I know what I’m going to do for the rest of my life.
As I read Psalm 89, my plan jumps right off the page- “I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever.” vs 1. I will tell everyone I know about how I have experienced your faithfulness all my life, Abba Father.
I will talk about your perfect love for me and the abundant blessings you have showered down on my life.
I will walk with you all of the days I have left on this earth, Father, until the day we walk into heaven together, hand in hand.
I will find my peace in your strength. I will find my joy in your love and faithfulness. I will find my strength in your righteousness and justice.
I will walk in the light of your presence each day, Father.
And I will continue to sing of your great love forever.
I have. I am still struggling with the most extreme adversity I have ever experienced. On May 18, 2016 my world exploded. My son, David Glasser, was a Phoenix Police Officer who was killed in the line of duty on that day.
I have experienced quite a lot of death in my life but this is – by far – the hardest.
Davey was a unique young man who was dedicated to serving his community and dedicated to living life to its fullest with fun, going everywhere and anywhere, while collecting a vast number of friendships. He did all of this with an obvious devotion and love for his family. My husband and I lived 1 1/2 miles from Davey and his wife and 2 children the last 5 years of his life. We talked with him daily and saw him almost every day for one reason or another.
I don’t have the words for how painful this last 7 1/2 years have been. It defines adversity. Living with the reality of my circumstances is a struggle.
As I read the book of Job in the Bible, I can relate. Job experiences the shock of getting terrible news that all of his children have been killed. I can relate. Then, after the first horrible news, painful things just kept happening. I can relate. When people around him started saying strange and wrong things to him, I can relate. Job questioned God and wondered why this was all happening to him. I can relate. He was overwhelmed with sorrow. I can relate.
It’s a huge struggle.
Job was confident that his redeemer lived and he was confident that – in the end – his redeemer wins. I can relate. He knew that God was in total control and all-powerful. I can relate.
Job committed his life to being faithful to God in spite of his circumstances. I can relate. He praised God in the middle of all of the pain he was experiencing. I can relate. He knew that is was wise to turn from evil and love God. I can relate.
Job had a long conversation with God. I can relate – I have had many long conversations with God about my son’s death. Job confessed that he did not understand. I can relate – I will never completely understand this. Job’s eyes were opened in a new way to the reality that God has a plan and purpose for each of us and that God’s ways are not our ways. I can relate.
God gave Job peace in the middle of his pain and blessed him.
I can relate.
Thank you for helping me in my struggle, Abba Father.
____________
If you are interested in knowing more of this story, I published a book on Amazon, “Then I Looked Up: Losing a Child, Finding His Legacy of Love”.
What do you do in a thunderstorm? Check out the clouds? Watch the wind rip through the trees? Count the seconds between the flash of the lightening and the roll of thunder?
I recently spent a week by Lake Okoboji in Iowa which is near where I grew up. It’s a beautiful lake surrounded by lots of vacation homes, condos and hotels. One night there was a thunderstorm that lasted all night.
This reminded me of one of the my favorite things about this part of the country. It’s farmland as far as you can see but there is no irrigation here – God himself waters this land. I remember times as a kid when the farmers needed more rain. So we had a prayer meeting. And when we had a prayer meeting for rain, the large church I grew up in was full – wall to wall people, standing room only. Everyone around my hometown knew who watered their crops and our town’s entire economy depended on those crops.
As I read God’s Word in the book of Job I am remembering what it felt like laying in my cabin by the lake, listening to it rain and thunderstorm all night, saying ‘wow’ when the thunder clapped very loudly right over us and seeing the bright show of lightening cracking across the lake when I looked out the window.
“God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways;
he does great things beyond our understanding.
He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’
and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour”.
“So that everyone he has made may know his work,
he stops all people from their labor.
The animals take cover;
They remain in their dens.
The tempest come out from it’s chamber,
the cold from the driving winds.
The breath of God produces ice,
and broad waters become frozen.
He loads the clouds with moisture;
he scatters his lightening through them.
At his direction they swirl around
over the face of the earth
to do whatever he commands them.” Job 37: 5-12.
God definitely had the attention of everyone around the lake that night. It was impossible to ignore his work. I doubt anyone got a lot of sleep.
Do you know the benefits that God has packed into a rainstorm like that?
the obvious one is the rainfall – growing the crops and providing grass to feed the animals.
rainstorms are natural air-conditioners – cooling the air and the land.
lightening provides nitrogen which fertilizes the soil and provides protein for the animals.
rainstorms remove pollution in the air, cleaning it.
I may not understand a lot of things God does, but when I feel the rain, hear the thunder and see the lightening, I know that God is providing for us and taking care of us.
Why is there so much anger and hatred in our country?
Why are addictions the plague of our century?
Why are innocent children being stolen, abused and killed?
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Satan takes the credit for all of this in the first chapter of Job. He tells God that he just got back from “roaming the earth, going back and forth on it.” (vs 7 )
And Satan leaves a wide path of destruction wherever he goes. That’s what I’m seeing and that’s what you are seeing – the work of Satan. He has convinced a whole lot of people to ignore the truth – just rant emotionally about whatever has upset you today. He whispers in our ears – telling you and I to forget about being kind, loving and forgiving. We need to just focus on ourselves – that’s all that matters.
