A Woman Who Fears the Lord is to be Praised

“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.” Proverbs 31:30
This beautiful woman has been one of the sweetest, kindest, faith-filled women I have ever known. I’d love for you to know her too, so make sure you make it to heaven. That’s where she resides now. She went “home” on Saturday. This is Johnnie “Allene” Wheat, my brother’s precious wife. In my young eyes growing up, she was the “better half” of their duo. He was the firey, rambunctious one. She, the calm one. The most beautiful reward of their union is these three talented and equally faith-filled men! I was the “kid sister” (22 years difference). My big bro introduced me that way. I was a proud “kid sister”.

The claim-to-fame of my brother, Rocky, and Allene, his loving and devoted wife, was not my brother’s incredible baritone voice and music abilities or Allene’s gentle spirit, but it was their strength of character, faith, and integrity that they lived day by day. Their three boys picked up on that and they became men of great character and faith and today are all three pastors in churches here in Texas.

Richard, the middle son, talked about his Mom’s strength and faith. And Robert, the youngest son, continued to give his Mom beautiful accolades as he described how she survived and persevered in living her faith during her struggles of raising three high-energy boys. “Though she was 90 when she passed away, she was probably 120 emotionally because of us boys – but she got the years back when she had grandchildren (2 boys and 4 girls) who she adored." Each one expressed their love and appreciation for their mother’s strong faith as the most important attribute of her life well lived. It was beautiful to see and hear Robert lead the grandchildren in a song of tribute to their mom and “nanna”: “Bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul. Worship His holy name”.

Oldest granddaughter, Mandi, described her “Nanna’s” presence as “calming”. Jordan, the oldest grandson, said it was hearing his Nanna sing and praise the Lord that encouraged his own faith. John, the oldest son said, "My brothers and I were given the best gifts from our dad and mom. Our dad was our first music director and our mom was our first Bible and prayer teacher. "Nightly, she would go into each boy’s room and kneel by our beds, placing her hand on us and praying for us AND every one of our family members." That kneeling will be a "forever" memory to all of us as John shared that after leaving his mom for just a short while on Saturday, her nurse, Tim, called him to return. When he returned Tim said, “I had been by to see her and when I came back she was kneeling by her bed. She passed away on her knees. John said, “She humbled herself to kneel to pray, and when she got up, she was standing in heaven."

It was cold and raining, but many of us went to Allene’s graveside to hear the final words spoken: "ashes to ashes and dust to dust”. I knew we were standing on holy ground, because under the green carpet laid out on the graves that surrounded Allene’s casket were the resting places of the bodies of my Mom, Edna Pearl Wheat, my Dad, Roscoe Owen Wheat, Sr., my big brother, Roscoe Owen "Rocky" Wheat, Jr., and now my beautiful sister-in-law’s body resides there. Oh, but don’t think for a minute that any of those four live there! My two other sisters went home to heaven years ago. I’m the last one, the baby and the kid sister, still standing upright on this side of heaven. Yes, the family is going home. But the legacy lives on. I remember my brother’s casket being lowered there seven years ago. His young grandchildren then, like yesterday, saw a casket, an “envelope” as described by John, but Graci-Mei, the youngest granddaughter, age six, provided the reason for the composure. She said, “That’s just Papa’s skin – he’s not in there – he’s in heaven!” And now his bride’s skin is in that envelope…..but she is really where we all long to join her one day.

I continue to proclaim with the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 15:55 “Oh death, where is your victory? Oh grave, where is your sting?” With each loved one’s graduation, the thrill of heaven that awaits us gets sweeter and sweeter, and the reality is assured. The real “us” never dies….we live on because we gave our lives to Christ and trusted in His promises “….that all who believe in Him, will not perish but have everlasting life”. John 3:16

10,000 Reasons

Yesterday morning I woke up singing “Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Oh, my soul. Worship His Holy Name. Sing like never before, oh my soul, I worship Your Holy Name!” That song's title is “10,000 Reasons” by Matt Redman. What a way to wake up – blessing and worshipping God’s Holy Name! Immediately I knew this would be the topic for my post for today.

Among my 10,000 reasons to be thankful, I must share with you what happened shortly after I typed this post at about 8 am yesterday. I heard the garbage truck (Thank you, God, I can hear!)! I thought: “Yikes! I didn’t think they’d come today since the holiday was last week!” I ran out the front door to catch them, but too late! I noticed they hadn’t picked up the other side of the street so I quickly ran and pushed my packed-full-of- Thanksgiving garbage bin to my neighbor's side of the street (Thank you, God, for our wonderful Thanksgiving meals!). But then I thought they’d question two bins, so I quickly got in my car (Thank you, God, for my car!) and drove to let them know! Came back home (Thank you, God, for my home!) and pushed the garage remote and NADA! Thank you, God, that I had my door key in hand. I ran into the house and garage and saw the big chain had fallen from the motor. I quickly called my Home Warranty company (Thank you, God, that I purchased a Home Warranty!) and placed the repair with them and they showed up last night to already have it repaired and working great! Thank you, God, because that means only a $45 repair fee! Now, I have more than 10,000 reasons to "Bless the Lord, oh my soul!"

I’m quite sure that whole scenario was why I woke singing that song because God was prepping me for my sudden-out-of-the-blue trash and garage door encounters.

“Bless the Lord, oh my soul” were King David's words as he was commanding his soul (his will, mind, and emotions) to bless the Lord. He was encouraging himself with what he needed to do to rise above his circumstances. Those words from Psalm 103 were Matt Redman’s inspiration for this song. In that chapter, David listed several reasons why his heart was full of worship for God: He forgives our sins, heals our diseases, redeems our lives from the pit, crowns us with love and compassion, satisfies our desires and gives righteousness and justice.

