Month: June 2010

MISSION is POSSIBLE

Posted on by Susan Panzica

Jesus replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”
Luke 18:27
This morning in church, our pastor prayed for the youth who are going on mission trips this summer, including my son and daughter who are going as youth leaders.



As part of his message, our pastor shared that with the Lord, all things are possible. Of course, we need to do what we can, yet trust the Lord to deliver what we cannot do on our own. He then had us write our impossible situation on an index card. Individually, we wrote our cards and laid them at the altar, giving our situations to the Lord.

I didn’t know it at the time, but on her card, my daughter’s impossible situation was that she had to raise $1300 in the 10 days remaining before her trip to Uganda (she needed to raise $3800 in total.)

After our family Father’s Day celebration following church, Lauren spent 2 hours on facebook, contacting 60 college friends to whom she had not sent support letters, informing them about her upcoming trip. She asked for a donation amount equal to cost of a cup of coffee. 18 seconds after she logged out, she received the following email:

  • Prayers are answered, the Mission Team has voted to give you the entire amount. $1,300. If you still need that much, if not let us know what you need. I’ll need your address so we can send the check, or if you prefer you could pick it up at the church office or at my home. Please let me know. Sorry it took a little while but we needed to contact the as many team members as possible.


The sender: First Reformed Church where Lauren was invited to share a liturgical dance as part of their worship service last fall. Then twice in the spring, she shared her gift of dance with them again. Knowing that they are mission-minded and that she was short of her goal, a few weeks ago, she asked if she could share about her upcoming trip with the congregation and possibly raise support. The initial reply said that many teens from the church were going on trips and have been doing fundraisers, but they’d see what they could do, if anything. And then she didn’t hear back from them… Until 18 seconds after she logged out of facebook tonight!

Despite giving her impossible situation to the Lord, despite singing “All Things Are Possible” this morning, despite her conviction that the Lord was calling her to Uganda, Lauren doubted. And she wasn’t alone. With so much money to raise in so little time, and with the people who contracted malaria on the recent Uganda trip, Tony questioned whether God was closing a door. This most unexpected email with this abundantly generous gift erased our doubts and confirmed much more than just a mission trip experience.

While at first, Lauren thought that she shouldn’t have sent out those facebook messages, perhaps bothering her non-Christian friends, she further realized what Pastor Steve had said. That we must do what we can. We ought not to slack in our efforts and claim that we are waiting for God like a deliveryman. The added benefit to her actions is that she now has opportunity to share what the Lord has done and will do in her life and on her trip. Any extra money raised will be donated to Touch the World Uganda and will benefit the ministry there.

Lauren’s conclusion:
“It’s Father’s Day, and my Father gave a gift to me.”


Do you have an impossible situation? Can you trust the God of the impossible?

Storm Shelter

Posted on by Susan Panzica
As I sit and write, my sweet pup, Roxie, is sitting at my feet looking up every few minutes to reassure herself that I am, in fact, right where I was those few minutes ago. She has trailed me from room to room, observing my laundry skills, lunch-making prowess and cleanup expertise. Usually, she parks herself anywhere comfy, but today, she is hovering at my feet. If my fingers stop clicking on the keyboard, she looks at me as if to say “where are we going now?”

I was wondering about this intense devotion today when thunder boomed outside. Terrified, Roxie trembled. Aha! Her fear of the storm kept her close to her master.

You know what’s coming next, don’t you!


When confident in her own strength, she’ll rest in any old spot, but when the storm comes, she needs to be in the presence of her master, and so do I. Yes indeed. God uses the storms of life to draw us to Himself, our Master. When circumstances crowd in or fears rise up, we cry to the Lord in struggle. The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. Ps. 9:9

And here’s a little secret. Truth be told, I kinda like having her so near and dependent upon me for her strength. I don’t want to sound like I enjoy my pup’s suffering. Not at all. But on most days, she’ll rarely sit still for long. She’ll snuggle for just a minute or two before she’s off again meandering from room to room, from inside to outside and back in again. Yet it’s in the storm that she recognizes her need and seeks solace in my presence, allowing me to comfort her. Too often, I am meandering as well, flitting from one task to another, consumed by my activity and, in my distraction, missing the presence of the Lord.


The Lord doesn’t enjoy our suffering any more than we do, but He does promise that if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us (James 4:8). And so perhaps He does enjoy having us so close despite our trembling, renewing our strength in His presence.


I read somewhere that nothing improves your prayer life better than big trouble. There is value in the storm. It builds our faith, and it develops perseverance, maturity and wisdom (James 1:1-5). I only wish I didn’t wait for that big trouble before crying out to the Lord. I wish I was more faithful in the daily little troubles that I tend to tackle in my own strength rather than His. I want to be like a synchronized swimmer, every move I make in perfect harmony with Him.


How about you? Do you allow the storms to build your faith? And what about the peaceful times? Are you able to seek Him in the uneventful moments? He’s waiting for you…

So Lord, where are we going now?

But here’s the good news…

Posted on by Susan Panzica
My dear friend, Diane, is going through multiple trials; more than one person ever needs to go through. Her mom, husband, brother and son all have relentless medical issues, and she is overcoming recent severe neck and shoulder pain.  

