You OK?

You OK?  You good today?  How is your day going?  How are you? 

It seems that every day, whether on the phone talking to family/friends or walking the neighborhood and being greeted by neighbors, this is a standard greeting.  I have to say that I live within a caring world of family and friends and most often my response is: "Doing well!  Yup, good today.  Things are going great!  I am fine."  And, for the most part I mean it.

However, like the picture so clearly reveals, the answer to "You OK?" can sometimes take a bit of time to "untangle" and the reply may be be more than the asker is bargaining for!

Thank you, George Peters, for this great cartoon.  I have kept it tucked in my Bible and never tire of reflecting on it!  It makes me smile.  It makes me laugh!  It also makes me reflect on the tangles, knots and mess in my life that aren't so easily seen by the naked eye.

There are days in my life when I feel all snarled up.  When the tangles of questions, answers, decisions and responsibilities are all tightly held together with no clear beginning or end.  There seems to be nothing but a snarled up ball of life moments and I am stuck in the middle of the whole mess.

So, what can we do when this picture is an accurate picture of our current state of mind? What can be done when we feel like we are in the middle of snarled up tangles that are overwhelming and that leave us stuck?  

First, as the picture so clearly shows - share with a friend.  The value of a friend can never be  overstated.  A friend, of course, may not have any more answers than you do, but a friend can stand with you as you undo the tangles and straighten out the snarls.  A friend can encourage and support plus prove to be a great helper in times of trouble! 

Secondly, be a friend to yourself.  Allow yourself time to sift and sort, to undo tangles and restore your line to what it was meant to be.  Practice positive self talk:  "I can do this.  I am smart.  I can figure this out.  Rome wasn't built in a day - this may take some time, but that's OK.   I can ask for help.  I will ask for help!"  

Thirdly, celebrate each step going forward!  Cultivate thankfulness and gratefulness.  Find the blessing in each tangle, every knot, no matter the circumstance, 

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

and lastly, Pray.  You have a Friend who is close than a brother (yes, that is a name to a wonderful Gospel hymn!)  Jesus will always stand with you and be available to you.  His eye is upon you and He loves you.  He has promised to hear every prayer and He offers guidance and strength to persevere through the tangles and snarls of this life.

Verses from Psalm 119:
"My eyes fail, looking for Your promise;  I say, 'When will You comfort me?'....'How long must Your servant wait?'.......Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path....I have put my hope in Your Word...Sustain me according to Your promise, and I will live; do not let my hopes be dashed......Deal with Your servant according to Your love and teach me Your decrees....The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.....Direct my footsteps according to Your word;.....Make Your face shine upon Your servant and teach me...."

You OK? 

However you answer that question today, be assured the Lord Jesus is with you and He desires for you to be OK.  

In His Name and for His sake, I pray this day that you are and will be forever OK.  Amen.

Shining Faces

For my morning devotions I read a prayer written by Pastor Charles R. Flanders of London, Ontario, Canada from:

"God's Minute, A Book of 365 Daily Prayers Sixty Seconds Long for Home Worship"

Portions of the prayer include:

"Our Father, teach us how to speak to Thee.   May Thy Spirit lead us into the light, for we know so little about Thee and are so dull and slow to learn.....Bless our home today and all who are in it.  May we always be gentle and loving, and seek to make all about us happy.  

Help us to have a shining face

and especially when we meet Thy other children who are sad and in trouble.  ...."

A shining face.

Moses had a shining face when he came down from the mountain after having a face to face with God.  In Exodus 34, it tells us that the people were afraid of Moses and his shining face.  Moses then put a veil over his face so he could share with the people the Words of God.  And the people believed.  

Jesus came to this earth and walked as the presence of God.  He was light and He even stated in the Gospel of John "I am the LIght of the World."  The Gospel of John begins: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning....  In Him was life and that life was the Light of men.  The Light shines in the darkness....."

To me shining faces are faces that look to the Light of God, to those that hear His Word, to those who reflect His love.  When I first read the prayer and read the petition "help us to have a shining face," these two pictures came immediately to my mind:

My granddaughters, Lily and Betty certainly have shining faces!  They radiate love and joy, happiness and life itself!  I believe that these shining faces come about because Lily and Betty know that they are loved and cared for.  They have experienced delight and joy and are safe in that keeping therefore they reflect the light that results in all that love and care.

I, too, desire to reflect God's Light of love and care.  I, too, desire to show forth a shining face, a face that reflects the Light of God.  That is my prayer today.  

Thank You, O Heavenly Father, for Your unfailing love and care.  For Your many blessings, for Your watchful eye over me and my family.  Thank You.  Now, make me a reflection of Your Light, Lord.  Make my face shine forth of Your love and goodness, Your healing and hope, Your forgiveness and transforming power.  Grant me a shining face, all for Your glory,  Amen.

