Enduring the Drought: When Your Heart Gets Parched

We live in Texas, where we've been experiencing the worst drought in history. The little bayou behind our house is drying up so the kids can no longer fish. (I could swear I saw a little fish walking back there one day with a hobo stick on his shoulder.) Our neighborhood has begun water conservation measures and I don't even want to talk about our water bill.

Funny thing about droughts, it takes a while before you realize you're in one. We enjoyed beautiful crystal blue skies in the spring. Days spent outside riding bikes, playing ball and frolicking in the meadow (okay, maybe no frolicking but you get my meaning). Spring football and baseball games that could have been rained out, went on as scheduled. Life was good.

Still, the days of sunshine eventually take a toll. After a few months of no rain, even that beautiful meadow begins to brown and wither. The land is parched.

As I sit out on my back porch this morning, safely covered, I hear thunder. It's faint at first but I think it's growing stronger. I am cautiously optimistic. Sure enough, here are a few drops of....could it be? Yes, I think it is - RAIN! Oh the sound of it alone is replenishing to my soul.

Psalm 42:1-2, expresses how I feel, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?"

Do you ever feel like you're in a spiritual drought? I have. It's usually during the dark times that we find ourselves crying out to God in desperate need for direction. But what about the sunny days? Do I seek Him just as earnestly? Sadly, not always. Eventually, it catches up with me. Even the good days are somehow hollow without a real sense of His presence with me.

The truth is, God is always here for us. He's the stream of living water just waiting for me to come and drink.

Am I too busy running through that sunny meadow to realize I'm getting dehydrated? How long can my last encounter with God carry me? I don't want to find out. I want to come every morning and drink up! I want to hear from God every day. Oh Lord, help me to realize that I need you all the time, not just when times are tough. Replenish my soul each morning with your thirst-quenching presence. Thank you for the rain!

When the Lion Roars

One of my favorite movies is Out of Africa, starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. In one dramatic scene, Streep's character, Karen, is in the African plains and finds herself face to face with a hungry lion. The lion is stronger and more fierce but Karen has determination and a whip. When she exerts her authority (and some attitude) with that whip, the lion goes running back into the darkness. You go girl!

Like Karen, I see myself as a fairly courageous and independant woman. It's taken some effort to get here, but I can usually stand up straight when facing most of life's challenges. That is, unless there's a hungry lion coming at me....

Last weekend I had the awesome opportunity to speak at a women's retreat. The theme was Team God. As speaker and 'head cheerleader' for the weekend, I shared with them how to get to know their 'Coach'. God showed up in a powerful way and our hearts were encouraged in His Presence.

However, on Sunday morning, just before the last session in which I was to speak, I began having vision problems. It was as if ripples of water were around the outer circles of my eyes making it difficult to see. As God would have it, there were two nurses on the retreat who came to my room to check on me. Long story short, before I knew it, one of the nurses was driving me to the emergency room (something about needing to rule out a stroke, brain tumor or a torn retina!). This thing was getting more dramatic by the minute.

The whole time this vision thing was going on I wavered between courage and fear; between peace and hysteria. It occurred to me that this medical emergency could also be a spiritual battle. It felt like the enemy was attempting to threaten and frighten me, just like the roaring lion from the movie. Would I let him replace my peace with fear? Would I stand and fight or lay down in defeat?

Are you familiar with 1 Peter 5:8? It says, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." I was well aware of the roaring, devouring lion part of that verse, but what about the first part? In the middle of my pain and uncertainty, I sensed God saying to me, "Lisa, be self-controlled with your thoughts. You don't have to be afraid. You don't have to be devoured by fear. You can choose to trust me in this moment. Maybe you can't see very well, but I can."

So that's when, just like Karen in Out of Africa, I took out my whip. In this case, the roaring lion was satan and the whip was the Word of God. Luke 10:19 states, "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you." I stood before that threatening lion and cracked my whip! I stood on the Word and said, "Not today, satan. I live under the cross of Jesus Christ. I will not be afraid."

