It's a Singer, Tension-Free Day!

Today, August 12th, 1951, the Singer Sewing Machine was patented. Issac Singer, a mechanic, cabinet maker and actor, devised a sewing machine that used a shuttle moving in a straight path to sew. His patented design was made of cast iron, with a placed spool of thread on an adjustable arm and used a friction pad to control thread tension. Singer used his abilities to exhibit and sell his machine.

I’m sure this bit of trivia doesn’t alter your day, but it did mine. It reminded me of the phone call from my sis-in-law, Karen, last week, telling me that she bought Mom (who will be 98 in October) a small Singer sewing machine (pictured here). It seems Mom was wanting to do a little sewing – taking up some pajamas that were too long and a top that was too big. Mom had no problem with threading the machine and sewing the stitches. When Mom moved from her home to live with Karen and George, she gave her Singer-in-a-cabinet to her granddaughter. Who knew that she’d want to sew again? I love it so much that Mom is still so clear-minded and just won’t quit.

I have a portable Singer machine that I keep handy for quick sewing projects. When I started making face masks recently, I noticed the “tension” was off – the top stitch was way too loose. I mentioned above that Issac Singer added the friction pad to control thread tension. I simply rethreaded it and the tension was perfect. I started thinking about the friction and tension that we have been dealing with – not just over the coronavirus, but for years now, with politics and disagreements. Our country needs something to control all the friction and tension.

Another word for friction and tension is stress. People are really stressed out and for good reasons if we simply focused on the doom, gloom and despair. But I found a stress reliever in my friction pad that I land on daily. You see, God, our great innovator, knew that we would encounter plenty of reasons to “lose it” – to get our "threads" all tangled up, bunched up and even slow down the progress. What does He do to help us “control the tension”? As Christians, how should we handle stress, because we all know that anything that distracts us from our relationship with God are the things that derail our relationship with Him. Here are some of His built-in ways that I've come to rely on for tension-free living:

✝️ Worship: Focusing on THE ONE Who helps us control our “thread” tension. Worshipping He Who is always worthy of all our praise, brings peace and calm and balances us out.

🙏 Pray: Praying through stress keeps us focusing on the Lord. It re-routes our primary attention from earthly issues to our Heavenly Father's promises.

🙋‍♀️ Ask for help: That’s what friends are for – it may be time to ask for help from our family or friends. Even a simple prayer request over a text message keeps us plugged in to people who care about us.

👥 Seek Community: The Body of Christ is meant to strengthen each other when we’re weak, help us in times of need, support us during difficulties, and celebrates God’s faithfulness with us.

📜 Read & Memorize Scripture: This is my life-saver! God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and pathway and the provider of every answer we need to life's stressors. Meditating on the truth of Scripture surely brings light and life to us.

The more we practice the presence of Jesus through intentional thoughts on Him and His peace, helps us to recalibrate for tension-free living -- remembering all the while that we serve a mighty, all-powerful God Who reigns over all our lives and promises to work all things for the good of those who love Him.

If I Could Have One Wish…….

I remember overhearing a conversation between my two youngest grandsons. Brennan, asked his younger brother, Bryson, "If you had a genie in a bottle, what would you wish for?" They certainly earned love tokens when they both said: "For Nana to live with us forever!" They had some other outlandish wishes, but that one put a big smile on this Nana's face.

That conversation and memory made me think about what I would ask for today if a genie in a bottle showed up to grant me one wish, or even if God showed up and asked what one prayer could He answer for me today. How about you? What would YOU ask for? What does YOUR heart long for the most? No doubt, our answers would vary: More time in the day? A healed body? A restored relationship? A financial breakthrough? A child? A spouse? Strength to make it through this day? A dream vacation? World peace?

King David’s son, Solomon, was asked by God what one thing He could grant him. King Solomon responded: "wisdom to lead God’s people." Evidently, God liked that response because He gave him a wise and discerning mind. And Solomon became known as the wisest man in all of Israel. People from far and wide came to him for his wisdom. (1 Kings 3)

King David's wish (or ask) went like this: “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.” (Psalm 27:4) I am drawn to the “one thing” David asked of God — to dwell in His house forever. More than anything, David longed to be in God’s presence. No wonder he was called “a man after God’s own heart.” David experienced many highs and lows in his life, but I think his life's theme was a singular longing to be in God’s presence.

In my blog yesterday, I spoke about being in God’s presence – how in His presence, we will know what to do, where to go and even what to say – because in His presence is the answer for everything. That is “my wish” and my prayer today, that our hearts will be filled with this one thing . . . a desire to dwell in His presence. I’m pretty sure God delights in lavishing His love upon us. In fact, Jesus tells us God takes it to a level beyond anything any parent has ever done for their children. After all, He has already been more generous toward us than we will ever deserve. To live daily practicing His presence creates plenty of opportunities for God to show up and show out. No, He's not a Genie or Fairy Godmother, but He is the God in WHOM all things are possible. What better place to be than in His presence?

