Humility

To listen to this one minute Best Life Thought, turn on your speakers and click on the play button below.

Hi, This is Kathy Weckwerth from Best Life Ministries. Here are some thoughts for living your best life…today.

A few months ago Best Life held a conference in a large city and felt excited for the day to meet God and encourage women.

At lunch time our friend, Margie pushed her way through leading a stranger to the table.  Who is he, I wondered.  She found him on the street with a sign that said “will work for food.”  She said “there’s always room at our table.”  As we ate, I greeted him and thanked me and said “I’m so grateful.”

Matthew 24:40 says, “If you do it unto the least of these, you do it unto Me.”

That day we learned about humility, about generosity.  But we were the ones blessed.  Grateful and thankful….it’s a part of Living your best life.

It’s never too late to make changes. Start today. Start living your best life.

God in the 11th Hour

To listen to this one minute Best Life Thought, turn on your speakers and click on the play button below.

Hi, This is Kathy Weckwerth from Best Life Ministries. Here are some thoughts for living your best life…today.

My daddy, a college professor had a lot of sayings.  He encouraged me to look at every lesson as a building tool for who to become.

One saying was, “Kathleen, look at this experience.  What do you know?”  My brother had been without a job for over 14 months.  The last of his unemployment arrived and still no job.  I could hear Daddy saying, “What do you know?”  I know that God tends to show up in the 11^th hour.  He comes to rescue us when we’re at our lowest.  We prayed and the next day a job offer came in and my brother headed back to work.

Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it’s impossible to please God.”

Sometimes faith gets stretched as far as you can think you can go, but what do I know?  Sometimes you’ve got a little bit more stretch to give.

It’s never too late to make changes. Start today. Start living your best life.

Depression

To listen to this one minute Best Life Thought, turn on your speakers and click on the play button below.

Hi, This is Kathy Weckwerth from Best Life Ministries. Here are some thoughts for living your best life…today.

A friend emailed me this week about depression.  He was upset because he couldn’t pull himself out of the sadness that engulfed him.  Sometimes life is filled with tough circumstances on our journey.  That’s when we need to push in close to God.  He is our strength in times when we don’t know what to do.

Maybe you’re experiencing circumstantial depression today.  Or maybe the sadness is lingering and you need to see your physician for medical help.

If you’re feeling down, I pray that Jesus will bring you comfort and strength, but if that sadness lingers, seek out medical help.

Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our strength and our help.  Always ready to help in times of trouble.”

It’s never too late to make changes. Start today. Start living your best life.

However, there are times when I think we’re rifling through the songs so fast, that nothing is sticking.

During my growing up years, we lived high on a hill and to the left were acres of corn.  To the right, you could see a lovely park, and in front of us, neighbors, while behind us there stood a large nursing home. 

My mother worked for many years at that nursing home as a baker.  Because of her love for the elderly, my mother would not only create fun recipes that would remind them of foods from their past, but she would also bring in music.  That music was me! 

I think I was 14 when I first went down to their lunch hall and sat at their old piano and played hymns.  But here’s what surprised me the most….no…..I mean shocked me.  It didn’t matter if people were sleeping, dazed and confused, victims of strokes or other illnesses, when I played hymns, they paid attention.  Up would go their heads, and they would begin to sing.  No glorious words on a screen…no hymnbooks….just a recall on a memory that was failing them at much, but not at worshiping a God that created them. 

As I would play hymns like “How Great Thou Art,” “A Mighty Fortress,” “Amazing Grace,” “Abide With Me,” and “Day By Day,” they would sing.  Some of them would recall several verses of the hymn.   And when I would stop, they would clamor for more.  As I would leave, the shouts from the back would ensue, and moaning or uncontrollable screaming would begin once again. 

This morning, as I awoke and looked out the window at the bright sunshine, my soul felt flooded with the goodness of God.  A God that loves us, beyond anything we could understand is more than we could ever hope for.  Paul tells us in Ephesians 3:17-19,  “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,  may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

We know that His love is so great for us, that we can’t really comprehend it.  And as I thought of this great love for us, I began to sing the worship chorus that was popular about 20 years ago:  “And I stand, I stand in awe of You.  I stand, I stand in awe of you.  Holy God, to whom all praise is due, I stand in awe of You.”

