Monthly Archives: November 2014

Flooded Engine

Posted on by Lynda Stringer

Image: lawncare.org

My husband gave my youngest daughter, Kristin, a lesson recently in starting the weed eater after it flooded. Apparently, when you flood the engine, there’s too much gas in the carburetor and it messes up the fuel/air mixture – so it won’t start. The remedy is to let it sit and drain for a bit. Makes sense.

Well, you can apply that same remedy when your brain is flooded and you’re feeling overwhelmed by everything you’re juggling – the stresses, the deadlines and workload of your day. Try being still and letting all the day’s “stuff” drain out of your mind and instead be filled with thoughts of God’s beauty, and mercy, and His power. You’ll be recharged and be able to rev up and get started!

 

“I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great his power is to help those who believe him.” ~ Ephesians 1:19

My Triple-underlined Verse

Posted on by Lynda Stringer

Jeremiah-2911When you’re not sure about where God is taking you, remember to trust His plan for your life! Jeremiah 29:11 is highlighted, triple underlined and the page is dog-eared and well-worn in my Bible! How about you?

My work world was turned upside down in July 2013 when I was laid off from my job as coordinator of a hospital foundation along with my boss and 60 of my co-workers. I asked God, “What now?” I’d been a freelance writer for years on the side, so that was one thing. But, as anyone working freelance knows, you have to juggle several part-time jobs to make ends meet. Not long after the layoff, God opened a door at KVNE in Tyler, TX that allowed me to go back to a career I was passionate about that also allowed me the freedom to build my freelance writing business, which now inclues a new online resource for Christian radio stations, Christian Insider News & Show Prep. It’s still a financial struggle right now and a daily grasping of trust in Him that keeps me walking in the direction He is leading.

He said He knows the plans he has for me…

Plans to PROSPER me and NOT TO HARM me. To give me HOPE and a FUTURE. I hang onto that every time a bill comes in. Every time I have to fill up my gas guzzler. Every time I look in the pantry to make dinner. In those moments of trusting, I feel blessed and thankful for what He has given me and the opportunities that lie ahead, even when I don’t know what they are.

Many of you are facing much tougher challenges than this. Tragic circumstances. Heartbreaking loss. Take your Bible out and pray earnestly for His direction, for His highway signs. Then, remember and hang onto His promise in this verse daily…hourly or by the minute if you need His reassurance!

Are You In There?

Posted on by Lynda Stringer

Image: mudpreacher.org

I will always treasure the memory of my daughter Kristin when she was a 2-year-old hearing us talk about being Christians. She shouted, excitedly, “I’m a Christian!” We thought it was because of her name. But, I believe God had a hand on her from that early time in her life.

Well, Max Lucado shares a similar memory: He writes in “When God Whispers Your Name,” “When my daughter Jenna was six years old, I discovered her standing in front of a full-length mirror looking down her throat. I asked her what she was doing and she answered, “I’m looking to see if God is in my heart.” I chuckled and turned. Then I overheard her ask Him, “Are you in there?” She was asking the right question. “Are you in there?” It wasn’t enough for you to appear in a bush or dwell in the temple? It wasn’t enough for you to become human flesh and walk on the earth? You had to go further? You had to take up residence in us? Paul wrote, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?” (I Corinthians 6:19). Perhaps you didn’t. If not, thanks for letting me remind you. The world says look inside yourself and find self. God says look inside yourself and find God.

From Kristin’s certainty that she was a child of God – she accepted Christ at age 4 – to Jenna’s curiosity about whether God lived in her heart, we can learn from the innocence of a child. The boldness, the excitement, the curiosity to ask the right question. To seek God and fall into his arms and make your heart his home.

 

 

Beautiful Traveler

Posted on by Lynda Stringer

Image: TheTimes-Tribune.com

She passed him on the highway about 2:00 in the afternoon. He was pushing a bicycle loaded down like a pack horse with seemingly all of his meager belongings. Her thought was, ‘How could he push that bike with all that stuff?’ She thought about him for a few more minutes and then turned up the radio and sped on. She had to get to work. There, she played the songs and shared the verses and offered inspiration and even gave some tips on ways to do random acts of kindness. He didn’t cross her mind again that afternoon.

 On her way home, she cranked the radio again and thought about her family, her life, what she’d make for dinner that night and what her schedule looked like for the coming week. Then her heart leaped out of her chest when she saw the man again! Five hours later, he was still on his journey down that two-lane highway, cars passing him by at 60 miles per hour. It was an unusually cool day in July, but he had a jacket to keep the chill away. He was nearing the intersection of two highways, now riding the bike with determined purpose. She heard God’s voice in the words she had shared, the verses that He had pointed out to her that day. He said, “Share my love with him.”

 At the next road, she made a U-turn to find a place to buy him some food for the night. Loading her arms with a couple of sandwiches, snacks, and nutritious drinks, she laid it all on the counter, planning to stop and give it to him out on the road. But, then she spied him inside the store looking at the soda case. He had stepped in line holding just a can of Dr. Pepper as the clerk was bagging up the bounty.

So,  she turned around and handed him the sack of food and drinks, telling him, “These are for you. God loves you,” thinking she should have said so much! To her surprise, he responded, “I know!” with a huge grin spreading across his tanned, leathery face. The tousled hair and missing-teeth smile reminded her of a song she’d listened to in her car earlier about God’s love washing over people, making them like radiant diamonds.

God had given her an opportunity to bless him and he had blessed her even more, showing her something beautiful in this highway traveler.