellion from God is often the root of most of our struggles. She agreed, and during that initial discussion committed her life to the Lord.
Childcare fell in place, free for all three children. Safe Families, an organization that takes children into loving Christian homes while the mother gets her life in order, found placement for her children. An amazing home was found and money raised by supporters to pay the security deposit. Other supporters sent supplies for Zoe’s children. LoveLife Charlotte provided a mentor who would be an emotional and spiritual support. Sheryl Chandler of Truth and Mercy Pro-life Ministries planned a baby shower for her young baby. So many loving Christians and ministries rallied in support of this one desperate mother. Everything was perfect.
And then it fell apart.
Unknown problems from her past came to light in a background check, and the perfect little house was yanked away. All the other pieces of gluing her new life together in Charlotte were dependent on a place to live. She worked frantically to right all the things that had been exposed in the background check. She had less than a week before she would lose the commitment from the other elements of the plan that had been so perfect.
Over the next week, a roller coaster of victories from God and attacks from the enemy of her soul threatened to derail her vision. At one point, just a few days ago, she said, “I’m done. I am defeated. I can’t do this. I knew it was too good to be true. Nothing good ever happens to me. I knew it would fall apart.”
Zoe had lost hope. I was surprised she called me. Her voice was dead as she told me the impossible situation she now faced. There was not enough time, money, energy, or hope left to accomplish what would need to be done. Not in three days. Not in a lifetime. She was finished. God seemed to have lured her to a point of victory and then kicked the chair out from under her.
“If you give up,” I told her, “You give Satan the victory. You committed your life to Jesus. You need to follow Him and honor Him from this moment forward. Satan can take everything from you, except God. Don’t let Satan destroy your faith. So often, Satan attacks and we give up. He strikes hardest when we are on the verge of victory. Don’t give up. Love and trust God, and follow Him, no matter what.”
Remarkably, as we prayed, she calmed down. She thanked me. She told me she received the prayer of hope and she would trust God, though she could see no way out of this mess. We worked out a list of the things she was to do, despite every one of them appearing hopeless. Sharon also contacted her, and urged her not to rely on her past method of dealing with adversity, but to move forward with God-honoring actions.
So she did. She contacted each agency with a blot against her on the background check and worked out an honorable plan to make it right. She would trust God, though honestly none of us saw a solution to the immediate problem.
Then, the director of Cities4life, Daniel, suggested I call Life House in Rock Hill for potential temporary housing. This is a new facility that had just opened. In fact, I had been to their open house a month earlier. I told him I had thought of them, but they were a maternity home for pregnant moms. Zoe’s baby was already here.
Meanwhile, moving forward expecting a miracle, one of our Cities4Life counselors, Allen, offered to move all of Zoe’s possessions to Charlotte. Two other Cities4Life supporters, Crystal and Beth, responded within minutes to my Facebook plea for a storage place for Zoe’s things while she was in temporary housing…which was as yet, nonexistent.
The wonderful job would start in two weeks. Everything else was in place: Safe Families placement for her children, childcare, a mentor, moving assistance, storage for her possessions, supplies and donations for her children through loving Christians…but no home.
That night, with no other options, I decided to contact Life House as Daniel had suggested. The worst they could do was say no, and perhaps they would have other ideas for us.
The Life House director, Eileen, listened to the story about Zoe’s plight. She could make no promises, but wanted to talk with her board of directors after gathering more details. After speaking with me, she called Sharon of Upper Room Ministries, and then finally Zoe herself. She told us the Life House board of directors would need to interview Zoe the following day as this was not the typical situation they were designed to deal with. They would then convene and decide if they were willing and able to take on this unusual challenge.
Our team of several ministries all prayed and held our collective breath.
Then Sunday night, one day before the deadline necessary for all the pieces to be able to be implemented or all would dissemble, Life House notified Zoe of their decision.
She was accepted into their program.
When the first housing option fell through and Zoe’s background check revealed unknown issues, she felt as though her world had collapsed. Why was God doing this to her right after she had made a commitment to follow Him?
In all honesty, I could not answer her. All I could say was I knew God was trustworthy, therefore, trust Him. And now, He had engineered something that was completely unexpected but would provide life skill training, spiritual counseling, financial counseling, parenting training, and a safe environment…all for free.
When He had closed the first door, He opened a far better one.
The group text I had sent in the morning to all the players in this incredible drama now exploded with cheers as Zoe told us the good news. Praise God, praise God!
“I am so excited,” Zoe said, “God is so very faithful. And arrived just in time. Thank you all so very much for your prayers, support, willingness to help and for being obedient unto God by allowing Him to use you. For a time such as this!”
But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
The Israelites would plant crops, build homes, eek out a livelihood, and their enemies from the East would come and ravage their land. God’s chosen people were beleaguered and discouraged. Yet in the midst of this battle, God assures a young man, Gideon, that He is there.
“When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”” Judges 6:12
I love Gideon’s polite response. Boiled down to its essence, Gideon cries, “Say WHAT????”
““Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.””
Judges 6:13 NIV
How many times have we cried out in the midst of our terrible situation, “If you are with me Lord, why is all this happening to me???”
