Category Archives: Jesus Christ

The Beauty of Life

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The dishes are dirty; the clothes pile high; children cry; toys are scattered and tattered and remind me I am the same. The time is gone and won’t be back until tomorrow. Yet in the midst of chaos I see my calm:

Beauty amidst chaos

This spring bouquet, a mixture of two sets of flowers, has been bringing me joy. By seeing them I smile because

  • I marvel at God’s handiwork. How does He give type, color and smell to so many things?
  • They are pretty and make me feel pretty.
  • The blossoms seem to be smiling at me.
  • Two people thought enough about me to buy me them.
  • They remind me that not everything is bad.

    • So find you some flowers today. Maybe your blossoms won’t be flowers but a beaming teenager happy that you’re her mom, a toddling two-year-old with the ability to create in all his spaces, a job that enables you to pay your bills, the wind that blows you fresh air, a potty seat to remind you of childhood progress, frozen food showing you your abundance, helping hands showing you you’re not alone. We never are. God is there, providing blossoms in our messy midst, showing us life as it should be: focused on His goodness and grace while in hellish places.

    Copyright 2011 by Rhonda J. Smith

    I don’t know who this is for today; I had an entirely different post but when I sat down to write this is what I heard. So I pray for you today. I pray that you see the light at the end of the tunnel, that you know that there is a silver lining, that God didn’t bring you this far to leave you. He would never do that. He is faithful. He never leaves us or forgets about us. It may feel that way but please know that all things work together for our good if we love God and are called according to His purpose. We must remember that He called us for what He wants to do through us not so we can do what we want and have things to go the way we want. And remember that all means ALL; God wastes nothing. He is the ultimate recycler, making us over and over again. So get ready for your life makeover. Get ready for the new and improved you, handcrafted by God, the ultimate stylist and brander. Yep, that’s our God. Wait on Him to make you over. Yes, He wants to do that for you, but He’s got to do it in His own way. Trust Him. Believe in Him. He won’t let you down.

    Seek Connection

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    What Do You Think? Wednesday

    Actually, you got What Do You Think? Wednesday on Monday. Today I bring you a typical Monday message:

    When loss comes you realize what type of relationships you have. We see this when our loved ones die, when we lose a job or some other prestigious position, even when we lose our mind. We find out who is in our corner, who wants to be but who just doesn’t know how and about those who were just along for the good ride. With my own recent loss—that of my beloved constant connection to the world for about a week—I found out about some people in my life, especially me and my relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ.

    Of course the loss of the Internet, home phone and cell phone use don’t compare to the above losses, but they definitely showed me:

    1) That, indeed, I have great people in my life. After using the library’s Internet connection to post on Facebook my technology woes, my friend Adrienne called me from Arkansas and through the crackling line shouted her concern that nothing nefarious had caused the disruption. Another sister, Kamil, heard me through the statically line say I couldn’t even call her back on my cell phone; she had just upgraded her cell phone and offered to loan me her old one that I could use with my own phone number.

    2) Life without ready technology causes you to be still and resourceful. Eventually after the home phone line went dead, I didn’t bother to even answer the phone. At first I ran to get it in hopes that the line was restored. I accepted that checking the line AFTER a phone technician had come to check the wiring would be best. Also, before I got Kamil’s phone, I decided that charging my cell phone every 20 minutes was something that I was no longer willing to do. As for being resourceful, I used the public library, help lines and my own experience with technology to reconnect to the outside world.

    3) I don’t work hard enough to connect to God when our regular connection has been altered. With each child came a change in my quiet time and I had to find a new norm. I have accepted that my time may not be a dedicated, uninterrupted period in the morning with Bible readings and talks to Him throughout the day. Now, depending on the children’s needs, I may get that dedicated time, but more than likely my studying, reading and conversations can only be in spurts. Even though my consistent morning quiet time no longer works, I find myself spending too much time hoping the old way returns instead of pressing hard to connect with God in resourceful ways throughout the day.
    I was a hardworking sister, trying to get connected to the outside world and that tired me out. I know my energies will be better spent seeking to connect to God with last week’s abandon. He promises that His burden is easy and His yoke is light. Now that’s the kind of weight and hook up we all need.

