Two nights ago my husband and I were watching television. We were watching a series and the episode was touching something deep within. My emotions got involved in the program as I watched an episode concerning a beloved family member dying. It has been one year since my own beloved parents went home to Jesus and what I was watching began touching upon my own experience. And that’s when it happened.

As I sat, I suddenly became aware of a smell, a very sweet yet pleasing smell. It was so strong. I looked over at my husband and wondered if he were smelling it also. I asked. No, he hadn’t noticed anything. I kind of wrote it off as perhaps a lotion I had applied earlier in the morning and somehow I was getting a whiff of it again. And then it was gone, and I continued watching the program.

Last night, we were watching this same program as they did indeed say final goodbyes to their loved one. And once again, I was moved, almost to tears, with memories of my parent’s passing, one day apart. It was a tough time in my life because I didn’t have the luxury of sitting with either of my parents as they entered into paradise with my Savior, Jesus. No, this was a time of no contact because they were in an assisted living facility and they both had covid. Too many details to get into but enough to say I didn’t get to say my final goodbyes in person. It was hard.

Suddenly, I became aware of the smell again. This was a wonderful aroma, like perfume, that was very pleasing to my sense of smell. I looked again at my husband; his eyes were on the show and he gave no outward appearance of smelling what I was. This time, my mind switched over to God. “Is that you Lord?” I inquired. I didn’t hear any reply.

As I sat there with my rising feelings, I quietly voiced my disappointment to God over my not being able to be with my parents when they each slipped away. I had been denied that. And as I watched the continuing story in the program, I was aware of questions I had. I felt so badly for my parents because there was no one, save for the dedicated staff members that I knew were there with them. I know they were taken care of, but all the same, I wasn’t there. I easily could have slipped into despair. But there was that aroma wafting across my sense of smell and it was oh, so pleasant.

When the program was over, I voiced my sorrow and disappointments to my husband. We talked about it for 15 minutes or so. He asked me if I’d like to pray over all this. “Yes, I would like that very much”. We said our prayers, asking God to not only console me, but also over our various family members and what we knew of things they were experiencing, our friends and their struggles, situations that we knew needed lifting before our Father in heaven. We also thanked God and gave Him praises for all we could think of and finally, over our nation and all that is being faced right now. When we were done, we kissed each other goodnight and turned out the lights. I slept a fairly good night considering the emotions of the last hour before retiring.

This morning, on my way to church, I asked the Lord if there was anything He wanted to highlight to me concerning our Sunday service. We are members of a Foursquare Church and so we often are able to share words of encouragement to our congregation. As I waited on Him during my 20-minute drive, He brought up the smell I had sensed the past two nights and very suddenly, He dropped His explanation into my heart.

As I’d watched this program about someone dying, it stirred up all the emotions of the past year as I was grieving the loss of my parents. The program brought up a lot and for a brief moment last night, I feared I was going to fall headlong back into the fullness of my emotions; I feared I was going to fall apart. While I did shed a few tears, the aroma I had smelled had somehow comforted me. God showed me that through my awareness of the sweet aroma I smelled, He was there. It was His smell! He wanted me to know He was right there, right with me, as I was experiencing familiar feelings of loss and grief. But…He wanted me to know that His Presence was real, and He was with me, just as He always is, ready to comfort and bring me His peace. I was able to share this with our congregation this morning.

My friend, if you are in need of God’s comfort and peace, would you please just push the pause for a few minutes in your busy life and wait on the Lord? He longs to comfort you too. He is an ever present participant in our lives and, as His Word says, He’ll never leave us nor forsake us. It means He cares for you very much. Your discomfort is felt by Him and He longs to bring you His peace. There is nothing He regrets more in our lives than our pulling away from Him during troubled times.

For thus says the LORD, “Behold, I extend peace to her like a river, And the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; And you will be nursed, you will be carried on the hip and fondled on the knees. “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; And you will be comforted in Jerusalem.” Isaiah 66:12-13 NASBS

He is holding out peace to you in your time of need. He longs to comfort you in your hard places. Let His love wash over you as a flowing river and allow Him to just hold you tight today.

I pray God’s amazing Shalom over you this day. Stop and observe. Can you sense His Presence? He’s there with you…always! Blessings of peace and comfort over you today.

