For Widows ... Wonderful Resources

As you know, occasionally I locate exceptional resources online that I pass along to you. This is one of those times ...

My friend and colleague Miriam Neff has created a line of resources especially for widows at www.widowconnection.com. Here you'll find lots of first-person stories, links to two books by Miriam on the subject, a DVD series, and more. She also includes resources on the site for churches to create ministries for widows.

Miriam was widowed at a young age, and she's created a community for those facing the same challenges she's facing -- younger and older -- a place of sharing, learning, and carving out new missions for life. She has a passion for missions among women in Africa -- and she's one who lives what she teaches.

If the mom you care for is widowed (or if you are), visit Miriam's site, glean wisdom and encouragement from her materials, and find a comforting place to express both grief and hope.

Blessings and prayers,

Julie

Canes and Crutches

Treasured friend,

Your faith is nothing but a crutch! If you’re so weak that you need a crutch, well, good for you. But I’m strong, I’m tough, and I don’t need a crutch.

Have you ever felt belittled by a friend or colleague who exuded that sentiment, if not those exact words? I’ve heard it many times from unbelievers--and it always makes me feel at least a little bit dejected.

It’s popular in our culture to consider ourselves independent, self-assured, absolutely sufficient without need of resources outside ourselves. But if we buy into that notion, we’ll be disappointed. Because it’s utterly erroneous, false, misguided—in short, wrong, with a capital W.

How do I know that?

Because no servant is greater than his or her master, and our Master made this unequivocal statement in John 5:30:

I can do nothing on my own. ... I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. John 5:30 (ESV)

That’s Jesus Christ, talking. The Way. The Truth. The Life. The one and only Son of the Father in Heaven. The Mighty King. Everlasting Father. Prince of Peace. Lion of Judah. Morningstar. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

You can’t get any stronger than He is. And yet, He—He!—says, “I can do nothing on my own.”

So, if you and I need a crutch, we’re in the best of company.

Now, then, once we can acknowledge that fact, we can go shopping for a crutch. I remember shopping for a cane for my gram several years ago. I found quite a few flimsy little sticks that were prettified, colorful, even flamboyant ... but weak. I discarded those immediately. I couldn't trust her to these -- they were insufficient to carry her weight.

Then I found one, finally, that would fit the bill. It was strong, gripped the ground without slipping, had a firm handle she could clutch—in short, a crutch that could hold her weight. That's the one I put into her weakening hands. That's the one I was willing to let her rest her weight upon.

If that’s what we need physically, how much more do we need a strong, firmly grounded, easy-to-hold-onto support in spiritual terms?

Listen to the strength in the words of our Master, whose authority from our Father in heaven is absolute:

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. … All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:35-40 (ESV)

Here’s the news flash. We all need a crutch—or at least strength from outside ourselves. Our bodies are weak and tire more quickly today than they did yesterday. We may never be more aware of that than in the moments when we’ve exhausted all our strength, wisdom, and resources in caring for our aging loved ones. It's then, though, that we are welcomed to receive Christ’s invitation to dump all our burdens on Him. He can take it. He has the authority. And He has the inclination to come alongside us. He is the bread, so we won’t starve in our weakness. He is the water of life, so we will be refreshed in a parched land. He is the strength to save us from being lost in the fretful waves of an uncertain present. He is the offer of an assured future of eternal life with Him.

Suddenly, I’m feeling pretty good about acknowledging my need for Christ’s brand of crutch. I hope and pray you are, too. As a book title by Joyce Rogers several years ago put it, "Lean Hard on Jesus." What a great invitation to take this crutch and see how well it supports the heavy weight you're shouldering.

Blessings and prayers on your work in His name today!

Julie

© 2012, Julie-Allyson Ieron. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, email: orders@joymediaservices.com

Write Joyfully: Mother's Week Special from Julie's Ministry

Write Joyfully: Mother's Week Special from Julie's Ministry: For the Mom who loves the Bible ... The Julie-Allyson Ieron Bible Reference Collection Powered by WORDSearch 9.0 Price Mother’s ...

Serving Christ in Obscurity

Treasured friend,

I’ve been studying the Gospel of John in my personal devotions and—as always with the Living Word—I’ve been captivated by something fresh, something I’d never noticed quite this way before. In chapter 1, I met a slew of fascinating people ... people who play roles in bringing many others to Christ.

John the Baptist, Andrew, Philip, and Nathaniel are the four who jumped out at me in this reading. Briefly, let me tell you what I noticed; then we’ll get on with how this applies to us as followers of Christ, in general, and caregivers, in particular.

 
John the Baptist—he’s the one who prepares the way for the Christ to enter the scene. Then, when people question him on his feelings about Jesus taking over and outshining him, JtB makes the most unselfish statement I could imagine: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” In fact, a larger chunk of his defining quote is:
 

John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:27-30 (ESV)

Then there’s Andrew—he’s the first missionary. And he’s the first of the disciples recorded to have signed on to follow Christ. He’s with JtB and hears the proclamation of Jesus as the “Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world.” And here’s what he runs to tell his brother Simon (Peter): “He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which means Christ)” John 1:41 (ESV).

We hear Andrew speak for himself in one other scene, the one with the loaves and the fishes. He’s the one who brings the small cache to Jesus—Who then multiplies it to feed the multitude (John 6). Otherwise, Andrew decreases—while his brother Peter takes over as spokesperson for the disciples. Interesting, the great deal we make about Peter’s proclamation of Jesus as the Christ … when early on Andrew makes the same statement—without the need of walking on water to meet the Master or seeing the squillions of other miracles that would come.

 
Then there’s Nathanael. He’s from the same town as Andrew and Peter—and Philip (who becomes the missionary to Nathaniel). Philip tells Nathanael, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (1:45). Nathanael scoffs—thinking Nazareth an unlikely source of the Messiah. But when Jesus calls Nathanael personally, the scoffer immediately turns to faith: “Rabbi,” he says to Jesus, “You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Those are the only words we ever hear from him, even though he too becomes a Christ-follower, a disciple.

I’m intrigued by the fact that these first confessors of the truth about Jesus Christ's deity, these first disciples, all fade into the background as those whom they bring to Him become a sort of inner circle—Peter, James, and John—who make nearly all the headlines in the disciple years and later in the early church recorded in Acts. (We do meet Philip in Acts, when he becomes a missionary to Samaria and when he miraculously arrives on the scene with the Ethiopian eunuch—and later as the father of four daughters who are godly women of faith and prophecy. But then he drops off the radar as Paul rises to prominence in the story.)

I suppose the lesson for us here is found in the faithfulness of these individuals who all decreased so that others, and more importantly, Christ, would receive all the headlines--and any glory that would come. These early believers trusted Christ, and they each served Him in everyday ways. They told others about Him—through their words and their obedient actions. They didn’t seek thanks or praise for themselves (we don’t hear of any one of these disciples asking for the place of prominence in the coming kingdom).

It’s rather like the thankless work of a caregiver. Consistency in a thousand, thousand daily actions—none of which gain for her (or him) elevated praise or glory. And yet caregivers, like disciples, work on. Pointing toward Christ. Serving Christ as they serve their elder charges.

Somehow, I rather think God takes notice of these servants of His. I do believe Jesus’ words on the subject speak for themselves:

 

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25:34-40 (ESV)

I’m pretty sure I can be content with the notice of my Lord and Master—especially with such an awesome promise of a “kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” And with Christ calling me "you who are blessed by My Father."

I can live with that. How about you?

Blessings and prayers,

Julie

© 2012, Julie-Allyson Ieron. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, email: orders@joymediaservices.com