Category Archives: What Do You Think? Wednesday

Show Forth God’s Glory

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What Do You Think? Wednesday

What are you doing to show forth God’s glory?

If you’re a counselor, then counsel.
If you’re a singer, then sing.
If you’re a writer, then write.
If you’re a dancer, then dance.
If you’re a preacher, then preach.
If you’re a stylist, then style.
If you’re a runner, then run.

“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

This should always be our prayer. This should always be our practice.

This is my constant desire, but busyness and fatigue try to make me forget, turning my mind to the time when I get to stop or just take a little break. I stop and I think about why I was created then commit all that I have created to God. I know I’m not the only one whose fatigue and busyness make you forget who you were created to serve. Maybe you have other issues that prevents you from bowing to Jesus. So tell me, what challenges do you have doing “whatever you do. . .for the glory of God”? Please, tell me what you think.

Seeing Clearly

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What Do You Think? Wednesday

On the way to get my new glasses with the stronger prescription I saw a police car and tape cordoning off a barber shop. I later learned that the police were at the Visible Change barber shop after a three-person shooting. Folks in the barber shop got in the crossfire of one gun-wielding guy chasing another who ran into the shop. If only they had become, and not just run into, Visible Change, the man on the run might be alive and the gun-toting guy might have a better life, but they couldn’t see. I carry no gun, am not on the run from anyone, but I understand their blindness, just really beginning to understand that sight comes from within. This has to be given to us, supernaturally so we can see naturally what’s really going on.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.
If you have faith the size of a mustard seed you can move mountains.
And a child shall lead them.
And a child did lead them, last week; thousands of them followed the Lemonade Kid for refreshment, not from a physical thirst, but for quenching their dry places of hopelessness, despair, belief in the power of one, in the power of faith, in the power of God.

And even I couldn’t see THIS, even when the Lemonade Kid was 2 and made up his first worship song with the only lyrics “Hallelujah, Amen;” even when from ages 2-5 his favorite pastime was preaching to an audience of none or just his parents; even when at 3 he prophesied to me, twice, “Walk in the power of God” in between sermons with Cat in the Hat verbiage and our founding pastor’s voice; even when at 3 he would wake in the middle of the night to preach a word he had on his heart: “Put in the love. Put it in the heart” being one of his most mind-boggling words.

“He’s going to be a prayer warrior, praiser and preacher, in that order,” my sister said of her first nephew. I smiled, had heard the same but not in order, and his life from toddler to now reflects each of these.

But even I had a hard time seeing these, the supernatural converging with the natural, trying to make me a believer in what my eyes didn’t normally see.

Order my steps.
Guide my feet.
Take my hand.
Open my eyes.

This is the Christian’s constant prayer—my prayer—but without allowing the supernatural to converge then convert the natural, we only discount our prayer for what we could always naturally see. God wants to give us supernatural favor to take the place of our natural flavors. “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him” (Psalm 34:8)!

Last week I began to see, not just with my new glasses but with Holy Spirit lens. The Lord gave me the right prescription for supernatural sight. Without His prescription we will deny our children’s calling, divert our dreams and dance in the safe spaces, around the same circles. We must pray “order my steps; guide my feet; take my hand; open my eyes” then believe what we ask God to do and watch Him do “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. . . ” (Ephesians 3:20). Praise Jesus for the power of God in us—the Holy Spirit—helping us to see clearly, the way we were meant to see.

What are your thoughts on the natural clouding the supernatural in your life? Please, tell me what you think.

A Gallery of Hope

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Yesterday we got a call from our mayor, Dave Bing, who thanked our son for hosting a refreshment stand to raise monies to help the cash-strapped Detroit. Below are the video of Bing’s call to me and Joshua and pictures from Joshua’s sale.

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While we appreciated the call, my husband, Flynn, summed up our beliefs about Joshua’s efforts: “It would be disingenuous of us to have people come by to make donations under one premise and then turn around and use the money for our own gain.”

Please, tell me what you think?

All photos by Kathleen Galligan of the Detroit Free Press.

Yield and Make a Difference

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What Do You Think? Wednesday

We have been called to make a difference, be the difference in others’ lives, but when they don’t want that difference there is nothing we can do. This I’m still learning, wondering if my children will reject my teachings, seeing how my mother resists my believing that change is still possible, even for the elderly. I seek to submit to God even when I want to yell out loud that I’m through, with people, procedures, processes, my process of learning, stretching, giving, yielding, groaning, yielding, growing, molding—shaped into something new, more usable, more beneficial, more sustainable, and more powerful.

I come to each day with only expectation that God will show up, even when I don’t, even when I don’t want to but need to. He will show up and do in me what He wants done in me in spite of me. There is a yielding that can be ever so beautiful if we try, let go of our hurts, our cries and just try. We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. We are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. We are the head and not the tail if we let God lead us. He must lead us; we are incapable of leading ourselves, at least down a righteous path, one far from the destruction that we’ve come to know on our own.

Lives need to be changed and they include ours. We can do this, must do this. We can do this. Seek His face. Follow His leading. Continue on His path. He makes all provisions.

Today, write me. Comment here and tell me what you think.

Tabs on You

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Some habits die hard and follow hard lessons learned along the way. I know I will be strong until the day I die. That is not a habit; it’s a God-given benefit, but some ways that I display my strength are what need to die. My eyes opened to this last week when my ears peaked with panic when I heard my middle child screech “Mama, where are you!?” My 4-year-old asks me this just about every time I leave the room. He wants to know what I’m doing, why I’m doing it and when I’m coming back. And, when I’m deep in contemplation or just sitting, being quiet and chilled, my husband often asks, “What are you thinking?” He wants to know if I’m okay.

I get it. They are both concerned. My 4-year-old is checking on his physical safety, asking questions to help him deal with his separation anxiety, and my husband is checking on my mental safety, wanting to make sure that I don’t drown in my deep thoughts. But I want to go where I want to go and think what I want to think without having to share my whereabouts and what I’m thinking about. I want my own walk and my own thoughts, still yearning to be independent in ways that I am now interdependent. I have learned to not get aggravated by their “intrusions” and examine my desire for seclusion, and I have concluded this: I don’t want my natural inclination to become my spiritual inclination because with God my walk is not my walk and my thoughts are not my thoughts, at least they shouldn’t be.

My family keeping tabs on me helps me see how much of my past is still my present, those things I need to shake loose. When they remind me of my interdependence, I am in prime position to remind myself of my dependence on God. And that makes their asking so much more worthwhile.

How have you struggled with letting go of independent ways now that you are interdependent? How, if at all, does your natural inclination reflect your spiritual inclination? Please, tell me what you think?