Ice Cream

Felicity and Phoebe rushed back to us, princess crowns bobbing on top of braids and ponytails. They waved silver plastic wands with a star at the end and asked what we wished for.

‘Ice cream.’

A variety of flavours were chosen and, in this fun game, duly provided. (I wish it were a little more tangible than it was…)

We were on repeat with this and eventually I thought I’d shake up the wish list a bit.

‘I wish I could sing really well. And I wish I could play the piano really well, too,’ I said.

Our fairy princesses looked stunned. Lost for words (unusual for Flick!) until Phoebe piped up, ‘We don’t have those wishes.’

We went back to ice cream.

Our heavenly Father is no fairy princess. He who created the Milky Way is well able to answer any of our prayerful wishes. Sometimes he gives us just what we ask for. Other times, though, it feels like an emptiness rather than a YES. It feels like there’s a divine deafness to our persistent request. Maybe even a powerlessness to provide. Or, even worse, an unwillingness on God’s part to step in and say YES.

Not true. Our God is a good, good God. Jesus suffered unspeakably because he thought you were worth it. He thought I was worth it. He can give us ice cream; he can give me the voice of a nightingale and the skills of a concert pianist. He gives me what is best for me, even when I don’t see it, when I don’t recognise it. Even when it seems the ice cream is melting and I’m singing like a frog and playing chopsticks on the piano. And when the silence is prolonged and the pain is profound, he is wrapping his arms around me, his tears mingling with mine.

Never does God say to us, ‘I don’t have those wishes.’

Hang on. Keep praying.

Weary or Soaring?

Weary is such a sad word. It is so much heavier than, say, tired. There is a sense of discouragement about weariness which, to me, doesn’t pertain to tiredness.

A new year. 2016. It is a year of hope, of promise. I am making Isaiah 40 my text for the year and my aim is to read it frequently and glean as much as I can from its encouraging words. 

This morning I read it. It opens on a gentle note. Comfort my people. It ends on an encouraging note. Those who hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, rising up like eagles, running without growing weary. 

That led me to Matthew 11:19. Jesus invites us to come to him, all who are weary and burdened. 

Do you fit that category? I have had a very busy, sometimes stressful, always demanding 6 weeks. They followed on from a year punctuated by a couple of trips to help my mother, both of which were demanding and often stressful. I am tired for sure, but I am not weary because I have seen the truth of that verse from Isaiah. I have put my hope in the Lord, especially during these last six weeks, and I have known his strength flowing through me. I have seen his blessings open up before my eyes. He has been doing more than I could have asked or imagined.

He enabled us to sort and clear my mother’s home of 63 years, in two weeks. He enabled us to repaint most of the interior of the house – three bedrooms, a long hallway, bathroom, living/dining area. He helped us get the carpets lifted to reveal the beautiful hardwood floors. He gave us strength to hold a garage sale. He brought the right buyer for Mom’s piano. We managed to dispose of the rest through a charity pick-up.

Through my cousin, he provided a realtor we liked, and who has found a potential buyer. Mom and I were able to pray through the house, the home we loved for 63 years, in which I grew up, played, where our wedding reception took place and where my father died. We asked God that another family would come in and sense his peace and be enabled to live and love and laugh in that home as we did. We asked that the home would bless the next family.

The potential buyer is buying it for his newly married daughter and husband. I am sure there will be a family in there, enjoying that home as we did.

I am tired. But I am not weary, as long as I keep coming to Jesus, putting my hope in him and receiving from him strength for each new moment, for each new day. 

This year, 2016, is the year of the eagle. A year of reaching new heights, carried up by the thermals provided by the Lord, in whom is all my hope and trust. 

Happy new year. And a heartfelt thank you to those whose prayers have fuelled those thermals these last weeks. God bless you.