Insults Bring Blessings

If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. 1 Peter 4:14 NLT

Have you been insulted because you follow Christ? I’d only been a believer for two weeks when criticism met me for the first time. Someone invited me to a bridal shower for a friend. With my gift in hand, I walked to her front door on a warm July day. The door stood open, and I heard my friend’s voice. “She must be bad if she needs to go to church two or three times a week.” Out of my old friend group, I knew their discussion focused on me. Hard to walk up those remaining steps and through the front door.

She didn’t understand. As a child of God, I was no longer bad. The blood of Christ covered me, and I had become a new creation. Clean in the eyes of my Lord.

As a baby Christian, I didn’t have a comeback. No idea of what to say. Every eye stared at me when I entered the house. I felt uneasy. I made them uncomfortable too. Not surprising when I read the above verse. They were uncomfortable because the glorious Spirit of God rested upon me as a new child of God.

Afterward, I realized I needed a new friend group. Friends who supported me in my walk with Christ. Had I stayed with the old group, they may have tried to pull me back into my old ways. Why go backwards? I’d found a new beginning. A better way to live. 

My church provided me with a warm and welcoming group of young people and adults who loved me, taught me, and wanted the best for me in my new life. Their support and encouragement gave me the stability and strength I needed and a rich foundation in Christ. That same group is where I met my husband, Kenn.

God has blessed me in so many ways throughout the years. His glorious Spirt resting upon me is one of those blessings.

Childhood Memories

Nettle Lake in northwest Ohio holds many favorite memories from my childhood. Friends owned a cottage and invited our family every summer to join them.

My cousin and I discovered the reason for its name early in life. One summer, we put our exploratory skills to use and spied a field of tall weeds. A maze of fun awaited us. Within moments, we bolted out and screamed our way back to the cabin. We found ourselves in the grasp of stinging nettles—plants with sharp hairs on their leaves that inject the skin and make it itchy.

In the early years, we had no running water in the cottage. We carried a flashlight to the outhouse at night. That was frightening enough without my two older brothers’ pranks. After a few years, our friends added water and an inside toilet.

Within a year or two, while I was using the commode, the toilet’s faucet exploded. Water came shooting out. Scared me to pieces. I did what any twelve-year-old girl would do. Screamed and sprinted out of the bathroom. I hope I remembered to pull up my pants. A repressed memory. To this day, I’m not fond of toilets. Although, they come in handy. Porta potties are worse.

Something I loved to do was climb into the rowboat and row to a small channel. Most often, three of us took turns rowing. On our expeditions, we carried along a fish net to catch turtles. We rowed through water lilies and observed in awe the blue herons soaring overhead. Now and then, a motorboat passed by and disturbed our tranquility. In the channel, croaking frogs entertained us. While one person rowed another held the net. Ready and waiting. We searched for turtle heads popping out of the water. We usually collected slimy seaweed when we scooped the turtles into our net. Often, we returned to the cottage with ten or more crawling along the bottom of the aluminum boat. Their tiny claws squeaking across the metal and scratching our bare feet.

On one trip to the canal we caught a snapping turtle. We were young but knew not to let him into our boat. We liked our toes. 

The turtles joined us at the top of the sloped back yard. Here, we raced them. We meandered alongside our favorites and cheered them on as they ventured down the hill and escaped into the lake. We repeated the full adventure the next day.

My favorite memory on a rainy day took place at the kitchen table. Our families played card games and ate chocolate cake covered with chocolate icing and walnuts on top. Yum!

Spending quality time with family and friends creates fond memories, forms strong bonds, and brings us joy. Nettle Lake will always hold a special place in my heart.

What memory from childhood is significant to you?

Love Your Enemies

At every Toastmasters meeting we have what’s called Table Topics led by a Table Topics Master. This allows members to give impromptu talks for one to two minutes on whatever subject the Master selects.

This past week our Table Topics Master selected the theme “Spring Break.” Questions asked included, “Where did you go on your favorite spring break?” And, “Where would you like to travel on spring break?”

I was the fifth and final person to speak. My question was, “Where would you send your worst enemy for spring break?” I squirmed for a moment before I stood. My response went something like this:

“I don’t have a worst enemy. But if I did, I’d send them to—.”

I froze and couldn’t think of anyplace horrible to send someone considered my enemy. The idea didn’t sit well with me. But then I thought, where would God expect me to send them? I continued.

“I’d send them to a beautiful place. Then they’d think I’m wonderful and no longer their
enemy. Maybe a place where I’d like to travel—a Mediterranean cruise to Greece and
Italy. Or a place I’ve been—one of my favorite places. A beach in the beautiful Hawaiian
Islands. Maui or perhaps the North Shore of Oahu.”

With that little speech, I won the trophy. I won because I spoke in love and desired to do what’s right and good if I had an enemy. The person who gave me the trophy said, “You took lemons and made lemonade.” No. God took someone selfish and resentful and filled her with His love. He did that in me.

Now, please don’t try to become my enemy and expect me to send you to Hawaii or on a Mediterranean cruise. Not going to happen!

Matthew 5:44—“But I say, love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you” (NLT).

Philippians 2:3-5—“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had” (NLT).

Where would you send your worst enemy?

Are Our Plans God's Plans?

“I would never marry a preacher, farmer, or live in Tennessee,” said a foolish young woman. She thought preachers led a boring life, farmers had a difficult life, and Tennessee was too far away from her home in Northern Ohio. Fortunately, things do not always turn out the way we plan.

The young woman’s sister had a friend whose dad was a pastor. They saw him one day as he worked on his sermon. “Pastoring must be a dull life,” the young woman thought. Her experience at church had been very unexciting. She believed in God but could not get into the church thing.

Farmers had to work too hard, got very dirty, and couldn’t possibly enjoy slopping hogs. The thought was gross to her. She wanted to marry someone who had a clean job and smelled good when he came home.

After a visit to Tennessee, she decided that would be the last place she’d ever want to live. People talked funny there.

Within the next year or two, she attended a different church; this church was exciting. Here she met her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. She also met a young man who captured her heart, and they were soon married. Although he grew up on a farm, his parents had recently sold it. He did have a desire to work in full-time ministry, however. He became a pastor, and she was a preacher’s wife.

After a couple of years pastoring, they moved to where his parents had recently relocated—Tennessee. His parents bought another farm there and needed their son’s help.

That foolish young woman was me. I married a preacher, farmer, and moved to Tennessee within a four-year period.

Pastoring wasn’t boring. We served and worshiped with some wonderful people. Farming was rewarding, although it was hard work. We had cattle, chicken, horses, and I slopped some hogs. Living in Tennessee was wonderful. The people are friendly; the rolling hills, trees, and lakes are beautiful. I love their “funny” talk. You may hear that Southern drawl come out of my mouth from time to time.

We can make the best thought-out plans for ourselves but forget something very important. Our plans are not necessarily the Lord’s plans. His plans took me on a journey I never expected. My husband is no longer a pastor but fulfills the call of God on his life in another area of ministry. We are following His plans for us.

Are you following the Lord’s plans? It may be that thing you said you would never do or place you would never go that God is preparing for you too.

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV).