all of life is waiting

By: Abigail Dodds
body of Christ, everyday, 3 Comments on all of life is waiting

Isn’t it true?

I’m hard-pressed to think of a time when I’m not waiting for something.

Some things take a long time to wait for, other things are short waits.  And there are even things we wait for that never happen.  Sometimes we wait for things and we don’t know what they are.

We wait for vacation time, and we wait to come home.  We wait for the right person.  We wait for the big question and the wedding day.  We wait for pregnancy and we wait for the birth of a child.

We wait for a friend to call and we wait to call a friend.  We wait for the big game and for the snacks to be ready.  We wait for people to arrive and we wait for them to go home (hopefully not too often).

We wait for the flowers to bloom and we wait another day to cut the grass.  We wait for a better job or we wait for a raise or we wait to be fired.  We wait for payday.

We wait for Sunday to come around and we wait for the kids to get better.  We wait for test results and we wait for the evening when we can crash.  We wait for our kids to know Jesus as their Savior.

We wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We wait for Good Friday and we especially wait for Easter Sunday.  We wait for the coming again of the Lord and we wait for the glory of God in heaven.

All this waiting got me thinking about the things we don’t have to wait for.  I don’t have to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit.  He lives in me and counsels me.  I don’t have to wait for a Savior.  The Savior has come and salvation is mine through Jesus Christ.  I don’t have to wait for God to make Himself known.  He is known through His Word that I can read as often as I want.

I don’t have to wait to be comforted by the Comforter, or to be known by the all-knowing God.

The biggest matters of life, I do not have to wait for.  God has satisfied the waiting time with His Son and His Spirit.

Yet, on Earth, waiting for a million other things, some very important, remains.  And what an opportunity to trust God and to know that as we wait, we wait on Him.  I say with David:

“I waited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord.”

What have you been waiting on lately?

grace on difficult days

By: Abigail Dodds
body of Christ, everyday, sorrow4 Comments on grace on difficult days

Everybody has rough days.  Hard days.  Painful days.  Difficult days.

It’s one of the things every human has in common, isn’t it?  It’s easy to become myopic on these days.

Lately I’ve been trying to recognize what God’s grace looks like in my life on these difficult days.  Intellectually I know that God’s grace may very well be the difficulty.  But in the midst of it, I rarely feel this.   Although knowing it does make a huge difference.

Anyway, today I’m making a small list of how God’s grace is felt by me in the hard moments.. sometimes moments that string along for days or weeks.

1) I feel God’s grace when my 5-yr-old daughter sees my difficulty and ministers to me by offering to play with her younger sister in the other room.  Thank you Lord.

2) I feel God’s grace through a husband who’s willing to do whatever it takes to make sure his wife is well-cared for.

3) I feel God’s grace when phone call from a stranger jars me out of some unhelpful thoughts and unwittingly reveals that my life is really a string of blessing upon blessing.

4) I feel God’s grace in Advil Liquid Gels.

5) I feel God’s grace in a messy house that is evidence that we have friends who like us enough to come to our home and stay for a few hours.  I wish it lasted longer.

6) I feel God’s grace in a schedule that is empty today, but full tomorrow, and keeps me from drowning at home.

7) I feel God’s grace in the ministry of His Word.  It is powerful.  It is active.  It contains the power and Person of the Gospel, which I need.  Everyday.

8) I feel God’s grace in the gift of prayer.  The Spirit and the Lord Jesus make it possible for me to pray to God the Father.  They cover me and utter for me.  They bring me to the throne of a Tender Father, not a wrathful one.

9) I feel God’s grace in the sun heating up my back as I type this.  And a house with many windows that lets it stream in.  And when I’m done I will turn around and soak it in on my face and my eyeballs.

10) I feel God’s grace in that, when I sat down, I only had 4 or 5 things to list as His felt grace for today, but He is faithful in showing me many more.  More than I could ever record.

How are you experiencing His grace today?

"..abortion has done what the Klan only dreamed of." -Dr. Alveda King

By: Abigail Dodds
body of Christ, politics, , 3 Comments on "..abortion has done what the Klan only dreamed of." -Dr. Alveda King

CNS News reports that, “Abortion kills more black Americans than the seven leading causes of death combined, according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 2005, the latest year for which the abortion numbers are available.”

And so, the spirit of Margaret Sanger lives on in Planned Parenthood.

Sanger, an ardent eugenicist and founder of Planned Parenthood, spoke and wrote of her desire to get rid of such “undesirable” groups as “Negroes” through the method of sterilization and widespread birth control.  At one point in her sordid career she even addressed the women’s auxillary of the Ku Klux Klan.

Dr. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and pro-life advocate, couldn’t be more right when she points out that “abortion has done what the Klan only dreamed of.”

Those arguing for abortion often demand that it’s African Americans who would suffer the most by being denied the “right” to abortion.

Really?

I can and will never consider the decimation of a race of people to be a “right.”  Nor will I ever consider babies as punishment.

