A young man stepped to the podium to sing a solo in the morning service.   I sat there on the front row, and along with the congregation, awaited a song that would cause us to look heavenward.  Oh boy!  The music was in one key and he was in another.  He left the music way behind and nothing fit together. Instead of causing us to be lifted heavenward, we all wished he would hurry and finish, which he did, way before the background music!

In a conversation I learned that the man loved to sing but was tone death.  He wanted us to be receptive but the wrong tone killed the whole thing.    The problem was not the message but the tone.  Tone has to do with using different elements: volume, speed, pitch of voice, body language and gestures, etc., to name a few.

We are in a time when we have to boldly stand for truth.  BOLDLY!   I refuse to accept what the Bible does not accept.  I understand everyone is not going to like my stand or agree with me. What I don’t want to do is add fuel to the fire by my tone.    We live in a time of too much anger and hostility.  Couples scream and yell at each other.  Politicians berate one another.   Christians “tell each other off”.   Facebook posts are often rudely stated.  People are quick to give the middle finger of fellowship.  Parents declare that the only way their children will listen is if they yell.   (By the way, that is only true if you conditioned them that way.)   God is saying to sing in one key, yet we often we sing in whatever key we want.  We have a tone problem.

I don’t want to be an angry, ugly, red-faced, condescending, name-calling, arrogant child of God.  I want to stand boldly for God.  I want to have the best relationships I can.  I want to be a good communicator of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I might be rejected but I don’t want it to be because of my tone.    I want to set the right tone.  How about you?

While on a ministry trip to Ohio, I spent three nights in a hotel.  My schedule made it necessary to arise and shine early each morning!  I would go down to the breakfast room at 5:30 to get my anointed cup of coffee and read over my message.  There were two women who stocked the breakfast area, and they told me their day started at 4:30.   As I watched hotel guests eating breakfast, very little thought seemed to be given to these women.  It was not a “limelight” job.

God spoke to me to bless those two women daily with words of thanksgiving and praise, and I did.  The last morning, I felt God leading me to bring them a gift of thanksgiving.  As I placed it in their hands, I thanked them for a job well done.  I thanked them that I had fresh coffee so early in the morning.  They begin to grin, and you could almost see their shoulders lift.  I could see them in the back room, and as we say in the south, “they were tickled pink!”   I honestly think I was more blessed than they were.

We often think of great ministries or ministers as those who stand up front, those in the limelight.  I have certainly known great men and women of God who have gifts requiring them to stand in the limelight.  But, there is a ministry that is so needed in life today, and it’s a great ministry that all of us can do.  Don’t even take a spiritual gift test to see if you have it!  It is the ministry of EN-couragement!

Everyone, from babes to senior citizens, needs EN-couragement. To EN-courage is to put courage into someone. To DIS-courage is to take courage out of them.   You don’t have to go to seminary to have a great ministry!  Be an EN-courager!  Today speak a kind word; tell someone you appreciate them; say thank you to your boss; tell that nurse how much you appreciate her care; tell a child how glad you are God made them; post on someone’s Facebook complimenting them.  If you will look around today, you will have many opportunities to have a great ministry – the ministry of EN-couragement.

Show the love of God by being an EN-courager.  Make a point of putting courage into your spouse, your children, your friends, your pastor, your mentor, the clerk checking you out at the grocery store, the teller at the bank, the single parent and countless others.  Be a blessing today through EN-couragement.  Go out of your way to do it, and one wonderful thing that happens, is that in blessing others you will be blessed yourself.

“The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life …”  Proverbs 10:11

Between my speaking schedule, and my visits out of town with family, I can be on the road for quite a few weekends, with little time at home. When I am home, there must be time given to study to get ready for the next trip, time to catch up at home, and time given to spend a few precious hours with family.

This week, I finally ventured out into the Birmingham metro to do a little shopping. I was amazed at some of the things I saw. While I was away, much work had been going on. What had previously been a cleared field being prepared for construction, now had the walls of a building going up. As I got off the interstate, there were no longer signs saying “Work Zone,” for the road and intersection were completed.

How amazing it is that while I was going about God’s will for my life, lots of work was happening without me being aware of it!

