I Found My Superpower

A friend of mine, also a blogger and widow, shared a line in her blog that I told her “I’m going to own it!” She said: “When my husband went to heaven, I learned to lean into God even more. He transformed my pitiful into powerful. Widowhood is my superpower to invest more time into people and love them and myself into lifelong transformation.”

Don’t you love that, fellow widows and widowers? Widowhood can be our superpower if we get ourselves off our minds and we take what God has given us and invest into others. We’re the ones still here, so obviously, we have things to do and things to accomplish, plus people to love and to help them live with a powerful mindset instead of a pitiful one.

It’s a way of living “I not only can do all things through Christ Who gives me strength, I WILL do all things that Christ gives me to do on this side of heaven!” Oh, I get it. Nothing likable about our loved one no longer journeying through life with us. Nothing joyful about sleeping and eating alone and definitely nothing fun about being the only “one” with couples all around. But there’s another side to being a widow/er. Some glorious, eye-opening, wouldn’t-trade-anything-for-them moments come when we are willing to embrace this scripture: “In all things give thanks for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Donna, are you saying you’re grateful that you’re a widow? Yes, that’s what I’m saying. Feel free to shake your head and roll your eyes at this point. The truth is, my gratitude has nothing to do with eating, sleeping and being alone. My gratitude has everything to do with Christ. After many decades of knowing Him as my Lord and Savior, I now know Him as my Comforter, Healer, Confidant, Counselor, and Friend. Unequivocally, I can tell you I have never been more aware of His presence or more in awe of His power than at this widowhood stage of life I’m living. And I’ve never felt more compelled to speak up about Him and His great love for me. Though I wouldn’t wish widowhood on anyone, I long for my friends to experience firsthand what happens when we accept the reality of our circumstances and not only trust God, but also thank God for the path He has laid out for us.

My family doesn’t feel sorry for me or worry about me and feel the need to console me. Sure, they know how much I miss the love-of-my-life. Every. Single. Day. And so do they, but they are so relieved that Mom has a dance in her step and a song in her heart. They know that widowhood has given me: a greater sense of God’s faithfulness; a richer understanding of His peace; a constant assurance of His goodness; a deeper dependence on His presence. Oh how sweet to trust in Jesus – just to take Him at His Word. His peace is my greatest source of charging up my superpowers. His goodness and mercy follow me everywhere I go. His sweet presence that assures me I may be alone – but I am never lonely because He never leaves me.

My beloved married, single or widow/er friends, however this new year has started out for you and whatever you might be facing right now, I am grateful for the honor of encouraging you and assuring you that trusting in Jesus gives us superpowers – no matter if the sky is falling or the mountains crumbling or the wind is raging – we can be assured “It is well with my soul and it is well with my heart!” The great "I AM" lives in us so, of course, we have SUPER POWERS!

Colossians 2:6-7, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

Inhale -- Exhale -- Breathe Deeply -- Repeat

My blog today is brought to you from the post of my daughter's protégé, Tabitha Blue. She has new twin baby boys so now she's a mom of six. Tabitha came into our lives when she was eleven years old after my daughter was the invited guest speaker at her parent's church. It was when I was Staci's travel companion and we were traveling around the U.S. and abroad sharing God's love and power. Tabitha's parents had the foresight to invest in their daughter's future and asked Staci to be Tabitha's mentor. At that young age, she travelled with us, helped at our product table (pictured here). She duplicated Staci's every move: her Bible study, her prayer life, her speaking and singing. I remember that young girl's trepidation when Staci insisted she speak on stage. She did -- masterfully. The rest is history because this beautiful, talented mom, devoted pastor's wife, writer, model, and brilliant lifestyle blogger mentors others as she lives her life outloud as a lover of God, family and others. She shares her real life experiences as she inhales and exhales life and all it brings. I'm so proud of the incredible woman she has become.

Now, for her blog that I read this morning: Happy FOUR weeks #babybluetwins! Let’s just keep the fact that we went out to find pumpkins today while the big kids were in school a secret. 🍂🎃🍁Sound good? Really though, these two little pumpkins were getting checked out more than the gourds from the patch. And also? It was SO HOT, I lasted about 3 minutes and then had to bail... so basically we took this photo and ran. 😂😂😂 And can I just mention that the 3-4 week growth spurt cluster feeding thing is sleep-deprivingly brutal with two?! I have a new mad respect for #twinmoms. Send me allll the nipple cream. And sweet Jesus, I’m tired. But I’m also so in love. And our house is a mess, but I’m also feeling content. And my hair SERIOUSLY needs a wash. But even with the craziness of newborn life, I melt at those sweet faces! And I tend to ramble and overshare when I’m sleepy, so clearly that explains a lot."

