Author: Tammy M Cardwell

Meditations: Isaiah 55:12a

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Copyright Clarissa Pardue 2014
Copyright Clarissa Pardue 2014

Isaiah 55:12a

NKJV

For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace…

 

Here, in five words, is a principal I was taught years ago – follow peace.

It is the rule I adhere to when making any important decision. Yes, I follow forms of reason and logic as well, but peace has the final say because I have learned that God speaks through peace – and the devil cannot.

Recognize this – for it is foundational. Over and over Jesus, the Prince of Peace, promises us His peace. We are assured that while our minds are stayed on Him we will be in perfect peace (I’ve experienced this while touring the inside of the fiery furnace!). On the other hand, confusion and doubt, worry and fear – these come only from Satan.

So, in the end, finding the path is a fairly simple thing. When faced with a decision, needing to choose between two things and failing to recognize the obviously right option, I choose both – one at a time.

To illustrate…

My doctor told me I was pregnant and immediately informed me that he didn’t deliver babies anymore. I was instantly thrown into turmoil, not knowing who to go to, who I should trust with the delivery of my child. I began researching my options, which I had recently learned included midwifery, and writing out the pros and cons of each. Even so, I was still unable to make a decision. Then I remembered what I had been taught – “Be led by peace” – and decided to decide, and in deciding to see where peace might be found.

I decided to go with a doctor. Almost before the decision was fully made, my insides were churning. To say there was no peace would be to make a gross understatement.

So I decided again – this time to make an appointment with the midwife I’d been hearing about. Peace flooded my soul in that very moment.

I will not say the decision is always as clear. Sometimes both options bring peace. Since God authors peace and the devil cannot, I take this as a sign that both options are equally acceptable to God and the choice really is my own. Sometimes neither option brings peace. When this occurs, I start looking around for a third option, one I’d either not considered or had cast aside earlier. If there truly is no third option I look to myself, seeking out anything in me that might be blocking the peace God sends my way.

What I find could be fear, unforgiveness…any number of things, but put simply it is sin. Once I’ve dealt with the sin and go back to the options, sincerely choosing each in turn, one will almost always inspire peace, making itself clear as God’s choice.

I’m an organizer – a list person. I love researching my options and listing the pros and cons of them all, organizing my thoughts to the tiniest detail, but when the rubber meets the road and the decision must be made I would much rather let He Who Knows All make it for me, and then lead me forth in peace.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Meditations: Proverbs 26:18-19

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Copyright Clarissa Pardue 2014
Copyright Clarissa Pardue 2014

Proverbs 26:18-19
NLT

Just as damaging as a mad man shooting a lethal weapon is someone who lies to a friend and then says, “I was only joking.”

 

I have never appreciated pranks, as a rule, have never cared for the tradition of April Fool’s, and have always considered the phrase “practical joke” to be an oxymoron. That is all a result of my own conservative nature, of course, and I do not begrudge others their enjoyment of such things. What this passage speaks of, however, is something different, and when I stumbled across it in my daily reading I was glad to see that God feels as strongly about this as I do.

How many times have I heard, or heard of, something hurtful being said and then heard, “I was only joking!” follow as if those four words somehow made the lie or hurtful words okay? Too many times, of course, especially as the mother of boys.

It starts on the playground as little children tell other little children that they are going to do something to or for them or, worse yet, say hurtful things about them. Whether the lying child really is joking or merely expects, “I was only joking” to get him out of trouble, he is still lying, and in this translation God likens him to a madman shooting a lethal weapon.

The more I think about it, the more I see how accurate this comparison is. The Word says that “death and life are in the power of the tongue.” (Prov 18:21 KJV) It is interesting that death is mentioned first in this verse. I have read that if a person is told one destructive thing about themselves, they must hear seven constructive things to counteract it – or that one destructive word will bear fruit in their lives. I believe this because I’ve seen it time and time again. I have seen dreams destroyed – both those of children and adults – and I have seen people crushed, all by mere words. Often the hurtful words were intended, but many times they were not and the speaker would return later, appalled by the results they saw, and cry, “But I was only joking!” They may have only been joking, but the damage was done. How much better it would have been if they had not spoken the lie in the first place.

Yes, the man who lies and says, “I was only joking” really is like a madman shooting off a lethal weapon. He fires off destructive words without caution and destroys without knowing what he’s doing.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Detailed Deliverance

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“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make  your paths straight.” Prov. 3:5-6

Trust seems so simple – until God asks us to take a step we don’t understand. We naturally want to see the path ahead, but God doesn’t want us to walk naturally; he wants us to walk supernaturally.

One day, when I was grumbling about not being able to see the path ahead, God taught me a shin-banging lesson. He told me to close my eyes and walk from where I was to a specific spot. I tried, and of course I swerved off course and bumped into something. Then He took me back to the beginning, had me close my eyes again, and told me exactly how to place my foot with each step. It was awkward. It felt all wrong. I was hoping no one would walk in because I knew I looked stupid. But…thanks to His detailed directions, I ended up exactly where He told me to go.

