Anchors or Rudders?

“You cannot change the past, but the past can change you; either for better or for worse . . . the past can be a rudder that guides you or an anchor that hinders you.”
Warren Wiersbe

Make a list of events and circumstances throughout your life. Then mark each one with A for anchor or R for rudder. You will see where God has already worked and where work still needs to be done.

My list might include: living on welfare, rejected articles, date rape, death of parents, spiritual abuse, not going to college or being able to send my children to college.

Your list will include different things: maybe child abuse or divorce; maybe alcoholism or a demotion; maybe job loss or foreclosure.

Allow me to highlight one of my experiences that has been both an anchor and a rudder. Welfare checks, low income housing and food stamps trashed my self-esteem, ended some relationships and prevented others. It certainly made self-pity the Lord of my life.

Once out of welfare, fear of that trial being repeated sat like a wrecking ball in my heart. I, at times, feared acknowledging a blessing or provision for fear that the very claiming of it would cause me to lose it.

On the other hand -- I've grown in compassion. I've come to enjoy gentle and intimate walks with God along man-made paths in the midst of God-made beauty. I've learned to "use" coupons, not let them use me to buy what I don't need. I'm relearning generosity, gratitude, and though slowly, I'm learning how to dream . . . to expect that God still has good (maybe even exciting) plans for my life.

Does Warren Wiersbe's quote from Chapter by Chapter (page 258) line up with God's Word? I think so. Joseph is an obvious example.

"And now don't be worried or angry with yourselves for selling me here, because God sent me ahead of you to preserve life . . . to establish you as a remnant within the land and to keep you alive by a great deliverance." (Genesis 45:4-7 CSB)

Sorry for taking the easy one, but can you cite any other examples? If so, please share.

God, the miracle worker and heart changer, can turn any anchor into a rudder.

Being Changed By Him,
Lonnie

One Sentence!

"The thing I loved about Nadine was that I never felt like she was selling anything. She would talk about God as if she knew Him, as if she had talked to Him on the phone that day. She was never ashamed, which is the thing with some Christians I encounted. They felt like they had to sell God, as if He were soap or a vacuum cleaner, and it's like they really weren't listening to me; they didn't care, they just wanted me to buy their product." Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz p. 52

This week a woman shared, with tears in her eyes, how God used her polio stricken husband. When a man entered their church one Sunday, her husband asked the man if he came because he was curious or because he wanted to learn about Jesus. Fifteen years later, they received a letter. Because of the question the man had been asked on that Sunday, a future day found him accepting Jesus as his Saviour.

One sentence!

On our first visit to a church, the worship leader addressed the congregation as "Beloved." We've attended that church, now, for several months. And several times since, he has again addressed us as "Beloved." Every time, it brings healing to my heart.

One Word!

Imagine what God might be doing with the sincere words you speak!

What, in God's Word, encourages you to share Jesus in your most natural and genuine way? And to trust Him with the results?


Beloved and Growing -- How about you?
Lonnie

Judging The Needy

In Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller shares an eye-opening moment at a Safeway grocery store. When a lady in front of him pulled out food stamps, he was surprised. They looked more like money than stamps. Donald felt awkward and witnessed a similar awkwardness between the clerk and the woman. He wished he could buy her groceries, but was afraid that would cause even more embarrassment.

"The woman never lifted her head" Miller wrote,"as she organized her bags of groceries and set them in her cart. She walked away from the checkout stand in the sort of stiff movements a person uses when they know they are being watched."

Watched? You better know it. Are they spending "government money" (our tax dollars) appropriately?

I can still see myself standing in line with a cart of groceries, our new baby, and . . . food stamps. I can feel the eyes watching as my roast moved down the belt. "A roast on government money?" I imagined anyone nearby thinking. But that roast was my coping mechanism. I put it in the freezer to eat toward the end of the month when funds ran low. Welfare stinks! The roast gave me something to look forward to.

"I had come to believe that because a person is in need," Miller continued, "they are candidates for sympathy, not just charity. It was not that I wanted to buy her groceries, the government was already doing that. I wanted to buy her dignity. And yet, by judging her, I was the one taking her dignity away." (Blue Like Jazz p. 89-90)


There are people who "use" the system: People who have another baby or get divorced and still live together so the dependent mother can collect a check.

There are some who are homeless because they do drugs. And there are those who do drugs because they are homeless. That's how they cope.

Here's my question? Can we, by any means, give someone dignity? Or take it away? If so, how?

Was Donald "judging" this woman by wanting to buy her groceries? Or was he moved by compassion?

Would love to hear/see your thoughts.

Because . . .

I'm Forever Growing,
Lonnie

Secret Choices

One of my greatest hurts is when I've grown and no one noticed. In fact, when I've been rebuked in the very area I've grown in. I may have stretched mightily to engage in something social. I may have chosen to not be hurt so easily. I may have learned to rejoice with those who rejoice -- when envy or covetousness would have been my previous response. I might have learned to do those ugly tasks (home or work) without grumbling, judging or feeling sorry for myself.

Much of that hard work is done in the closet of our heart. That place where only God sees.

I've been on both sides of this problem. My daughter has made incredible progress in an area of her life and "I" have been the one to rebuke her when she slipped up.

You've been there. I know. It hurts, doesn't it?

Linda Dillow, in Calm My Anxious Heart, writes something she heard God saying to her: "Linda, make secret choices that will honor Me. Though no one sees your choices or knows how difficult they are, make them for Me." (p. 32)

What secret choices have "you" made? Have you been corrected when you felt you should have been complimented? Know this: God Sees.

Others do too. Sometimes, when we get new glasses or change our hair style, others know something is different but just can't put their finger on it. So it is with your growth and mine.

When you experience a victory in one of those tough areas, share with a friend so that you have someone to celebrate with. And keep on making those "secret choices" that "will" honor God.

Growing Along With You,
Lonnie