And I hope the reality of the number of African Americans dying each day (1,784) by abortion will jerk some pro-choicers out of their politically correct stupor and help them to realize there is nothing politically correct or civilized about genocide.

a good day to honor 30 years of serious pastoring

By: Abigail Dodds
blogging, body of Christ, , 1 Comment on a good day to honor 30 years of serious pastoring

I couldn’t be more thankful for the serious (see post below) preaching and pastoring of Pastor John Piper.

Don’t miss this wonderful telling of the story by Justin Taylor of how Pastor John went from professor to pastor.

It’s worth clicking over just to see the cross-bling picture.

I’m thankful to the Lord for the way His Word is explained and revered and loved by my pastor.  It has made me love and fear God and His Word more.  As God has been exalted over and over in the mouth of Pastor John, I have tasted over and over His goodness, His sovereignty and His grace.

How are you thankful for your pastor?  Today would be a good day to honor them for 30 days, 30 months or maybe even 30 years of faithful ministry.

a provocative reality for parents

By: Abigail Dodds
body of Christ, everyday, family, , , 4 Comments on a provocative reality for parents

Apart from their own sin nature, it’s almost certain that I will be the single biggest influence of sin in my children’s lives.

What do you think?  Do you own that?

Here’s why I own that and continue parenting with boldness(instead of throwing in the towel in hopelessness): Christ and His work on the Cross makes all the sin that I commit around and against my children an opportunity for them to see the effective and redemptive work of the Savior in their sinful mother’s life.

Do I sin willingly or without shame and grief: no, no, no.  But the grief that accompanies the sin, the confession and repentance and forgiveness that happen, are the primary ways my children will actually be able to see the Gospel with their own eyes.

And I pray that seeing it day after day, reading it in the Word day after day, that they will want to taste it for themselves.  And that God will call them to taste and see that He is good.  That He is sweeter than honey.  That the Person of Jesus is wonderful and terrifying and gracious and uncompromising and more than they could ever exhaustively know.

Yet that they will long for more of the knowledge of God and His Son and will pursue it with the complete devotion of bought and paid for children of the Heavenly Father.

the lynchpin of deep, lasting friendship: commitment.

By: Abigail Dodds
body of Christ, everyday, , 9 Comments on the lynchpin of deep, lasting friendship: commitment.

Think of your closest and oldest friend.

How is that you are still friends with that person after years and years of life changes, moves, babies, marriages, conflicts, sin, and intrusions?  Or maybe a better question is: do you have a friend with which you’ve experienced a range of life and disagreements and have still maintained an uncommonly close bond?  If not, why not?

I think the reason we don’t experience deep and lasting friendships is absence of commitment.  It’s like if you were simply shacking up with your husband instead of in a committed covenant.  It wouldn’t make for a very trusting relationship.  I think the same is true for friendship.  And yes, it matters what that commitment’s foundation is: namely Christ and the cross.

Real friendship cannot begin until the question of commitment is settled.  If you’re not sure I’m committed to you and our friendship, no matter what you may do or have done, then you’ll never risk the kind of sharing and loving and living life together that reveals who you are with me. (I’m not suggesting friendship with no conditions, but as few as possible Biblically).

I think this is what stunts our friendships in the body of Christ at the more shallow levels (especially at large churches).  We end up with 100 friends all of whom have seen the best of us, none of whom really know us.

True friendship is hindered when we can’t be certain that we won’t be dropped for another friend who’s a little more charismatic, witty, and enjoyable.

Because if you really knew me, you’d know I’m boring 75% of the time.  And unless you’re committed to me, you’re not going to hang out at my house all day when my dull personality is on display.

Unless you’ve decided your love for me is constant, you won’t endure the conflicts that happen; or the times of sorrow; or the moments of drama.  You won’t care enough to point me to Christ in my sin.  You’ll trade it in for the next new shiny friendship that comes along with all it’s start-up excitement and fun.

And if I’m not committed to you, I’ll shut-down the moment I think you’ve drifted away.  I’ll quit caring and quit pursuing.  I’ll decide it’s not worth the trouble and look for friendship elsewhere.  I won’t invite you over, because I’ll think you’re the kind of friend who needs my “A” game to enjoy time together, when all I’ve got today is a sub-par “C” game.

I think of David and Jonathan whose friendship was a soul-uniting commitment unparalleled in the Bible.  I think of Ruth whose commitment to Naomi and her God made her a direct ancestor to Jesus!  What freedom from fear there is in commitment!

Being a part of the body of Christ is an amazingly high calling.  It’s so high it baffles me.  And to think that we are to be committed to the body in such a life-altering way is overwhelming.  But what freedom there is in a commitment based on Christ and the Cross!!!  Commitment means whether near or far, the love and relationship remains, because it’s based on something bigger than location.

It means I’m called to love and live life with those God puts directly in my path.  It means I can lovingly say goodbye to those people when they move far away.  It means we never have to form cliques.  It means we can embrace new friendships, because they don’t threaten the old ones.

Paradoxically, commitment based on the cross means we’re more willing to let go of people.  We hold onto them loosely, knowing that we are bound in Christ forever.  The very commitment that knits our lives together in Christ, also allows that knitting together to be disrupted for the sake of Christ, trusting that we are one in Him for eternity.

I’m thanking God for the friends He’s given me that are committed to our friendship.  Not a commitment based on my worth, but on Christ’s.