God did exactly the same thing for Gideon in Judges six and seven. From the point at which He had Gideon’s attention and willing obedience, God gave him specific instructions for each step he would take. In Judg 6:25-26, God didn’t merely say, “Sacrifice a bull.” Instead, He told Gideon exactly which bull, precisely how to pull down his father’s altar, and in detail how to sacrifice the bull.

This was only the beginning, of course. God continued to give Gideon detailed directions. Had Gideon chosen to bypass any of them, or fudge on even one, the outcome would not have been the same. Israel may not have received her deliverance.

Nothing great in our Christian walk, outside of a supernatural move of God, comes of itself. It comes as a result of the individual starting out on the right path and taking each and every step along the way exactly as God commands.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Meditations: Proverbs 3:5-6

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Copyright Clarissa Pardue 2014
Copyright Clarissa Pardue 2014

Proverbs 3:5-6
NIV

Trust in the lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

 

God taught me the truth of this verse in a way I never would have anticipated, and will never forget.

I was in prayer. I don’t remember what I was praying about, but considering the lesson He gave me, I was probably complaining about not being able to see what was coming down the road. I’m not proud of the fact, but it’s true – I am Tammy Plan-ahead Cardwell and not being able to see what’s over the next hill has been known to drive me nuts.

So there I was, pacing, which I often do when I pray, and God answered me. “Tammy, you don’t have to see the road ahead. You don’t even have to see the next step. I see it all clearly. Trust in Me instead of your own sight, lean on Me instead of your own understanding and I will make your path straight even when you walk in darkness.”

My response was, of course, both brilliant and inspired. “Sir?” Thank God for His patience!

Have you ever felt God smile? I did, then. I could easily sense His loving, understanding amusement. “Close your eyes and walk.”

Now, it’s a scientific fact that one side of a man’s body is dominant over the other. Close your eyes and start walking and, given enough space, you will walk in a circle. I was in our church and didn’t have that much space; I veered and walked into a pew.

“Okay,” He said, “you’ve seen what happens when you walk in your own understanding. Now close your eyes and walk again, but this time listen to Me as you take each step. If you let Me lead you, putting your feet down where I tell you to, I will make your path straight.”

I followed His instructions exactly, though it felt terribly strange. In putting my feet down exactly as He told me to I felt as if I were taking each step wrongly – very wrongly. I had to fight my instincts, literally, every step of the way. He eventually told me to stop and look behind me, to see the path I’d taken. I had gone further this time – taken more steps – and the path I’d walked was as straight as if I’d had my eyes open and a line to follow.

I wish I could say I learned the lesson right then and there. Well, I did, but it seems I have to keep learning it. Just as I had to fight my instincts with every step I took in that walk, I must fight my fleshly instincts with every step in the walk of life. Sometimes it’s hard to trust in the Lord will all my heart, not letting even a small part of it hold back. I must continually remind myself that my own understanding is faulty and can’t be leaned upon – that it will lead me to walk in circles (like the Israelites in the wilderness!). Finally, flesh fights for what it considers its fair share, insisting I acknowledge it in all my ways, rather than Him. Still, I’m making progress, and every once in a while I’ll sense God smile as He says, “Now stop and take a look behind you, and see that I have made your path straight.”

So…no…I do not have to see the road ahead. I can even, as I trust in Him with all my heart, lean not on my own understanding and acknowledge Him in all my ways, walk a straight path through total darkness.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Meditations: Psalm 106:24

Tammy M Cardwell2 Comments
Copyright Clarissa Pardue 2014
Copyright Clarissa Pardue 2014

Psalm 106:24
NLT

The people refused to enter the pleasant land, for they wouldn’t believe his promise to care for them.

 

Okay, this is beyond my ability to understand. They were standing on sand – in the desert – looking at Canaan. It was bad enough that they didn’t just believe and obey God, following where He led. Even worse, they could not accept the beauty and bounty of the place He had called them to and chose to stay in the desert instead.

The desert! They chose to stay in the barren, dry places where there was only enough food and water for their massive numbers because God took care of them! They chose a life of wandering with no home, trekking through the desert (where God had to take care of them) instead of trusting Him and moving on over into the lush bounty of Canaan – which He had already told them would be theirs. Why?

I think the bottom line is that we humans tend to prefer the challenges we know. The challenges Israel faced in the desert were so familiar, and God’s care through those challenges so consistent, that they were (and I use the word in a skewed fashion) comfortable. In truth, I think they took God’s care in the desert so for granted that they hardly recognized it anymore. Stepping over into Canaan, though, would have meant trusting God to care for them in new areas and…oh…

Until then, God had done everything for them, or had Moses or specific others do it. They knew, though, that in Canaan they would be called upon to do something – to take up arms and fight for the ground God had promised them. They were like baby Christians who don’t want to grow up! Or, I suppose, it is rather the other way around – today’s perpetually babyish Christians are very much like these children of God.

