Come to Order


Writer’s Note: This was originally written in 2017 after I left my fulltime job of almost a quarter of a century and began an almost three-year long journey of working for myself. While I have become pretty skilled at creating order in the home workspace, this pandemic has rocked many of us, making waste of the sense of order we knew. Three months in, many of us have found our way to a new normal, but some I have spoken with recently are still struggling. Don’t be ashamed. It happens to all of us at one time or another. Truthfully, I still struggle with letting my life get out of order at times. Always have, actually, even before the pandemic. If this is you, I hope this post gives you a little hope today.

June 12, 2017

Dear God…

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Dear Child,

It’s okay child. I know your brain and emotions are scrambled right now, but I am here and I know your heart. Just breathe. Speak My name when you feel overwhelmed or at a loss. Let’s come up with a schedule together. Something to keep you on track. Do not feel less because you need this. Order is necessary for all of life. Order, in fact, was the second most important ingredient in Creation, second only to love. Can you imagine a world with no order? What if the sun rose only when it felt like it? What if the moon and the stars were random about their appearance and nighttime blanketed the earth at unplanned times? Yes, child, everything must have an order to be successful in the long run. If it was and is important for all of Creation, it is important for you. Let’s start with your daily schedule and then we will continue to work on your schedule for fulfilling your calling and purpose. I am proud of you, child. You have a mission and a calling and I am so pleased that you desire them so. Together, we are unstoppable. You are unstoppable. Don’t ever forget that. And, if you do, just come back into My Presence where I can remind you. I’m always here, day and night, from beginning to end, creating your present and your future with beautiful mixture of love and order.

creation image from internet

The Beautiful Order of Creation…

Genesis, Chapter 1:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

And God said, “Let there be an expanse[a] in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made[b] the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven.[c] And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth,[d] and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants[e] yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons,[f] and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds[g] fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make man[h] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Genesis, Chapter 2

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation…

Let there be a pandemic of prayer


The world is at war, but, for once, the enemy is not one another, but instead a common, albeit unseen, enemy. Out of nowhere, this ninja-like nemesis known as Coronavirus has taken the world by storm, causing panic and pandemonium around the globe.

I don’t know how it has felt for everyone else, but, for me, it’s felt a lot like a rollercoaster ride. And not just any roller coaster, but the kind that has multiple loop the loops for which your stomach leaves your body and isn’t reunited until several minutes after you have disembarked the ride.

One minute, it seemed the media was just blowing things out of proportion as they so See the source imageoften do. After all, headlines still sell newspapers. The next minute, I found myself getting a bit nervous as the media deluge continued and my own credible sources begin to chime in. Finally, I entered full loop the loop mode as the what-ifs of yesterday became the reality of today. Through it all, I have longed to be reunited with my stomach and, more importantly, my faith.

God reminds us time and time again that He is with us and will not forsake us. And I personally believe Him in the deepest reaches of my soul. Yet, here I am still having to fight for personal peace in this incredibly tumultuous time, as my flesh, my humanness is bombarded with second-by-second news reports about an enemy that stalks us unchecked and unscathed by any human defensive. At least for now, there is no cure. There is no medicine to make it better. It is totally out of our control.

All of which reminds me of one of the many news stories that landed in front of my eyes this week. It was an interview with a COVID-19 survivor. He talked about how horrific his fight had been, how close to death he came and how he felt when he was finally properly diagnosed and asked his doctors what should be done next. Their answer was way more alarming than it should be, at least for us Christians. Their answer was simply, “Pray.”

I propose that maybe just maybe that is the lesson to be learned here.

I propose that maybe just maybe that is THE CURE we all long for—the only thing that can properly fight this invisible enemy that knows no geographical borders and cares not one iota about socio-economic status.

God knows that, most of the time–even amongst His own followers—prayer is our last resort; the thing we finally turn to after all other efforts have been exhausted.

However, TODAY I propose that we make it our FIRST resort; our FIRST line of defense. To be sure, we should be safe and do what our leaders are telling us. We should social distance. We should wash our hands. And THEN we should clasp those hands in PRAYER. We have a mighty and loving God who IS in control and who IS indeed moved by prayer.

Heavenly Father, I love you. I cannot lie, this is a scary time and I have let anxiety and fear take hold of me more than once this week. But, today, Father, I finally realized that this could be a living, real-time example of what Your Word declares in Genesis 50:20 and today I speak that very Word against the Corona virus that is threatening our world:

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” –Genesis 50:20

Abba Father, I pray that You help us to see how You use this ordeal to show Your unending love and faithfulness to all of us, even in our stubbornness. I pray that this becomes a globally-uniting experience in which You are glorified; where more and more people return to You or find their way to You for the first time.

And, Abba, help us all to TRUST you; to rest in You, the Omnipotent and Omnipresent One that we are invited to know intimately. Help us to continue holding onto the indisputable fact that You are indeed in control and that nothing, but nothing escapes Your knowing. Help us to remember to always make prayer our first resort and not our last. Help us, Lord, to use this time to draw even closer to You as individuals, as nations and as a world. We are all Your children and I, for one, am so grateful. Give us peace that surpasses all understanding and may You be glorified in all that we do as we fight today’s battle in Your strength and not our own.

Amen and Ehmen.