prayer

11
Oct
2023

A Spoonful of Sugar

“The wise of heart is called discerning, and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness.

Good sense is a fountain of life to him who has it, but instruction of fools is folly.

The heart of the wise makes his speech judicious, and adds persuasiveness to his lips.

Gracious words are like honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.”

Proverbs 16:21-24

 

As I read these verses I am reminded of Mary Poppins and her song, “A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.” Can you hear her singing the song in your head? When my kids were young and they needed to take medicine, it usually contained a lot of sugar. They didn’t mind taking it because it tasted good. The pharmacy or doctor’s office would ask what flavor they wanted their medicine to be. It seems like we always picked bubble gum.

Medicine that was necessary for my children’s health and well-being so that they could heal from whatever it was that ailed them, was made more palatable by the sweetness that was added to the medicine. Hence, Mary Poppins’ song, “A spoonful of sugar.”

How many times have you had something that needed to be said and instead of couching what was said with some sugar were just blunt and said what needed to be said. How did it go over? I can tell you from my firsthand experience that it didn’t go over well. If we were sitting together over a cup of tea (my beverage of choice), I think you would say the same thing.

So often we have the ability to see the blind spots of others, but we miss the opportunity to speak real truth into someone’s life because our words are not sweet, judicious, or gracious. What we say is not wrong but rather how we say it is. I must say I regret many modes of how I have communicated even though the message was not a wrong message.

Do you have a blind spot when you drive? I had a car that had a blind spot. I knew it was there and so I made sure that I was very aware when I was driving of that blind spot.

So often in our lives we have blind spots that need a parent, a spouse, a friend, a mentor, etc. to speak truth into our lives. The problem is that we may not like their method of communication because it lacks sweetness, judiciousness, or graciousness. Does that mean we should discount them because of their lack of sweetness? No. Does this mean that if we have the opportunity to speak truth into another’s life that we can say whatever we want however we want? NO!

I have the opportunity to be with the teens on Wednesday nights at church. Last Wednesday, I was struggling with a craft that everyone else was doing. After a while of struggling, I finally accomplished the craft only to find out that I still did it wrong. I started laughing at myself. One of the teens said, “Mrs. Dykema, I don’t think I have ever heard you laugh.” That really struck me. I was glad she felt comfortable enough to share that with me, and I hope that this year I laugh more.

When a truth must be shared with someone, what do we do?

  1. Spend time in prayer. Pray and talk to the Lord about what needs to be said and ask Him to give you wisdom in how to say what needs to be said.
  2. Check your motives. The purpose of speaking to another about something we have noticed is to help the other person. Be sure that your motives are pure and directed at helping the other person become more like Christ and not meant to satisfy your own selfish desires.
  3. Do you really have the other person’s best interest at heart? Too often we want our selfish desires met. If you are seeking to represent the Lord well in front of the other person, and you want the other person to grow in Christ then what comes out of your mouth should be sweet, judicious, and gracious.
  4. Be sure to reassure the other person that you love them and you want what is best for them. We must communicate these thoughts with the other person and then make sure that what we say reinforces this.
  5. Practice what you are going to say with a trustworthy person. Let them give you feedback on what you plan to say and how you plan to say it. They may also give you some things that the other person might say so you can be ready to continue speaking in a way that is sweet, judicious, and gracious. Too often if what we have to say is not well received, we get defensive and the sweetness and good intentions goes right out the window.
  6. Be courageous. It takes courage to say something that may cause offense to another and those words that were said may cause a break in a relationship. The other person does not want to hear what we have to say. I often liken this to crossing the street. We would never think twice if someone was going to cross the street and get hit by a car to tell them that a car was coming and they are going to get hit. We might even yell to get their attention, but the life we saved would not be mad at us for yelling. They would be grateful that we saved their life. Matters of life and decisions that are made are often not received as well so it takes courage. Again, do we truly love the other person? If we do, then we must have courage to speak up knowing the risk we are taking. Yet knowing, that what we say may bring about in the other person’s life some changes that will bring about for them things they didn’t know they were missing out on or needing. Speaking up may save them from self-destruction or terrible consequences.

I wish I could go back and say what I wanted to say in a way that communicated nothing but sweetness, judiciousness, graciousness, and love. Maybe the message would have been better received. We all have blind spots and it takes a trusted person to help us see those blind spots. In order to see our blind spots, we must be humble.

I pray that my response would always be one of sweetness, judiciousness, graciousness, love, and humility.