Here is my two cents worth on what I read. Regardless whether we have brand new twins or we have two children or no children at all -- life is about breathing -- inhaling and exhaling -- often taking deeper, longer breaths, sometimes gasping for breath and sometimes freely flowing -- not even thinking about breathing at all. In the midst of the craziness of life, I see finding the gratitude of this moment the main thing. When the moment seems hurrifically painful....eyes wide open sees the beauty right in the middle of the pain. When the moment is chaos, eyes wide open embraces contentment that "it is well with my soul". When the elements around create heat and discomfort -- we still seize the opportunity to make a memory. Today I am Tabitha's protege as I learn, even in my senior moments of life to breathe and appreciate this moment and even breathing in the gratitude of yesterdays. "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!" Psalm 150:6

You can enjoy Tabitha's blog at freshmommyblog.com

Treating God Like a Slot Machine or a Loving Giver

I get amused at how absurd some of the material for my daily posts comes to me. Case in point: There are three casinos that I pass along the way from Frisco to Tulsa. When I passed them as I drove home on Saturday, I thought about how people go to a casino to “invest” in a game or slot machine in hopes to receive a big payout from their "investment". A casino really does represent hope and great expectation for the folks who go there. I know, from those we counseled over the years, that many people play the games with money they really don’t have to spend, but still hope that they will hit “the big one” that will pay off some debts or help them make ends meet.

In the 80s, we attended a business convention in Las Vegas. One of our goals, while there, was to see Wayne Newton in concert and we did. We had a great time as Wayne was at his finest! When the concert was over we walked into the open air casino, Slots of Fun, that was across the street from our hotel. We were newbies to Las Vegas and to slot machines. I thought about the potential of a BIG WIN! Our kids played arcade games to win tickets to earn a prize, so maybe I could win some nickles. My husband was roaming around when I sat down and put a few nickels in the machine and within minutes I hit the “big one” and nickels were clinking out of that machine like crazy! I was "loaded" with a bucket full of nickels. I was so elated when I found my husband and shouted “I won!” He burst out laughing when he saw me because my face and hands were so dirty from handling those nickles that I had played and won. I saw how addictive "investing" into those machines could become -- not to mention I had to get "cleaned up" from my fun.

Passing those casinos as I drove home, vividly brought that memory back to me, but more importantly came the idea for today's post.

How often do we treat God like a slot machine? Instead of acknowledging Him and coming to Him daily for WHO He is, we come to Him for what we can get out of Him. We often come to Him for the “big payout” -- to take care of the big need or want we have. He is a casual acquaintance until we have a crisis or other need of some kind, then we show up with our nickels (i.e., our needs and wants) and put them into our “God” machine and we expect Him to come through for us. And, when we don’t get the answer we expect….we walk away and blame it on the "machine".

The fact is, our Father God is a wonderful bestower of blessings to us – from the breath we breathe, to the food we eat. When we acknowledge Him as our Lord when we pray, we are expressing our dependence on Him for all things! It’s one of the blessings we can have in a relationship with God -- to be invited to talk to Him in prayer and ask Him for things, and to know that He cares about us and listens to us. It’s even greater to know that He answers our prayers according to HIS good purposes, because sometimes the things we ask for aren’t even what’s best for us.

Prayer is far more than just asking God for things. It’s being in a loving relationship, where we talk to each other -- about everything. We talk then we listen and He talks back to us. We're not just trying to get something out of Him.
We are enjoying just being together in relationship.

Still, we are told to ask God about anything big or small – Philippians 4:4-6 says “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." When we pray like that, we are asking for God’s priorities in our lives instead of our priorities. We can be assured that God knows what we need before we even ask it, and He is committed to our best interests even when it might not seem like it at the time. Ultimately He most wants for us to know Him, to love and trust Him, and spend time with Him as Father God – after all – no slot machine could bestow on us the riches, treasures and blessings of our God – in Whom all things are possible.