Precious and Priceless, Apple Picking in Vermont

This picture was taken at an apple orchard in Vermont.  I am holding our youngest granddaughter, Lily (age 2...or, "big," in her words) and she is picking apples.

Of all the pictures that were taken on our last visit, I keep going back to this one.  The two heads together - one head with short, woman-made curls and startling white hair; one head with long, natural wavy curls and soft auburn colored hair  

and the two arms - one bigger and stronger wrapped in bright plaid supporting the smaller body and providing a way to reach higher; the other arm smaller and wrapped in soft fabric with stripes that intimately holds close where it is safe so the other arm and can reach out and explore.  

Two bodies - one older; one younger- sharing a task, sharing moment  - a holy, sacred moment in time.  A moment that cannot be recaptured though there will always be apples to pick.  

Precious and priceless are these moments that are shared with loved ones.
Precious and priceless are these moments that make up our memories and make us smile.
Precious and priceless are these moments that create a foundation for love to grow.
Precious and priceless are these moments that sustain us when moments are not so precious.

Today I pray you will have opportunity to partake and make a few precious and priceless moments of your own.  Hands holding hands.  Hearts holding hearts.  

May the Lord bless you and keep you,
May the Lord make His Face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you,
And may the Lord look upon you with His favor and give you His peace,
In the Name of the Father, in the Name of the Jesus, His Son, and in the Name of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Bless the Lord, O my soul!

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name!"
Psalm 103:1 (NKJV)

(This picture was taken at the Concordia College Daycare years ago when friend, Cara Bjornlie was working in the 0-18 month room.  A sweet picture that says so much about friends looking out into the world together!  This picture has blessed my heart!)

Oh, how I love hearing a song sing Scripture.  Matt Redman wrote and sings the praise song, "10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)" and it mirrors the Scripture verses of Psalm 103. 
(If you go the Youtube website and type in "10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)"  it will take you to a music site to listen to the song.)

 The chorus is:

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul;

Worship His Holy Name.

Sing like never before, O my soul;

I'll worship Your Holy Name."

Verse 1:

"The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning,

It's time to sing Your song again

Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me,

Let me be singing when the evening comes..."

Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me....

I believe it takes courage to sing that, to proclaim that, to believe that.  The day holds the unknown.  Every morning as I listen to the news, people around the world have met all kinds of things that have come to pass and met them on their daily path - storms, accidents, tragedies, violence along with comfort, friendship, celebrations and accomplishments.  

What does your day hold?  What does my day hold?  Not sure.  But, I am convinced that it is very important and imperative that the day begin with a prayer acknowledging the Lord who has promised to go into the day with me.  

One of the prayers from last Sunday's bulletin ( I keep all the bulletins and continue to pray those prayers throughout the week) prepares one for the day:

"Just and Gracious God,

we come to You for healing and life.

Our sins hurt others and diminish us; we confess them to You.

Our lives bear the scars of sin; we bring these also to You.

Show us Your mercy, O God. 

Bind up our wounds, forgive us our sins, and free us to love,

for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Savior, Amen."

Yes, show us Your mercy, O God, that we may continue to sing the song into its second verse:

"You're rich in love and You're slow to anger.

Your name is great and Your heart is kind.

For all Your goodness, I will keep on singing;

Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find.."

May you find 10,000 reasons to sing, to care, to grow in faith, to love yourself and one another.  Whatever your day may hold, know that you are not alone.  

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name.
Amen.

Comfort the sorrowing

"The Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7

There is a portion of a prayer written by Pastor J. W. Conley of Fresno, California, that prays:

"Preserve us from selfishness.

Help us to learn patience and self-control.

Keep us from hasty, thoughtless and unkind words,

and from misunderstanding and misjudging others,

and deliver us from anxiety and complaining.

Fill Thy Church with missionary zeal and

with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

Strengthen the weak,

comfort the sorrowing, 

restore the wandering.."

This morning I am centered on "comfort the sorrowing."  

Our good friend, Jerry Doebbert, died this week and his funeral will be Saturday.  

Our good friend, Jean, will be burying her father on Friday.  

Our good friend, Tim, will be attending his brother's funeral on Saturday. 

All of Minnesota is mourning Jacob Wetterling who was tragically taken, abused and killed 27 years ago and now that his body has been found, he will be properly laid to rest.  

And then we have family and friends who are sorrowing over the loss of health and abilities, the loss of the familiar due to moving....loss comes to us in so many ways!  

Yet God knows the heart.  

He knows the burdens.  

He sees the breaks, the fissures, the gaping holes of the heart.  

