Category: 40 days

Decorations

Posted on by Susan Panzica

Today’s message is from Clare Cartagena, a friend, a member and a mentor of my writing group, and a gifted, multipublished writer with her first novel in the works.

Proverb 14:13 “Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief.”

Every year my mother created Christmas in our house. Despite having things going wrong in her life, she transformed our unhappy, tension filled home into a winter wonderland. For those weeks, the scepter of fear was removed and the light of the Star put in its place. Angels appeared, music filled the air and special stuffed toys came out of hiding. Colored lights and silvery tinsel sparkled like magic on the tree. The decorations inspired joy where joy might not normally be.

I enjoy a happy home with my husband and children but I continue my mother’s tradition at least in the zeal with which I decorate. Christmas starts the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Boxes are pulled from the crawl space, numbered and labeled. The Christmas village gets put out first, then the garland, the lights and candles. The list goes on and on until nearly all of downstairs is covered in Christmas cheer. Sometimes however if I am not careful, circumstances can invade the holiday so that the cheer is only in the decorations and not in the heart.

It is strange that a time of joy can intensify our feelings of pain. Even as we put out cherished heirlooms, fill the house with the smell of evergreen and sing carols known since childhood, our hearts can be heavy. Maybe this season you are trying to keep a smile upon your face and cheeriness in your voice, while inside a hidden pain bleeds away your strength. Take heart friend, the Lord knows your struggle. He does not want you to carry this burden without Him. Matthew 11:28 says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Take your pain to Him in prayer. Go to the altar. Pour out your heart to Him. Let Him give you rest. Let Him give you a smile inside and out. It’s the best decoration to wear.

Clare Cartagena



Black Friday

Posted on by Susan Panzica

The term “Black Friday” screams from the TV, newspapers, radio and online. The day after Thanksgiving begins the unofficial “holiday shopping season”, the time of year when retailers move from operating “in the red” (at a loss) to operating “in the black” (making a profit). Stores open at 4 or 5 or 6 a.m. offering crazy low prices to lure customers in, hoping that they will in turn spend tons of money for gifts.

I can’t help but think of another “Black Friday”, a day when the greatest price was paid for the greatest gift ever given. 2000 years ago, an innocent man gave His life so that others might live. Jesus, God the Son, left His heavenly home, to be born into an ordinary family and live an ordinary life in an ordinary town, until He began His extra-ordinary ministry on earth. For 3 years, He healed the hurting, taught those who would listen, and preached the truth to all. The conclusion of His time on earth was paying the price for the sins of the entire world, past, present and future, and providing the gift of eternal life to any who receive it.

Now that Thanksgiving Day is over, let’s continue to live with thanksgiving in our hearts.

Thank you Lord for paying the debt we owe. Thank you for rising from the dead in victory, giving us the opportunity to live in victory. May we keep you as our focus in the days and weeks to come, and be ever ready to share the real reason for the season.

It’s Not Always Picture Perfect

Posted on by Susan Panzica

The picture “Freedom From Want”, by beloved painter Norman Rockwell, is a wonderful depiction of the All-American holiday, Thanksgiving Day. This poignant painting seems so simple, yet it is actually very complex. For example, it has over 100 different shades of the color white in it. Sometimes, looking at the big picture, we miss the details.

For many across the country, their day will be as perfect as this picture, a festive day filled with family, friends, football and food, food, food. But for some, Thanksgiving Day will be a sad reminder of loss, pain, absence, hurt.

Through the “magic” of Facebook, I heard from a young single mother who was seeking the ex-wife of her baby’s father, a man who had abandoned her and their son. While I wasn’t the person she was looking for, I prayed for her and kept in touch with her. This Thanksgiving Day will be difficult for her and her little boy, and for so many others like her. It will be difficult for families with soldiers overseas, for single people longing for a family unit, for those with health issues, haunting memories or too many bills and not enough income.