Acts 1:7-8 (NKJV) 
And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

There is a distinction here in what Jesus was saying to His disciples just before He was “taken up” into heaven. The disciples were grieving the loss of their Savior, the man they had come to know and follow. The days were hard, living under the rule of the Roman Empire, persecution had risen and I would guess that the disciples might have even feared for their lives in this time. The One whom they had pinned all their hopes upon had died a brutal death. What were they to do now? Through Jesus showing Himself to them numerous times after His death, appearing to many of them in moments of doubt and fear, they were beginning to perceive that perhaps their friend and Savior was indeed going to usher in peace and power. There was a faint glimmer of hope building in their spirits.

The definition of “times or seasons” as stated in Acts 1:7 are two-fold. “It is not for you to know times.” The root of this word times is chronos, meaning time as we know it, chronological time, the times we live in. The root word of seasons is kairos, meaning an opportunity or occasion. Chronos times means time as it is occurring in our lifetime. Kairos, on the other hand, indicates a God-given opportunity in the midst of chronos time.

As I have pondered the difference in these two words, I was pointed back to verse 7; “it is not for you to know chronos times or even kairos moments or opportunities…But you shall receive power…!” This verse is a promise from Jesus, to His disciples and to us, to be encouraged no matter what the days look like. As I waited with God in a quiet moment, He suddenly brought back a memory to my mind, one which I feel is a great example of the difference between chronos and kairos moments.

In 2007 I had to have surgery, and it happened on a Tuesday. The surgery went ok and I was sent to my room to recover. On each morning following, my surgeon would come to my room and listen to my intestines for signs they were waking up from the anesthesia. Wednesday through Friday, they were not active, meaning they were not waking up and acting the way they were supposed to. I could not eat solid foods until my intestines woke up. After he left me on Friday morning, with no explanation as to why this was taking so long, I could read the concern on his face. “This isn’t normal,” was all I could think of and fear began to fill up my mind.

I knew I needed to reach out to someone to pray for me, so I called a new friend who had come alongside me during this season of my life. I told her what was happening and asked her to pray my intestines to wake up. She told me, “of course I’ll pray for you Linda, but I want to suggest something to you. Did it ever cross your mind that perhaps God isn’t allowing your intestines to wake because He has a divine appointment for you there in the hospital and just perhaps that person hasn’t even arrived yet?” And with that, she then prayed over me for everything to begin working as it was supposed to and we soon hung up.

Her words hung in my mind; “He hasn’t allowed things to wake up because there’s someone He needs you to meet and perhaps they aren’t even there yet!” Had I considered such a thing? NO! I was so caught up in thoughts only of myself and I was caving into the arrows of deceit that the enemy was planting in my mind. “What’s wrong with me? Why God? I’m afraid and why aren’t you healing me as I have believed you would?” I cried out inside. Fear had a hold but my friend’s words invaded my very selfish thoughts. “Could this be? Could you really have me here because you want me to speak to someone here before I go home?” Now my imagination was alert and wide awake. Who Lord? Who was this mystery person or persons You mean for me to speak to?

The rest of the day and evening, I was now on assignment! Her words had electrified my intentions and focus onto who this person might be…and I was definitely looking. I was walking around the floor many times each day because the activity and exercise could help wake up my slumbering gut. But now, as I walked and walked, I was looking. Intently.

You see, I was caught in a chronos moment of time. Reality. My gut wasn’t working, and I couldn’t eat nor go home until it woke up. I had no control over the situation. Does this remind you of how a lot of things look right now in our lives? It should because we are living in the chronos time of our days. But my friend had made a suggestion to me, one that would take my mind completely off of my own circumstances and become aware that God might have in this dilemma a kairos opportunity for me!

Sure enough, late Friday evening, as I was once again walking the floor, I rounded a corner and fairly ran into my divine appointment! A young woman I had noticed earlier was walking toward me, crying out loud and asking no one in particular, “what am I supposed to do, what am I supposed to do?” In that instant, I knew she was the one. How did I know? I cannot tell you in words, it was simply a knowing in my heart.

I asked if I might help and the next ten minutes or so were spent with her, hearing her story about her estranged father who was here, having a horrible experience of pain that would not relent after his surgery . She was so distraught, all her story fairly tumbled from her lips into the ears of a total stranger.

We talked of God and her dad. I suggested that she pray and ask God to forgive her for her long separation from Him and then to ask for prayers of healing over her dad. She told me she loved her dad so much, but due to the fact that they hadn’t had much time together over the last 10 years, she didn’t know how to tell him that. She didn’t think she could ask God to forgive her and she didn’t think she could tell her dad how she felt. I prayed with her (with her permission) and asked her to re-dedicate her life to Christ, and then to believe God had given her this opportunity with her dad to tell him all she longed to. And just like that, our time came to an end. We hugged and parted ways.

