Jesus Calling - Day 51 - February 20, 2015

What has made the difference in the last 8 years is that I truly have learned to live from the true Center in Him.  I love how Sarah Young put it, “There is a gold mine of Peace deep within you, waiting to be tapped.  It was a hard road getting there.  I thought that my peace came from “the world around me, in circumstances, or in human relationships.”  I didn’t realize how much I was depending on my job and the work I was doing to define who I was.  No wonder I was living in such a state of stress!  

Going to Uganda in 2006/2007 was the start of my “treasure hunt” for this gold mine of Peace.  God used that journey there to help me realize that I was making my “center” religion rather than relationship.   It is so deep within that He sent me half way around the world to quiet me to hear.  If you find yourself in the same place of being too busy, you don’t have to go all the way to Africa to figure it out!  Just find a quiet place and spend time with Him.  He will help you to tap into this treasure of wealth!!   Believe me, it is a treasure worth uncovering! 

Still seeking His treasures, 

mama eydie! 

Jesus Calling - Day 50 - February 19, 2015

How often have I felt the weight of my problems all piling on top of me?  I can envision a movie scene where people are all arguing and someone climbs out from under the group to escape all of the fighting.  Can’t we all picture ourselves in that kind of situation? How many times are we looking for that escape route?   Sometimes it is not problems but our schedules that are much too busy.  I have lived a good portion of my life allowing the demands of my life to control my emotions.  When I am in the midst of the busyness is when I normally forget to do what this devotion suggests...”When the difficulties in your life feel as if they’re closing in on you, break free by spending quality time with Me.”  So many times I get caught in the busy cycle that it doesn’t make sense to stop.  I keep pushing through thinking that I don’t have enough time in day to get everything done.  Yet, I am learning that when I do stop and breathe a prayer or spend time in worship, He bends that time and I miraculously do get everything done!  The more I do it, then it will become my go to reaction rather than react to the busyness. 

I love the verse in Habakkuk 3:19 “The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to go on the heights.”  I am reading “Hinds Feet on High Places,” by Hannah Hurnard.  The description of the book is this, “In a world characterized by noise and busyness, this beautifully written allegory invites you to lift up your eyes and fix your gaze upon the Beautiful One who dwells in the high places - above everything else in this life that competes for your attention.”  I highly recommend it as we continue to journey together in this busy American lifestyle.   

Let’s embrace the journey!  

Experiencing His Peace,

mama eydie! 

Jesus Calling - Day 49 - February 18, 2015

“Sometimes you may feel you are in a free fall, when people or things you had counted on let you down.”  The past couple of posts all seem to be linked together.  I can’t adequately describe what I went through when I had to step away from my job at the church. This picture of feeling like I am in a free fall when people I had counted on  & claim to be like family abandoned me, gave me only a glimpse into the hurt I truly felt. 

One of the reasons why bungee jumping or skydiving is not on my bucket list, is because it terrifies me to think about the danger of free falling like that.  Yet, as scary as those two sports can be, I wonder if the free fall I experienced from being let down and abandoned was worse.  It feels like it was. 

The Lord rescued me with His safety net of His Presence, His Love, & His Hope.  But He also surrounded me with godly friends who gently cared for me.  Being so hurt by people, God used faithful, loving friends to heal that broken part of my life & soul.   

I AM WITH YOU.   Four words to carry with you always.  He will never let you fall. His net is full of hope and love.  I Corinthians 13:13

Amen! 

mama eydie 

Jesus Calling - Day 48 - February 17, 2015

“It is easy to make an idol of routine, finding security within the boundaries you build around your life.”  I had done this with my job at the church.  Yet, now I see the breaking loose of my “idol of routine” was God’s preparation to free me like a butterfly from a cocoon ( 2 Corinthians 5:17).   When God calls us to a task, He gives us all that we need to accomplish it well.  The time I spent at that job was a precious time in my life.  But now eight years later, I am beginning to understand that I was making an idol of the daily routine.  I became chained to the boundaries that I built.  If it were not for the difficulties that arose the day I quit, I would still be living in the safety of what I was building around my life.  God was gently pushing me out of a situation that I was too afraid to step out on my own strength.  