One more thing: Check out a insightful post about friendship and indebtedness by Andy.

note to self: be a drop-out.

By: Abigail Dodds
body of Christ, confessions, everyday, family, , 5 Comments on note to self: be a drop-out.

I sporadically participate in a competitive world of comparisons.

Note to self: drop out.

This is a plague for moms of every stripe.  Especially young moms with young kids (I think anyway, but who knows maybe it infects the moms with older kids too).

It’s as simple as seeing another child do well at something and, instead of rejoicing for them and moving on, we check to see how our child measures up and are either happy or disappointed at the result.

Or perhaps we see the deftness with which another mom disciplines her kids and we immediately begin to think of what we would have done and find that we fall very short.

So, I say it’s time to drop out of the competitive comparison rat race.  I’ve only dropped out a ga-zillion times before.  But somehow, without realizing it I find myself re-enlisted.

I need to love my kids more by not basing their success on the observation of other individuals who are very different from them in every respect.  Instead  I should focus on who God has made my children to be and expect growth, not perfection.

The same goes for myself.  Concentrate on growth in who God has made me to be.  Cling to Jesus’ sufficiency.

And the dirty little secret is that when we base our children’s success or worth on a standard outside the Bible, such as the measure of other children, we are not loving our kids, we are using them to fulfill our own need and desire for happiness in them through their good behavior or achievement.  We are observing what we think will bring us happiness in the behavior or achievement of other people’s children and applying it to our own kids.

The Bible tells us our children are valuable because God made them.  They are gifts to us.

Plus, the standard of “other people’s children” or the way “other parent’s parent” will never be a high enough standard.  We will be selling ourselves short of the biblical mandates that are the BEST for us and come with the power of Christ working in us to help us in our weaknesses!

I will make a disclaimer here, however, that not all comparisons are bad.  Only the bad ones are bad.  The ones that make you upset with who God has made you and your children to be.  The ones that stir up discontentment and produce smugness or condemnation or apathy.

There is a type of comparison that stirs us up to love and good deeds, that inspires, strengthens and convicts.  I know this kind of comparison because it happens when we are surrounded by people who want the best for us and our kids and who we experience unconditional love with and for.

This good “comparing,” or observing, models for us Biblical commandment-keeping in action.

It happens when I see the families in our small group lovingly parent their kids towards Christ and obedience and I’m inspired and grow in my love for God and for my kids.  Or when I see another mom, humble and lowly, not using her kids to show-off (Lord forgive me for the times I’ve done this), simply nurturing them in the instruction of the Lord.

Comparisons are complicated.  If we’re engaged in them in order to make ourselves feel good about ourselves, the opposite will eventually happen; we’ll feel deficient and we’ll see our children as deficient (and if we don’t smugness and ugliness will overtake us).  But if we look at what godly brothers and sisters do with an attitude of humility, love and learning, we will learn and grow and love.

So, yep, I’m a drop-out.  But just of that bad, competitive kind of comparing.  The other kind I’ll keep: it’s valuable stuff!

where were you?

By: Abigail Dodds
culture, politics, 2 Comments on where were you?

8 years ago today, I was getting ready to go to my racquetball class during my second year at Bethel College. It was early in the morning and I was watching the news (as usual).

I left for the short walk to the courts. After about thirty minutes of playing our coach called us together to tell us that he just had a phone call saying that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. He led us in prayer together, then dismissed us.

I rushed back to the apartment on campus where my roommates and I lived and flipped the TV back on. The reporters were nervously speculating about how it was possible for a plane to crash into the WTC.

Then, I watched as a second plane crashed into the towers.

As everyone who was watching at that moment knows, it is very hard to describe the feelings being felt at that time. Suffice to say, there was no more speculation. Everyone knew that this was no freak accident.

I continued to watch, sickeningly, as the towers collapsed one by one. Then came the phone calls from family and friends to check in and process.

I am thankful that no more attacks have happened in these 8 years. I’m thankful for the men and women who sacrifice to keep us safe. God is merciful.

So, where were you?

gay ice cream?

By: Abigail Dodds
culture, politics, , 5 Comments on gay ice cream?

The Hubby Hubby tub feautures a picture of two men getting married

Ben & Jerry’s is celebrating Vermont’s legislation for gay marriage.  They’re changing the name of their Chubby Hubby ice cream to Hubby Hubby for the month.

I am saddened.  While they peddle homosexuality as fun rainbow-y party with no consequences (not just bereft of consequence, but a noble cause of equal rights), we should be reminded of the stark contrast with which the Bible speaks of this sin, and every sin.

Can you imagine if other sins were glorified in this way?  They might have “cheating chocolate” ice cream or “let’s shoplift sherbet” or “slander sundaes.”  It’s not ok to glorify sin.  And it is ok to be outraged by it.  As long as we’re willing to look at our own areas of sin and do battle with them while we call others to a higher standard.

So, Hubby Hubby ice cream.  Another call for repentance.  Not just for gays, but for all of us.  Let’s remind ourselves of the true meaning of God’s rainbow and praise Him today that He keeps His promises and tremble at His justice in doing so.