Satan smiles whenever we believe the lies swirling all around us in our culture. He loves it when we consult Google instead of God when deciding what’s right and wrong, good or bad.
He enjoys watching us wreck our relationships and our marriages with our selfishness. He encourages us to be impatient, impulsive and immature.
Wow! He is really getting a kick out of the lack of respect for authority that is growing in our country. It’s a win-win for him because everyone else loses.
Satan smiles when he can do anything to distract us from our relationship with God. He’ll even bring good things into our lives if they will lure us away from God. I’m asking myself – is there anything, good or bad, that Satan has placed in my life to keep me from spending time with God? Have you asked yourself this question?
Satan is very busy roaming…..
going back and forth…
back and forth…
today…..
everyday,
over our world, and our country and our neighborhoods and our homes.
Please use us to overcome evil with your good, Abba Father.
When God breathed into them – “they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army.” Ezekiel 37:10.
Wow!!
Growing up in church, I always thought this vision of Ezekiel should be preached around Halloween because a valley full of dry bones suddenly connecting and standing up is weird as well as scary.
How time changes things! Now I love this visual because it’s exactly what happened when I turned over my whole heart to God. His breath went deep into my soul and – for the first time – I was truly alive. I have an eternal purpose. I have been re-created into one of the soldiers in his army – wearing his armor and working hard next to my spiritual brothers and sisters to share the Good News and push back evil. Each day, I read and study God’s word – getting to know him better and listening as he speaks into my life.
Are you looking for purpose? Are you looking for guidance? Are you looking for hope?
God gives me hope. Not the ‘I wish’ kind of hope. This hope is cemented into my heart by the promises of God. I know who is in control and I know he is working everything out for my good. I know where I’m going when I leave this earth. I know who wins in the end.
God’s redeeming love has turned my dry bones into something good and useful. His breath moves in my heart and soul – bringing new life each day.
There are no dry bones here.
What about you? Would you like to experience a new breath of God’s spirit in your soul?
Thank you for your breath of real life, Abba Father.
or our problems… or the chaos in our world. Because God is always loving and caring for you. He is always caring for me.
Great is God’s faithfulness!
One of my special joys in reading through the Bible every year is when I read words that were used in the old famous hymns. I was raised in a musical, conservative Christian home so these hymns bring back precious memories.
God tells me as I read Lamentations 3 that he will always be faithful to me. And, while I watch God’s power as he raises the sun each morning, I am reminded of his promises. “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one that seeks him.” verses 22-25.
God is never late (even though it can sometimes seem that way to us, right?). He is never tired. He is never distracted.
Whenever doubts about God enter my mind, all I have to do is look back and it’s easy to see God’s faithfulness to me day after day, year after year. Even when you and I have wandered, God never left us. We are the one’s who left. God never stopped loving and caring for you and I.
He is caring for us today.
By faith, I know I can count on him to love me and care for me all of the rest of the days I walk on this earth…and on into heaven.
If someone asked me that, I would have to think awhile because I’m not very attached to “things”. I’d probably say the ring that my mother left to me when she went home to heaven is special to me. It became invaluable to me after she was gone.
My own wedding ring is also important to me. It symbolizes almost 42 years of love and commitment between my husband and I. Every five years we changed or added to my ring so when I look at it, I see the history of us building a marriage that has lasted through many storms. After our son who was a Phoenix Police Officer was killed in the line of duty, I added some blue sapphires onto my wedding ring in honor and remembrance of a great son and the awesome man he grew up to be. Precious.
My eyes were opened to my real answer to that question several years ago as I was reading what God says in Ezekiel 44, ” I am to be the only inheritance the priests have. You are to give them no possession in Israel: I will be their possession.” God was all they needed. God took care of them and he didn’t want them to be distracted by other possessions.
Wow! This applies to me! God takes care of me and provides for me. He doesn’t want me to be distracted by possessions. My relationship with God is my most prized possession. I can’t imagine life without him. There is nothing I own – my mother’s ring and my ring included – that gives me the love, joy and strength that God gives me. Nothing else gives me the forgiveness and freedom that only comes from God.
Yes, God is my special possession. My relationship with him is so much more precious and perfect than anything I could ever buy or own.
Many of you read this blog several years ago when I initially wrote it. It amazes me to look back and see how God was preparing me through his Word for something that was going to happen.
Three years ago my wedding ring was stolen. One of the stones on the ring was loose so the jeweler sent the ring in to fix the stone before I lost it. The ring disappeared on the way.
I lost the whole ring. Gone. Over 42 years of building this ring with my husband stolen from me. Over 42 years of never taking the ring off except at night because I didn’t want to lose it. I had one spot and one spot only I put it if it wasn’t on my finger. I never put it in my pocket, I never put it by the sink. I knew the easiest way to lose it was to take it off so I didn’t, I just cleaned it regularly.
