Rock Creek with My Man by Paula Friedrichsen

Yesterday my husband Jeff and I took a long hike up at Mosquito Flats (above Rock Creek Lake). This is one of our favorite hikes, and took us about 3 hours round trip. The fall colors were spectacular; the meandering streams we passed crystal clear; and the temperature a balmy 80 degrees. The cloudless blue sky was a gorgeous backdrop to the jagged mountain peaks, which were reflected in each perfectly still lake we hiked by. At each lake Jeff would throw in a line, hoping to score Old Moe. And while he did have a few nibbles, the fish did a great job of eluding his lure. We encountered happy hikers every 15 or 20 minutes on the trail, and each person we passed had a huge smile on their face. We ended our adventure at a shady picnic table tucked into a group of flaming orange aspen trees by Rock Creek Lake. Peppered turkey, swiss cheese, and homegrown tomato sandwiches, fresh picked apples from my friend Janet’s apple tree, potato chips, and ice cold bottles of water… Is there anything better than a delicious lunch after a long hike? We both agreed that it was the most pleasant day we’ve spent together in months.

What joy I experience in the daily companionship of my husband! I’ve discovered through the years that my marriage is one of God’s greatest blessings to me. But twenty-five years of marriage have also taught me how easy it is to take my husband for granted. To get annoyed with his quirks, blasé about his great qualities, and blind to his many efforts to please me. And it’s not just my marriage I can take for granted… it’s everything.

It’s crazy how easy it is to pass through each day oblivious to God’s many blessings. To become blind to the dazzling sights, sounds, smells, and textures of our everyday lives. Whether it’s a companionable hike with my man on a warm September morning; or a luscious organic tomato slice in my sandwich; the feeling of a weathered picnic bench under my bum; the sound of the breeze through the brilliantly colored aspens; or the jutted mountain peaks I get to look at every day—it’s easy for me to become indifferent to the grand realities of my life.

What are the “grand realities” of your life that you may be overlooking? They may not be as showy as the brilliant autumn colors around Rock Creek Lake—yet they are just as praiseworthy. Are you a stay-at-home mom to a houseful of little ones? Maybe you recently retired and you’re wondering what the future holds for you? Do you work full time at a challenging job? Are you on the verge of a huge life change or move? In each one of those circumstances there are grand realities in your life just waiting to be uncovered and realized. There are things to see, hear, touch, and smell in your present circumstances that are magnificent and beautiful and heaven-sent from God.

Sometimes it’s the simplest things in our everyday lives that are the most surprisingly precious. For instance, our son has been living at home for the last year to save up money so he could continue his education. He’ll be moving away next month to begin his next grand adventure. Last weekend, the four of us (son, daughter, husband, and me) sat on our little patio, under a tree, eating barbequed burgers for dinner. The sun had set, Sweet Pea our chubby mutt lay under the table, and we all sat lingering over our empty plates talking and enjoying each other. The funny thing was…we hadn’t planned a “special” dinner. It’s just turned out to be special. Life is like that; full of special blessings just waiting to be noticed.

I don’t want to go through each day dull to the many gifts I’ve been showered with. To always be looking for things to be bigger, better, shinier… a nicer home…. a thinner body…. better hair… and on and on it goes. No. I want to determinedly enjoy each day God has given me. To stop complaining about what isn’t—and to enjoy and embrace all that is. So whether it’s a perfect day like yesterday, or a day like today (sitting in front of my computer for 8 hours at work), I want to be thrilled with my present circumstances, because I have my eyes opened to the beauty and blessings that surround me every day!