Outwardly the smile can be put on the face and the expectations of life going on goes on. Inwardly, though, there is a cry for healing, for justice, for help.  

God knows. 

God sees. 

God hears.  and.....thankfully, God acts.  

God acts through every card sent, every call made, every hug given.  God acts through every prayer prayed and every tear shed.  God acts through His people and through His people there is the demonstration of love and care that brings comfort.

I applaud Patty Wetterling, Jacob's mom, for being concrete in her response to the question:  How can we help you?  What will bring you comfort?  She spoke from her heart:

"Say a prayer.

Light a candle.

Be with friends.

Play with your children.

Giggle.

Hold hands.

Eat ice cream.

Create joy.

Help your neighbor.

That is what will bring me comfort today."

So today I will pray for God to comfort my friends.  

I will send cards and share memories of joy shared.  

I will call and check in to let them know I care.  

I will be more aware of those in my life that I see and interact with every day.  

I will offer words of encouragement.  

I will smile and offer a friendly touch.  

I will enjoy eating ice cream and I will remember my neighbor.  

Today I ask God to help and guide me in providing comfort.

As He knows the many hearts in need, 

may there be healing and strength granted,

hope and faith renewed and 

grace and mercy imparted in generous portion,

now and forevermore.

Amen.

Thinking of and praying for Jerry Doebbert

"Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart." (Psalm 27:14)

"Fear not, for I am with you; 
be not dismayed, for I am your God.  
I will strengthen you, yes, 
I will help you, 
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." (Isaiah 25:4)

"..I have redeemed you.  I have called you by name and you are Mine." (Isaiah 43:1)

Darla Doebbert Weiss, Mark, Jerry Doebbert  (May 2016)

Today I am thinking about and praying for our long-time Lake-Avenue neighbor, Jerry Doebbert.  Jerry and Linda were our neighbors for over 38 years.  

And after 38 years of watching over each other, 

celebrating the milestones in life,

laughing, 

crying and 

just sitting and sharing a cold beer at 4 pm on a lovely summer afternoon, 

.....somewhere along the way the transformation happened and a neighbor who was a good friend morphed into family.  

Jerry and Linda will always be family to Mark and me.  

Jerry has always been well noted for his amazingly big, gruff commanding voice.  Man, that guy can bellow!  To many - especially his math students at the high school -- Mr. Doebbert was the guy to be feared!  Though he had long put away the baseball bat that would be quite useful in bringing any class to full attention when he brought it crashing down on his desk to make a point, his voice never diminished and served him well those teaching years. 

The Marthalers, however, never feared neighbor Jerry.  Jerry was kind hearted and generous.  He was quick to adapt to any situation.  Many a time our boys would be found running next door with a tie in hand to have Jerry quick whip it into a tidy slip knot so they could then slip the tie over their heads and look presentable.  

Jerry's garage was chuck full of tools and equipment -- all which were available to a neighbor with the only requirement that it be returned when mission accomplished.  There was one glitch, however, and that was the code for the garage.  Being a very capable and dedicated math teacher, Jerry picked the simplest and easiest code he could think of:  the square root of 2.  I'll let you figure that one out for yourself!  Mark and I were always asking our mathematically-minded son for the code because we never could remember it.

One of Jerry's favorite responses to any question or invitation to come help was:  "Your what hurts?"  We would be raking our lawns as the oak and maple leaves freely fell from our trees and when one would holler to Jerry "Hey, your tree is dropping leaves on my lawn!  Come and rake them up!"  We would hear the much anticipated "Your what hurts?"  Smiles all around.  All was well with the world.

Jerry made sure our boys had what they needed to be successful in high school.  Jerry designed aggressively challenging math courses for the students of Detroit Lakes High.  Students who took his classes were well prepared for anything college could throw at them. Tony took every course Mr. Doebbert offered and when he attended college, Tony was hired as a college math tutor and said he didn't learn anything new about math until he was a junior in college!  Andy, who had no desire to excel in mathematics, had Mr. Doebbert as an advisor.  Mr. Doebbert refused to let Andy slide through his senior year by taking mediocre classes.  Mr. Doebbert excelled in stretching students and propelling them into new and more challenging arenas.  

