adversity

Tell the Truth: Insulation…or Suffocation?

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Stuck in a rut? Is the familiar choking out what possibilities might be? When does the certainty of the familiar transform from a warm blanket of insulation and become a suffocating restraint that holds you back from fully experiencing the joy of the present?

Sometimes it takes another person to illuminate a way out of something you’ve been dealing with for a long time. That happened for me today during what appeared to be a benign lunch meeting – on the surface. A few moments into my delightful, velvety lobster bisque, I was challenged to grapple with trust, fear, personal goals, dreams, wearing a mask – stuff I’d carefully swept under the rug because I didn’t want to deal with it anymore. However, but the friend I dined with saw the bulging lump in the carpet as she nearly tripped over it, and cared enough about me to move closer to straighten it out. As uncomfortable as I was, she continued to gently but firmly probe until I made real progress by facing the truth of what I’d been trying to gloss over (though it had really become a significant pain point).

She challenged me to go beyond wallowing in how it felt – she called me to action. Asked me about next steps when I couldn’t see past my nose. Terrified at the potential outcome, I knew I was at a crossroads and had to move forward from the place I’d been stuck for way too long. She asked me where I was going to start (because it wasn’t an option NOT to start). Within four hours, I communicated to her that I’d made notable progress in the area she shined a light on; I accepted the challenge of accountability and the challenge to take action. No need to grapple in my mind, wrestle with the past, or struggle with what to do – the answer presented itself today and it was my choice to obey the voice of the Lord through this person He chose to use to help me get perfectly aligned with His will.

I am glad I chose rightly. It feels good to be unstuck and out of self-denial; the blanket of familiarity I thought was insulating me was choking me. And I am grateful for my friend’s time, care, and attention to help me when I didn’t even realize how great my need for assistance was. The Lord has made me whole and I am walking in the direction He established.

“20 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
21 For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.
22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.”
(Matthew 9:20-22)

“5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.”
(John 5:5-9)

© Copyright 2018 by Kayren J. Cathcart

Veggie Tales: Choked Out

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cucumber choked 7-23-18

We were only away on vacation for a week, but lack of rain and daily attention took a visible toll on our garden. Another cucumber had grown through the fence in and precarious manner. It looked like it was trying to escape, but the wire was wrapped precariously around a significant portion (the “neck,” I wondered?). In order to use it, a part of it would have to be sacrificed. There was no way to use this cucumber in its intact state. It would have to be cut to be used. I wondered wistfully, “Am I this cucumber, Lord? Have I gotten so fixed in my mindset and stuck in my way of doing things that I and no longer useful in my current state of entanglement?”

In the event that you don’t have a backyard garden that doubles as a reflective mirror, let me encourage you: later that morning, my wonderful hubby brought in a skinny-necked cucumber – in one piece – that looked almost like the one in this photo. I was heartened, and breathlessly asked how he extricated it from the wire. He said, “Carefully…but another one I had to break in half to release it.” I knew immediately that he had to break the cucumber in the photo, because the one he’d brought in was a bit smaller.

Immediately convicted, I repented in my heart. I don’t want to allow any of my surroundings (people, places, things, situations, or circumstances) to become the cares of this world that choke the Word in my life and cause me to become unfruitful. May we choose not to resist God at work in the gardens of our lives so we can bring forth fruit to perfection and maturity that glorifies Him.

“He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.”
(Matthew 13:22)

© Copyright 2018 by Kayren J. Cathcart

Veggie Tales: Dying on the Vine

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cucumber shriveled 7-23-18

A shriveled cucumber in our garden caught my attention. Not able to provide nutrients or nourishment, it languished. I knew it would never make it to a salad on MY table! Its label said “cucumber,” but its presentation said “washed-up has-been.” Sure, it was in the right place, surrounded by like kind…but it was deficient (lacking something), and the overwhelming evidence of its inadequacy presented itself as the sun beat down mercilessly on all the garden’s inhabitants. It was a pitiful sight.