Don’t lie. You have said it too. You, like Gideon, have felt abandoned by God. What is worse, you have felt God disappear and disappoint right when you have most vigorously served Him. I have too. Why NOW God, of all times, after all your promises of all your wonders, have you deserted me? Gideon is not alone in that lament.
So many wonderful nuggets of truth are contained in this chapter as Gideon cries out in bewilderment and fear to God.
First, does God answer when Gideon asks WHY?
NOPE.
I have learned in my decades of following God that He almost never, if ever, answers why questions. I try not to ask them anymore.
“The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?””
Judges 6:14 NIV
God deflects the why of Gideon into a mission: Go and save your people as I am the one who sends you.
Gideon then begins the first in his series of NOT ME UNLESS YOU PROVE WHO YOU ARE statements.
“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.””
Judges 6:14-15
At least Gideon is polite. I love how he says pardon me before each of his faithless challenges to God. I wondered why God never lost patience or smote him. If I were God, I probably would have at least had a hornet sting him. Instead, God kindly explains: “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.””Judges 6:16
Gideon is not satisfied that God will do what He says or even is who He claims to be. So he puts forth a condition upon his obedience: “Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.” Judges 6:17
God, amazingly, agrees. Gideon asks God to wait while he gets an offering to place on the altar before God.
Let me repeat that: WAIT HERE GOD while I go do what I need to do.
(Does this sound like something you or I would EVER do??? I know. Me too.)
Gideon brings an offering of a goat to the altar, God strikes the goat with fire and burns the offering and Gideon now recognizes he has indeed been speaking with God. You would think that would be the turning point for Gideon.
NOPE.
God then sends Him on his specific goal for the day - tear down the Baal worship pole, and erect an altar to God instead. Gideon does so...but apparently not right away. He is afraid so does it at night when he won’t be seen rather than immediately in the light of day and of witnesses.
We never hide the fact that we are doing what we do in the name of the Lord. Right? Our family, friends, and neighbors are all awed by our boldness in walking with and proclaiming Jesus as Lord. Right?
Now God tells Gideon it is time to rise up against the enemies, the Midianites. Gideon, filled with courage and faith after his recent obedient victory before God hurries fearlessly to do so.
NOPE.
He tests God yet again: “Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised— look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.””
Judges 6:36-37
God smites Him now.
NOPE.
God complies.
Palm slap to forehead. Really? The creator of the universe shrugs His almighty shoulders and does what Gideon asks.
NOW, at last, Gideon is convinced and will follow God unquestioningly to the ends of the earth.
NOPE.
“Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.”” Judges 6:39
God double smites him.
NOPE.
God agrees to do as Gideon requests...again.
This apparently satisfies Gideon at last and the next day, God tests Gideon’s faith by winnowing his army to a scant three hundred men. Gideon reportedly is done questioning, rallies his small troop, and defeats the Midianites.
God meets us where we are. I am not advocating fear or testing God before obeying Him. What I am suggesting is that in our weakness, we should not hesitate to approach God. He won’t let us remain as we are...His goal is to transform us. But He doesn’t wait for us to be transformed before He welcomes us and even uses us.
The woman came over and asked why we do what we do. She had brought someone to the abortion center and said our offers of help and calling out about the humanity of the baby were disturbing to the person she had brought.
We explained that the baby is made in the image of God, precious and known by Him from the moment of conception, and of incalculable worth. She agreed. We told her we were there to offer hope and help since we knew God’s clear word about the sanctity of life.
“I am a minister,” she said, indicating she was familiar with God’s word.
Stunned, I asked whom she had brought for the abortion.
“My daughter.”
As we shared the truth of God’s word as well as the truth of the humanity of the baby, she agreed with all our points. However, she insisted since God KNEW that this day would come and unfold just as it was, it was OKAY for her daughter to abort. I tried to explain to her the difference between foreknowledge and permission.
I asked her since she was a minister, was she familiar with Hebrews 10:26? Then I recited it for her: “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”
I asked if she felt that verse let her off the hook when she knew the truth of God’s word, but chose to disregard it, and in fact, force her child to disregard it. She didn’t answer.
“May I ask you what is the biggest obstacle your daughter faces that makes her feel she must abort?” I asked.
“Me,” she said.
I asked her to clarify.
The mother, a self avowed minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, was forcing her daughter to abort so her daughter would not struggle as she had struggled as an unwed mother.
“What message do you think you are giving your daughter?” I asked.
She waited for me to answer.
“Forgive me, I speak in love,” I said, “But I think you are telling your daughter that sinning against God’s clear word is justified, and right and wrong is determined by circumstances, not by God.”
Then I asked if she had ever seen a ten-week-old baby in the womb, the age of her daughter’s baby...her grandchild. She had not.
I showed her a photograph of a ten-week fetus.
She looked at the picture a long time.
“Is this a human being?” I asked.
She nodded, silent.
I showed her an aborted 11-week-old baby.
“This is what happens to a baby in abortion, about your grandchild’s age,” I told her.
Again, silence. She stared at the photo.
“Time is short,” I said, “Will you bring your daughter to us and let us help her?”