When someone first turns his life over to God, He takes total care of them as if they were literal babies – answering every prayer instantly (like a parent responding to a baby’s cry) and often in astoundingly miraculous ways, but then God requires them to grow up – to start using and exercising their faith – to DO something…to take up arms and fight for the ground He has promised them. The funny thing is that God usually ends up fighting the battles for us after we take up arms to fight (just as He did for Israel once they actually crossed on over into Canaan); He just wants us to get up off our blessed assurance and move. But too many refuse. They aren’t willing to take up arms and step forward into His promises, trusting Him to take care of them through everything. No, they would rather stay in babyhood where they don’t have to do anything (but also can’t own or be anything); they would rather stay in the desert.

I’ve seen myself in Israel before, but until meditating on this passage I had never really seen their walk as a parallel to my spiritual walk; yet it is. What they did as a nation I may (or may not) do as a Christian – gaining or losing ground accordingly. Help me, Lord, to keep moving forward!

Reading on into verses 34-39 you see the consequences of Israel’s refusal to grow up. They thought they would be just fine if they stayed in babyhood, in the desert, but because they first disobeyed God’s call to move forward and then, when they did move, moved on their own terms…

When we disobey God in any way we are in sin, and unconfessed sin always has consequences. In their case, it became greater sin. (v. 34-39) “Israel failed to destroy the nations in the land, as the lord had told them to. Instead, they mingled among the pagans and adopted their evil customs. They worshipped their idols, and this led to their downfall. They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters. By sacrificing them to the idols of Canaan, they polluted the land with murder. They defiled themselves by their evil deeds, and their love of idols was adultery in the lord’s sight.”

It’s true; there is no such thing as standing still with God. We must continually move forward. It is also true that genuine obedience is doing what God says, when God says, how God says and all God says. Israel did finally cross over into Canaan, but even then they failed to do all God said – destroy the nations of the land. They let some remain and, because they did, they “fell” into horrible sin and later paid an unimagined price for that sin. God has great mercy, but (v. 43) “Again and again he delivered them, but they continued to rebel against him, and they were finally destroyed by their sin.”

God was still merciful, and did deliver them in the end, but how different would it have been if they had obeyed Him, and fully, the first time? Where, for instance, would Israel be today? Where would I be today if I had always obeyed Him, and fully, the first time?

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

And the Answer Is…

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Relationship

For those who wonder how I can possible serve a God I cannot see, this is how. Yes, when I accepted Jesus as my Savior, I did it in faith. I did it because what the minister said made sense, and I liked what I saw in the lives of those I knew served Him.

As I made Him Lord of my life, committing time to get to know Him, we began to build a genuine relationship. This relationship that you can’t see is why I continue to serve Him after all these years.

I explained once, to a friend, that I had never seen her father, had no proof of his existence beyond what she had told me of their relationship. Based on what I could not see, I had the option of choosing to believe he did not exist. I chose to believe he did, because I trusted my friend and believed what she told me about their relationship.

How can you have a relationship with someone you can’t touch and feel? People do it all the time over the Internet. For decades, we’ve been developing relationships with people we may or may not ever meet in person. Sometimes we even feel closer to those distant friends than we do to the ones in our “real lives.”

My relationship with God is like that. I am closer to Him than anyone around me. He’s inside me, knows me better than I know myself. Have I ever seen him? Well, I’ve actually had two visions of Jesus, so yes…but even if I had not it would make no difference, because seeing isn’t necessary to relationship. Feeling isn’t necessary to relationship. Only knowing is necessary to relationship and oh, yes, I do know Him.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Gone Tomorrow

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Copyright Barry Hatch All rights reserved
Copyright Barry Hatch
All rights reserved

We were in the back of our Girl Scout leader’s car, on our way to a campout, when I overheard a girl with short, curly hair telling the story of the day years before when she had gotten her incredibly long hair cut off. As I heard the details, I popped up and interrupted her to ask if she remembered two girls watching. She did, and I informed her that I was one of those girls. RAM – Randomly, I instantly accessed a memory I’d totally forgotten. (And, just as randomly, it was the “Hare Today” title of a previous post that triggered this memory as well as inspiring today’s title.)

Mother was a hair stylist (We called them beauticians in those days.) until I was in Junior High and my parents started a business. As a result of her profession, Clarissa and I spent many hours in various salons. The day the girl came in with the longest hair I’d ever seen on a child (she could sit on it) and cut it SHORT really had burned itself into my hard drive. I may not access the information often, but it’s there.