Proven Way to Get Your Way

Oh my. This girl. She. Cracks. Me. Up.
On the way to Beavers Bend a couple of weeks ago, my granddaughter was working her daddy over to stop "pleeease" stop at a Chick-fil-A so she could get a biscuit. We were already running behind in our schedule. And she could have easily gotten herself one at the nearby Chick-fil-A where she works at not too far from our homes, but she wasn't hungry then. This day, and time, you would think that she was an "expectant" mother with her craving for a Chick-fil-A biscuit. Nothing seemed to work for her in her appeal for her dad to stop, even though she used every tactic imaginable. He was bound and determined to catch up on the time we had lost. After all, those fish were just waiting for us to catch them!

Then, our drama queen applied a Russian accent along with a proposition he couldn't refuse "Dad, I'll buy you a biscuit also if you'll stop for me." Needless to say, he couldn't refuse and it just so happened, within a few blocks, was a Chick-fil-A. Pleading her case in that Russian accent sealed the deal. It was a hilarious moment for all of us.

I started thinking about Alexia's "begging" strategies, and it made me think about how we plead and beg God for answers to our prayers. Alexia knew her dad's faithfulness. We know our Heavenly Father's faithfulness. Our faith gets bolstered when we ask and we receive. His love is unfailing. But sometimes, we desperately need God to prove His faithfulness and His unfailing love in our lives RIGHT NOW!

A story is found in Mark 9:14-27 about a man who brought his son to Jesus’ disciples because an evil spirit possessed his boy. Unfortunately, Jesus’ disciples couldn’t drive the spirit out. Jesus was away at the time, and when He returned, a large crowd had gathered for a theological discussion. Seeing the crowd, Jesus asked what they were arguing about. The father told him how awful life was for his boy and how Jesus’ disciples failed to help. Jesus rebuked His disciples for their lack of faith then focused His attention on the boy. As the evil spirit acted out, the boy’s father prayed, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us”. Jesus heard the father’s desperate plea and picked up on one tiny, two-letter word: if. “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes” (v. Mark 9:23).

And then the father responded with one of the most honest prayers I’ve ever heard: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).

How many of us, if we were really honest, pray as this dad did. “I do, believe, Lord, but please help me with my doubt.” My favorite part of this story is the next part. Jesus helped this dad with his doubt by answering his prayer. I love that!! Just like the father who brought his son to Jesus, we also really know that God hears our prayers, is intimately aware of our needs, and that He has the power to solve our problems. It’s one thing to profess a distant belief in the faithfulness and love of a faraway God but quite another to experience His faithfulness and love as it intersects our desperate heart's cry. It is quite all right to beg God to answer our prayers quickly. Begging is OK. Not that we have to beg God, because his tender loving-kindness is for us and to give us what we need the most. But coming to Him and asking in whatever accent we are using, we can expect to receive. His Word says "Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you." (Luke 11:9).

If you're there needing a NOW answer, please pray with me: "Dear Jesus, I do believe! Help me with my unbelief! I have this need [tell Him all about it], and I desperately need You to help me." I set myself in agreement for your prayers to be answered and if the answer doesn't come right away, God is simply replying "Just a minute! I'm working out a plan that's better than RIGHT NOW!"

Enjoy the antics of my granddaughter and remember that God’s ear is always open to us. Maybe try your best accent. Now, back to my "multi-lingual" granddaughter and this video. The last night at Beaver's Bend, Alexia and I stayed back at the cabin while the others fished more. We were sitting on the cabin deck when Alexia noticed we had new neighbors. She picked up the broom and started to go into motion with her Swedish accent about how we need to help them sweep their porch and rid themselves of the bacterias of this world: hate, sin, and unicorns. Go ahead. Laugh along with me. It's good medicine for what ails you!

https://youtu.be/fvLzVXtOTyk

Your Greatest ASK; His Greatest YES

Wednesday of Holy Week: The disciples must have been awestruck when Jesus said, "One of YOU will betray me." Except for Judas, the eleven must have each thought, "Not me! I would never betray, deny or leave you." But as we all know, their loyalty to Jesus was short-lived.

And that scene is one that impacted me the most when I saw the movie, "Son of God" a few weeks ago. As I watched the amazing actor who played Jesus in the movie -- I was reminded how great Jesus loved and defended the one that was the underdog, the one that failed, the one that sinned, the one who denied Him and lied about Him. That was a movie that told MY story ~ and YOUR story! It is a TRUE story. That story is not about religion, it is about Jesus ~ His unconditional love and forgiveness. In spite of our disloyalty to Him, He is so quick to forgive, when we are ready for HIM ~ to give Him our lives just as they are ~ our past, our present and our future! May we realize this incredible love that He has for us right now ~ today! Jesus loves you ~ just as you are. He sees your "heart!" I promise you, He will take special notice of you ~ He can "make all things new" for you. Just ask Him! It will be the greatest ASK, and the greatest "YES", you will EVER receive. After all, HE is the greatest GIVER!!
#SonOfGod