Author Archives: Suzanne Montgomery

Sabbath Rest

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imageWednesday-day of rest, day of peace. Wednesday I’m out of the office. I have so much to do to get ready for Christmas but my soul needs rest.  The Lord knew we needed Sabbath.  A day of rest is not a mandate, it is a gift.  How often I do not accept this gift.  My Sabbath is caught in little bits of time set aside for contemplation, writing and prayer.  Often Wednesday mornings, even though I could sleep in, I don’t.  I get up for my breakfast and coffee.  I read a chapter of scripture and write.  If I truly want rest for my soul, I don’t check emails or Facebook.  That’s difficult sometimes.

We live in a culture that’s on the go constantly.  Our schedules are packed to the brim and overflowing.  I’m used to a schedule of 15 minute increments moving from room to room seeing patients.  This puts me in a constant state of anticipating what’s next.  I’m sure I’m not the only one on this treadmill.  I envy my friends who have retired and now set their own schedules.  I wonder sometimes if I will be bored with retirement since I am used to so much activity.  Somehow I think my retirement time will be full as well.

So how do we step out of this craziness?  I believe we do it one choice at a time.  We choose to make our schedules overly busy.  Granted some things are out of our control, but if we really look closely, many choices are ours.  I remember a particularly hectic early morning when my kids were still little.  Their dad was off to the airport to travel out of the country for his job and I had just had a call from labor and delivery that my patient was ready to start pushing.  We had to call Dan’s mom to come over to watch the kids since we both had to leave the same time.  It was 4 am!  I looked at Dan and said, “Something has to change!  Either you quit your job or I quit mine.  We can’t make a habit of doing this.”  This was an epiphany of sorts.  It wasn’t long after this that things began to change.  Dan quit his job to start his own business and I gave up OB.  Both of these choices kept us home much more.  Our lives were still super busy but not crazy busy.  There is a difference.

When my patients tell me that they can’t slow down, I give them this personal example.  Yes, everyone can slow down and set aside some Sabbath time if they choose.  Everyone has areas in their life in which they just need to say “NO”.  If we say “yes” to every request and activity, we are no good in any of them.  My first step in this direction was when I came to the realization that I don’t need to do it all.  I thought as a physician that I needed to see patients in the office, in the hospital, in the nursing home, deliver babies and try to be Super Mom.  I tried this for a while.  Believe me, it doesn’t work.  I loved my OB patients and I delivered babies for the first 10 years of practice.  But cutting this out made a huge difference.  Now if I said I was going to be somewhere, I didn’t have to worry that I would be called out.  I rarely had to go to the hospital in the middle of the night anymore.

So why did I keep doing this for 10 years?  Was it pride or was it guilt that if I didn’t do it all, I wasn’t good enough?  Maybe it was a bit of both.  But either way, thinking we must “do it all”, whatever that means to each of us, is a falsehood.  We need to just get rid of that thought right now.  Take an inventory of all your activities.  Do this with your kids activities too.  Which ones need to stay and which ones need to go?  Usually those activities that enhance relationships are keepers.  Simplify Christmas too.  Everything does not have to be perfect to be wonderful.  I need to keep telling myself this over and over.  It’s Jesus birthday.  I bet it wasn’t Mary’s idea to deliver him in a stable.  Do I need to say more?

Sabbath rest does not have to be on a Sunday but it does have to be a choice.  Soul rest is just as important as a good night’s sleep.  Now take a deep breath and find your Sabbath.

Gifted Hands

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imageWednesday evening I had the privilege of accompanying my dad to hear Dr. Ben Carson speak at an event in downtown Indianapolis supporting Man in the Mirror ministries.  If you haven’t heard of Dr. Ben, you might remember the movie produced several years ago entitled “Gifted Hands.”  It detailed his life from poverty to becoming a world-famous pediatric neurosurgeon. He was the first to successfully perform the separation of Siamese twins conjoined at their heads. Before his speech, I actually had the chance to speak briefly with him and shake his hand. What an honor.

