How many of you have a difficult person in your life?  Perhaps some of you have more than one difficult person you encounter daily. Maybe some of you ARE the difficult person in a relationship … have you ever thought about that?!  Difficult people are just so … so … so … well they are just so difficult!

It was a rare clear day, not a puff of a cloud in the sky, and off in the distance sat Mount Rainier. Everyone around here simply calls it The Mountain, not just because its near relative, Mount St. Helens, who lost her head a few years back and is now much harder to see. No, it’s called The Mountain because it’s the tallest and most majestic. For those who enjoy a relaxing walk and hike, the best part of Mount Rainier is an area called Paradise.

Do you know not what “September flowers” are? They are the flowers that were brilliant and young in June but now they are dismally weary and completely worn out. They are still “my” flowers – but they just look so bedraggled now.

The change of seasons is knocking at my door.  

Autumn awaits me while summer scurries silently away without even a polite good-bye.

We all encounter moments of difficulty and adversity, whether through external circumstances over which we have little control or through the consequences of our own choices. It is essential that we persevere during such times, but from where do we gather the strength to keep going?

I didn't actually know I would be attending ORU until just a week or two before I arrived. You see … I had planned to go to the safe Christian college about 45 minutes from my home ... until the phone call from the ORU Admissions office that interrupted my life and set me into my destiny. I’m not sure I have ever heard the voice of the Lord so clearly since that 8th month of the year 1973.

Many of us start life with a “To-Do-List” like graduate college, get married, have children, get a career, serve God as a missionary or a children’s ministry leader or the director of Awana. Fast-forward a few years, and the future is here. We can all look at that list of priorities, and we know how well we’ve achieved them. Any boxes checked are by the grace of God. He has provided the opportunities, the intellect, the physical stamina, and the heart to accomplish those things (Deuteronomy 8:18). Any boxes not yet checked are blank also by the grace of God. For by the grace of God, I am what I am.

I love the crystalline possibility that comes with being able to start over again … to begin again … to take a deep breath … and to set my gaze toward tomorrow in spite of what lies behind me. A new day … an untouched tomorrow … a pioneer spirit.

Imagine a big colorful balloon. It is perfectly designed to fly. It was created with every possibility to float high and travel far. It’s flexible and brilliant… ready to live up to its full potential. Today, though, it’s limp and empty and it can’t get off the ground. What’s going on?

God has a plan … He has always had a plan for His people.

His plan is visible … doable … and well-thought out.

His plan is found on the timeless pages of scripture.

Recently, I had friends and family over for Sunday dinner. Adults were seated around the dining room table laughing, joking and eating good food.  Children were running through the house, some playing cars and trucks, some playing soccer, some building towers with Legos. It was wild and wonderful. Some would call it chaos… but I call it connection!

When someone chooses you, it attaches value to who you are as a person. Whether you are eight years old, eighteen years old or seventy-eight years old, a woman aches to know she is worthy to be chosen. Let me assure you, my friend, you are chosen.

Jesus pours out his love on both Mary and Martha, even as he does for us today. But we might wonder how he can be such a close friend to us—after all, we can’t meet him for coffee. How can Jesus be our friend like he was for Martha and Mary?

You and I were made to pursue God fully … to dream without limits … and to worship extravagantly!  Those daily choices are the building blocks of what it takes to live a glorious and historic life!

Life is about perspective and wearing the correct lenses as we respond to what is going on around us. We can all probably share a horrendous story of pain and/or trauma in our life but I believe one of the ways to “get through” those times is to remember the times when God kissed our cheek with one of His signs and wonders! 

This world is such a harsh place at times, isn’t it? That is why it is so important to keep a tender heart. Social Media is cruel … people’s expectations are exacting … and the news is tormenting. Oh! How I long to keep a tender heart.