This is a great picture of how God is at work in our lives. He is doing far more than we comprehend. He is building things and tending to details on our behalf. There will be times when it seems like nothing is changing, nothing good is happening and there is little hope. BUT GOD … is working behind the scenes. He has never let you out of His sight. He is doing things for your good that you aren’t even aware of. He is working out situations. He is lining up details. He is giving you favor. He is protecting you from the enemy. God is at work!

Child of God, be encouraged today. As we continue to walk faithfully with Him, He is faithful to us. Farther down the line you will look back and see that God was putting all the pieces of your puzzle together.

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” – Romans 8:28 NLT

Last week was a whirlwind week for the Bentons.  Gaylon and I drove about four hundred miles to Baton Rouge to see our daughter-in-law Alica receive her Ph. D.  We would not dream of missing this great accomplishment.   We returned home on Friday night, and left Saturday morning to travel more than four hundred miles to Hickory, NC, for a ministry engagement, and we would also see our grandson Tucker.   We got back at 10:30 Sunday night.  We drove seventeen hundred miles over four-and-a-half days.

On Monday morning, while in my garage, I looked at my car, and the front was covered in bugs, scores of them.  My windshield was also a graveyard for many bugs.  I was shocked at how many bugs were on my front bumper.

One thing I knew – I had to wash my car that day.  The longer the bugs stayed on my paint job, the greater the damage, and the more difficulty to remove them.  So, off to the car wash I went!  Before going through the wash itself, I had to stop at the “bug station” to remove bugs.  It was no small chore. It took a lot  of elbow grease, under a scorching sun.    I was hot; I was tired; but I could not let the bugs remain.

I didn’t intentionally get bugs on my car.  I just picked them up on the journey.

As a believer in Jesus Christ, and one who tries to live by the word of God, I find that I often have to go and wash in God’s presence.  My mind often gets “bugged.”  I don’t intentionally set out to pick up bad attitudes and wrong mindsets; but as I journey through life, I am exposed to things that fly into my mind and heart.  It is a never-ending battle, but one that must fought.

At times the battle of the mind is so fatiguing, and it never ends.  Satan knows that he can do his best work if he can “bug” our minds and stay there. In 1965, Donald Grey Barnhouse wrote a book about it called The Invisible War.   Quoting Barnhouse, “It is the battle for your mind, and that battle is vicious. It is intense. It is unrelenting, and it is unfair because Satan never plays fair. And the reason why it is so intense is that your greatest asset is your mind.”

Beloved, none of us is exempt from “bugs” hitting our minds.  As soon as we know they are there, we can go to God and wash them off.    Don’t believe everything you think.  Don’t act on everything you think.

Guard what you allow in your mind.  Let me give you an example.  I would never let someone walk into my living room, start using foul language, pull out a bottle of liquor and begin to get drunk, and then undress and get in provocative positions. I’d never allow that!  Yet, I have the opportunity every day, to watch these very things on television or film.   I must guard my mind.

When those “bugs” want to splatter my mind, the answer is to run to God, and allow Him to fill my thoughts with, “… whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

God’s presence is a good place to wash off the bugs.

I often find myself listening to the song “I Can Only Imagine” by Mercy Me.

I can only imagine, What it will be like
When I walk, by your side
I can only imagine what my eyes will see
When your face is before me
I can only imagine, I can only imagine

Surrounded by Your glory, What will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus, Or in awe of You be still
Will I stand in your presence, Or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, Will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine, I can only imagine.

Recently I went to pick up my grandson from therapy.   Joseph’s mom told him that Grammy would be picking him up, and he would be spending the night with Papa and Grammy.  Joseph understood that first he had to complete his work, then Grammy would come.  Joseph was enthusiastically waiting for the moment I arrived to get him.   As a matter of fact, he told the therapist several times that Grammy was coming.  There was a never a doubt in Joseph’s mind that Grammy was coming!

As I entered the therapist’s office, the timing was perfect!   Joseph was walking  towards the waiting room.  A gate separates the hall and the waiting room.  As Joseph stepped into the hall and saw my face, his joy was uncontainable.  He leaped down the hall.  He laughed with glee.  His leap of joy was so high, I thought he was literally going to jump over the gate.  When he got to me, he took my hand and said, “I want to go to Grammy’s house.”