When we face difficult times, is it possible to offer thanksgiving to God? Yesterday, I shared that Jesus gave thanks when He broke the bread representing His body broken at the hands of His betrayer and His crucifiers. How was He able to do so? The writer of Hebrews tells us that He endured the cross for the joy set before Him. He fixed His eyes on the joy of what He was accomplishing – the reconciliation of His people to Himself – and we are told to fix our eyes on Him. (Hebrews 12:2)

He was able to offer thanks, because He was filled with thanks. It is out of the abundance of our hearts that our mouths speak (Luke 6:45) So if we are filled with thanks, we will offer thanksgiving. We can’t give what we don’t have. So to give thanks, we must be thankful.

We don’t offer thanksgiving just because we are feeling thankful. We offer it because He deserves it. We offer it because we are His children with all the benefits that relationship provides. He is worthy of our praise and thanksgiving. Period. Circumstances change. We change. He never changes.

A pop-up ad for Oscar Mayer bacon streamed across my computer screen.

“Thanksgiving doesn’t have to end Thursday night
….for the love of bacon.”

Hmmm, I’d rather say it this way:
“Thanksgiving doesn’t have to end Thursday night
….for the love of Jesus.”

Lord, thank You for Your unfailing, unending love for us. May we all experience Your presence today. May we sense Your love and provision. And as we fill up with thankfulness, may we offer up thanksgiving as a testimony to You.

He Gave Thanks

Posted on by Susan Panzica



The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 1 Cor. 11:23

Amazing! Jesus, knowing that He was betrayed, knowing that the bread represented His broken body, knowing what He was to suffer, gave thanks. So agonizing that He would later pray that His “cup” be taken from Him (Mt. 26:39), He still gave thanks to the Father.

And He set an example for us to follow (John 13:15).

Oh, but He was Jesus, God incarnate. We’re not. Surely, we can’t do what He can do… Can we?

Can we give thanks in the midst of suffering? Can we give thanks when there seems to be no hope?

James tells us to consider it joy whenever we face trials, not because of the trial itself, but because of what the trial produces: perseverance, maturity, completeness. (James 1:2-4) The New Living Translation puts it this way: Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

We are not asked to give thanks FOR the trial, but for the opportunity it presents to us. We are asked to give thanks in spite of the trial, to look past it and see that God is working in it and through it for our benefit.

Thanksgiving is a decision. It’s a choice that the Pilgrims made, and a choice that we must make. I was taught in school that the Pilgrims were thankful to the Indians. That’s false. The truth is that the Pilgrims were thankful to God. Not because of their hardships, but in spite of them. It is unlikely that any of us will ever face the hardships the Pilgrims faced. We have different ones in our generation, to be sure, but the fact that they were thankful to God despite their hardships provides hope that we can be too.

And He empowers us to do what He asks us to do.

You, however, are controlled … by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. … The Spirit helps us in our weakness. (Romans 8:9, 26)

And not only does He give us His power, He provides benefits and blessings besides!

My friend shared a recent disappointment with me. During our discussion, she made a statement I will long remember:
“A grateful heart is rarely discontent.”



Lord, help us to be grateful, to see the purpose in difficulties and disappointments, to allow You to work to bring us to maturity.

How to Survive Distractions

Posted on by Susan Panzica

Back in ancient Turkey lived a young boy who loved to amble through the marketplace. Accompanying his wandering feet were his wandering eyes… and his wandering hands. His curiosity turned him into a thief. The sights, sounds and smells of the marketplace were a relentless temptation for him. One quick grab, two swift feet and the object of his desire would be his.

Until he was caught.


The penalty for thievery = the amputation of the thief’s hands at dawn.


Slowly, the sun’s rays peeked out over the horizon. Dawn was coming too quickly for the little thief. Brought in chains before the king, he waited for his sentence to be carried out. As the king viewed the prisoner, compassion filled his heart. He presented a shell filled to the brim with oil to the lad. “If you can carry this shell through the market from one end to the other without spilling a drop, you will not have your hands cut off.”

Tenderly, the boy took the shell and worked his way through the market. The vendors hawked their wares, screaming for attention. The smells wafted up the boy’s nostrils. Colorful banners, tents, merchandise crowded his passageway through the alleys of the marketplace. But the boy carefully wove his way through the crowd, past all the distractions that usually captivated him.
 When he arrived at the other end, there stood the king awaiting his arrival. The boy raised the shell and presented it to the king, filled with oil. Not a drop was spilled.