Today, I feel like I too, am one of the victims of time as it is taking over and beginning to change my body and mind.  I don’t always remember everything, and I certainly have moments of groaning and moaning outloud! 

But this one thing today is certain….I remember the words to the song that is imprinted in my head from many years ago.  It’s a song declaring truths about who God is and how my heart should always remain humble at His grace….His mercy…and His never-ending love.

They will do their best for the best deal.  They have no fear.  Nothing stops them. 

So, I wasn’t surprised when Jenessa came to me a couple of weeks ago and said, “Mom, there’s the set of towels I want, advertised in the “door buster” sale. (she’s getting married in 3 weeks).   Do you want to go with me?” 

Storming the doors of some store for the best deal is not my idea of fun.  Hear me heart… I want the deal, but I don’t feel like doing the work to storm the doors.  Getting up early, pushing and shoving past people with their hair messy and a crazed look in their eyes…not my idea of fun. 

But this morning I realized that God has been stirring in my mind, now, these past few months, to open up scripture to the “door busters.”  And so, I sipped my ice tea, patted my dogs head, and opened up the Word of God to the book of Esther.  Yesterday, God called me to the book of Daniel, to study being thrown in the lion’s den, and the day before to Genesis to study Noah and the flood. 

I felt His continual prodding, day and night, to stretch and look farther, deeper into His Word and my lifestory, and to step up to the doors He was opening. 

These stories are made up of our heritage.  These are the characters that are the “Door busters” of this life.  They are the people we look up to, and the stories that we read and re-read.  They are the message-bringers to our hearts and souls. 

There is Daniel, refusing to worship any god except the real God.

There is Noah, leading animals into an ark, two by two, when people think he’s crazy.

And today, there is Queen Esther, saying to Mordecai, in Esther 4:15b, “I will go to the king, even though it is against the law.  And if I perish, I perish.” 

Some would say they were crazy.  Some would even say they were plain stupid. 

But they are the first ones at the door of the unknown….of the impossible….of the unseen saying…. “I’m here…bright and early…ready to go for whatever God has.  My faith has moved me.  I’m walking through now…and with God’s help…busting down the impossible for the best deal….God’s deal…the real deal….the only deal.” 

I want to continue to listen to God’s voice, don’t you?  I want to look for Him in the stillness of the oriole sitting on the bird feeder, to the friend who phones words of encouragement, to the scriptures that tell us God blesses those who are faith-filled. 

Join me this week in busting down any of the doors that God says we need to go through.  His Word tells us in Rev. 3:7 (this is my life verse right now)

All praise, honor and glory, to the God of the open doors.

I stop reading, writing, singing, and working.

And I listen.

I listen for God.  What is He saying to me….I want to know.

And I find myself walking to the piano.  I push back the black shiny cover, and finger the ivory keys.  And I begin to breathe a prayer of thanks as my fingers breeze over the notes.

And I listen.

I play and show God the emotions of my heart….be it thankfulness, apprehension, desperation or reflection.  Whatever I’m feeling, I play it through.

And when I am done, I sit and I wait

And I listen.

Today, my heart is overwhelmed because a little girl named Kathy, had dreams.  Her dreams have gone on year after year.  And she has watched them evolve and even come to fruition.

But the thing that I know today, more than anything else, is that I can put God in a box.  And today I realized something…..with God, He doesn’t have to think out of the box.  With God….there is no box.  Boxes do not hold our God.

And my padidly little whispers of “could this dream possibly be coming true” seem so small and petty.  And so I sit, and I wait

And I listen.

And today

And in my quieted heart and spirit, in reflection mode, I begin to cry.

Mere mortal words cannot express the thanks I feel for where I’ve been, where God has brought me and where I’m going.

But one thing is for sure, I will continue…..to seek, pray, think, dream, sing, play…

And listen.

It seems like we are surrounded with a world that takes a negative stand on just about everything.

The word “never” seems to be listed in Webster’s dictionary….as the first word under the letter “N.”  It isn’t….but I’m beginning to believe it should be. 