Posted by ddykema5@gmail.com in The Seasons of Motherhood, 0 comments
17
Mar
2021
Journey with the Lord as my Shepherd

Journey with the Lord as my Shepherd

I love to travel. I love going to different places and staying at hotels and eating at different restaurants and meeting different people. I love to be at airports and see all the different people hustling to get to their next destination. I love an adventure. I love a journey.

I know that I probably like these things because I don’t have to travel for work, and if I did than I wouldn’t want to travel anymore. I love to be at home too.

I love the journey, not just the destination. What about you? Do you enjoy the journey or do you just want to get to the destination?

I have been on a journey this week, but not a physical journey. I have been on a spiritual journey, and it has been so amazing for my walk with the Lord. I just wanted to share with whoever wants to read this.

In Sunday school, we began a study on prayer. Prayer has been something I have been trying to focus on in my walk with the Lord. I am actually reading a book right now called Draw the Circle. It is about praying circles around the things you are praying for. It is taken from the idea of the Israelites walking around the wall of Jericho for seven days before God brought the walls down. Imagine the Israelites walking around a wall with their enemies towering above them. That would produce some major fear in anyone’s heart, but the Israelites followed God’s direction and did just as He commanded. Imagine how much prayer was going in the hearts and minds of these people as they walked.

Our Sunday school teacher challenged us to pray through Psalm 23 throughout the week. I was so excited to follow his direction. I have Psalm 23 memorized so it was easy for me to review and pray through this Psalm when I was driving or folding laundry or making dinner. But I also spent time on my knees with my Bible open to Psalm 23.

The things I began to see in this passage that I have missed in the past, and the beauty of using Psalm 23 as a guide to my prayers was transformational. This journey I have been on this past week has transformed my prayers.

As I considered each of the verses and used them to guide my prayers, I realized how I was praying God’s will for my life and for those that I was praying for. Don’t you sometimes wonder when you are praying if you are praying God’s will? I do. When I pray God’s word, though, I am praying His will back to him.

Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”

So often when I have thought about this verse, I thought about “wanting” as my “needs.” I have needs and since God is my Shepherd He will provide for my needs. How many times have you prayed for God to supply your needs, but what you thought was a need was not a need but a desire for things to go the way you wanted them to go?

I have written in the past about idols of our hearts. An idol of our heart is anything that we want that we do not have, and many times we are willing to sin to get that want satisfied.

If I am looking to the Lord to be my Shepherd, if I am worshipping Him for who He is, I won’t be wanting. If the Lord as my Shepherd is sufficient enough to meet my needs and I am worshipping Him as the Lord of my life, than I will not be wanting. If I am always looking to God to meet my needs, then I won’t be wanting.

If I am looking to anything other than God to meet my needs, than I will be wanting.

As I have prayed this verse for myself and others, I have realized how selfishly I pray for myself and quite honestly for others.

Psalm 23:3 “…He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”

The goal of our lives is to honor God in all we do. All we do needs to be for His name’s sake, not for our name’s sake. If the Lord is truly our Shepherd and we allow Him to lead us in paths of righteousness, not only will we not want we will also be living our lives for His name’s sake, not ours.

We will be living life for His glory. This may seem like we won’t get our needs met, but the contrary is true. I have found that the more I seek after my Shepherd and trust in His plan, not only will my needs be met but I will have an abundance that will be overflowing into the lives of others.

I want to challenge to get on your knees and open your Bible to Psalm 23 and begin to pray it through for yourself and all those on your prayer list. Then watch what God will do. You never know where this journey will take you.

Posted by ddykema5@gmail.com in The Seasons of Motherhood, 2 comments
27
Jan
2021

This is the Day that the Lord has Made

Have you ever prayed the same thing for a really long time and then realized that just maybe your prayer may not line up with Scripture, at least the intention of your prayer did not?

One of the things that I have prayed for my kids and husband and quite honestly anyone is to pray that they have a good day. My idea of a good day is to have nothing go wrong in their day. The world’s idea of a good day – No problems. No struggles. No trials. No heartbreaks. No dilemmas they couldn’t solve. No sadness.

Is that God’s idea of a good day?

I keep thinking about Psalm 118:24 “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Every day that we have is a gift from God. Even in the midst of this pandemic, no matter the day that God gives us, it is the day He has made for us. Even if I have a flat tire, it is a good day that I should rejoice in because it is the day that God has for me. Even when I have to cancel or change my plans because of the virus, it is still the day that God has for me.

I needed a change of perspective in my prayers. Every day that I wake up is a gift from God. Every day that He allows me another breath is a gift from God. Each day that I can serve someone else and show them the love of Christ is a gift from my heavenly Father.