I remember being appalled. I remember being astounded that she was so happy with her new ‘do.’ I remember being convinced that she would regret it forever.

How often, in life, are we able to get answers to our impossible questions? I mean, really? When I realized who she was, I had to know. Had she regretted it? Ever?

“Never!” she said with a smile.

No, it wasn’t one of the great questions of the universe, but it was satisfying to finally have it answered nonetheless. I love it when things like that happen!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Hare Today

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Copyright Barry Hatch All rights reserved
Copyright Barry Hatch
All rights reserved

 

Venitta and Vanessa Hare

They were the youngest daughters of one my Mother’s friends. It amazes me, actually, that I remember them at all, because the time during which our moms would have been friends had to have been fairly short.

Nonetheless, assuming the few memories I have are accurate and not my childhood brain combining multiple stories, I can tell you they were Catholic, because they were studying them one day and they said their mom only allowed Catholic Bibles in the house; there was a baby in the picture somewhere, because their home was the first in which I saw how much babies liked to play with keys (real ones, not those plastic toys); and their older siblings were…a little creative.

On the night I’m remembering, our moms went out somewhere and Clarissa (my sister) and I, along with Venitta and Vanessa, were left in the care of their older siblings – one of which obviously had a car. I remember watching a what-to-do discussion as our babysitters tried to decide how to have fun while keeping the kids. They settled on going to the movies.

Normal. Right?

Unless you’re going to a drive-in theater with limited funds, want to see movies little kids can’t see legally, and those kids really are little…little enough to fit in the trunk.

Yep, that was my first experience with truly breaking the rules. It was, bless God, my only experience inside a car’s trunk. Well, except that it happened more than once that night. As I recall, the first movie didn’t serve, so we went to another…and perhaps a third?

Another first that night was “rated” movies. I saw things at one of them that… Well, I think they figured out they’d blown it at that one, because we didn’t stay long after the scene that messed with my young head.

It never ceases to amaze me, this random access we have to memories from decades ago. It’s also intriguing to consider: How accurate ARE my memories of my two young friends? Assuming Venitta and Vanessa are out there, do they remember us? Do they remember that night? Are they as dedicated to their Bibles today as they seemed to be then?

Gotta wonder.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Untoed Consequences

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(How lame is that title?!)

It’s amazing how an incident in your past can affect your present. When I was a child, we ran around barefoot all the time. We also lived on the water and enjoyed going down to the water’s edge to fish. One day, a broken bottle made its way to the bank’s surface and sliced through the big toe you can’t quite see here. I’ve dealt with the consequences of that day ever since. 

The scar tissue that builds up is terrible. It’s not so bad during the winter when I wear a lot of low-healed boots that have plenty of toe room, but the minute spring hits, with its pretty heels, so does the pain. I used to just live with it, but the older I get the less willing I am to do that, so pedicures are now my friend. 

There’s nothing wrong with running around barefoot, though I seldom do it anymore, but every trip to the nail salon is a reminder that every decision we make, even those that are seemingly inconsequential, has the potential to affect us (and others) for a very long time. 

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

The Trick’s a Treat

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I’ve been in a few conversations, lately, regarding introverts and extroverts. For those who don’t know the difference, the most basic explanation has to do with how you recharge your batteries. If being in crowds wears on you and drawing away for some alone time builds you back up, you’re an introvert. You’re like me.

I’ve learned how to live in an extroverted world, of course…so much so that many don’t even know this detail about Tammy. The fact remains, however, that too much time spent in large groups of people will eventually find me hiding out for a few minutes in a bathroom stall with my eyes closed, gathering myself so that I can get back out among them.

None of which really has anything to do with why I even picked up my phone to blog today. I was actually thinking, this afternoon, about the seeming contradictions where introverts are concerned. For instance, while you might expect those who enjoy speaking in public (Yes, at one time I did a few times every year) to be extroverts, I’ve found that many of my favorite speakers are actually introverts.

And then there are things like the school play. I don’t know if this is really an introvert thing, but I think so.

I always wanted to be involved in drama in school, but didn’t have the nerve. When they were putting on one of my favorite plays one year, I REALLY wanted to try out, but signed up for tech instead–even that was huge for me.

Fortunately for me, I had friends who knew me well enough that they tricked me into trying out even though I wasn’t officially supposed to. I clearly remember, while I was singing, the director asking, “Who is that?”

I didn’t get a part that day, but when one of those friends had to drop out a couple of weeks later I was offered her spot (I even eventually got a three-word solo. LOL!).

My point is this. Sometimes we introverts really do want to take part in what you extroverts are doing, desperately want to take part. At those times, if you know us well enough to recognize our need, we actually (eventually) appreciate it when you push/force/trick us into following our rapidly palpitating hearts. At least…I did. I had a great time that year and have never forgotten what a treat it was to be tricked by those friends.

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C