As gruff as Jerry could sound, he was really a gentle soul.  One summer Mark and I were painting our two-story house.  Mark usually was the one who would go up the ladder and onto the scaffolding to do the higher areas, but one day while he was at work, I decided I could do that, too.  The paint cans were already up on the scaffolding so I grabbed a paint brush and headed up the ladder.  The first steps were no problem, but as I got higher off the ground I began to experience a weird sensation.  By the time I forced myself to the scaffolding boards, I pretty much froze in place.  I was too scared to stand up on the scaffolding boards and yet too scared to backup and find the ladder rungs.  I stayed on my hands and knees gripping the scaffolding boards for dear life.  Mark wouldn't be home for hours and the boys were gone for the day.  I felt myself begin to panic.  It was then that Jerry sauntered out of his back door and took a look my way.  He hollered up at me and when I didn't respond, he wandered over and quickly assessed the situation.  Within a minute he was up the ladder and talking me down.  It took me forever to back onto the ladder, but Jerry kept his voice calm and his arms were strong as they guided my feet to the rungs.  We went down the ladder rung by rung with Jerry letting me set the pace while he literally covered me with his body giving me confidence that I would not fall.  

The summer of 2004 will always be a summer etched in my husband's memory.  It was the summer we steel sided our two-story home.  Mark had spent the summer of 2003 replacing all the windows in our 100 year old home and now it was the summer to remove the old shakes and put up steel siding.  It would be an immense job.  2004 was also the year that Jerry retired from his teaching career.  Thus, with time now available, Jerry and our other retired neighbor, Mel, became Mark's "crew."  And what a crew they were!    Mel measured and cut.  Jerry nailed and snapped steel into place.  And Mark tried to keep ahead of them preparing the way!  Mark, or course, was still working his day job, but as soon as he was spotted walking over the hill returning home, Mel and Jerry strapped on their construction belts and they were ready for orders.  What a gift our neighbors gave to us.  What a gift.

When Andy made the move to North Carolina, there was a problem.  His car - a Corvette - was undergoing some transmission work and unfortunately, the parts and the work that needed to be done did not coincide with the day Andy and Mark were leaving for North Carolina.  How was Andy going to get his car 1,400 miles to his new place of residence? Answer:  Jerry.  Yes, Linda called it a "Doebbert Idea" and said Jerry had them often.  When the car was road worthy, Jerry would drive it himself to North Carolina and take the Amtrak back since he had always wanted to go for an Amtrak trip.  Well, Jerry did drive that Corvette to North Carolina and he did take the Amtrak back to Minnesota.  It was a much longer trip via Amtrak and Jerry discovered that he couldn't sleep in a moving vehicle so he was very worn out by the time he came home!  

Oh there are so many more stories:  

Jerry calling Mark to come over and look at his car because of some noise or light or trouble; 

needing muscles to put in a hot tub in the new Doebbert porch and then having to take it out again to check for a leak; 

the Christmas fire in the Doebbert house that sent Linda and Jerry running for their very lives through the bushes to our place so we could call 911; 

the borrowing of our pop up for their trip to Boston and then on the trip home their car dying so they had to buy a new car to get home; 

Jerry's devotion to Linda; 

his annoying singing as he puttered about the yard;

 the classical music he played loudly at the end of a long day of yard work as he sipped on a refreshing drink... 

In July when Mark and I visited Jerry at Ecumen Emmanuel's Transitional Care Unit, Jerry was struggling with his health.  He had an open sore on his foot that was not healing.  His heart wasn't working at 100% and neither were his kidneys.  It was very serious.  Yet, he announced in his gravelly, authoritative voice that he has had a full life, a good life, and however this is going to end, he is OK with it.  

Yup, I'm thinking of and praying for Jerry today.  Today he is undergoing surgery that will amputate a leg above the knee.  Jerry's heart and kidneys are quite compromised.  His health is so poor.  The doctors are not very optimistic about the outcome, but they have to try.  So Doug and Darla wait at the hospital.  Other family and friends wait, too, with thoughts and prayers going forth. 

May the Lord and bless and keep Jerry.

May the Lord make His face to shine upon Jerry and be gracious unto him.

May the Lord look upon him with favor and 

Grant Jerry peace - deep and abiding peace,

Now and forevermore,

Amen.

Can you see it?

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

Hebrews 11:1

When our son, Tony, was three years old, he came to me and said,

"I have a headache, Mom.  See it?  It hurts!  Can you see it, Mom?"

Truth be told, I couldn't see the headache but I certainly believed it was there.

There are so many things I can't see.
I can't see electricity, but I believe that when I flip a switch, electricity goes to the light bulb and there is light!
I can't see gravity, but I believe that if I trip, I will fall d-o-w-n.  

There are many things I can't see, but that doesn't mean they aren't there.

Faith.

Hope.

Love.

Hard to see, but they do exist.

Let us s-t-r-e-t-c-h today and believe a little more in the God who created us, 
in the God who sustains us.  
Let us grow in faith and trust and walk in confident hope.

Heavenly Father, increase in me Your gifts of faith, hope and love.  Open my eyes to see Your goodness and may I be a visual witness of Your love.  In the Name of Christ, Amen.