Paula Friedrichsen is a member of Church on the Mountain, a vibrant community of believers in Crowley Lake. We meet at 9:30 Sunday mornings. Call for more information: 935-4272 or www.ChurchOnTheMountain.org

Baking Soda for the Spirit by Leyla Williams

I have been sick this week and in a panic to get better, so I looked up remedies that could aid a speedy recovery. One remedy was to gargle with baking soda and warm water to heal a sore throat. Apparently baking soda helps get your body back in balance. It actually did work, and it made me think of how the Bible is the balancing agent for our Spirit. Each hour I would stand by the kitchen sink with this simple concoction and gargle, letting the baking soda and water rest in the area of injury. Our practice of reading the Word needs to have that same element of suspension. I’ll let you in on something personal to illustrate what I mean.

This year has been wonder-filled. We have a new baby girl, we bought a house, and we purchased the Looney Bean in Mammoth. There have been so many encouraging words and provisions during this past year from Jesus, which surpassed anything I could have asked for. However, this last month has been extremely difficult and I am not surprised my body finally protested and I am now sick. Our children’s lives were threatened and we still have an open police case; a key member of our staff had emergency surgery and is still not fully recovered; another staff member got kidney stones leading to an infection; another staff member who is pregnant had to go on bed rest because of complications. I was thrust into working 20 hour days for almost two weeks until new staff could be hired and trained. These details are just the tip of the iceberg. So many serious things occurred in unrelenting succession that it caused me to question how it all could be happening…. Feeling like I was tumbling in whitewash, I had to take in the Word over and over again until finally I caught a thread which could then become my anchor.

In Isaiah 50:7-8 I found words that brought me back into balance; I had to gargle, or suspend, these words over and over again to let faith emerge and occupy all the places where I had felt bewildered and off balance. Using the verses as my prayer, I began to state, “For the Lord God will help, this is why no insult can wound. This is why I have set my face like flint, knowing I will not be put to shame. My vindicator is close by.”

I realized as I prayed that the series of bad incidents felt like an insult in the wake of such a wondrous year. These troubling events were harassing us, and threatened to diminish my resolve to trust God.

The best of the “anchor words” from Isaiah came a bit further down in verse 10: “Even when he walks in the dark, without any light, he will trust in the Lord’s reputation and rely on his God.” That Scripture described exactly how I felt… No light, yet walking. I had to keep going, but I couldn’t see. As I prayed these Scriptures in Isaiah faith flooded in! A fresh understanding came that even though I am walking in the dark and it might not be over yet, I trust in the Lord’s reputation and I rely on Jesus. I know it sounds like, “duh!”, but I needed to see my strategy in the context of being in the dark. I needed the Lord to remind me that His reputation was trustworthy, even when I couldn’t perceive how He was helping.

When things get out of whack, a word from the Lord rebalances our spiritual chemistry, and well-being returns even if our circumstances don’t change immediately. Suspend God’s Word over the imbalances in your life and you will see the steadfast effect of His word bringing order and healing to you again and again.

Leyla Williams is a member of Church on the Mountain, a vibrant community of believers in Crowley Lake. We meet at 9:30 Sunday mornings. Call for more information: 935-4272 or www.ChurchOnTheMountain.org

The Future Looks Bright! by Paula Friedrichsen

God has a bright future for you—one that is full of promise, full of hope, and full of healing! He has plans to restore your broken relationships, fulfill your desires, and open doors for ministry. He wants to free you from addictions; to heal your heart from the hurts you’ve endured; and to liberate you from any bondage you may find yourself in. God understands you and loves you. He forgives you of your failures and has great compassion for you. He has plans to help you every step of the way. God is not mad at you, so don’t give up. Don’t let discouragement divert you on to the wrong path. Simply continue in the way that He has been leading you (even when it gets dark along the trail) and trust that His way is the right way. The Lord has never forsaken you in the past, right? Well He won’t forsake you now. Trust Him with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.

The challenges of this world make it easy to veer off the path that God has for us. It’s easy to allow one little act of disobedience to lead us to another and another, and pretty soon we feel like we’ve derailed our future. Each time we do things our own way and depart from the Lord’s specific directions for our life, we stray a little farther from the wonderful things He has planned for us. We certainly don’t need to walk a tightrope of perfection to please God (and we couldn’t if we tried), but we do need to walk according to the revealed will of God for our lives.