How do we rise above a world filled with people who say….”that will never happen? “ “You’ll never get that job.”  “We’ll never move out of this neighborhood.”  “I’m never going to be different.”  “He’ll never love me.” 

If you’re anything like me, and you felt surrounded with the overwhelming power of the word “never” this week, or the week before…or perhaps this whole past year…..it’s time to take a stand. 

I heard those words “It’ll never happen”  so many times this week, that I wanted to fall to the floor and cry.  Instead I said out loud to God, “Unless you provide some small stones and a slingshot to face the Giants….I’m going down for the count.”  

And then I went to God’s Word and read what He says to me….to you….to all of us who struggle with believing when the word “never” has taken precedence over everything else.  

Here’s God’s truth to us in Hebrews 11….the whole chapter is focused on faith.  Replacing the word “never”….we continue to read over and over…”By faith.”

4By faith Abel was commended as a righteous man,

5By faith Enoch was taken from this life…

7By faith Noah, built an ark to save his family.

8By faith Abraham, obeyed and went…

11By faith Abraham, was enabled to become a father…

20By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future…

21By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons…

22By faith Joseph, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt…

23By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child…

29By faith the people passed through the Red Sea…

30By faith the walls of Jericho fell…

31By faith the prostitute Rahab, was not killed….

 40God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. 

Walking by faith is not easy.  Listening to the people who say “never” seems a lot easier.  But something very strong inside the very being of who I am says “No!  I’m never going to say never.” 

My sweet husband looks at me now, not sure what to say or do and I look back at him.  The winds outside are blowing wildly and the rain is pouring down outside our farm windows, and I say to him this simple thought:  if Noah bought into the old “never gonna happen” we wouldn’t be sitting here right now.  He would have never built the ark and mankind would have ended at that place in time. 

By faith….I’m getting up and trying a little harder.

By faith…..I’m facing the Giants and being a little stronger.

After all…who AM I trying to please?

It was a short distance from the edge of town, where we lived, and because it was a treat that didn’t happen often, we would do a lot of asking! 

Mom would look at us and say, “Well, we’ll wait and see what your dad says.” 

That was it.  Nothing more…. nothing less.  Just a time to wait and see what Daddy would say. 

Now, just to give you an idea of what our Daddy was like, when I asked him three years ago at his hospital bed, just before he died, “Daddy, do you feel like you got to do everything you wanted to do in your lifetime?”  He answered so proudly, so plainly, “Oh, yes, honey.  My greatest desire in this life was to be a dad.  I lived for it.  I loved it.  If that’s all I ever accomplished, I’m a happy man to be going home to meet Jesus.” 

So, you can imagine, when Mom would ask him after dinner, “The kids would like to go to the A& W for some root beer,” he frequently smiled and said “Let’s go.” 

At times, my father would have a reason why we couldn’t go.  Sometimes it didn’t work out with other plans, or he just had his reasons.  We just accepted them, at times, feeling disappointed, but we went on with our days and nights. 

Last night, my husband and I faced a big decision….a fork in the road for the ministry.  We had been in waiting mode for quite some time, and I could hear my mother’s words, “Well, wait and see what your Dad says.” 

Dean and I waited on God.  He had brought us to this door, and so we must trust what was on the other side.  

And yet, as we opened the door, it wasn’t right.  I felt like we were watching “Let’s Make a Deal” and the door that we opened had the goat behind it.  Of course Farmer Dean would have loved it.  

We walked home, hand in hand, questioning God and each other.  What did I miss?  We began to pray and discuss things.  And I looked at Deano and I said, “Well, Dean, we’ll just have to wait to see what Dad says.”  

Sometimes situations and circumstances are what my friend, Lynn, calls “Placeholders.”  They’re the things in life, the people in life, the plans in life, that help hold that place in time, until we get to the right thing, the right job, the right person, the right place, the right building. 

And so, today, I hold out hope for a gracious “Dad”, a Heavenly Father, that He will continue to provide direction on this journey that we travel.  And I look for His counsel, His thoughts, His guidance…

Sometimes what we would never want for our lives…comes to fruition. 

How do we respond when things don’t go our way?