Dr. Ben Carson is a soft-spoken man with a powerful message. If I were to put his message into one word or phrase, it would be “self-responsibility.”  Really I should re-word this “personal responsibility” because the kind of responsible caring he proposes is not just for yourself but also for others. He encourages individuals to take ownership of their actions, focus on opportunities not roadblocks and not accept the role of a victim. He suggests that we all must take the responsibility to offer ladders to those who are downtrodden, helping them step out of poverty-not just physical poverty, but poverty of the mind and the spirit also.  He started out very poor himself but didn’t accept that he was going to stay there.  Education was his way out of the projects in Detroit.  But he had to choose to take that path.  If he had followed his peers, by his own admission, he would not have made it out.

Dr. Ben credits his mother for much of his success. She was always his encourager.  As a single mom, she worked 3 jobs to support he and his brother and did not accept being a victim herself. She wanted her boys to have the opportunity for a better life. She observed that those who accepted welfare never got off of it so she chose another way so they would not become dependant on hand outs.  She found creative ways to stretch her dollars as far as she could.  Reading was of utmost importance in their household. The boys had to read 2 books a week from the library and give her book reports in writing. Little did the boys know then but she didn’t even know how to read herself. Nevertheless, she instilled a love of books and learning in them that made all the difference.

As a boy of 8 years old, Ben decided he wanted to become a doctor but the road was not easy.  He was nearly derailed several times. His biggest hurdle was himself. As a teenager, he was plagued with an uncontrollable anger. It wasn’t until he nearly stabbed another person that he came to his senses.  He discovered the Proverbs in the Bible and started reading and absorbing their lessons. With prayer and the wisdom gained from this study, he was able to overcome his anger and avoid following the same destructive path as many other young black men that were his peers. His life is a testament to God’s power to change a life in a willing person. He has become a gifted neurosurgeon who has helped thousands of children in his career. He is a man after God’s own heart-a modern day David.

In his final words to the audience, Dr. Ben asked that the next time we sing the Star Spangled Banner, we ponder the last stanza.  We live in “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”  Many in past generations gave their lives to give us our freedom.  He challenged us all by asking, “What will WE do for future generations to ensure their freedom?”  To be free and to remain free, we must be brave as our forefathers were brave, willing to give our very lives to maintain this precious privilege called freedom.

A Thanksgiving Reflection on Freedom

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imageThe meal is over. The washing of the “good” dishes is complete. And the post-turkey somnolence has hit. Various family members have found couches on which to recline. I love the tradition of Thanksgiving.  What a blessing to pause for one day to be thankful, to be grateful not just for the “things” of life but the people, past and present, who have made a positive impact on me.  It’s an excuse to slow down enough to sit with each other awhile and enjoy our favorite Thanksgiving comfort foods together.  At our house this means mashed potatoes, candied yams, cornmeal dressing, green bean casserole, corn pudding, apple salad with marshmallows and rhubarb/strawberry pie.  Pumpkin pie was substituted this year by Spiced Pumpkin Latte Cheesecake. Decadent indeed!   And of course, one must not forget turkey. 

But I have to say that I’m not much of a fan of the turkey. Don’t get me wrong. I love to eat turkey but there’s something about the process of cooking the turkey that is tedious.  The instructions on the turkey always say to thaw it in the refrigerator several days before cooking. Even if I diligently follow these directions, it seems that the center of the turkey is always still frozen.  I want to know why the neck and other sundry parts are put into the center cavity.  No one I know ever uses these parts but they are a devil to get out.  Next year maybe I’ll buy a fresh turkey. I wouldn’t have an issue with thawing it and what to do with the  “extra parts”.

We have a turkey farm just down the road from our house but they don’t sell directly to the consumer.  I often walk by the facility and see all the turkeys looking out at me.  Poor things!  At least they’re not in cages.  They can mill around among hundreds of their friends. This is all they have ever known. I don’t believe they are treated cruelly but they have never really tasted freedom. Most of us, if asked, would probably agree that it would be better for the birds to be “free range” rather than confined.