So many times we fear change.  “When you cling to old ways and sameness, you resist My work within you.”  I didn’t realize that is what I was doing.  Someone once spoke truth over me and said, “Eydie, God has big plans for your life that none of us can even begin to imagine.  But in order for God to work, you will have to step out of your job at the church.”  At the time this person said this to me, he was not even aware of any of the issues that caused me to finally quit.  I have since seen the truth in this word spoken over me.  Since leaving the security of everything that I knew to be my life at the time, I now am living in a world of amazing joy and extreme peace. 

I love at California Adventure the “World of Color” show.  It is an outdoor, 28-minute nighttime spectacular show.  It features projected film clips on an immense water screen.  It is accompanied by momentous music, fantastic fire, water fountains, fog and laser effects.  I once sat in the area where you do get wet as the water just rains over you!  I was taken aback at how spectacular the show really is.  It truly is a world of color!  This is how I see my life now.  It is a spectacular world that the Lord just wants to lavish all over us.  Yet, His show is more than 28 minutes...it is a lifetime!  

Open your eyes and experience all that  “He has prepared for you in their precious day of Life!” 

mama eydie! 

Jesus Calling - Day 47 - February 16, 2015

Those that have been a part of my life, especially in the past 20+ years, have seen me pour many hours into my job at the church.  Particularly at the end of 1996, I had so much going on that my dear friend, Carol prayed for patience for me.  Innocent enough prayer we thought of at the time.  But then in January of 1997, I got the chicken pox!  As an adult, it landed me straight in bed!  Then I passed the chicken pox onto my 3 year old daughter, Kiana!  Being contagious and ill kept us home for about 6 weeks.  Most of the time I was so weak that being still was all I could muster!  Kiana seems to be pretty normal, just covered in spots!  

Being home for that long was difficult for me.  I initially spent more of the first part of my illness worried about the work that was not getting done.  I did end up “spoiling the quiet hours by wishing them away, waiting impatiently to be active again.”   But as time marched on, I eventually realized that God was trying to teach me some sort of lesson. My first thought was we should never pray for patience!  But, the chicken pox episode did help me to wake up to the fact that I was too busy.  It wasn’t hard to forget that message as it took me over a year to fully recover.  I had no choice but to slow down. But within the 10 years that followed I found myself back in the midst of a busy life.  It wasn’t until October of 2007 that the truth of the devotion today made sense.  Not only are we to be still before Him...we are to be still and know He is God.  How do we do that?  By LISTENING.  The day I quit my job on October 16, 2007,  I had no option but to be still.  I felt cut off from the world and totally alone.  But in this quietness and stillness, it did “enhance my awareness of His Presence within me.”  I felt weaker in that moment than I did with the chicken pox.  Yet from that I have learned how much I value the quiet and the peace that He gives me when I am still before Him. 

I did not plan the stillness I experienced in the physical illness of chicken pox.  Neither did I plan the stillness of the devastation that followed my leaving my job.  Yet because of lessons learned during those times of weakness, I find myself craving that stillness each day as it is the only thing that gave me true strength.  My life is different now because I PLAN out stillness with Him instead of being forced into it through difficulties.  

In looking up a photo to add to the blog, I found this quote from John Piper about GOD hits home in the stillness.
Posted: February 24, 2011 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries,

"Psalm 46 tells us that we all have a need to slow down and just “be still.”  We need time for quiet reflection, but oh how little we actually do just that.  John Piper, in a 1991 sermon, “God: Refuge for His People, Exalted Among the Nations” explains:
One of the reasons we invest our lives in some insignificant ways is that we never become still enough to let the great realities hit us. We are always on the move. Always in a hurry. Or when we do stop, we flip on the radio or the TV and let somebody else’s hurry fill our minds.  Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still [or cease striving, cease hurrying, be still, be quiet] and know that I am God. I am [or: will be, it’s probably a promise] exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

Let's be still before Him today and watch what only He can do! 

mama eydie! 