Yesterday I sat down in front of my huge and growing “to do” list.  I was in one of those moods that everyone loves….the “get ‘er done” mood.  And I poured a big glass of ice tea, sliced a lemon, logged onto Pandora Radio for some Frank Sinatra music, and got situated in my chair.  “Here we go!” I said. 

And then it happened……internet down.  Ugh. 

I prayed.  I unplugged.  I whined.  I fretted.  To no avail, as nothing changed. 

The next thing I knew……it was silent in my home.  My best made plans for the day were off track and now what?

The previous three days had been preparing for our conference in Des Moines, Ia.  I was tired.  I had traveled, taught, prayed, and traveled some more.  But, I had work to do, didn’t I? 

And then it happened.  After an hour of trying to force my computer to respond, I gave up and gave in. 

I tuned an old Doris Day movie, put my feet up and rested my mind.  I pulled on an old soft black sweater and took a walk around the farm with my dog, Benny.  I whipped up a batch of ginger snaps and spent some time in prayer with God.  And then…I took a nap.

 When all was said and done, I felt refreshed and restored.  I felt that God had unplugged my computer from Planet Earth, to get my attention, and some good soul care took place. 

Feed the Soul…….it’s filling up on the good things in life on days when the best laid plans aren’t met. 

And I remembered God’s Words to me early on in the morning:

Proverbs 19:21

 This week brought several things my way that just created frustration….and at times….some anger.

 Whenever I get angry, I think back to the days when my oldest daughter, Alexis, was about 4, and we  watched Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood every afternoon at 3:30.  We loved the puppets, but I loved the music, as it was  simple, to the point, and at times, offered crazy melodies.  The one that stuck in my head was the song that begged the question “what do you do with the mad you feel?”

 This past week, I read about a boy who had suffered at the hands of his own father.  The father told the newspaper reporters that everything he did was because he was “provoked.”  I cringed as I thought that we try to justify our behavior after anger, but excuse it because of the actual anger.

Today I received an email that was from someone in attack mode.  It was harsh and unkind, and I felt mad.  I took a deep breath and heard the song…..what do you do with the mad you feel, and I thought….what do I do?  

I learned over the years that anger tends to motivate me to change.  I usually sit down at the piano and play a song, I pray, I go for a walk, I wash dishes, I call a friend, but I learned what to do.  And so this time, I went online to see what hear that old Mister Rogers song, and found this link:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_JPEWhV9N8 

The year is 1969, and the US Senate held hearings for funding  the Public Broadcasting Service, as a 20 million dollar grant from President Lyndon Johnson, was now in jeopardy, with President Nixon wanting to cut the budget in half.  Rogers had been working on his show for the previous 15 years (since 1954). 

Fred Rogers’ gentle, but firm words, were expressed before the Senate, and he reported  how his show ends, stating,  “At the end of my show I say….You’ve made this day a special day, by just your being you.  There’s no person in the whole world like you….and I like you just the way you are.” 

Mister Rogers talks about living his life with children in mind and shares the lyrics to his “mad” song:  “What do you do with the mad that you feel?  When the whole wide world seems oh so wrong and nothing you do seems very right….I can stop when I want to and what a good feeling to feel like this and know the feeling is really mine.” 

Rogers talks about helping children feel confident in who they are, and how they deal with anger.  He teaches that the answer is not in violence, but in managing the emotions.

After he shares this, the Senate leader affirms Mister Rogers, saying that Rogers words/dedication have given him goosebumps and says, “looks like you’ve got your 20 million.” 

I’ve found something to be a great truth in my life:  the things and people who make us mad, are often  the premise of what motivates us to do good work.  If we control our “mad” and continue to focus on truth and utilize the energy of the “mad” for good, we can move so many, many miles down the highway of this life, and do great things for ourselves, our lives, others, and for God! 

I watched Mister Rogers with a calm, clear, concise mind and voice, doing something that would terrify most normal individuals….he spoke in front of the President of our country, and the heads of government for something he believed in. 

Let your anger provoke you to do good things….not sin.  Let your anger be the motivation that allows you to know that “tears and sweat often bring out THE BEST in us.”

Ephesians 4:26  “In your anger, do not sin.”