“How did you manage to get through the market without spilling a drop?” asked the king.

“I kept my eyes focused on the shell the whole time,” said the boy.


“That,” said the king, “is how you are to always move through the market. Keep your eyes focused where they belong, and you will not be tempted by the distractions along the way.”






I share this story because we will all be in markets of various kinds over the next few weeks. The mall, the supermarket, the boutiques. We will be shopping for gifts, for food, for our families, to bring to other’s homes. There will be vendors tempting us with their wares, salespeople who are inattentive or incompetent, fellow shoppers who are inconsiderate, traffic jams, lack of parking, should I go on? There will be all manner of situations designed by the enemy to rob our joy, to steal our peace, to hinder our witness, to distract us from the real meaning and purpose of Thanksgiving and Christmas.


The antidote?

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Heb. 12:2-3

Fix our eyes on Jesus.


Consider Him.


And you will not grow weary and lose heart.






Lord, help us to fix our eyes, our minds, our emotions on You. Help us to sense Your presence in the midst of the chaos. We love You.

Advent Conspiracy

Posted on by Susan Panzica





Week #1 of our 40-day Focus is now complete! How are you doing keeping the Lord as the focus of your preparations, get-togethers, alone time? Today is a new day to start over if necessary. Invite Him to go shopping with you, to hang out in the kitchen with you, to spend time with your family.


Jesus prayed this for His disciples and for us, His future disciples.
My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. … I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” (John 17:15-18, 26)


We are under His protection as we are sent out into the world. He is in us as we travel here and there. He’s in us in the stores, in the traffic, in the family gatherings. We represent Him to the world. This time of year, we will have more opportunities to share Christ than at any other time of year. Let us make the most of every opportunity! Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Colossians 4:5


He didn’t promise it would be easy. He promised He would be with us.


Advent, the period of expectation and waiting for the arrival of Christmas, is quickly approaching.


Our family has decided that we will once again observe the Advent Conspiracy. We will not be buying gifts for each other this year. We will still do stocking stuffers (gotta open something on Christmas morning!), but our gifts to each other will be things like: support for missionaries in Uganda, wells for clean drinking water, etc. We will each research and individually decide which need we wish to meet with the money that we would otherwise have used for gifts. Last year, we bought my husband a fishing pond in Africa that will sustain a village. My gift was sewing machines for a vocational training center in Uganda (that my daughter visited in July). The kids bought fresh water and animals for impoverished people. We used catalogs from World Vision and Touch The World for our “shopping.”


The Advent Conspiracy has a four point message:
– Spend Less
– Give More
– Love All
– Worship Fully


I encourage you to take a look at the website www.adventconspiracy.org and share this information with your friends and family.













“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ “Matt. 25:40

Lord, as we approach the Advent season, help us to be ever more aware of Your presence. Help us daily to walk in expectation of Your coming.

Wish I Was There!

Posted on by Susan Panzica

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It’s that time of year when Christmas carols are streaming from stores’ P.A. speakers. What if every time we heard them, we imagined a “great cloud of witnesses” surrounding us singing praises to the Lord on high. Wouldn’t that make that trip to the mall worthwhile?

Alleluia!

ps – This is my 300th post! Now that deserves a Hallelujah!  

The Thanksgiving Key

Posted on by Susan Panzica

Today the morning news warned it’s a Gridlock Alert Day. For some that means – stay away from the city! But to me it means – everybody wants to go to NYC! Fun, fun, fun! Ok, maybe not for those who have to work, work, work.



Now to be honest, I have an aversion for crowds. Actually, aversion isn’t a strong enough word. Claustrophobia. Dread. Terror. For years, crowded places caused me actual panic attacks. Once after a concert in Central Park, the crowd was so dense that I was carried along to the exit without my feet touching the ground. I think that’s when the panic attacks started.

So you’d think hearing a Gridlock Alert warning would cause fear and trembling. Well, not any more! Can I hear an Amen!!

Perfect love casts out fear (1 Jn 4:18). That is my testimony. So I’d like to say that I never have fears anymore.


