friends – Pat Strickland

2020 Year of JOY

2020 included many reasons to be discouraged. Pandemic isolation, advanced lung disease, lengthy hospitalization, 55^th anniversary plans changed, birthday and wedding plans cancelled, death of friend, and miscarriage.

However, the word “Joy” kept showing up in devotionals, scripture, and teachings. Great joy, joy unspeakable, reckless joy, the joy of the Lord is my strength, intimate joy, surprised by joy, and Secret joy.

God prepared my journey of joy in late 2019 at a Women of Joy Conference. Nervous about leaving my husband by himself, I ventured out with ladies from my church. We had a great weekend of teaching, worship and yes, JOY!

Friday, the worship songs were too contemporary for this 70+ gal. But on Saturday night Michael W. Smith led worship and all the songs were familiar and favorites. I was able to release the heavy concern for my husband and the “what ifs” of the future and worship. The reckless love of God overwhelmed me and allowed God to flood my soul.

My journal records – “Thank you Lord for showering me with that overwhelming, never ending reckless love of God, I didn’t earn it, I don’t deserve it, yet you gave yourself to me. Thank you for touching my inmost being with your spirit. And thank you for taking care of John while I was gone.” (Even though when I returned, he had not been able to get TV remote to work most of weekend and too embarrassed to call anyone for help.)

Christmas brought a gift from our granddaughter and her husband for a family photo shoot. Pure joy. Next day golf with son and grandson added to my joy.

Then on January 1, 2020, changed the calendar cube and noticed the scripture on the bottom.

Psalm 126:3 The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.

Opening my prayer journal to favorite verses noticed that most contained the word joy. Most favorite –

3 John 1:1-4
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Then these two entries:

12/21/19 – Father God being in your presence is my joy. There is nothing like knowing you and the peace you give. My desire is for our sons and grandchildren to know that joy and peace.

1/7/20 – It is a joy to Jesus when we are intimate with him – never lonely, never need sympathy – never leave impressions of ourselves but only that Jesus is having his way with us. Hallelujah! That is joy.

Photos from 2020 show much joy experienced even though most of our plans failed.

So, my friends, (as my husband would say when he preached) you can experience the joy of the Lord even in the presence of challenging times. He is our joy.

Jude 24-25

Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great JOY into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time!

Walk in the Way of Love

“What was your favorite Easter basket or Easter candy?”

Really? A Christian radio station talking about Easter candy. Is that what Easter is about?

My husband did have a memory of Easter candy. His mom required him to take his younger brother and sister to a community egg hunt. He was walking around looking cool and stopping occasionally to eat a candy egg. He picked up a plastic egg and opened it – he read $1.00 and put the prize in his pocket. Several hard candy eggs later – he heard over the loud speaker, “The prize egg has not been found. Look around for the $100 prize egg.”

He looked again in his pocket– and he had misread the note. He went to the announcer and returned the contents of the plastic egg for a $100 check. When asked what he planned to do with the money – he responded, “I will give it to my mom to pay for my summer school bill.”

Easy come, easy go!

I watched The Passion of the Christ recently for the second time. Incredible the suffering Jesus experienced for us. I remember a retreat and the speaker giving a physical description of Jesus’s crucifixion – this did not include the beatings and scourgings from Roman soldiers and the rejection of his own countrymen before being nailed on a cross.

I don’t remember ever receiving a basket. Maybe when I was very young??

My best memories of Easter are attending church with my Dad. Christmas and Easter were the few days we attended church as a family.

Unlike the casual attire today, people dressed up for church in those days. Dad could wear his dress Army military uniform. Mother used her limited funds to make sure her children wore nice Sunday clothes, especially at Christmas and Easter, which left no money for an appropriate outfit for her.

It was kind of ironic my Dad always looked so proud and got so many compliments for his uniform and bringing his children to church. While my mother was the one who sacrificed and covered for him and his drinking problem which caused her to squeeze every penny out of his paycheck to pay bills.

One of my best memories of Easter was the weekend my husband and I were married.

Other family Easter memories:

My brother & his children attended with us one year.

1974.teen ranch — Our Teen Ranch Familyr

The cute blue suit is what Timmy wore when he quickly said his part on stage, popped his bow tie and jumped off the stairs.

In the early years of our marriage the tradition continued of having new clothes at Easter. I made a yellow dress for the special day. I found a pair of yellow pumps to match and squeezed the luxury out of my paycheck.

Can you believe lady I sat by in church this Easter had on a yellow dress and yellow shoes?

It seemed the Lord was saying to me, “You could return them and give the $20 to missions.” I leaned over to John and said, “we can give $20.”

A few weeks before Easter, we attended a missionary banquet and the speaker, Rev. Jimmy Lentz, a powerful advocate for missionaries, made an appeal. He realized there was only a small group of people and we were most likely giving to our church. He asked if we would give sacrificially. My yellow shoes popped up before my mind. I didn’t really need them I just wanted them to wear with my new dress.

Now that doesn’t seem like a lot of money – but to us in the 1960’s it was a – a car payment or electric bill???? This began our love of missions and desire to give.

New clothes are not a priority for Easter to me now. I do cherish family attending services with us and cooking for them to enjoy.

easter.2014 — Little Timmy full grown with his family.

Our son Johnny and his children and their friends. We are still surrounded by young people.

Now Easter is a wonderful celebration of our faith as the highlight of the year when we commemorate our Lord’s resurrection. As our pastor said this year, “Without Easter we would not celebrate Christmas!”