I googled Matt Redman and this song, and read what he said to explain it. “If you wake up one morning and you cannot think of a reason to bring God some kind of offering of thanks or praise, then you can be sure there's something wrong at your end of the pipeline, and not His. We live beneath an unceasing flow of goodness, kindness, greatness, and holiness, and every day we're given reason after reason why Jesus is so completely and utterly worthy of our highest and best devotion."

I realize we are one week past Thanksgiving today and it would seem that I’ve posted enough about gratitude and thanksgiving, but for “10,000 reasons” and so many more, I was reminded that putting gratitude as my #1 priority, sure keeps us in a gratitude mode -- even when things aren't going the way we had hoped them to go. Gratitude opens the floodgates to so many more reasons to be thankful -- even when a garage door goes haywire! I’m purposing to follow David’s lead in Psalm 103 to talk to my soul more so my "Reasons List" continue to grow in "blessing His Holy Name". How about you?

Well...Bless Your Heart

I'm called a typical “southern girl” because I speak those words quite often when someone is sharing their concerns or difficulties with me. It rolls off my tongue like water off a duck’s back. But when I say those words “Bless your heart”, I sincerely mean them, because I’ve had a broken and aching heart and I needed my heart to be blessed by someone, so I want to bless others.

Blessing is the projection of good into the life of another. It isn't just words. It's the actual putting forth of our will for the good of another person. It always involves God, because when we will the good of another person, we realize only God is capable of bringing that.

When I was in a store on Valentine’s, I saw this little “Bless YOUR heart” sign and I bought it for ME. Two reasons: 1) After all, it was Valentine’s and since my Sweetheart is in heaven, I knew I wouldn’t be getting another love letter like I received for so many years. I was a little on the wimpy side on that special day, so I encouraged myself with that little “southern girl” statement, and 2) My Mom had coronary heart disease so I wanted that little plaque with those "Bless Your Heart" words to face me while I'm sitting at my office desk that speak blessings over my own heart.

I placed that little plaque by a Certificate of Appreciation I received in April at the conclusion of months of walking out a faith journey with a beautiful young woman in our RCIA classes (discipleship classes). The scripture verse on that certificate is “Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:2). The inscription on the certificate says “Because you have served the Lord in His Church through the faithful exercise of your gifts, and because the Body of Christ has been enriched by your faithfulness.” My "heart" was blessed by those words.

A few days ago, that little plaque and that certificate spoke to me more than ever before. I was having one of “those” unexplainable and very recognizable days of wimpiness. Truly I have no good reason to ever be discouraged. I’m way too blessed to ever complain, but sometimes those days just come and I know I can wimpy-along all day there OR, as I did at the store on Valentine’s day, when that wimpiness hits me, I can encourage myself with those words “Bless your heart!” Blessing (encouraging) myself. I remembered King David’s model: “And David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him… but David ENCOURAGED himself in the LORD his God.” (1 Samuel 30:6)

Uh – no! I don’t think I’m in any danger of being stoned, but I’m learning to take David’s example into my sometimes-weary-wimpy-heart, and when those times come, I’m going to also encourage myself in the Lord my God! Another scripture of King David was this one in Psalm 103:1 “Bless the LORD, my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.”

Yes, we can and must bless and encourage ourselves! After all, we are our closest ally and friend to ourselves. Isn’t that the kind of friend we need and want? Bless YOUR hearts, dear friends!

What Echoes From You?

Day 205 of Photo Inspirations -- What "Echoes" From You?
I'm still in Washington so my daily inspirations continue to come from this gorgeous Northwest and my precious, technological, trend-setter family!!  My son's birthday was last week and one of the gifts he received from Shawntel and the boys was this new Echo by Amazon -- another one of the products mastered-minded by their good friend who is Senior VP at Amazon, and his team.

Echo's name is "Alexa" and she is a hands-free, voice response system that is always connected and ready to respond to her name....and she's fast. You just say "Alexa" and give her a command or request and she'll play audiobooks, give your upcoming schedule, dim a light switch, turn on a fan, add to your shopping list, tell you who the 30th president of the U.S. is and can answer just about any questions you may have.  She'll tell you sports' scores, the news, weather, Wikipedia facts, definitions, answers.  She's an alarm and a timer.  I am continually amazed at the technological brilliance in this world.

I went into the living area of my children's home and my two youngest boys were playing a video game on TV, and were listening to Alexa play Christian music.  At breakfast, Bryson said, "Alexa, play "10,000 Reasons" (his favorite song), and both boys were so into it, they were waving their arms in praise as they sang.

I LOVE ECHO!!!   She had my heart right away. LOL!   And I loved the "echo" that she prompted in my boys AND me.  This song, "10,000 Reasons" or "Bless the Lord Oh My Soul" is the natural response (echo) I desire to always have to life's surprises and interruptions: Check out these lyrics:
[Verse 1]
The sun comes up; it's a new day dawning.
It's time to sing Your song again,
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me,
Let me be singing when the evening comes!

[Chorus]
Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul.
Worship His holy name; Sing like never before,
O my soul, l I worship Your holy name.

[Verse 2]
You're rich in love and You're slow to anger.
Your name is great and Your heart is kind.
For all Your goodness, I will keep on singing,
10,000 REASONS for my heart to find.

Of course, this was my photo inspiration for today. It's an inspiration I could repeat everyday!  An ECHO is a reflection of a voice or sound.  Oh, that our ECHO would be singing "Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, Let me be singing when the evening comes."

Here's the link to Matt Redman singing this beautiful song of worship and praise -- maybe it could be what your voice and heart are ECHOing today!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtwIT8JjddM