Joseph’s work was over, and it was time to go with one he loved.

Immediately, and I do mean immediately, I saw of picture of what it will be like the day I finish my assignment here on earth.  I shall walk down the hallway from earth to heaven.  I see myself leaping, laughing, and taking the hand of Jesus, and walking into His house to live forever.  I can only imagine!

Child of God, it is so easy to get caught-up in the temporal, forgetting that this is not our final home.  We will change addresses one day, and it will be our final address!  Those who have accepted Jesus Christ, as Lord and Savior, will live forever with Him in heaven.

I can’t get the visual of my grandson Joseph out of my head, nor do I want to get it out! Will I leap high when I see Jesus?  Will I dance and laugh as I see the One I love?  Will I break into tears as I see His face, and thank Him for taking a life full of sorrow, and filling it with joy?  Will I kneel and wash his feet with tears of gratitude?  Will I simply stand in silence as I stand in awe of the Son of God?

I can only imagine!

Is Easter over? I mean it is the day after – it is Monday. We’ve packed our churches, hunted Easter eggs, sliced the ham, eaten Cadbury eggs, dressed in vibrant colors, and hailed the resurrection of the Lord as the greatest day in the history of the Church and the world. For many Easter is now over, and it’s time move to the next thing.

How easy it is to move from Easter Sunday to an ordinary Monday, living life as if the resurrection was just an event! We’ll ask others how their Easter was, and then move on to the weather, politics, work, the latest TV show and how irritated we are with people.
Too often we are unaware of the significance of all that we heard and celebrated the previous day. We celebrated a risen Lord who now resides inside of us, giving us power to walk in this life. Yet, too many will continue to fight sin in their own strength, walk through life as if they walk alone, and battle a nagging fear of death and even a fear of life. The resurrection will fade into the white noise of life, making no noticeable impact.

We are not sure what the disciples did on the Monday after Easter. Perhaps they stayed together celebrating the news of the resurrection. Perhaps they laughed, worshiped and Easter joy flooded their day. Maybe they kept a low profile in case soldiers or other religious leaders were looking for them. Perhaps they sat around having conversations trying to piece together exactly what occurred. We can’t be certain of anything that happened on Monday, but we can be certain of one thing: their lives were never the same. The men who had been so timid and fearful were now brave and courageous. They became emboldened to preach the good news, live the good news and in many cases, die for the good news. Easter changed their lives!

Let it be the same for you and me! Do not allow the day after Easter to take away the power, encouragement, hope and celebration that was experienced yesterday. The tomb is still empty and no matter what Monday brings, Jesus is still alive! As you face today, this week and the future, keep the empty tomb at the forefront of your thoughts. There is still real power, hope, victory and confidence because of a risen Savior.

As I reflected on Easter this morning, I found myself asking God to make me soil for the resurrected life of Christ to begin to germinate, grow, come forth. Oh God, break up the ground of my heart and plow me deep, deeper than I have ever been. I long to let the power of new life work within me. God, I don’t want Easter to be an just an event in life, but an event that changed my life.

Don’t let today be the Monday after Easter. Let today be the day that the empty tomb empowered you to be a victorious child of God. Easter is not over, and never will be.

“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.” – Romans 8:11 (NLT)

Defining moments in life can mold us, shape us and direct our lives.

Some defining moments can be traumatic, and others can be incredibly wonderful.   For example, after the first instance of abuse at the hands of my father, my life direction and thought process were profoundly impacted.   For years that event and subsequent events molded me to be angry, agitated and headed in the wrong direction.  These events bred a lack of belief that I could ever be healed, and make anything of my life.

I’ve also had defining moments that were wonderful and changed my life.  Giving my life to Jesus Christ, and going to Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida, was life-changing for me.  For the first time, I was in a stable, Christian environment, and over time I no longer lived in fear.    Marrying Gaylon Benton and birthing three children were defining moments in my life.  What kind of wife and mother did I want to be?

Did those moments define me?  Not really.  How I responded to those moments determined the course of my life.