    What have you learned from unexpected changes in your life?

    Copyright 2011 by Rhonda J. Smith

    Loving Hard

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    A woman’s got to do what a woman’s got to do, and sometimes it’s tough, making changes, rearranging schedules to accommodate loved ones. This is what I had to do for today. My pastor-husband, who goes to work every day and works every day for our family and church family providing fresh food for our bodies and souls and moves my soul with how he works, asked me to get a sitter to watch the boys so I could serve with him at a funeral. I went to work immediately because this hardworking man hardly asks me for anything and I wanted to help him. Though Monday is a blogging day and the weekend’s activities would prevent me from choosing another writing day to get my post done, I get a sitter. With a misplaced button for my only decent suit, questionable pantyhose, a puffy mane, little makeup remaining, and a heart hungry to be with my boys, I go and I get more,

    More strength to make changes for my family
    More resolve to serve them
    More love for my hardworking man
    More praise for a God who gave me all them
    More awe of my sitter, who fed and dressed my kids and cleaned my house too
    More appreciation for my role as a wife and mother
    More desire to do whatever God desires me to do

    all because of Janice Tucker and her family. Today Janice buried Chucky, her firstborn son born with CHARGE Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder affecting one out of every 9-10,000 births worldwide. Though Chucky had most of the issues that characterize CHARGE, including balance, breathing and swallowing problems and vision, hearing and speech loss, Janice, a young mother at 20, refused to put her son in an institution when doctors told her that she should; when they said this would be best because Chucky probably wouldn’t live past toddlerhood, Janice said, “That’s my baby. He’s going home with me.” And Chucky did and lived to see 25 years mostly from having a persistent, insistent and patient mom, a planner who arranged her family to meet Chucky’s needs. Her five other children and her husband who came after Chucky all loved and cared for him. Her mother and sisters and friends, his teachers and their neighbors all loved and cared for him. With hundreds of hospital visits, a tracheotomy, feeding tube, wheelchair and learning and living that wasn’t “supposed” to happen, God showed through Chucky and Janice and her family His grace is sufficient for all of us who have to make changes to accommodate our loved ones, that His strength shows up when we are weak (2 Corinthians 12:9). And we can do all things through Jesus Christ, whether tough or small, routine or newly in, when we remain faced toward God and put all our trust in Him (Isaiah 26:3; Philippians 4:13).

    Copyright 2011 by Rhonda J. Smith

    Satisfying God

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    Light a candle for the Holy Spirit, let His figure be the one invited person we’d hope would come, show up to cover us with His presence, illuminate our lives, giving direction, showing where we need correction and peace. We need Him here, always, stroking our lives, making us whole and holding us captive with great fear, an awe of His presence, His likeness, His coming near to us, helping us. He’s the Helper, if we let Him. He’s our guide, if we choose not to do this on our own. He’s our shield, protecting us from us and others. He’s Lord, leading us down righteous pathways, the place we belong.

    He’s calling us, in whispered songs and we hear the melody floating above our heads, in our heads. We long for and like the words, but they are too simplistic to us. We want better, want more than what He sings. We bring our requests through ignoring the songs, refusing to sing the lyrics, hum the tunes in our hearts. Our dark, dry souls can’t see and are thirsty. Our candle is quenched, and we have snuffed our sight. We are not satisfied satisfying God.

    This is His request: Be satisfied satisfying Me. This is the great challenge of my too often discontented soul, the strong black woman one who always wants more and so little of that has to do with God. I yearn through faithfulness and obedience, putting the spiritual above the physical, to be satisfied by satisfying God. Yearn with me. Joy with me in bringing joy to God.

    Copyright 2011 by Rhonda J. Smith