The question of whether it is better for animals to be confined or free was surprisingly discussed at length in the book, “The Life of Pi.”  The movie never really attended to this but in a chapter of the book, the main character, Pi, recalled his experience of being part of a family who owned a zoo.  He recognized that most people thought it was cruel to confine an animal.  But he had a different view.  The “cage” provided the animals with safety. As long as they had room to roam in their enclosure, they would make this area their “territory.”  The cage provided protection from predators.  Animals in the wild live with constant threats from predators but those in zoos live comfortably without this fear.

When I first read this, I saw it as a thought provoking view on the topic. The animals in the zoo are essentially given “caged comfort.”  They have no need to worry about their next meal or whether they will be the next meal for a predator.  Freedom is traded for comfort.  The animals have no choice in the matter but as a society, are we not guilty of giving up our own freedoms for comfort?  I see us relinquishing more and more of our individual freedoms to be taken care of by our government. Instead of taking personal responsibility for our problems, we seek government solutions.  I would be the first to agree that government has a purpose.  Rules must be set up to maintain a civil society.  However, we now expect much more than this.  Freedom is risky.  We must depend on individuals to step up to help the poor, feed the hungry and care for the orphans. Unfortunately many individuals have stepped back and expect that our taxes will take care of these people.  By doing this we distance ourselves from the needy and only widen the gap between rich and poor.  There are still groups within my own community that reach out to the needy taking personal responsibility for their well being.  We have Lunch Club at my church that serves meals to the children of Sheridan five days a week all during the summer and on holiday breaks from school.  We know that government food stamps and welfare can’t provide what is really needed.  The love and understanding shared when one person reaches out to help another person is lost when we depend on government to take care of our poor. 

My prayer on this Thanksgiving is that we as Americans truly recognize and cherish the freedoms we have been given.  Many individuals over the decades have died to preserve this freedom for us.  We must not take it for granted or give it away easily.  We must freely take a stand to care for each other, not depend on our government to do it for us. 

 

 

Am I My Brother’s Keeper?

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imageI recently read a great blog post by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of “Eat, Pray, Love”. It was entitled, “Know where you have power, and where you do not have power…”  I truly enjoy Liz’s honest, transparent discussions.  To make her point, she used the illustration of Glenda the good witch in the Wizard of Oz, telling the Wicked Witch of the West, “You have no power here.”  In essence, we have no power over anyone else but ourselves and even that is often difficult.  “We must love each other. We must be kind to each other. We must be generous in act and spirit with each other. But for the sake of grace and sanity. WE MUST LET EACH OTHER BE.”

Liz is absolutely right. We cannot change people or “fix” them. But in response to her post, I ask the question, “What about our personal responsibility to each other?”  Cain asked God this same question when he said, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”  The answer to this question is not as easy as it may seem. If we see our brother running toward a cliff, do we just wave a greeting to them as they go by, without even voicing a warning? Where does responsibility end and meddling begin?

As my children were growing up, I admonished them to always watch out for their friends and each other. I have witnessed them doing this over and over.  By caring in this way, they may very well have saved their friends’ lives.  During one summer, when Garrett was a teen, I came home from work and noticed that he seemed very upset. I asked him several times what was wrong but he kept saying that he couldn’t tell me.  Finally he admitted that a friend had asked him not to say anything about an incident that happened that afternoon. Obviously, he was distraught and eventually told me that he and a young man from our neighborhood had been skate boarding that day. His friend fell backwards, hitting his head on concrete. The blow knocked him out and while he was briefly unconscious, he had a seizure.  When he awoke, he swore Garrett to secrecy since he knew his parents would not let him go on a planned water skiing trip the next day.  Needless to say, alarms went off in my head when I heard this.  I called the friend’s parents to tell them what happened and recommended that he go to the ER to be checked.  Luckily, he had no serious complications but did have a concussion. However, another blow to his head could have been fatal.