Because of childhood abuse, miscarriage of my first baby, church hurt and the painful reality of losing a son, I have the right to be angry.  Mix that with other hurts and betrayals in life, and I have the right to live angry.  But, I did not want that to define my life, so instead I chose to give up the right to live an angry life.

At the age of seventeen, I made a choice to follow Jesus Christ, not just go to church, but follow Jesus Christ.   I chose to let that decision define who I would become over time.    I gave up the right to live angry, and allowed God to give me abundant life.  I do not regret that decision for one moment!  Not one!

Moses could have been defined by the murder he committed, but he was redefined by a burning bush experience.   Peter could have been defined by sinking into an angry sea, but he was redefined by the power of the Holy Spirit, and became a powerhouse for God.   Saul could have been defined by his involvement in the killing and persecution of many Christians.  Instead, he was redefined by an encounter with God, and renamed Paul.

What defines your life?  The negative moments?  Those moments do not have to control your destiny in life.    I am so grateful for a God who offers us defining moments, and once you affirmatively respond to a defining moment from God, you are never the same

“How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?” –  Psalm 13:1,2

No newsflash is necessary for people to know how much I hate cold weather.  Much of the chatter from me during winter is about how cold it is, and the countdown to spring.   I dislike my present season, and my desire is for the next season to hurry its arrival. Yet, the truth is I can’t hurry the next season!   I must learn to live in the season I find myself. I can’t wish away my present season!

No matter how much we try to wish it away or long for the next season, we must learn to live victoriously in the present, until the new season arrives.

God has been reminding me that life has seasons, and that at some point, one season must give way to the next.  Think of how winter becomes spring.  It is not instantaneous. It’s still very cold and then “suddenly” there will be warm day, then back to cold, repeat and repeat.   In time the cold is gone and the warm is present every day. There has been a change of season.

As David wrote Psalm 13, he was on the run from King Saul and found himself in the hard place of losing hope. He was in dire need of encouragement and strength.  Words of anguish filled his heart and then came forth as words from his mouth, as he cried out to God, “How long?”

Are you living in the unbearable days of “How long?”  How long will I be unemployed? How long will my marriage be like this? How long will I have financial problems? How long must I continue to pray to become pregnant?  How long will my child be a prodigal?  How long will I live with this life-threatening diagnosis? How long will I be lonely? How long will my family continue to hurt me?  Our stay in “How long?” can seem “very long.”

You might be in a season that is difficult, the winter of life.  Let me be honest enough to tell you that I have never experienced the winter of life like I have for the past several years.    There has been one thing after another.  At times, I wondered if anything else could possibly happen!   In many ways, it has been the season of “How long, Lord?”    How thankful I am that the words of David can become my words to God.  I can bring my pain to Him.  It strengthens my faith to know that He will bring me through the season of “How long?”

Don’t give up, child of God.  He knows where you are and what the cry of your heart is!  A change of season will come!

In July of 2017 I missed the bottom stair of a set of stairs and went sailing through the air.  Since I had an audience of five, my pride was definitely hurt, but that was nothing compared to the physical injury.  I had a severely broken ankle,  tibia and big toe.  How I wanted to bounce right back up from that floor and continue my day!  That was not to be.

I can’t count how many times the doctor said, “This is a very severe injury.”   And, he was correct. The recuperation was slow, painful, and challenging.

Our grandson Andrew is four and quite a conversationalist.  Even though it has been six months since my fall, Andrew is rarely with me that we don’t have a conversation about my ankle.   He loves to talk about it.  Andrew lets me know that he can run, but I can’t run because I broke my leg, or he can climb a ladder, but I can’t because I broke my leg.  He does make me smile!

Recently while visiting us, Andrew was ready for lunch.  As I rose from my chair, I stood there a second to get my stiff ankle working.  I headed towards the kitchen, and Andrew said, “It’s hard for you to walk because you broke your leg.  You have to walk like a penguin.”

Penguin?  I really never gave much thought to how I looked when I walked.  I began to pay attention to my walk, and sure enough I could see that I waddled like a penguin.   After surgery, weeks of sitting in a chair with a propped-up leg, physical therapy, and learning to walk again, I was walking like a penguin!   I did not want to walk like a penguin!