I would have been devastated when I got the call that it was stolen if I had not already worked through this truth about my most special possession. God reminded me that he was still walking beside me and would never leave me. His love and care and grace can never be stolen away like my ring was.
The jeweler replaced my ring with a very nice ring that looks just like my original one. It’s not ‘my’ ring but it reminds me every day that my relationship with God is my most precious possession and it can never be taken away from me.
I live my life in gratitude for all you are, Abba Father, and for all you have done for me.
I don’t know how I missed it. I guess this very important detail was never included in the children’s version of this story.
It’s a well-known Biblical account. Three men refused to worship the evil king’s golden idol so the king threw them into a blazing furnace. The furnace was so hot that it killed the soldiers who got close enough to throw the men in.
Here’s a detail of the story that I missed until I started reading the entire Chronological Bible each year. The king looked into the furnace and saw 4 men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed.
4 men – not 3.
The king called the 4th person ‘the son of the gods’. Daniel 3:25. I believe it was Jesus, sent by God to protect Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They walked through the fire together.
The fire didn’t stop when the three men were thrown in.
The king didn’t change his mind at the last minute.
An army of angels didn’t swoop down from heaven to save the day.
God had an unimaginable number of ways he could have saved these 3 men. He chose to send a personal rescuer into the fire with them. Jesus walked with them – just like he walks with us when we are in the middle of a fire in our lives.
Our fires can look like failure….
grief……
disease……
disappointment….
betrayal…..
the list goes on.
My biggest personal fire was when my son, David Glasser, who was a Phoenix Police Officer, was killed in the line of duty on May 18, 2016. All of my expectations of what the rest of my life looked like were destroyed on that day. The flames of that fire are still burning up pieces of my life, leaving mountains of painful ash behind.
But Jesus was there. And he is here as I continue to walk on this very tough road piled high with grief and loss.
I have discovered that, as I remain faithful in the fire, God is using this journey to grow my trust in him, grow my perseverance and grow my faith.
My loss and pain will not go away this side of heaven but God has given me peace and a purpose. I’m thankful for the opportunities he gives me to share what I am learning about God’s faithfulness as he walks with me daily,
in the middle of the fire.
Thank you, Abba Father.
—————-
If you’d like to know more of my story, I published a book on Amazon, ‘Then I Looked Up: Losing a Child, Finding His Legacy of Love”.
None of us want to hear these words. Yet this is what God says to us through Jeremiah who was talking to the Israelites who were in exile –
“Your wound is incurable. Your injury is beyond healing. There is no one to plead your cause, no remedy for your sore, no healing for you.” Jeremiah 30: 12 – 13.
There was no hope for them.
I am very glad to say the same is NOT true for us. Between then and now, Jesus was born, lived a perfect life and then offered himself up as a sacrifice on the cross. Jesus cured our incurable case of sin and rebellion. He paid the price for all of our sins for all time.
After Jesus was buried, he rose from the grave through his own power. And now he sits in heaven next to my Father God.
I have accepted Jesus’ free gift of salvation so God no longer sees my sin. Jesus’ sacrifice covered it. What does God see when he looks at me? He sees the daughter he loves with a perfect love.
If you haven’t accepted the free gift of salvation which Jesus offers to everyone, you have an incurable wound of sin which is beyond healing. There’s no remedy…..
except Jesus.
Accept the salvation offered through Jesus today, be healed and become a child of the King. There is no better time that right now.
So – what am I doing about it? What are you doing about it?
Are we busy just talking about it and shaking our heads? Are we spouting off negativity to everyone around us and filling Facebook with our rants?
Or are we doing something positive to help turn the trend one small step at a time?
When Israel was going down the tubes thousands of years ago, God told Ezekiel, “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.” Ezekiel 22:30.
God was looking for someone – anyone – who would build a wall against the injustice that was happening. A wall that would help keep out the lies and violence. God was looking for someone to stand in the gap before him on behalf of the Israelite people. “But I found no one.”
Is this same thing happening today? Is it all just talk and emotion?
Or are you and I figuring out how to do our part in standing in the gap for our country before God?
We can stand in the gap by daily praying to God for our country.
We can stand in the gap by putting our feet and hearts into action while working together with God to help turn our country back into the land which was founded with “In God We Trust”. One step at a time. Each of us can create a small ripple that can grow into a wave when we all get involved.
My family and friends have created the David Glasser Foundation in honor of my son, a Phoenix Police Officer, who was killed in the line of duty May 18, 2016. It has been evident right from the beginning that God’s hand is on this foundation. The mission of the foundation is to create and sponsor opportunities for kids and their families to have positive interactions with police officers. We believe if the young man who killed my son had had positive interactions with a police officer, he may have made a different decision on that day. We are passionate about creating a ripple as we continue the legacy of love that my son started.
Not everyone can start a foundation but each one of us can be part of a ripple. God has a purpose for all of us – if we’ll stand in the gap.
I’m here, standing in the gap, Abba Father.
___________________
If you are interested in more of my story, I recently published a book on Amazon, “Then I Looked Up: Losing a Child, Finding His Legacy of Love”. This is the story of my son’s life, his death and my journey to find hope and purpose after losing a child.
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