I use this real story as an example to say that we must have some personal responsibility for the people around us. No, we can’t change them but we can suggest a different direction when they are involved in risky behavior.  In Garrett’s friend’s situation, his parents took him to the ER. However, if he had been an adult he could have decided to do nothing. That would have been his choice and none of us could have changed that even if, in our opinion, it was a poor choice. Our loved ones can and will make choices that will hurt them. Sometimes that’s the only way a person learns is to experience negative consequences. However, I don’t believe that looking the other way in a situation like this with the excuse that it’s none of my business, is the right thing to do.  I bet the parents of Lauren Spierer, the IU undergrad who has been missing now for over 3 years, wished one of her friends had stopped her when she walked home alone intoxicated. A little interference might have saved her life. We may never know.

I do realize however that there are times that interference is just meddling.  There also are ways to speak the truth to someone who is moving toward the proverbial “cliff” that are productive and there are ways that are simply harmful.  Often, instead of gently trying to move my loved one away from the “cliff”, I find myself tackling them in the process.  I care for them and don’t want to see them hurt. But this approach never works. It only hurts my relationship with that person and generally moves them closer to the “cliff”, not away from it. Kind, loving, grace-filled conversations are much more likely to succeed. The difficult part is letting the person go when they choose to continue toward their “cliff” even after my warning. Maybe true love is helping them pick up the broken pieces after they fall.

I believe God calls us into community to lift each other up but also to hold each other accountable.  I may grumble when I am held accountable but I also am grateful to my friends and family when they have done this difficult task. No, they don’t have the power to change me or fix me but words of wisdom to redirect me have saved me a lot of pain and grief over the years.  Have I always listened?  Certainly not and I have lived with the consequences.

Am I my brother’s keeper?  No.  We are each endowed by God with the free will to choose our thoughts and our actions.  I cannot control these choices in anyone but myself.  However, offering words of wisdom is my responsibility. To do otherwise would be indifferent and uncaring. That’s not the kind of world in which I would choose to live.

Flight into Glory

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imageLast week was my Uncle Chuck’s birthday and my cousin, Mona posted an old photo of her dad on Facebook. He’s been gone now for several years and is greatly missed.  Chuck Scales was a man of strong character with a powerful presence.  He and my dad were classmates at Purdue University in Air Transportation Engineering.  I believe that it was my dad who introduced him to his younger sister, Gaynelle who was also attending Purdue.  They were married shortly after graduation, moved down to his hometown of Huntingburg Indiana and started their family. My 3 cousins, Brad, Mona and Sheryl, are the same age as my sister and I . Tragedy struck for our families when my Aunt Gaynelle died at the age of 32.  Chuck suddenly became a single father with 3 small children.  Fortunately, a wonderful, caring women came into his life to love him and his children.  Chuck and Diane were married and she helped him raise them as her own.

Chuck’s passion was flying. Both he and my dad became accomplished pilots and both of them managed airports as their careers.  I remember many flights down to the Huntingburg airport for their annual airshow every summer.  We had great times with our cousins during our visits exploring the woods behind their house, creating plays from books we had read and playing marathon Monopoly games for days. During one such visit,  Aunt Diane and Uncle Chuck were brave enough to take all five of us kids for a drive-in movie.  We all loaded into their station wagon with pillows and blankets piled in the back. Upon arriving the girls immediately needed to go to the restroom.  Uncle Chuck used to tell us that we were members of the TWBC: the Teeny Weeny Bladder Club.  I’m still a member of that organization to this day. At the time, however, I think we just wanted an excuse to go to the concession stand to view all the candy and snacks offered there. When we were back to the car and settled in for the movie to start, it didn’t take long for us to fall asleep cuddled up in the back together.  I imagine this was the whole point of going to the movie so we would wear ourselves out.  The adults had some quiet time to enjoy the movie in peace. These are good memories indeed!

