Image courtesy of Flickr user: Playing with brushes

Happy Friday! The encouraging Lisa-Jo of The Gypsy Mama has picked "Perspective" as the word for five-minutes of writing fun and/or discipline. This is a word that I could write more than five minutes on, but I will try to refrain. No promises.

Start.

Dear Friend,

Some of you are going through difficult trials. Loved ones with terminal illness. Painful marriages. Infertility. Strained relationships.

And it is easy to lose perspective. I know, because I have many times. Mores times than I care to admit.

May I encourage you with the wisdom of Corrie Ten Boom, who survived a Nazi concentration camp, but lost her family? She compared our lives to the back side of a tapestry and how ugly all the knots are but if one flips the tapestry over, there is a beautiful design.

Her story and her faith humble me. It is so hard to have the faith to believe in God's goodness and His plans for us are for love and good when we hurt terribly.

I pray today that God would give you and me the perspective that Corrie had (and she did not gain this perspective fully until later in her life after she left the camp) that You are making something beautiful out of the messes and knots of our lives.

Help us, dear God, to hold onto You and to your promises. Thank you that you Hold onto us!

Stop.

Sometimes gaining perspective takes time and it is a process. All true and good change requires time...do I hear a collective sigh, here? Mine included.

Praying that you may feel the Lord's compassion and grace towards you in the process, which can be hard sometimes.

You are where you are in the process. Having a hard time being thankful? It's okay.

Give thanks anyway, and know that God loves you even when you don't give thanks. Ann Voskamp's book, One Thousand Gifts gives beautifully true reasons for giving thanks, even the hard thanks.

But giving thanks will help change your perspective for the good. Really.

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. Psalm 103:8 NASB

The flip side is when things are going great, we can forget to seek God, or to be thankful. The key is to seek God's perspective and presence regardless of circumstances.

What helps you keep life in perspective when life is smooth and when life is hard?

Thanks for reading. As always, I am appreciative when you share your heart with me.

Please link up and join the fun at The Gypsy Mama, and/or read others' posts.. 

© Soul Stops/Dolly Lee 2012.   Limited License: Okay for noncommercial use if you attribute this post to me and link to my permalink and blog.

Image courtesy of Flickr user:vonderauvisuals

As they approached the left hand turn island, the light turned red. She looked for a snack bar to give to the tall man standing to their left.

She remembered that the Union Rescue Mission employee had told her to not give money. The man wore a baseball cap, seemingly clean clothes, and a big scowl. 

The last time she met him, she had given him a snack bar. He had been polite and thankful.

Today, as she scoured the car, she couldn't find a snack bar or any ready food. She felt awkward as he glared at them.

Then he got angry, approached them, and spit on their car. Her young daughter in the backseat got scared, and she instinctively picked up her Bible, and put it over her face.

She knew that he was not the problem (Eph. 6:12). It was a spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:10-18) so she needed to use a spiritual weapon: prayer.

"praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints," Eph. 6:18 ESV

She felt a little silly but she prayed aloud for the man to get help and to be changed by Jesus' love. Gratefully, the light changed and they drove away.

For the next several months, she prayed for the man whenever she saw him, and whenever God brought him to mind. He now stood on a different corner.

She wondered if praying made a difference, but she reminded herself of God's promises regarding prayer(I John 5:14-14). She knew she was praying according to God's will as God wanted this man to be restored.

But she also knew God gave each person a free will. Enough thinking. Do what you know: just pray, and leave the results up to God, she told herself.

Then several months later, she thought she saw him coming out of an R & R (recovery ministry) meeting at her church as she was driving into the parking lot.

And then last Friday, as I was serving food at our church's R & R meeting, I saw him and his baseball cap. My heart beat a little faster as I prayed. Would he recognize me?

It had been at least a year since I began praying for him. I still don't know his name. The line of people was moving past the table of food, and we were trying to quickly serve them.

I gave him a serving of beans, he stopped to ask me what another dish was, and then he walked away.

When I started praying for this man, I never imagined that I would be serving food to him at church one day. God has a sense of humor.

God encouraged me as I realized that He had been working in this man's life. There were probably other people also praying for this man.

I share this story to encourage you to pray for others, even strangers. I hope to write more about praying for strangers in another post.

God willl use a prayer, even one uttered with the tiniest bit of faith (like mine), because He is gracious and merciful.

Most of the time, we may not see how God uses our prayers, but it is a nice surprise when He gives us a peek.

So grateful that He gives us the gift of participating with Him in prayer. The mystery of it.

Would you please join me in praying for this man and for those struggling with addictions and deep soul wounds? Please pray for their healing and change.

How have you experienced God working through prayer in your life or someone else? Is there someone you can pray for today?

Need a gift?...To buy Emily Wierenga's lovely artwork on a journal, t-shirts and mugs, please visit http://www.cafepress.com/tspoetry

Linking up with God-graced sisters: wonderful Jennifer of Getting Down with Jesus,  encouraging Emily of Imperfect Prose and her wonder team, and marvelous Michelle of Graceful, and my newest linkup with Michelle of Thought Provoking Thursdays at htttp://intentional.me .

© Soul Stops/Dolly Lee 2012.   Creative Commons License: Okay for noncommercial use if you attribute this post to me and link to my permalink and

In their first-time baking together, my husband and our girl made a chocolate cake with green buttercream frosting for Mother's Day. Our girl decorated the two-layers.

May I say it was delicious? We won't mention who had the biggest slice.

It was a sweet ending to a Saturday that had unexpected conflict.

On Sunday, I awoke with the below menu waved in my face as our girl asked for breakfast orders. She created and typed the menu. I chuckled as I read it.

Dad was the chef.

(Psst...they are toaster waffles...we like the multigrain ones from Trader Joe's.)

Under "Sides," there was an offer for "twenty hugs and ten kisses on each cheek," which I requested with "I'll Have It All."

Hey, how many times does someone offer it all on a menu to you?

A first for me.

Giving Thanks with Ann:

• God answering "yes" and giving us a child
• My joy at our girl's delight as she baked the cake and decorated our kitchen table.
• For a husband who values me and my role as a mother.
• For God's ability to change a heart if one is willing to be changed.
  
• Resolving conflict with our girl as we each practiced owning our contribution and apologizing to each other.
• Being able to serve as a family with friends by cooking and serving food at our church's recovery ministry.
• Serving food to a man that I have been praying for on and off for over a year...So amazed at how God works even when I pray with little faith...hope to share more in a later post.
• Tickling our girl and snuggling together.
• Sitting with my husband on our more shabby than chic sofa as we talk.
• The gift of music and singing with others at church.
• A Sunday sermon that touched my heart as I felt God affirming His work in my life...Spirit-touched-tears.
• The repetitive strain injury in my forearms didn't flare up too badly this weekend.

What are you thankful for today?

Linking with sweet friend Laura for a play date

and giving thanks with wise Ann 

and talented L.L. Barkat

and the amazing Jen 

© Soul Stops/Dolly Lee 2012.   Limited License: Okay for noncommercial use if you attribute this post to me and link to my permalink and blog.