And so my word of encouragement to you today is: Stay the course! There is a daily battle for our obedience, affection, and attention. Nothing and nobody has the power to remove us from the path that God has marked out for us—except for us. We can choose daily to stay the course, obey even when it hurts, and refuse to be dominated by fear and temptation. And thankfully, we don’t have to “stay the course” alone. We can lean on the Lord, calling on His name to empower us, to help us fight temptation, to resist the pull of the world, and to fight the good fight of faith.

Paula Friedrichsen is a member of Church on the Mountain, and will be speaking at the September 12th Sunday morning service. We meet at 9:30 Sunday mornings. Call for more information: 935-4272 or www.ChurchOnTheMountain.org

Parking Lot Panic by Paula Friedrichsen

This summer my daughter and I decided to take a girl’s trip and one of our stops was Sea World in San Diego. It’s unusual for me to take a vacation without my husband—and after you read about my ridiculous parking adventure, you’ll realize how much I rely on him. Here’s how the day went:

After a quick breakfast at our hotel Lovely Daughter and I jumped in the car and drove over to Sea World. We were herded into an immense parking lot where we quickly parked and joined the throng of people slowly entering through the turnstiles into the park. Grabbing a map we made our way from one exhibit to another, enjoying our day together.

By late afternoon our desire to not have to purchase another mediocre and expensive meal at Sea World (our lunch was $30.00 and we split a sandwich!) meant it was time to call it a day. So with the sounds of barking sea lions still ringing in our ears we began our trek back out to the car. By this time of day the entire parking lot (acre after acre after acre) was full of cars. And it was at the exact moment that I froze dead in my tracks and remembered I had forgotten to make a mental note of where we had parked the car (something my dear husband is usually in charge of). Dread hit me and I could feel the blood draining from my face. Neither of us had a clue as to what section we parked in. So there we stood right outside of Sea World with blank looks on our faces…. The only thing I could think of to do was to call my husband. But what was he going to do from 350 miles away, other than feel helpless to help me? So I nixed that idea.

Finally, I decided that we should just begin to walk in the general direction we felt we might have parked and ask God to lead us as we went. Honestly, we had no other choice. There was no way we could search a parking lot of that size. It was either depend on God to show us—or wait until midnight when the parking lot emptied out (which seemed like a fate worse than death at that exact moment in my life). So we tentatively headed toward the south part of the parking lot, and prayed quietly, “Lord, please show us where our car is. We are completely dependant on you right now.” We just kept walking, trying not to think too much about where we were going. After only 10 minutes Lovely Daughter stopped in the middle of the parking lot, swiveled a quarter turn, pointed to her left and said calmly, “Could that be our car over there?”

I was so hot, tired, hungry, and irritated, that I wanted to shout to Lovely Daughter, “No, no, no! You have no idea where the car is! Nobody does! We’ll be out here all night!!!” But instead I looked where she pointed and said something like, “Well I don’t think so honey, there are lots of white Hondas out here.”

But then she said, “Look, that’s our triple A sticker on the window! And there’s the little dent on the trunk!”

That did it—I finally realized that the Lord had literally led us right to our car in 10 minutes! And He used Lovely Daughter to notice it. We were both SO thankful.

In retrospect, I realize that losing our car in the Sea World parking lot was not a crisis of enormous proportions. But honestly, God’s faithfulness in that situation was a hallmark experience for me. The fact that the Lord worked in my life in such a tangible way was not a surprise to me—He’s been faithful more times and in more ways than I could count. And yet, every time He shows His kindness in the small things in life I am bowled over by His love!

Paula Friedrichsen is a member of Church on the Mountain, a vibrant community of believers in Crowley Lake. We meet at 9:30 Sunday mornings. Call for more information: 935-4272 or www.ChurchOnTheMountain.org