Were You On a Roll?

As I reached into the deep recesses of my purse to find the office key a penny fell out. I bent to pick it up but it was rolling. So I followed it! It kept rolling until it hit a floor mat and then it fell over. I stooped to pick it up and God spoke to my heart.

Many times our lives are like that penny.  We roll along, doing our own thing, fully upright, having a great time. We may not even be reading the Bible or praying all that much, but hey life is good! We’re “on a roll”!

Then we hit a snag. Something looming in front of us stops us dead in our tracks. We can do nothing but fall over. The rolling merrily along comes to a grinding halt and we’re done. We find ourselves flat on our faces and not enjoying it at all!

There’s nothing left to do when we find ourselves flat except to cry out to the One who is higher than we are! Who can reach down to help us?  Other people who are having a hard time? Folks who are having their own great time? 

Unless we acknowledge Him as Lord over our “roll”, it’s hard to believe we can cry out to Him when we’re flattened by life’s circumstances. But we can!  When we realize that we aren’t the masters of our own fates, we aren’t the ones who punch out our own lives, we don’t keep ourselves going, keep ourselves up or keep ourselves “on a roll” we have no problem crying out to God to help us.

Maybe you were on a roll. Everything was as neat as an entire roll of pennies. You had things in order, you enjoyed your life and it was good. Suddenly you hit a snag. You came to the edge of yourself and fell over in pain, discomfort, sorrow, fear, disappointment, disillusionment, dismay, self-condemnation. You thought you’d be fine, but now you just aren’t fine! You feel like you’ve been stepped on, kicked over, thrown on the sidewalk or mashed through the vending machine.  You’re hurting and you don’t know if you can ever get up and walk again, much less get on a roll. Merrily has been replaced with barely and you’re hurting.

Oh beloved! Don’t despair! Cry out to Jesus, for He has been following you all along. He has been watching over you, hoping that you would stop the chaos and give Him some time. He may have let you fall on your face, but only to seek Him. He may have watched the events of your life unfold, but He was never disinterested.  He had wonderful plans for you before the foundation of the world. He still has wonderful plans for you. He will pick you up and set you on a fresh course of freedom and joy as you put your hope, your plans and your future in His hands.  It doesn’t matter how you got to this point. All that matters is that God sees your plight and hears your cries.

Go ahead, call out to Him no matter what your situation because He loves you and He’s for you and He will answer and restore you every time.

Psalm 119:93  I will never forget Your precepts, For by them You have revived me.

Psalm 119:67-68 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now Your word do I keep [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying it].  You are good and kind and do good; teach me Your statutes. (AMP)

Lamentations 3:55-56 But I called on your name, Lord, from deep within the pit.  You heard me when I cried, “Listen to my pleading! Hear my cry for help!

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (NAS)

Psalm 107:2 … Let the redeemed of the Lord say so! (entire chapter)

Isaiah 59:1 Listen! The LORD's arm is not too weak to save you, nor is His ear too deaf to hear you call.

Jeremiah 32:17 O Sovereign LORD! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!

Time to Forgive Everyone Everything

I bought a metal plaque this week-end at a little Christian bookstore inside Gospel Light Church where we held our CMA Seasons of Refreshing. It read simply, “Forgive Everyone Everything”. It caught my eye and it caught my heart.


I’ve heard it’s possible, but I’ve never met anyone personally who doesn’t love their own children. I admit we parents have no idea just how in love we are going to be while carrying the baby, but at the moment of birth we are forever undone over this bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh.



It’s not always a honeymoon. Kids are imperfect. Parents are imperfect. They step on our toes when they’re little and then they step on our hearts when they’re older. Many times we punish inconsequential things and overlook the big stuff. We try to let them know they’re loved no matter what, but we also try to get them to do things right.



Still and all, they are our heart walking around outside our bodies. No matter what age they are, they are our babies. Our son walked in this afternoon for a quick hello and my heart melted all over again, just like it did the first time I laid eyes on him. Our middle daughter texted an I love you tonight and my heart skipped a beat. I texted I love you to our oldest daughter and got the same in return. Gave me great peace.



Our family is like most families. We get bent out of shape, we don’t always see eye to eye, but in the end, when it’s all said and done, we love one another.



Last night I quoted the plaque. I just don’t have the words to express our complete and inescapable sorrow over such dear, dear friends losing their 35 year old daughter in a car accident. We hold our children’s hands so tightly, even the grown ones. We get accused of clinging and more, but it’s that fragility of life that keeps us parents catching our breath over and over again.



I know you will understand won’t you that today is a good day to forgive everyone everything. I know this because God forgave me and I am the most imperfect person ever known. I didn’t deserve grace, I didn’t merit it or pass any tests for it. But God in His infinite, perfect love, reached down and gave it to me. So I just pass it on to others, especially my children.



Oh beloved, let God love you! Let God forgive you! And then, let God lead you to forgive everyone everything. It really doesn’t matter does it in the long run what it was because God has buried all our sins in the deepest sea – as far as the east is from the west – never to be counted against us again. God knows the struggles you have, He knows the hurts you carry and He knows the burdens that seem oh so heavy. But He’s made a way to help you when you’re low, relieve you of your load and bless you with good days and opportunities to love and forgive. He is trustworthy even when all looks hopeless. He really does love you, He really does hear your prayers, He really does want to walk with you and guide you all the days of your life and that’s all that really matters.



I John 4:10 This is real love--not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.



Mark 11:25 But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.



Psalm 18:6 But in my distress I cried out to the LORD; yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from His sanctuary; my cry to Him reached His ears.