She might not think so, but even though clearly distressed, she is radiant. Yesterday, while sharing with me her current dilemma, she added, “But here’s the good news… I’m growing in faith, …”

Though going through unimaginable heartache, she was able to see the “good news.”  Then when writing this post, I came across these words of wisdom shared by another friend, Penny Musco –

  • The apostle Paul was someone who knew all about danger. He had several adventures, scrapes and near escapes – blindness, persecution, stoning, arrest and beatings, death threats, shipwreck — even a snake bite! Sometimes, though, I have a hard time with Paul’s conclusion in 2 Cor. 4:8-9: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…” But I have felt crushed, despairing, forsaken or destroyed, I argue. And that’s my problem in a nutshell: I may be afflicted, perplexed, persecuted and struck down, but my feelings aren’t in charge—God is. And if He says He won’t let things get to the point of no return, then I’ve got to trust Him to work it out. And that’s just what Paul concludes too: his sufferings were “in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God” (2 Cor. 1:9). So simple… yet so hard to do!



When we are in the crucible of pain, He is suffering, too. We know “He was a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” (Is 53:3). And we know that “He bore our sins” (1 Pet. 2:24). But so often we forget, at least I do, that He not only bore our sins, but He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows as well:

Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried…
Isaiah 53:4





To know that we are not alone in the struggle is good news indeed. Like Paul, I eagerly “want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection”. Yet, do I also want the “fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death.”? (Phil 3:20)
To be honest, not so much. Yet, it’s two sides of the same coin, and there are hidden benefits to the suffering. Our faith grows strong in the rich soil moistened by our tears. Our countenance begins to reflect Him more as He inhabits us more. And therefore, we can conclude:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. 8:28, 37-39









Are you struggling today, my friend? Can I pray for you? Please leave your prayer request in the comments or email me.
And would you pray for another friend of mine, Pam, who is in now critical condition having contracted malaria while on a mission trip to Uganda? My daughter is scheduled to lead a youth mission trip to Uganda in July. Please pray for her and the other workers for Touch the World Uganda. Thank you.






Help Wanted

Posted on by Susan Panzica

When job-hunting, it is always important to research the long and short-term benefits: health and life insurance, retirement plan, vacation, stock ownership. Working for the King of Kings is no exception. What might a Help Wanted ad for a servant in God’s kingdom look like?
  • Lifetime, full time position (part time is not an option) available to anyone who applies. No prior experience or skills necessary. Training period offered for all candidates includes working alongside the Employer who takes an individual interest in each of His subjects. Each employee must get to know the Employer personally. The retirement and insurance plans provide coverage for eternity. There are no vacation days, no monetary salary, and no guarantee against hardship or adversity, but endless comfort is available from the Employer and is to be shared with others. Opportunity for advancement: Being faithful in a few things will result in being put in charge of many things and sharing the Employer’s happiness. Ownership sharing plan bestows a royal inheritance as a joint heir with the Employer.


Forget not all His benefits (Ps. 103:2)

Need a new job? Care to apply?
ps – This is a snippet from my chapter titled “i am a servant.”

Driven to Distraction

Posted on by Susan Panzica
Early Sunday morning, a few weeks ago, I woke up extra early to prepare for my Sunday School class, only to be distracted by another random task calling my name, leaving my preparation less than best.



Then while in the class, my cell phone signaled a text message arrival. I quickly silenced the alert, only to have it vibrate loudly two minutes later with another text message.


Several minutes later, someone else’s cell phone rang an alert.


A few minutes after that, the children loudly shuffled past our group to practice their special presentation, returning 15 minutes later, sweetly suspending our discussion once again.


The thing is – this type of stuff rarely happens in our class. No cell phones. No parades. No distractions. Each week, we have awesome discussions that experience very few interruptions. Even late arrivals don’t divert us from our study.


Our text that morning was Acts 16, particularly the demon-possessed, fortune-telling servant girl who followed Paul for days shouting “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” This greatly distressed Paul, and he cast out the demon. Since the girl was declaring truth, our group shared thoughts on why Paul would be distressed, concluding that if “he accepted her words, he would appear to be linking the Good News with demon-related activities.” (Life Appl Bible)


And then it occurred to me. While that was most certainly true, it might also be simply that she was a distraction to the work Paul and his companions were doing.


Grrrr! That word – distraction! 


Lately, I’ve been quite onvicted about my own distracted nature. Unlike the focused, goal-oriented people I admire, I am a tumbleweed, often wandering from room to room, task to task. Being very busy, but in reality, accomplishing little.


My dear friend, Joanne at Blessed, shared not one, but two posts a few weeks ago about distraction. When she wrote that her nickname is “bright, shiny thing,” I laughed out loud, knowing that it could easily be mine too! She calls it “the attraction of distraction,” and that’s exactly what it is. It’s a lure, a snare, a decoy. Like a fishing lure, distraction will entice us, then hook us, keeping us from accomplishing anything.

“Hi, my name is Susan, and I’m a distractaholic.”

There I said it. Just as alcohol can derail the one addicted to it, so too, can distraction. Now, there’s nothing wrong with being a free spirit. Usually, I love being one. But there are times when I know that God signals a certain task for my day or a call on my life, and I must be honest and admit – I’m being disobedient.

Oswald Chambers said that “Good is the enemy of best.” The soothsaying servant girl shared a truthful statement, but it was a distraction from the men who were on God’s mission of truth. I may be busily serving the Lord, but if I’m not also listening to Him, my work is a distraction from my relationship with Him. Sometimes, a tumbleweed needs an anchor.

I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few distractions as possible. 1 Cor. 7:35b