Road to Hope

Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NIV) is a very familiar passage to most Christians: For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Linking the words I know to our future seems like an oxymoron until you consider who is saying, they “know.” Our Lord God states unequivocally that He alone knows. Not only does He know, but He has plans. Not for just an ordinary what-to-do-today agenda, but He has a long-term goal to flourish, thrive, prosper and grow you, And on top of all that, you get hope. Hope. I could go a long time on just hope alone.

It seems sometimes that we vacillate between conceit and despair, thinking we know it all, only to ultimately realize we don’t know anything. Then God comes into our lives. When we met God for the first time He was already completely aware of everything that was, is, and will be relating to us, past, present and future. He is the Source, and in His hands He holds the plans He has for us. We may only see the circumstances swirling around us and with that view, there are times when despair sets in; but God sees the whole picture.

Knowing our future as He does, His desire is for us to come to Him and talk about the unique plan He has for our life. The word used in the verse is “seek.” Seek means to search, set out for, and request. Is He hiding? No, the point is that while He is always available to us, our charge is to be aware of our need, to set out and seek for Him, to turn to Him, and to turn nowhere and to no one else. God wants us to seek after Him and as we find Him, He has given us a clear and explicit promise that He will be found. Run to Him and discover all the great plans He already has for you!

Road to Tibet

I have been fascinated with Tibet since the late 80’s.


With Tibet in the news these days I have been reminded of the first time I heard about it. When I lived in Southern California I met a man who had lived in Lhasa, Tibet for four years, teaching English in a Chinese factory as a mission assignment. He has stopping off at his mission organization's headquarters in Southern California on his way home to Georgia.


His name was Saint Paul. That is his given name. I asked to see his driver’s license to be sure. He was a black man with a Southern accent from the state of Georgia in the United States, and he stood out in the country of Tibet. I had the opportunity to spend several days with him and heard of an incredible, nearly treeless land, of high mountains, cold winds, and lost people. This was the first time I had ever heard about Tibet. He told how, at that time, there was only one stop light in the entire country, which wasn’t a problem because in Lhasa most people rode bicycles.


Saint Paul also had heard first-hand reports of what had happened in the 50’s. Thousands of men, women and children were massacred in the streets and many more imprisoned, deported, and left the country in fear for their lives. Monks and nuns were a prime target. Monasteries and temples were shelled and destroyed.


One day we met for lunch and Saint Paul brought photos with him of Tibet. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. It was like nothing I had ever seen. One photo stood out more than any of the others. It was a group of seven people huddled sitting on the floor of a small room around a low table, all dressed in heavy clothing because of the cold. When I asked Saint Paul what this was a shot of, he told me it was a photo of all the known Christians in the entire country of Tibet. I was speechless, and to this day that photo is burned into my memory. It showed seven people counting Saint Paul, two of whom were from other countries; only four were Tibetans. Four!


The photo of this group of four has come to my mind so many times over the years. I often wonder what happened to those brothers and sisters in Christ.


In light of the current focus on Tibet, I encourage you to consider the following:
• Learn for yourself what happened in the 50’s and what has taken place in Tibet since that time. The internet is a marvelous tool. Form your own opinion.
• Pray for the Christians that are living in Tibet now.
• Pray also for the safety of all Tibetans in Tibet and around the word.

A Call For Stories

A call for stories about local women or girls in foreign countries

I have been given the go ahead to write a devotional with an international flair for women 20-35 years of age entitled, “Passport Into Today.” Each day will feature a story about a local woman or girl living in a foreign country. There will also be country facts included with each day and a scripture to encourage and bless the reader.

Would you be interested in submitting a story? Your story needs to be 250-350 words in length. This page has 249 words. So the stories do not need to be long or take a lot of time to put together. In fact do you have a story you have used in a newsletter already that you could pass along? Is there a story about a local woman on your website or in print somewhere you can send? You would receive the credit for the story and your organization's web site can be listed. I also want to list the mission organizations in the back of the book with contact information. My hope is to promote a missions worldview with this book. For restricted access countries it is understood that names and perhaps locations will need to be changed.

If you are interested, please contact me at: blessingmeadow@sbcglobal.net and send your submission as a Word document. Also, if you know of someone you think might be interested in participating, please send this email on to them. Thank you.

Forest Dance

Mount Hermon writing assignment:

The arms of the trees reach out to effortlessly draw me to dance, while the constant reverbration of a waterfall hums the background music. But my way is impeded by the dead leaves, the broken branches.

I’m reminded how decay is all around us and in us. The beauty of today’s forest is built on the decay of fallen friends -- some cut down by circumstances too early in their prime, and others lying down after years of faithful endurance.

We only have this moment to perform our dance and we need to avoid stumbling or being hindered by our broken parts. Our beauty, like this forest, is made up of all its parts dancing together.