From that day forward, I began paying very close attention to my walk.  I realized that I had let my wound, and the fear of more pain, cause me to walk like a penguin.  I began to concentrate on my steps.   I began to work at walking healed, like I walked before the wound and pain took up residence.

It has been almost a month since that conversation with Andrew, and I no longer walk like a penguin! Occasionally, if I’ve been on my foot too long, there is a little limp, but I don’t walk like a penguin!  Walking healed also revealed that it was more painful when I walked like a penguin.

Thank God Andrew spoke into my life!  Andrew caused me to realize that the wound was healed, and it was time to walk again!

It is so easy in life or church to be terribly wounded causing excruciating pain. Sometimes we might have to sit it out (withdraw) for a while, so healing can take place. God allows that for the purpose of healing, but it was never meant to be a permanent situation.   It’s very inviting to permanently allow wound and pain to be our master.  God’s plan is that healing be our master.

Thank God that Andrew Benton spoke truth to me!  Thank God that I responded!  It changed my walk.

Who do you allow to speak truth to you? We all need people who will speak truth, in love, to help us walk in healing and wholeness.   We all need loving accountability partners.  Accountability is not a negative term.   An accountability relationship is simply one in which two or more believers prompt each other to grow closer to the Lord.  This can be accomplished through questioning, challenging, admonishing, confessing, and encouraging. The purpose of this relationship is to help each other grow spiritually.

Child of God, be careful about allowing pain and wound to direct your walk.   Trust me when I tell you that penguin walking is more painful than learning to walk healed.

Thank God Andrew spoke. Thank God I listened.

Six years ago, on February 11, 2012, Gaylon and I got a call that no parent wants to receive.    I remember watching my husband as he received the news, “Your son went into cardiac arrest and we were unable to resuscitate him.”   The pain in Gaylon’s face and voice were beyond description.

For the next few days, it was as if time stopped. My mind played and replayed that phone call, hoping it was just a bad dream.  How is it possible that  Bryan would never meet his unborn son?  How would Christmas be the same?  What will Mother’s Day and Father’s Day be like?

There is the marvelous joy of knowing that we can be reunited with loved ones who have gone to be with our Lord.  Yet, there is the depth of pain and sorrow that we can’t physically touch our loved ones or talk with them. You wish you could say, “I love you!” just one more time.

Grief is a personal, intense journey that all of us will experience at some point.

The scripture tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:55, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”  I believe God’s word, and though death does not sting, emotional bees will swarm around those of us left behind.  As a Christian believer, I was able to rejoice that Bryan was with his Heavenly Father, but as a mother, my heart was crushed.

Circumstances can change so quickly.  Life hands us difficulties we don’t understand and can’t explain. All of us face moments in life when we are overwhelmed.  It is hard to find ourselves in situations that alter life, situations that are unfair, and situations outside our control.

For nearly forty-nine years, I have walked with God.   There have been the most glorious times, and there have been times that have knocked the breath out of me. February 11, 2012 was suffocating.    Would we ever feel like laughing again?  Would we ever wake up and not feel such heavy grief?

After the flowers faded, the phone calls lessened, and the meals stopped coming, I had to face the reality of this painful twist that life had brought.  I had to choose, “Do I let grief take over, or do I give my grief to God, and ask for His strength?”  Over and over I cried out to the God of my salvation, and over and over He gave me strength.

What will you do when life knocks the breath of out of you?

Death is not the only thing that can knock the breath out of us.  There are other events that have the force to utterly crush us and turn our world upside down. It may be the death of someone we love, a cancer diagnosis, a betrayal by a person we trusted, or financial ruin.  The list of life-altering situations that we can experience is a very long one.

Do you feel like you are being suffocated by life?  Has stress taken its toll, causing you to feel afraid, discouraged, lonely or ready to give up? Is your heart broken today? Run to God! He is ready. He is willing. He is able. There is so much power and grace available when we turn our eyes upon Jesus and look full in His wonderful face.

Yes, life can knock the wind out of us, but God can give it back. Trust Him, lean on Him, love Him and you will catch that breath once again.  You will be amazed what God can bring you through, and He will bring you through.

The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry for help … the righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is near the brokenhearted; He saves those crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:15-18).