What God Wants for You

It has been said that a life watered by the tears of tragedy and suffering often becomes the most fertile soil for spiritual growth. Decades after his own brothers sold him into slavery, Joseph was able to say to them, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done." (Gen. 50:20)

Can you say that? If not, I encourage you to press in closer to the One who intends only good toward you, and has the power to redeem and restore and transform anything. As we pray more, immerse ourselves further in prayer, seek out others who have emerged from tragedy and disaster stronger and wiser and happier, we can grow out of feeling victimized and into triumph by His Spirit. I've been there, and I know.

So if you are not there yet, and despair of ever getting there, be encouraged. There is life, full and lovely, on the other side of whatever you've been through. Believe it!

(For more on recovering from trauma, you might want to check out Welcome to the Fresh-Squeezed Life Cafe. You can find it on Amazon. It is a guide to journal your way to wellness, both emotional and spiritual.)

What God Says

Whatever is in your past, whatever challenges or disasters have plagued you in this past year or years, as we close out 2010, stop listening to despairing thoughts and fearful refrains. Listen instead to what God says:

"But this is a people plundered and looted; they are all of them trapped in holes and hidden in prisons; they have become plunder with none to rescue, spoil with none to say,

'Restore!'"

Isa. 42:22

"But forget all that...It is nothing compared to what I am going to do.

For I am about to do something new.

See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?

I will make a pathway through the wilderness.

I will create rivers in the dry wasteland."

Isa. 43:18,19

"Nothing is impossible with God."

Lk. 1:37

Nothing!

"What will become of any of us? I mean, tell me honestly, Dora. Did you ever imagine that this would be your life?" (Caroline in The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards.

Have you ever felt like that, shell-shocked by life, wondering how some tornado had been able to swoop down, pick you up and set you stunned and reeling in the Land of Oz? I have.

Look around, even here, for the Tree of Life. Pick its fruit, for from it comes fresh-squeezed Life. There is nothing like it. Sometimes it tastes like lemon juice, I'll admit, but you can trust it, for the One who puts it before you here in this alien land is eminently trustworthy.

This is the One of whom is said, "The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory; like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish. John pointed him out and called, "This is the One!" (from John 1, THE MESSAGE)

This is the one I call "As Real As Apples."

Becoming Strong

I had a favorite coffee cup that exploded in my hands one day when I poured hot coffee into it. Quite literally couldn't take the heat. It was beautiful. It was comfortable to hold. But it fell apart under the very conditions it had been created for. The problem was that it was created from a mold, not by hand. It failed along the seam. You and I are not patched together, and there are not a hundred or a thousand others just like us out there. Each one of us is created to be a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, and each of us is created for an individual purpose. God continues to make and shape us, and sometimes the process doesn't feel so great. But he's got something in mind for you! Do you believe it?

The Book Goes to the Printer!

Today a few last-minute revisions were handled over the phone, and I faxed the galley and cover approvals to the publisher. The book should go to the printer by the end of this week, and within 2-3 weeks Welcome to the Fresh-Squeezed Life Cafe will be available.

Somehow I managed to do my part to make this happen, despite my design consultant leaving my publisher as of today, my car battery going dead, prevailing on two different neighbors to buy and use jumper cables to get me started, the office store Staples for the second time in a row being unable to successfully fax my forms to the publisher, my neighbor letting me use her home office fax machine to get the forms in today, driving around and leaving my car running while I ran into various auto parts stores to see if they would replace my battery, and a family member having emergency surgery. All this happened today: We just never know what kind of a day we're going to have, do we? (Surgery went well.)

Life has probably squeezed you, today, too, in small ways--and for some of you, in big ways. Maybe nothing was tied up and brought to a nice close, and your mind is not at ease. Maybe you're unhappy with the way you handled things. Take a deep breath. And another. Close your eyes and imagine God's hand reaching down to you, to pick you up, to stroke your hair, whatever you need. You are imagining the real, not the imaginary; He really loves you. He wants to give you beauty where you've had only ashes. There is good stuff ahead. Wait for it!