So when my new puppy is difficult to manage, God has a reason for that. When I face decisions in life and am not sure what direction to go, God also has a reason for that. When people in life are not always easy to get along with, God reminds me to seek Him and seek to minister to them as He would.

I am sure you could make your own list, but each event in life that happens is not something that takes God by surprise. Even though we may not look at the events that happen in life as good, God always has a purpose and a plan that will not be thwarted and will bring Him glory.

As we face a new era with a new president and his leadership, we must not forget that even these days are days that God has made, we must rejoice and be glad in them. These days in our country as a Bible believing and Bible following Christian will be a challenge.

Will we rise to the occasion and take a stand for what is right, what is true, and what is honorable to God?

How we take a stand will set us apart from those who violently take a stand. No situation takes God by surprise. Each is an opportunity for us to represent our Savior and Lord. As we see each day as an opportunity to share the love of Christ knowing that each situation may not be the one we would pray for as being good, God saw it as necessary to bring about His ultimate plan.

May you view each day as the day that God has made for you. Rejoice and be glad in it. Let your neighbor see, let you family see, and let your coworkers see that no matter the circumstances you will rejoice in the God who ordered your day.

Posted by ddykema5@gmail.com in The Seasons of Motherhood, 2 comments
27
May
2020

And the Peace of God…

I planted my garden this week. It is exciting to think about all the plants and seeds I planted and all the harvest we will be able to enjoy in the weeks and months to come. It is with eager anticipation, I walk out to my garden each day and look for the seedlings to emerge from the soil. Those few weeks of waiting for the seeds to appear is always a test in my patience. Will the seedlings actually appear? Once they do appear will the bugs or the deer eat them all?

There is one guarantee in this whole process. If I plant bean seeds, bean seedlings will appear. If I plant corn seeds, corn seedlings will appear.

We like to have guarantees. We like to know the outcome of things. We like control.

That is not the age that we are currently living in though, is it? Times are uncertain. The future is uncertain. We do not know exactly how this current crises will affect our health, our jobs, our economy, or our lives.

I have been looking at Philippians 4 over the last few weeks, and have been challenged in my walk with the Lord as I have meditated on these truths. I have found real encouragement in the truths of Scripture and I feel the need to share this knowledge with those of you who want to read what I learn. Thank-you for reading and learning with me.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  (Phil. 4:6, 7)

We looked last week at Philippians 4:6 and being anxious for NOTHING. The rest of the verse says we should take everything to the Lord and be thankful for it.

It is hard to be thankful for the hard situations in life: Covid-19, stay home orders, loss of job or wages, not being able to see family and friends, sickness, and even death. But yet, have you ever thought that God has given us a prescription for life?

The prescription and the result of following the prescription are given to us.

The prescription:

  1. Be anxious for Nothing
  2. But in everything by prayer and supplication-take everything to the Lord
  3. With thanksgiving
  4. Let your requests be made known to God

The result:

  1. The peace of God which surpasses all understanding
  2. Will guard your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus

 

How many of us thrive on strife? How many of us like the feeling of being anxious? God has given us the prescriptions of what we need to do so we can experience peace.

The troubles of tomorrow may not come, so why do we allow ourselves to be anxious about them?  If we do have a concern, we need to pray about it and be thankful for what God will do in the situation.

The best part of all of this is that the results are predictable. If we do what God says we will get predictable results. Just like in my garden when I plant corn seeds, I will get corn to come up. Don’t we like to know what we are going to get when we invest in something?

If we follow what God tells us to do in Philippians 4:6, we will reap the benefits that God told us about in Philippians 4:7.

Do we not want peace?

This peace is so amazing it is beyond what we can understand. We will sit back in our seats and be amazed at the peace we are experiencing because we followed God’s prescription.

The verse does not just say that we will get peace, but it also says that our hearts and minds will be guarded. What is it guarded against? If we follow the prescription, we will be guarded or protected from those feelings or thoughts of anxiety.

This result all happens in Christ Jesus.

So will you follow this prescription? No one said it’s going to be easy. Working in my garden isn’t easy, but I do so love the results. I know that there have been hard things in your life that you have done and when you finished, did you like the results?

So in the midst of all the mixed messages we are receiving daily in the news, be thankful. Pray for our leaders that they will be wise. Use these opportunities to teach your children. Show them how to live in a time of uncertainty. Then show them what the peace of God looks like.

 

Posted by ddykema5@gmail.com in The Seasons of Motherhood, 2 comments