The next morning, my surgeon came in, checked me, and lo, my gut had awakened! Oh thank you Jesus! I would be discharged after one more day, once I had some food and all things remained stable. I had one more glimpse of my mystery friend later that morning, once again on my walk around the floor. Her dad’s room was at the end of one of the halls and the day before the door was always shut. This day, the door was open and as I walked toward it, my young friend was sitting on the other side of his bed, facing me, reading something in her lap. As I drew nearer, she glanced upwards, saw me, gave me a ‘thumbs up’ and flashed a huge smile! That smile told me everything I needed to know. God was good and He had shown up in her life and also in mine.

I was in a chronos moment of my life, a dire one at that. At the suggestion of a friend, my focus came off of my own circumstances and re-focused onto looking for a kairos moment. Sure enough, as I forgot about the chronological events occurring, my focus shifted, resulting in a kairos opportunity!

I would like to suggest to you to read Acts 1 again, looking there for your kairos message of hope from God. The similarities of those days in Jerusalem are very similar to that which we are living in now. Political upheaval, a pandemic crisis, isolation, fear, maybe even persecutions…all occurring in the chronos time frame. And yet, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever,” (Heb 13:8), and “God is no respecter of persons,” (Acts 10:34), meaning kairos moments are for now just as much as they were spoken of for the benefit of the disciples. Indeed, God came in a kairos moment for the disciples, after they spent time in the upper room together, praying in one accord, and waiting as they were instructed. Everything changed in a moment for them.

These days may be hard and in fact, may become harder, but in the midst of them are kairos moments waiting to occur for you and for me! All we are asked to do is take our eyes off of our own circumstances and begin to look, really look, for the kairos opportunities waiting for us. Jesus Christ, the giver of kairos moments, is waiting. Spend some moments with Him in your upper room or gather with others and pray to see Him! If you spend time there, He will come!

It’s day three of Coronavirus shut-down. In my neck of the woods we’ve not been mandated to shelter in place, but today the President advised meeting in groups of no larger than 10. That pretty much shuts down most group activities we’ve been involved in.

How are you doing with this? I have to admit I’ve had better weeks than last week. First it was all the conjecture about the government running our lives and shutting us down, just. like. that! Then it was news of COVID-19’s symptoms, incubation periods, and washing hands. Oh, and yes, there’s the toilet paper thing! What really got to me were a couple of posts I read about life in lockdown in Wuhan and also in Italy. I guess it was at that point that reality really set in: our lives were forever changed in a way we just didn’t see coming.

With elderly parents in an assisted living facility nearby, I cautiously took them to dr. appointments last Thursday in a neighboring city. We went to lunch. We talked. And we laughed. Then I went to Costco because I needed groceries. My parents opted to remain in the car while I shopped. What I witnessed inside, began the fear lump in my throat. No paper products of any kind. No sanitizing products. The meat counter was scarily empty. Shelves were obviously stocked but supplies were down from what is normal at Costco. And the people. Many, many more people than I’ve ever seen in our Costco! The wait in line was long, longer there than all the time it took me to shop.

When we returned home, I took my parents back to their place. We were met at the door by one of the directors who informed me I couldn’t come in and that my parents would no longer be able to leave unless for dr. appointments or emergency situations. I understood but I knew my mom would worry about all the family out of her range.

Now the fear lump grew. I wrestled for the next three days over all this. Each day brought more bad news. More restrictions, more cases, more people in jeopardy. And then, on my daily phone call with my mom on Saturday, I heard the fear in her voice. She knows that I’m the one who pays her bills, makes her appointments, tends to their getting to wherever they need to go. She said, “you have to stay well!  You’re the one who takes care of us and our needs and we’ll have no one if something happens to you!”

That reality had already crossed my mind and was the main reason behind the lump of fear churning in my stomach. Our church had announced they would still have service on Sunday, but they were going to go live on Facebook for anyone who opted to remain at home. I had decided already that I would stay home in the attempt to minimize exposure, even though our town had no reported issues at this point. When I reassured Mom we were staying at home and not going to church, I could hear the relief in her voice.

So, we’d kind of made the decision to stay home on Saturday and shelter in place. Today is Monday. Day three. So far, it hasn’t been bad. I’ve reached out to neighbors and we’ve all agreed to give a shout if someone is going to the store so we can minimize all of us going. We enjoyed church on the web (after we got some technical problems solved!). We prayed with the National Day of Prayer for our home, town, region, state, country and world.