Could this offer a similar parallel to us in relation to those who surround us? We want to show that we’re just as healthy, healed, and whole as the next person, but deep down inside, we know that we require the touch of the Master Gardener to tend us back to vibrancy and vitality. Whether we need an adjustment of our intake of sun, water, fertilizer, or even the dreaded (but necessary) pruning, we know we need His presence.

Today, I encourage you to take every shriveled cucumber in your life, lay it at the Masters feet, and ask Him to do a work of restoration in you. It won’t likely be instantaneous, and it will probably involve process and obedience – but it’s worth it to be connected to your Divine Source. Stay connected to the True Vine, and watch Him cultivate something beautiful in your life.

“4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
(John 15:4-5)

© Copyright 2018 by Kayren J. Cathcart

Backing Up Into the Mercy of God

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The names have been changed to protect the innocent who may or may not have unintentionally impacted their own garage doors…

As I left the house to pick up my children from their science summer camp, I must’ve gotten my sequence – or at least my timing – out of whack. It kinda changed the course of my afternoon into the epic saga chronicled below. Pop some popcorn – don’t say I didn’t warn ya…

Backstory (because with me, there’s always a backstory, right?): This morning, my valiant husband saw something in the yard that didn’t belong and promptly disposed of it. Since he knows how much I absolutely abhor and detest creepy-crawlies, he was quite inconspicuous about addressing this as part of his “on my way to work” routine. But as I passed the window, I saw something he’d speared hanging from the rake and was taking to the big garbage can. I cringed, grateful that something hadn’t gotten me the last time I went to pick fresh garden basil – eek! I was safe, thanks to my knight in shining armor wielding a yard implement.

With this backstory in mind as I cautiously scanned for signs of an unwanted something anywhere near my garage, I got in the car to go get my children and was ready to shut the door quickly to batten down the hatches and fortify my castle. The radio was on with a Bible story being read, I pressed the garage door opener button, put the car in Reverse, and <clunk!>…wait a minute, that’s NOT a sound I’m used to hearing. I put the car in Drive as I realized the garage door hadn’t finished going up before I accelerated in Reverse. Ugh! Not good.

I tentatively pushed the garage door button and the door made its way back up. Good. I backed up wayyyy more slowly; once out of the garage, I gently pushed the button and saw the door going down…until it was crooked…and stopped moving. Not good. Halfway closed, halfway open…and my house potentially susceptible to something crawling in. Oh noooooo! I’d made up my mind to tell my hubby face-to-face about the slight paint scrape on the vehicle’s point of contact (merely cosmetic, I wistfully assessed). But the mangled, defeated-looking metal door (with a slight vehicle-shaped bulge along the bottom edge) hanging off-kilter necessitated immediate self-disclosure.

With slight apprehension, I dialed my hubby as I drove to pick up the children – on time, mind you – and recounted an abbreviated version of my past 5 minutes. He said he was leaving work immediately to take care of this at home. I guess the inquiry in my sweetest voice, “Who would you call if you needed help getting a garage door to close?” didn’t garner his vote of confidence in my ability to satisfactorily resolve the situation on my own. I can’t say I blamed him.

By the time I returned home with the children (safely and without further incident, thankfully), he was already parked in the driveway and surveying my unsolicited demolition; he must’ve flown from his job. But he looked at me squarely and said, “That’s why we have insurance. We can get another garage door or vehicle, but we can’t replace you.” Talk about being overwhelmed by the manifested love and mercy of God! My hubby’s genuinely compassionate response turned my sheepishness to relief. (Sidebar: Who needs Hallmark Channel fantasies with real life moments like that?! LOL).

After a few RFPs summoning the first garage door professional who could be on-site, the garage door was down about 4 hours later (with only a slight rift at the bottom, hopefully impenetrable by something), its replacement to be installed early next week.

The story could’ve turned out so differently. So I end this day on a note of sincere gratitude to my Creator and Protector (who saw fit to give me a godly husband to watch out for me – ‘cuz obviously I need oversight!), and a resolution to slow down even more. I invite you to take a moment to reflect on God’s mercy in your own life. You don’t even have to back into your own garage door to be reflective! 🙂

“19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
20 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22 It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24 The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25 The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.”
(Lamentations 3:19-26)

© Copyright 2018 by Kayren J. Cathcart