Why would we? The purpose of the coming of the babe in the manager was for God to be with us in human form so that he could show us the Father and then die for our sins and leave the Holy Spirit to be our counselor, advocate and guide.

Thank you Lord for Easter memories in my life. May I share with my children and grandchildren that Easter is more than baskets, bunnies and egg hunts.

It’s all about the glorious resurrection of our Lord – King Jesus.

Behold our King! Come let us adore Him!

Ephesians 5:1-2 (NIV)

5 ¹Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children ²and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Celebration

She’s a celebrity now!

After all, her pictures are displayed on the big screen. Pictures ranged from kindergarten to her wedding, small children, family group photos, the wedding of her oldest daughter and then the first grandchild to an intimate scene with her husband as her health was waning.

Not the theatre marquee for this saint but on the big screen in the sanctuary, the one that holds words of songs and Scripture for Sunday services. She would be embarrassed with all the focus on her as the lines of family and friends streamed past her five precious daughters, only son and loving husband. This celebration is of the life of a godly lady who lived a quiet, reverent life.

Reeda Fay was known as a woman of faith and prayer and a proclaimer of God’s truth from His word. She lived in the Shekinah Glory of God. She was of the old school, “God said it and I believe it!” Continue reading Celebration

The Porch

A cup of green tea and my Bible accompany me to the swing on my screened-in porch. The humid July day requires the ceiling fans to be pushing the small amount of cool air available for a few hours. The furnishings remind me of people in our past who have blessed our lives and to pray for them.

The black wrought iron table and chairs were on my in-law’s porch the 11 years they lived near us – just off Shekinah Lane. The overflow of relatives sat at this table for many family gatherings. So this set reminds me to pray for family. Also, on the table is a twig man made by talented neighbor – bless her Lord.

The “Do not Pee from the Porch” sign brings a chuckle of a Sunday School class Christmas party. The sign was transferred around through a White Elephant game. We won it. Dear friends sharing the celebration of Christmas with fun times. Bless them Lord. Also, my grandson who the sign applied to when he was younger.

A wood plant stand was made by a boy at Teen Ranch in Michigan causing memories of our “boys” who are now men – praying the short time they lived at the ranch they were exposed to the Gospel in flesh patterned by staff who loved them in the Lord.

A plaque from my daughter-in-law encourages “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” She is going through a time of physical pain and can use this thought and my prayers.

Plants thriving in the heat of summer – one from former co-worker, another a gift from a neighbor when my husband had surgery. These plants have grown, been divided and are flourishing. May my prayers increase the blessings for my friends.

Tall table for a view

A tall table and three chairs make our mountain view easier to see – a gift from neighbors who are struggling now with major surgery. Please heal and restore Lord.

Wicker chairs from a new friend look so elegant on our porch. Bless my friend as she helps me finish my book, Shekinah Lane, to be printed soon.

Can’t help but think of my economical husband who did not want me to purchase furniture for the porch. Did he know, or did God know that I needed these gifts to help me appreciate family and friends, and pray for them in my quiet time on the porch?

Zephaniah 3:17 New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁷The Lord your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”

How to Temper Your Tone

¹²Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

New International Version (NIV)

Was it necessary to speak to me in that tone?

“Not your wife, she is always so sweet,” my neighbor said. My husband was teasing me about being difficult to please and demanding as our neighbor finished the installation of my new dishwasher.

I smiled as my neighbor left and wondered if my husband was thinking how his wife’s sweet words could turn sour at times. Sad how we are so sweet to others and hurt the ones we love the most.

On our way to the golf course the next morning my husband asked me to call someone for him as he drove. Flustered with rushing to get ready, and trying to drink my breakfast shake, I blurted out, “Why do I have to do it now, can’t you wait until we get to town?”

He graciously responded, “Was it necessary to speak to me in that tone?” What a wise man I have. He could have fueled the fire by being as rude as I was. But instead he spoke the truth in love. And the truth hurts. I’m so glad he loves me enough to confront me with my behavior.

Why is it so easy to temper our tone at work or at church and then allow our tone to turn sour at home and cause offense and hurt those closest to us. Sometimes I think we get away with it and are not held accountable in a loving way by our spouse or whoever is in our home. It takes someone being willing to tell us how we hurt them and suggest ways to improve our behavior.

My husband, a counselor by training, uses his skills and compassion with other family members as well. It is never too late to confront.

His mother (in her eighties) was very controlling and “ruled the roost” as the saying goes for many years. His father (in his nineties) was a very kind, gracious man and allowed her to dominate him.

His father was placed on antidepressant medication which made him aggressive.

One day when she was sharp in talking to him, he replied gruffly and told her to leave him alone. She was hurt and later told her counselor son “your father was so ugly to me today.”

This gave my husband the opportunity to speak the truth in love to his mom. No one ever talked to her about how unkind she was to her sweet man. She struggled but submitted to allowing God to change her attitude and her words.

Just a few months later, her last words as she collapsed in her son’s arms were, “Please let me go – I need to check on your father.”

I’m so thankful my husband did not wait to challenge me with my attitude and tone. I pray God will help me to think before I speak. Also may my words and attitude show my husband he is the most important person in my life, and I love him enough to allow him to confront me when I am unkind.

Do we use a different tone when talking to our family than we use with clients,
neighbors or friends?
Are we quick to say hurtful things or be impatient with our loved ones?
Are we willing to love enough to be confronted with our behavior and attitude?

Father please help us to be clothed with your compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience to the ones we love the most.

Ephesians 4:15

God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.

The Message (MSG)

Tag: friends

2020 Year of JOY

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