Today seems more manageable. As I’ve read news updates, I’m able to be more discerning about what is fear mongering by the media and what is solid fact. My fear is abating. Unfortunately I’m the kind of person who struggles with fear periodically. I’m learning that when fear begins to grab hold, I must aggressively begin to capture my thoughts and sort through what’s fear and what’s rational thinking for the situation.

Just three weeks ago, before all this COVID-19 stuff really heated up, I had had another bout of fear threatening to wreck a much needed vacation. I’ll spare you the details but the fear resulted in anxiety and that was about to swamp me. That night, laying in bed with my husband, I told him of my plight. I thought I needed to go home because I was going down emotionally and I thought I needed help. Well, I was right about needing help, but it wasn’t what I had in mind when I first told him about it.

I’d been reading a book while I was there and the chapter I’d read the night before suddenly popped into my mind. I began retelling it’s message to my husband. And it basically boiled down to one thing…worship is a weapon! I realized I needed to take captive my thoughts, right then and there and do a little warfare. We believe that the enemy is real and that he loves to trip us up, over big things and little things. This was what appeared to be an all-out attack on my peace. So we fought back, even though I didn’t feel much like it!

We began by singing a couple of worship songs we knew by heart. We then declared that the place we were in was safe territory, covered by the blood of Jesus and unceremoniously kicked out anything not of God to depart – RIGHT NOW! We then sang again and then began thanking God for everything we could think of. Finally, we ended our time praising God for who He is, what He has done in our lives, and for giving us the opportunity to live a wonderful life. This probably took 45 minutes. And then we went to sleep.

I slept like an absolute log that night (this is quite unusual for me!). And the next day? I felt like a brand new person. Wow God! Anxiety was gone, fear was gone, and I felt energized and alive. All this to say, there is a God-provision for us all through the days we now find ourselves in.

It’s ok to tune into the news or read the latest updates about this dilemma. But I would warn you, don’t linger there and instead, try to turn your attention to God and what He has to say about such things.

Matthew 24:6-7 (NKJV)
“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.”

2 Corinthians 10:4-6 (NKJV)
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

James 1:2-3 (NKJV)
“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”

These three Scriptures are just the tip of many, encouraging us to rejoice, even in hard times. The Good News of the Gospel tells us that these things are not uncommon to man, meaning we all go through trials. And here’s the thing: we’re all going through this trial together! The economics of our country will come back. COVID-19 won’t last forever; this is just the normal cold/flu season and when we get down the road a couple of months, this thing will be a memory. Hopefully, the death tolls won’t be so bad if we join in this sheltering in place thing and help kill this virus.

If you’re especially having a difficult time, try what I did a few weeks ago, even if you don’t even think you have the energy or desire to do it:

1. Worship God. If you don’t know any songs by heart, get on YouTube and look some up. Use your worship as a weapon! Sing until you feel like singing more. Even when you don’t feel like it, SING and dedicate your worship to God.
2. If you recognize that the enemy may be involved in your struggle, command him to leave your premises, your mind, and your peace now in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
3. Thank God for everything you can think of. Your home, shelter, electricity, food in the fridge, that loaf of bread, your children, your job, etc. You get the idea.
4. Now praise God for who He is. He’s the Alpha, the Omega (the beginning and the end of all things), ruler, King, Abba Father, provider, etc.
5. Finally, end with another song or two of worship.

Remember, we’re all in this together. If we were all to do this simple exercise, might we be able to turn the table on this virus? Let’s try, shall we! Banded together in the love of Christ, anything can happen!

I’d love to hear your testimonies! Blessings, protection, and healing on you and yours…

I close my eyes.  The gentle rocking of the boat lulls me into sweet serenity, rocking back and forth so calmly I can almost forget I am trying to get to God.

Difficult days push you forward, sometimes imperceptibly, and you find yourself just going through movements of routine.  Get up, shower, dress, eat, chores, and so on throughout the day.  Nothing causes you to stop and realize that the movements are rote.

And then, after perhaps days of wandering, you catch a glimpse of His robe in some part of your day.  “Wait!  Is that you Lord?  Wait for me!  Please?”  My awareness of things of the Light is suddenly shocked into action.  There is one thing to be grasped in this moment; my Lord is here and I do not want to miss Him.

I do miss Him, for days it seems.  But I’m scrambling back up the banks of my awareness, trying desperately to get back to Him.  The short Bible passages I am able to focus on in these moments serve as my lifeline.

Up the banks I go, sometimes clawing, sometimes resting, always knowing I must get back to the place where I can see His presence fully.  He is a compelling force – and I want to be with Him.  I can see the top of the ridge.  I go for it.