She did not answer. She thanked us, taking our pamphlet and silently returned to her car.
As far as we know, the “minister” of the Gospel of Jesus Christ sat in her car while her grandchild was dismembered a hundred feet from her in a back room of the abortion center.
I am blessed to know later today I will call and speak with my wonderful mother. The days for that joy are numbered. I rejoice I will still be able to speak with her and thank her for being my mom.
I had the incredible pleasure of counseling a mom of a 17 week old baby who chose life yesterday. She left the abortion center after listening to the other women describing how they could hear the baby’s skull being crushed in an abortion. Her boyfriend fought for his child’s life. She told them as she left with the boyfriend that they could leave too. We believe at least one other woman did.
Each of us mothers can support and encourage a struggling mother to keep the vision of who God has called us to be as moms and who that precious unborn child is in His sight. We can change the world by striving to do well the most important job in the world: Raising our children to love the Lord.
Ultimately the decision belongs to each person whether to follow Christ or not. No mother can choose the path her child will take, but I know my desire above all else is that my children would know God and that I would continually point them to Him. Where I have failed, I pray God would cover my gaps, and where I have succeeded, I pray He would be glorified.
May this day be a blessed remembrance of all your mothers who loved you from the womb and of the God who gives life to your soul!
********
“Upon You I was cast from birth; You have been my God from my mother’s womb.”
A young woman stopped her car beside me, her eyes wide and frightened. The security guard from the abortion center rushed over to tell her the abortion center was the next driveway. She glanced at him but reached for the literature I handed her.
“We have free ultrasound and pregnancy testing on our RV parked right here,” I told her. “Would you be willing to look at your baby on the ultrasound?”
“Free?”she asked. Her eyes were shiny, tears threatening. I knew this was a woman that did not want to abort but some overriding concern was on her heart. So I shared the humanity of her child, our resources, and the truth of God’s word regarding unborn life in the few seconds I had before the security guard insisted she move.
This time, she listened to the security guard’s insistence, and with an apologetic look my way, pulled into the abortion center. I watched her as she walked to the door, clutching the literature I had given her. The “pro-choice escort” stopped her. She told the woman she could not bring the Tiny Hands literature into the clinic. In fact, she could not HAVE it. The “pro-choice escort” took the literature from the woman and threw it in the trash.
I have been on that sidewalk a long time. I rarely lose my temper as I know the people there are LOST and broken. But every time I see the “pro-choice” people do everything in their power to sway a conflicted woman to one choice, death, I am perplexed and angered anew by the level of self deception and evil.
Within five minutes, the woman, T, emerged. She got in her car, pulled out of the driveway and to the side of the road. I hurried over after doing a little happy dance.
“Can I still see my baby?” T asked in tears.
On the RV, not only did T see her baby but shared a life of deep struggle. Every terrible obstacle she faced, Courtney (the fantastic RV nurse) and I were able to counter with a resource to help her. And then we shared the Gospel. T asked many questions, and it was clear to all of us that she wanted Jesus in her broken life. I asked if she wanted to pray with us to submit her life right then to the lord.
“Oh no, I can’t do that,” she said. “I haven’t prayed in years...not since I walked away from God...And I have never prayed out loud.”
We assured her we would pray for her and she did not need to say a word. “But if you are feeling God tugging at your heart, give your life to Jesus soon. And please...let me know if you do,” I said.
I prayed, and then Courtney prayed and we said, “Amen.”
Then we heard a tiny voice beside us say, “And Lord, one more thing...”
T, who had not been able to pray to God in years and had never prayed aloud spoke to Him now. She didn’t ask Jesus to be Lord, not yet, but it was clear God was wooing her. She chose life, and hugged us after her soft, simple prayer. I told her that every resource we had discussed would be set in place within the next couple of days.
I stayed in touch, sending encouraging Bible verses that evening and the next morning. As I was driving back to the sidewalk the following day, I received this text from T. Her words are in the grey text bubbles.
A woman who had lost all hope was now filled with optimism. A woman who had been unable to pray because she was so overcome with her sin was now assured of God’s love and her place in His kingdom.
A baby who was to be sacrificed to fear and deception was now safe, alive, and loved.
He is risen!! The most wonderful words ever spoken, and among the most verifiable truth by any honest standard. The disciples were terrified, quaking in the upper room, all having fled the scene of Jesus’ death. They had all denied Him. Not one stood with Him during those horrible hours of unspeakable agony as His enemies sought to destroy Him. Yet when those cowardly disciples claimed to have seen Jesus resurrected, alive, everything changed.
They became bold champions of that truth despite persecution and torture. None recanted, not even during horrific martyr’s death which all but one of the eleven disciples who claimed to see the risen Christ endured.
Why?
Why die for something you KNOW to be untrue? And they KNEW. One way or the other, they KNEW. They had either seen the risen Christ or they had not!
Extrabibilical sources from that time period all agree on the historical facts: Jesus lived, claimed to be God, died by crucifixion, and His followers and 500 witnesses all claimed to see Him alive three days later. The tomb where He was buried was empty.
One easy way to disprove the claims as the early church exploded...produce a body.