Jesus Calling - Day 46 - February 15, 2015

I love that the Lord has called me to work in Africa.  The last 8 years have brought joys indescribable because of the gift of being a part of lives of people in Uganda.  With anything we do, there are struggles.  We have had our share of difficulties in the midst of the joy.  Yet one of the most heartbreaking things that has happened to me in my journey to Uganda is not what you would think.  It was not because of struggles with finances.  It was not because of some of the tough decisions we had to make based on uncovering things that were endangering the integrity of Christ in our ministry.

No.  One of the hardest things that I have had to deal with was being told that what I am doing in Africa is impossible.   In explaining the challenges that we are faced with, I was told basically that what I am doing in Uganda is an impossible task.  The blow to my heart was crushing.  Can you imagine?  The very thing that God has called me to and what I have given my life over to...is an impossible task?   Added to that, last year was one of the most difficult because I felt extremely alone.  It seemed like no one really cared.  We were faced with so many issues, yet people seemed too busy to care or to give.

But something happened in my heart that day I was told it was impossible.  GOD ministered directly to my heart.  God doesn’t give us more than we can bear.  Right away, it was as if God Himself began to counteract the words that could have caused me to give up.  If we believe the lie that what we are doing is impossible, then why even try.

“For nothing is impossible with God.”  Luke 1:37 (NIV)

Last year, when I felt alone, I cried out to God.  I LET GO & told Him I didn’t know what to do anymore.  I LET GO & LET GOD take over.  Miracles began to happen.

“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the Lord; trust also in Him, and He will do it.”
Psalm 37:4-5 (NASB)


“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.”   Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV)

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:9 (NIV)

His Word...not man’s Word is what gave me strength and truth.  Instead of giving up hope, I gave up dependence on man.


“Fearing people is a dangerous trap.  But to trust in the Lord means safety.”  Proverbs 29:25 (NLT)

I thought of the Christmas cartoon, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”  Remember when the Grinch is at the top of the mountain with the stolen toys and food?  He thinks he has “stolen” Christmas.  But then when he hears the town singing and realizes that Christmas may be more than “things,” something happens to his heart. “ What happened then, well in Whoville they say, that the Grinches’ small heart grew three sizes that day.  And the minute his heart didn’t feel quite so tight, he wiggled down with his load through the bright morning light.  And he brought back toys and food for the feast.  And he, he himself the Grinch carved the roast beef.”  The picture I have is when the sleigh is almost ready to go over the edge.  His heart having grown three sizes that day, gives him the strength to just lift the full sleigh right over his head!”

My heart grew three sizes the day I was told that my task to Africa is impossible.

“Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.”  Corrie ten Boom

“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible” - Walt Disney
mama eydie

Jesus Calling - Day 45 - February 14, 2015

As I read today’s devotion, my mind went to any one of my ISP journeys.  Close your eyes and imagine stepping foot onto Ugandan or London soil.  “Give yourself fully to this ISP adventure.  Trust me.  I am here to lead you through this process.  For those A type personalities, let go of the control.  For those who are nervous, trust me.  For those that are scared, don’t give into fear or worry. Trust Me enough to face problems as they come, rather than trying to anticipate them.  Trust me which ultimately means trust Him.” 

I am sure for those who traveled with me on an ISP or RH trip know these words all too well. For two to three weeks on the field, I asked you all to trust me on our adventures.  At times I know this was difficult.  But so many of you have beautiful testimonies of what God did in your lives through this process.  For ISP we spend 6 months preparing for our adventure to go overseas for 3 weeks.  Much of that is to help prepare you so you “Fix your eyes on Him, the Author & Perfecter of your faith, and many difficulties on the road ahead will vanish before you reach them.”   Think about how many of the problems or fears you had overseas would not have happened if only you would have fixed your eyes on Him.  

I am beginning to look upon life as one big ISP journey!  My teams are the strongest when we are living together for the 3 weeks overseas.  We are not distracted by everything that bombards our daily lives in America.  We focus on our relationship with God daily.  Even after returning home we try to be intentional in the discipleship process.   The good news is our ISP journey doesn’t end when we return home.  We are on this journey for life!  You have an even better Companion & Guide who you can never be separated from!  Let Him lead you today on the greatest adventure of your life!  

Keeping My Eyes Fixed on Him! 

mama eydie!