As always, He is there.  My wanderings have not caused Him concern for He always provides lessons in the chase.  I see the river winding slowly away from me, around a curve, and then here it comes around the bend and makes its way back.  My Lord has not left me – He is always there for me, waiting.

I jump into the waters, soothing balm for my tired body.  The small boat is coming towards me; I grab its side and pull myself in.  I am so weary, I cannot speak.  I lay down and close my eyes.

The gentle rocking lulls me into sweet serenity as The River flows. I am with Him as we go forward together!

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us…” Ephesians 3:20 (ESV)

I’ve often thought of this verse but my focus is usually on how God is able to do far more than. I’m in awe of God and His capabilities. This morning I was reading a prophetic word by a woman in Texas and I was stopped by something she said about ASK! She said, “Asking and contending activates faith…!”

I chewed on that sentence for a few minutes. If I ask for something from God, then I’m compelled to wait on Him for the answer. If I have no faith for what I’m asking for, does it cancel out my request? (Why then did I ask for it in the first place? I’ve done this in the past, but praises to our God, it doesn’t seem to phase Him!). I believe, after many years of walking with God, that He loves to confound us and our sometimes lack of faith, by answering us, even when we doubt He will. What does that do for us? It catapults our faith into the possibility range of things!

Let me give you an example. Back to when I was first saved. I’d been walking with Jesus for a few months. I was astounded about this new “relationship” I was experiencing and trying to take in the fact that God was real and ready to be with me. It confounded me at times because my upbringing in faith was in a denomination that didn’t teach about our relationship with Christ…only the sovereignty of God. Consequently I grew up afraid of God. (I want to clarify here that this was my take-away and not necessarily what they taught).

So I’m in this new relationship with Jesus. All was good until one day it wasn’t. I had a bit of a crisis in my new found faith. I don’t even remember what that crisis was, I just remember that I was devastated and I needed to know that God was real. I mean really real. I wanted proof! And so I asked for proof.

“If you’re real God, I need to know! I don’t want to keep walking down this path only to find myself five years from now learning that this was all a pipe dream. If you’re real, I want proof. You have to show me You’re real!”

I was driving in my car at the time this conversation was happening, on my way home from work and whatever had happened that triggered my trepidation. Suddenly, I heard a voice say to me, “Linda I love you so much!” I heard it…audibly! The voice was so loud and clear, I was startled. I remember actually looking in the backseat as I was driving, thinking someone was in the back seat and they’d heard everything I’d been pouring my guts out over, deciding to play a joke on me. That’s how clear I heard what I heard.

“WHAT? Was that you God? I don’t know what just happened, but if that was You, I need You to do it again!” And He said it again! Out loud. “Linda, I love you so much!” I burst into tears. And then into hysterical laughter. And then gratitude took over, me telling God how much that meant to me. Keep in mind I’m driving while this is happening. I lost all touch with reality at this moment, laughing, crying and talking to God as if He was sitting in the passenger seat. I guess He was in fact sitting in my passenger seat because we had the most glorious time.

I had absolutely no recollection of driving home. All I remember is this magnificent time spent with the God of the universe, in my car, and He, by His answer to my question, “are you real?” became very, very real to me! It was splendid!

My next memory is of lifting my head off of my hands, as they rested on the top of the steering wheel, and I was parked in my carport at home. To this day I still don’t know how He got me there, but He did. And this all important incident, this very specific asking of God to prove to me He was real, forever changed my life. God was real and my faith was activated, just as this author the other day stated it can happen.

Back to our scripture…”Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us…” Ephesians 3:20 (ESV). God is the God of the universe. He created this universe, so I believe He’s certainly able to do anything. And He can and will do far more than we ask…or imagine! Here’s another of those wonderful promises of God. He’ll do far more than we can ask or imagine. Wow. That’s a lot! 

God cared about me and my doubts. I asked…and He answered. And my faith was activated. It was the pinnacle of my experience with God at the time. And I’ve never forgotten His tender care and love to answer my cry. That was some 40+ years ago.

What is it you need from God right now? Have you asked Him for an answer? Have you dared? He wants to answer your question. You may need to ask Him again (see Matthew 7:7), but He promises to answer. What have you been desiring, more than anything, to know from God?

Go ahead. Ask. And as He answers you, watch your faith catapult!

Lord, I’m asking today, for you to answer the questions of my brothers and sisters reading today. Activate  our faith today because I know that I know you want to answer us in ways far more than we can ask for or imagine. Thank you Lord…