With the crack of the whip, that lion went running back into the darkness. I received peace. God gave me courage in the midst of a scary situation.

Praise God, my vision scare was short lived. My vision returned to normal and it turns out I was experiencing my first (and hopefully last) migraine.

I find that sometimes in life God swoops in and saves us from the enemy before we're even aware of the threat. But sometimes, He wants us to participate in the victory so He lets us face the beast and He hands us a whip. When we choose to believe God and stand on His Word, it's like cracking a whip at that hungry lion. As soon as the lion learns he's not getting us for dinner, he runs back into the darkness.

Are you facing a roaring lion? Could it be that satan is threatened by your ministry or your relationship with God? Is your boldness or courage at stake? As a Christian you have authority in Christ to tame that lion. Now get out there and practice cracking that whip!

At the Foot of the Bed

April 29, 2011 was the 16th anniversary of my marriage to Chris. There was a lot of hoopla going on around my anniversary over some other couple across the pond that was to share our wedding date. It kind of made our anniversary that much more fun this year as people were talking about fairy tales and happily ever afters.

It's funny because after 16 years, the early days of courtship and marriage get pushed to the rear of your memory. Those fun stories of our first dates and pre-kid adventures had collected cobwebs in the very back of my mind. Then just a couple of days after our anniversary I sat on a panel for our junior high youth ministry. We were asked questions by the kids. One of the questions was "How do you know when he's 'The One'"? Of course the first thing that popped into my mind in responding to a junior higher was "You're in junior high! He's NOT the one!" ha ha. I didn't really say that.

But I was asked point blank - how did I know Chris was 'The One'? Wow. I hadn't thought about that question in years! Of course, I know Chris is the man for me but I hadn't thought about "that moment" when you know, you know? Then it came to me. An amazing memory I hadn't thought of in years.

The story. The story of the moment I knew that Chris was 'The One'. Want to hear it?

Chris had brought me home from our date on a Saturday night. The two girls with whom I shared a house were out of town. We said goodnight at the door. Chris had to get up very early the next day to go preach an hour away at a church that was considering him for their youth pastor position.

Just after he left I was walking through the house and noticed the back sliding glass door was open. I became very frightened. Based on memories from a traumatic event from high school, I became paralyzed with fear. I called one of my girlfriends on the phone but she was an hour away. These were the days before cell phones so I couldn't call Chris until he got back to his house. My girlfriend tried to calm me but I was nearly hysterical. Eventually, she got me to hang up the phone and try Chris at his house. By the grace of God, he was there and he immediately drove back over.

As soon as I let him in I fell into his arms in a mess of tears. He calmly let me cry and I told him about my terrible experience that had left these scars of fear. Thanks to his patience, unconditional care (and a thorough search of the house for bad guys), I pulled myself together and told him to go home and get some sleep.

Here's where the story gets good. He refused to leave. He called his accountability partner and told him he was staying at my house that night. It was a three bedroom house so there was plenty of room for us to sleep apart. I showed him a room down the hall from mine where he could get some good sleep. He refused to sleep down the hall. He said he would sleep at the foot of my bed all night. I said that was silly but between you and me, I knew it was the only way I would get any rest.

Here was a guy who had to get up in a few short hours to drive 60 miles to preach two services that would determine if he got his first full-time job. Here was a guy who saw a comfortable bed down one end of the hall and a frightened mess of a girl and a hard floor at the other end and chose the mess and the hard floor.

That was it. That was the moment. Who does such things? A guy who believes Ephesians 5:25 does such things..."Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loves the church and gave himself up for her". He sacrificed so I could feel safe. He's been sacrificing for me ever since!

So that was roughly 16 years ago. No one celebrated our marriage by making porcelain plates or tea towels with our pictures on it. The networks didn't cover our 'love story'. No one made guesses at what my dress would look like.

Our story may not make the history books but that doesn't matter to me. I know our story. I know Chris is 'The One' because he loves me unconditionally. He loves me when I'm a mess. He stays when anyone else would run. He's 'The One' because he slept at the foot of my bed.