The last time I saw my Uncle Chuck, he was at Indiana University Hospital in Indianapolis.  He had been diagnosed previously with prostate cancer and it had unfortunately spread to many sites. His doctor’s were suggesting another surgery to remove some of the cancer from his abdomen.  He knew that the surgery was not going to cure him and the doctors couldn’t guarantee that it would even prolong his life.  I remember sitting by his side on a foot stool and discussing the decision he had to make.  Many family members were in the room supporting him as much as they were able.  It was Independence Day and they all watched the fireworks together that night over the city.   He eventually made the decision not to have the surgery and went home to Huntingburg with my aunt Diane to care for him. It wasn’t long until he passed away. I was glad to have the opportunity to sit quietly with him that day by his bedside. It was a special moment that I will never forget.

Later my nephew, Nick gave my Aunt Diane a painting in honor of my uncle. It depicted an airplane, like the one he often flew, climbing up through the clouds.  The color of the sky was that of a sunrise with beautiful shades of oranges and purples.  It’s was an image of Chuck’s flight into glory. I’m sure my uncle would have seen this as a fitting tribute to a life well lived. <3

 

Life’s Little Joys

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I’m so tired this morning.  It’s difficult to wake up to write in my journal. Glad it’s Friday!  The little joys in life are what make me smile, like a cup of warm coffee, freshly ground, with pumpkin pie spice creamer.  Yum!  Maybe this will wake me up.

 

Other little joys are:

– a soft warm cat to cuddle

– playing footsy in bed

– the glow of a harvest moon

– a song that’s been in my head, playing on the radio

– the taste of a juicy, sweet watermelon

– grass beneath my toes

– a good, clean joke that makes me laugh every time I think of it.

– a crackling fire on a cold night

– the smell of fallen leaves and pine as I walk through the woods

– catching sight of a zooming hummingbird

– a fuzzy bathrobe

These are just a few of the little things that make me feel alive. None of them cost a lot of money or are difficult to come by.  I just need to stop a moment in my busy day to notice them.  The little joys are all around me.  They change depending on where I am or who I’m with but they are there just the same. Gifts from God.

Happiness can be elusive but joy is a choice. It’s the choice to look at life through a different lens.  A photographer knows what I mean.  A scene that to most is just ordinary comes to life for them.  They see the color, the form, the way the shadows fall that come together to make a beautiful photograph. Their eyes are trained to see the world in a unique way.

How we look at the world will determine what we see and what we experience.  No matter what our circumstance, there will be little joys if we open our senses to them.  Even if we are in a dark place, with no sounds or smells, our mind can take us to a place of joy.  It can recall a memory with all the colors, smells and sounds, as if it is real.

Louie Zamperini in his story “Unbroken” as told by Laura Hillenbrand, tells of when he was adrift on a raft in the Pacific ocean with 2 other men after their plane crashed.during WWII.  They had no food but the few fish and birds they could catch and had no water except when it rained.  They played a game of recalling memories.  Louie would recount in detail an Italian meal served by his mother back in California.  Dish by dish, they would relish this imaginary meal.  One would think that this would be counterproductive to dream of a meal they might never eat again but it wasn’t. It was these memories that kept them alive and gave them hope. Two of the 3 airmen, Louie and Phil,  survived 46 days at sea unfortunately to be then captured by the Japanese. They both survived another 2 years in a brutal POW camp.  Louie just passed away this last summer. He was in his 90’s.

The mind is a powerful thing.  Our mind is a gift but we can use it against ourselves if we choose.  Paul said to the church of Philippi in Greece, “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praise worthy-think upon such things.”  In other words, keep your mind on the positive, not the negative parts of life.  What we allow our minds to dwell on, will rule our day.  So I choose today to let my thoughts dwell on the little joys of life.  No one can take these away from me but myself.

 

 

 

 

 

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A Reflection of Glory

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imageSo today I start a new journal. It may seem odd but I’m using a notebook given to me some time ago by a pharmaceutical rep. It’s a nice notebook but it has stamped on the front of it the words, “Lunesta.”  Someday no one will even remember that Lunesta was a sleeping pill. The latin word “Luna” means moon so in time people will simply think the name has something to do with the moon or the night sky.

