Highs & Lows

Each night when we are able to eat dinner together as a family we try to do our "Highs" and "Lows." We each take turns telling our low point of the day followed by our high point.

Last night, something happened which was a first for us. My daughter Kristin who is in her last year of nursing school said that her high and low were both the same thing.

She had a final exam yesterday morning at 8 AM which she had been studying tirelessly for. For some reason her alarm clock volume was turned way down so she did not hear it yesterday morning. She ended up getting up at 8 AM, the exact time her exam was starting!

She raced around, put her hair in a pony tail and brushed her teeth. Thankfully, my wife Connie was home as she prayed with Kristin before sending her on her way out the door.

Kristin arrived very late and calmly took her exam. She said that though she was 45 minutes late, she finished her exam before many of her classmates. She said she had a very clear mind and was filled with peace and she thinks she did well on her final.

Upon hearing this, two things immediately came to mind:

1. The incredible power of prayer and
2. Our troubles can actually turn out to be victory when we let God enter in.

We may not see that victory immediately, but it will eventually happen if we love God and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7

Encouragement

Once ever two weeks or so, I have breakfast with a great friend and we help to hold each other accountable in certain areas of our lives. We eat at the same diner each time and are usually served by the same two waitresses.

This morning we were greeted by Wendy who was obviously not in a good mood. In fact, she was pretty mean which was not like her.

So when she brought our food to us, we told her that we were going to ask God to bless our food and that we wanted to pray for her. We then asked her how she would like to be prayed for. She told us and we did pray for her.

She came back about 10 minutes later and told us that she really appreciated the prayer and she said she was feeling much better. It was apparent to us that her mood had been lifted.

Her mood was more than likely improved because of the following two reasons:
1. God touched her heart and brought her peace as a result of our prayers
2. She was touched and encouraged that someone would actually pray for her.

This was a great lesson to me about how powerful it can be to ask if you can pray for someone, especially when they are down. Try it today, it might just be the encouragement someone needs!

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Help!

On Saturday of this past weekend, I went out to cut down a dead limb on an old oak tree in our yard. At first I didn't think it was going to be a big deal so I leaned a ladder up against the tree and went up to survey what needed to happen. As I approached the limb, it became obvious to me that this job was going to be much bigger than I had imagined.

The limb in question was about 14" in diameter and approximately 30' long with lots of other limbs coming out of it. I realized that if I attempted this on my own, the limb could swing down and take out the ladder or fall on me and crush me, neither of which sounded good.

So, I called out my wife Connie for her perspective. She said, "Go get Mike next door and ask for his help." I found this hard to do because I just wanted to tackle this problem on my own. But, I finally relented and called Mike. Mike, filled with much more wisdom than me, took one look at the situation and said, "There is no way you should do that on your own! I'll ask my son to come take a look."

Mike's son came over with a huge boom truck and positioned a guy right above the branch and within a half an hour the limb was on the ground and cut into manageable pieces. I began stacking some of the wood and as I carried some of the little logs I realized that each piece was very heavy. Combined, the limb was probably well over 1 ton. Boy, am I glad I asked for help!

Then on Sunday during my God time, He showed me something in Nehemiah 1:4, "When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven." The very first thing Nehemiah did was ask for help from God. The first thing I typically do is bear down and work harder thinking that I can handle this on my own. To me, God was telling me I need to rely on Him more and seek His guidance (as Nehemiah was doing above) and quit trying to do things all on my own.

Then at church, we learned about the life of Joshua, a great leader who regularly took his "stuff" to God to get direction, guidance and help. Our pastor said that God basically says to us, "You can grind away on your own if you want or you can bring it to Me and I will help you."

So, I think God might be trying to teach me something...to rely on Him more and to go to Him first before doing anything on my own! How about you?

Prayer At Work

Last night at church I was talking with Steve who told me about a tough situation he has been having at work. It seems his boss is somewhat of a tyrant and is making their work environment very unhealthy.

This is something I can definitely relate to (If you don't know why, see Bleedership, Biblical First-Aid for Leaders).

Anyway, Steve mentioned he was seriously considering quitting. He then decided months ago to spend some quiet time with God to see if He would provide some direction to him. Steve said he felt God was telling him to stick it out and be a positive influence. So that's what he did.

He went to work and gathered other Christians and they began a regular time of prayer for their boss. He said it has been amazing what has happened. Over the past four months his boss has started to come around and has even apologized to him!

What a great testimony! Thanks for your example Steve!