But that wouldn’t be true.

Certain triggers still cause my blood to drain to my feet, my chest to constrict, my heart to palpitate. A gridlock of emotions. That’s when Phil. 4:6 comes to life:

Do not be anxious about anything,
Well Paul that’s easy for you to say. Sure – just don’t be anxious. Got it. Yeah right.


but in every situation,
every? As in all, each, any, entire, without exception?


by prayer and petition,
do begging, pleading, beseeching count?

with thanksgiving,
Ooooo – there it is – the key. When the anxiety monster rears its ugly head, it is thanksgiving that opens the door to peace. Is there something you are thankful for? Start with one. Then start a list.


present your requests to God.
When I approach the Lord with anything other than a thankful heart, I miss out on the blessing of His presence.

Maybe it’s not crowds that trigger anxiety for you. Maybe it’s stress from relationships, work, health problems, yours or someone else’s. Whatever the situation, coupling prayer with thanksgiving is sure to produce Phil. 4:7 –
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.


I love to host Thanksgiving each year. But why limit thanksgiving to one day? If giving thanks is a daily experience, peace will be too.

The Master Craftsman

Posted on by Susan Panzica

Life is hard. But it is harder if you don’t know the One who created us, and re-creates us day by day.

In his book, “Encourage Me”, Chuck Swindoll related the story of “The Hammer, The File and The Furnace”. Here is part of that story that has ministered to me greatly over the years.



The hammer is a useful and handy instrument. It is an essential and helpful tool, if nails are ever to be driven into place. Each blow forces them to bite deeper as the hammer’s head pounds and pounds. But if the nail had feelings and intelligence, it would give us another side of the story. To the nail, the hammer is a brutal, relentless master – an enemy who loves to beat it into submission. That is the nail’s view of the hammer. It is correct. Except for one thing. The nail tends to forget that both it and the hammer are held by the same workman. The workman decides whose “head” will be pounded out of sight…and which hammer will be used to do the job. This decision is the sovereign right of the carpenter. Let the nail but remember that it and the hammer are held by the same workman…and its resentments will fade as it yields to the carpenter without complaint.


The same analogy holds true for the metal that endures the rasp of the file and the blast of the furnace. If the metal forgets that it and the tolls are objects of the same craftsman’s care, it will build up hatred and resentment. The metal must keep in mind that the craftsman knows what he’s doing … and is doing what is best.


Heartaches and disappointments are like the hammer, the file and the furnace. … As difficult as it may be for you to believe this today, the Master knows what He’s doing. Your Savior knows your breaking point. That bruising and crushing and melting process is designed to reshape you, not ruin you. Your value is increasing the longer He lingers over you.



No Separation Anxiety

Posted on by Susan Panzica

Today we say goodbye to our dear friend Pat who went home to Lord on Sunday morning. The loss we feel is palpable, a huge black hole, a separation. Yet the Scripture that I sense God speaking to me is:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No, 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. Romans 8:35, 38-39


As a child, my daughter and some of her little classmates suffered from separation anxiety. Leaving their moms at the door to preschool became a test of patience and grace. The moms knew they weren’t leaving their children, but the children’s perspective was one of separation.


As God’s children, we can be comforted to know that He will never leave us or forsake us. He has assured us of that repeatedly (Deut. 31:6, Deut. 31:8, Joshua 1:5, 1 Kings 8:57 and Hebrews 13:5). Nothing can separate us from His love (Rom. 8)


Jesus left His home in heaven to dwell among us. Did He experience separation anxiety? No, Jesus said that He and the Father are one. Though wrapped in flesh and living as a man, He was one with His Father. And He said that we are one with Him.

So if He feels distant, the question is: Who moved?


As far as we might feel from God sometimes, it is only ever one step back into experiencing His presence. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. Acts 3:19

Next week is Thanksgiving. We are given the opportunity to contemplate what we have to be thankful for. When we list our blessings, the fact that God desires to be in our presence should be at the top of our lists. Over these 40 days, may we rejoice in His presence.


You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of Your presence and the pleasures of living with You forever. Psalm 16:11