This seems appropriate for my journal.  I’ve heard it said that we Christians should be like the moon in that It doesn’t emit light of its own but reflects the light of the sun.  What light we carry in us is from God: the divine spark.  When we think we are enlightened by our own knowledge, we deceive ourselves. Who created our mind to think but God?  Some would argue this with me but it takes more faith to believe that we come from nothing, just a random occurrence, than to believe in a creator. I choose to believe we were created in the image of God. An image is a reflection-it’s not God.  But the image can become more and more like the human manifestation of God, Jesus.  It doesn’t happen in a moment but is a slow process that doesn’t end until we are given our resurrection bodies that are perfect.

Yes, perfection is a process, not a single event.  It is often painful as we are changed little by little in God’s skillful hands.  We are molded and shaped by the Master Potter.  It’s easy for me in this perfecting process to either think too much of myself or too little. I go back and forth.  God sees me as his daughter, an heir of his kingdom.  Not that I earned this title but it was gifted to me.  So I can’t boast in this accomplishment but reflect the glory of it to others around me.

I am so far from perfect.  It often seems an unobtainable dream to me.  I feel like I take one step forward and then two back. When I’m trying to change myself, it’s often fraught with discouragement. Only God can do it. He is able to transform me through the fire of his love into something beautiful.  He can do this with each one of us if we will only hand  our mess over to him.  He will then change us from one glory to the next so that in the end, we will glow as we reflect the brilliance of his Son.

Lord, make me into the person of beauty you envisioned from the beginning of time so I may reflect your glory.  I give you everything I own and everything I am.  I am yours and you are mine. Do with me as you will.

Going Through the Motions

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imageYesterday was a very good day at the Women of Faith Conference in Indianapolis:  good speakers and good music. Since I left there, I have Matthew West stuck in my head singing…”I don’t want to go through the motions, I don’t want to go one more day, without your all consuming passion inside of me. I don’t want to go through my life, asking what if  I had given everything, instead of going through the motions…” 

We often do go through the motions on a day to day basis: going to church on Sundays, Bible Study on Wednesdays, pot luck dinners, and committee meetings. None of these activities are bad in themselves but where is our passion for Jesus?  I was conversing with a friend of mine about this very topic this last week. My comment to him was “if only people would truly read the gospels, it would make such a difference.  If only they just read the gospel of Luke, they couldn’t help but fall in love with Jesus!”

This is passion:  when there is a fire burning within that cannot be put out.  It’s like our first love; we can’t help but talk about it with everyone.  They can see it on our face.  It overflows into everything we do.  And then our love becomes like Jesus’ love.  As the apostle Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 13, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”  This is not romantic love. It is sacrificial love lived out because of our deep passion for Jesus.  Paul didn’t write this in the middle of his letter to the early church in Corinth, Greece as an exhortation on love.  He wrote in response to those Christians “going through the motions” without love. They had numerous spiritual gifts and talents but Paul wanted to show them “a more excellent way” to live.  He basically was saying that we can speak, we can serve and we can move mountains for God but if we don’t do it with the intention of love, it is all worthless.  Going through religious motions without a passionate love for Jesus and each other is all for naught. And it gives us no joy.  This leads to burnt out Christians.  Service is done out of duty or to look good to the rest of the world.  We don’t fool anyone. The world knows authenticity when it sees it. 

Passion is contagious. It attracts others to it like insects are attracted to light.  When a person is passionate about their love of Jesus and lives this out by loving everyone around them, this gets people’s attention.  If this passion doesn’t burn out in a moment but lasts throughout a lifetime, they want to know this person’s secret. 

So what is the secret to sustained passion?  Matthew West tells us in his song.  It’s giving everything we are and everything we have to God.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. Everything. If Jesus is our first love then our passion for him will persist and everything else of importance in life will fall into place. I don’t want to go through the motions and wish at the end of my life that I had not held back but had given my everything to Jesus.

Lord, today revive my heart with a deep, fiery passion for you. Let me speak and write out of an overflow of love for you.  Otherwise I am like the resounding gong or clanging cymbal Paul wrote of in his letter to the Corinthians. Without your love burning in me, I am nothing at all.

Praying for Deliverance

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imageRecently Tim and I traveled to the Lamb Farm in Lebanon Indiana to join with a number of others for a time of praise and prayer for the country of Liberia in West Africa.  Hoosiers have many connections to this part of the world through United Methodist missions such as Operation Classroom which has educated hundreds of children even in the midst of the recent civil war.  Hope in the Harvest International is carrying on this tradition of care for the Liberian people by training them to farm.  Gina and Travis Sheets are the founders of this mission and have been living in Ganta, Liberia for the past year.  They flew home to Indiana early in August with plans to return in September with tickets they had purchased nearly a year ago.  But soon after they arrived in the US, the borders of Liberia were closed to anyone wanting to get in or out of the country in an effort to contain the Ebola outbreak there. At our gathering, they tearfully spoke of their concern and grief over the Ebola crisis.  They have lost people who they have grown to love like family on the farm in Ganta. A young man named Gabrielle, particularly affected many of those from Indiana who had gone there on a mission trip this July.  It was difficult for them to accept that someone so vibrant and full of life could be taken so quickly by this deadly virus.  His grandmother also has died as well as the son of one of the farm staff.  The crisis hits home when those Gina and Travis worked with on a daily basis are now gone.

Tearful, heartfelt prayers were lifted to God asking for the deliverance of the Liberians from this plague.  Music and voices praising God filled the barn where we gathered together sending sweet harmony heavenward.  Are we able with our prayers to move God to action?  I believe so.  Maybe this was His plan all along that we might come to Him with our pleas so He could answer our prayers in a mighty way.

When I pray for the Liberian people, I think of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego as they stood ready to be thrown in the fiery furnace for not bowing to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.  My friend, Dr. Shadrach Gonqueh is from Liberia and is named for one of these brave souls.  They said to the king, “We do not need to defend ourselves to you in this matter.  If we are thrown into the burning furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from your hand, o king.  But even if He does not, we want you to know, o king that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”  They knew God was able to save them.  But it was up to God what He would do.  He chose to rescue them by sending an angel to walk them through the fire unharmed.  Many centuries later, a group of believers in the early church gathered together secretly to pray for the Apostle Peter when he was imprisoned.  God released him by sending an angel to the prison to unshackle him and lead him out. They were amazed by the mighty way in which God answered their prayers.

God is able to lead the Liberian people out of the crisis as He led the 3 out of the fiery furnace and Peter out of prison. He could do it in a miraculous, supernatural way and heal the people. But it is more likely that He will raise up capable people who have the heart to help them.  This is the way He usually operates.  We act as His healing hands and feet on the ground.  But even so, many will not see God behind human actions.  Where does the will to serve and the ingenuity to discover medications to heal the sick originate if not from God himself?  Zmapp, the experimental medication that was given to Dr. Kent Brantley, probably saved his life along with intensive supportive treatment at Emory University Hospital.  Who was behind the scenes orchestrating these interventions but God?  Dr. Brantley recognizes this, even if the media discounts it.  He gives credit to God who directs humans to do His work.

God is able to supernaturally rid West Africa of Ebola but more likely He will use us to do it.  We often feel helpless in situations like this. What can each of us possibly do that would make a difference?  Pray and keep praying for insight and wisdom.  Open your eyes to see possibilities right in front of you. The answer may be supporting those who are already there so they can do their job.  But most of all simply care enough to do something even if that something is only prayer.  In the rush of life, it is easy to be distracted by our own worries.  Never, never forget our brothers and sisters who suffer more than we ever will know around the world.  We have no idea how much our prayers and concern mean to them.  Prayer may seem like a little thing when the needs of the people are so great. But never underestimate the power of prayer to start a chain reaction to mobilize God’s people into action.  The results can be miraculous!