Category: devotion

Trust

Posted on by Susan Panzica
Once, there was a woman who asked God for a flower…
… and a butterfly.

But instead God gave her a cactus…

… and a caterpillar.

The woman was sad; she didn’t understand why her request was mistaken.
Then she thought: Oh, well, maybe God has too many people to care for…
maybe He doesn’t understand my needs…
She decided not to question.
After some time,

the woman went to check up on her request that she had left forgotten.
To her surprise, from the thorny and ugly cactus a beautiful flower had grown.

And the unsightly caterpillar had been transformed into the most beautiful butterfly.


God always does things right!

His way is ALWAYS the best way, even if to us it seems all wrong.
If you asked God for one thing & received another, TRUST.

You can be sure that He will always give you what you need at the appropriate time.

Today’s THORN…
Is tomorrow’s flower!

God gives the very best to those who leave the choices up to Him.

“… my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD‘s great love, we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore, I will wait for Him.”
Jeremiah 3:22-24

Cinderella Man

Posted on by Susan Panzica

As I’ve shared before, although I have grown to love it, there usually isn’t too much excitement in my son’s best sport, cross-country running. That is, until this year’s league championship race. With only one loss each, our team was tied with another team entering the race. There was much tension in the air to see who would end up as the League Champs. The gun sounded, the runners took off into woods, around the lake, back to the woods, and to thefinish line. One by one they came in, sweating, panting, exhausted. Which school would win the title? Unbelievable! The most unusual finish possible! It was a tie!

Now this sport has a unique method of scoring. Only a team’s first 5 runners to cross the finish line are counted for the team score. These are the runners whose names are recorded in the scorebooks and listed in the newspapers. But there are other runners on the teams who run just to finish (which is it’s own accomplishment!). Some aspire to break into the top 5, but often, their goal is just to improve their performance time. These runners rarely, if ever, are counted in the team score. That is, unless there is a tie!! Then the judges look to see where the 6th man on each team placed.

So the league championship title depended upon our 6th man, Jon. As usual, he finished near the end of the entire race. But he finished just ahead of our rival team’s 6th man!! A senior, Jon never received any public acclaim throughout his running career, but today, he was the hero!

As captain and 1st runner, my son, AJ, has had his name listed in the papers before. Today, he was quoted and had a whole paragraph, not for his own accomplishment but for the purpose of giving Jon the praise. This young man trained daily with his team. He ran a race to the best of his ability. He did it not for praise, but simply because it was what he was called to do. He never expected any reward other than the satisfaction of a job well done.

You and I run through our day, without any recognition most of the time. Yet if we are not distracted, if we keep our eye on the prize set before us, for a crown that will last forever, that is all the reward we need. One day, we will stand before the Judge who will say “Well done!”

1 Cor. 9:25-27 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

Susan

Gentle Leader

Posted on by Susan Panzica

Roxie Panzica

My little pup, Roxie (I’ll explain the name in a future post – think “rock-see”) and I took a stroll yesterday in the beautiful autumn weather. Now, this doggie of mine is a natural born “puller”. She always has been. Put the leash on her, and she is so excited, she can’t wait to get moving. It puts a terrible strain on her neck. We tried the choker collar to no avail. Tried one with teeth that cut into her neck, that was a nightmare. Then we found the “Gentle Leader”. It is a miracle. No stress. No pulling. No problem. It’s based on the theory of a horse’s reign. Instead of attaching the leash to the back of her neck, it attaches under her chin. If she pulls, her head will go down and she stops pulling immediately. The only thing is – she doesn’t much like putting it on.
Saddest face ever 🙁

When she sees it coming, she turns her head to the side. So like the mom I am, I start talking to her: “I know, baby, it’s not what you want, but it’s what you need.” Well, that reminded me of the Rolling Stones song my husband would sing to our kids when they were young: “You can’t always get what you want… you get what you need…”

This episode got me thinking that I have a Gentle Leader too: “You will keep on guiding me with Your command leading me to a glorious destiny.” Psalm 73:24 Our Lord is a most Gentle Leader, is He not? We want to pull this way or that. He knows that often what we want is not what we need, and He leads us in the right direction. We may resist or turn aside, but if we allow Him to direct us our paths, we will experience His best for us.

Roxie overcomes her initial objection because she knows that it’s only with the Gentle Leader she’ll have that walk she longs to have.

Oh, so happy! 🙂

Would we be so wise and let our Gentle Leader lead us!!
Susan

Daredevils

Posted on by Susan Panzica

Yesterday morning on the Today show, Nik Wallenda of the Flying Wallendas crossed between 2 buildings on a tightwire – 12 stories up – on a bicycle – without a net!! At every commercial break, the anchors said to stay tuned for “Daredevil Nik Wallenda”. Got me thinking about that word – daredevil.

You and I may not attempt to cross a high-wire, go base-jumping, or scale a skyscraper, but we may be daredevils nevertheless.

I’m not referring to those certain sinful behaviors that are clearly defined as acts of the sinful nature (drunkenness, sexual immorality, outbursts of anger). Consider this – we are being a daredevil when we secretly harbor bitterness in our hearts. Paul calls bitterness a “root”, and like Jack and the Beanstalk, that root will grow and eventually overtake us. When we are consumed with bitterness, our focus is not on God, but on the person we resent. Often, that person has no idea and is walking around carefree, and meanwhile we are so focused on them that they actually have control over us! Any move they make elicits a response in us. I have heard it said that: “Bitterness does more damage to the vessel that contains it than to the object on which it is poured.” It is like an acid that burns inside, even if we are smiling on the outside.

How about secret jealousies, longings, pride, entertaining temptations (even if we never act on them)? Or what about busyness? We can be so busy that our time with our Savior is at the bottom of our to-do list. All these make us “daredevils” as we keep our toe in the polluted ocean hoping not to get bitten by the powerful shark lurking nearby.

I once saw a Christian T-shirt that said, “I’m a confident Christian. Bring on the lions.” Whoa, yes – we can be confident that Satan is a defeated foe. He has no power over us, and cannot even touch us unless he gets the go-ahead from the Lord, our protector. But Peter tells us he is like a “lion, prowling around seeking someone to devour.” I say he is like a lion whose teeth have been knocked out. We need not live in constant fear of the enemy, but a lion without teeth is still a potent adversary, and we would do well to keep our focus on our Savior, our Protector, our Deliver, our Redeemer. Keep our focus in His Word, and let it nourish us so that we may be strong to resist temptation. Focus is what daredevil Nik Wallenda needed to cross the tightwire, and focus is what we need to safely navigate our way, too.

Susan

RUNNING THE RACE!

Posted on by Susan Panzica

Wow! To all who signed on, commented and emailed me, a huge thanks for all your encouragement! I’m so excited I can’t wait until tomorrow! I’m doing another blog today!!

It’s autumn here in Jersey. My favorite season. I love the colors, the coolness, the apples… and cross-country season! My son is an excellent cross country runner, and I have come to love this sport. It’s not because it’s exciting to watch. After all, the runners take off, and you don’t see a thing until 16 – 20 minutes later when the runners return to cross the finish line. I love the sport because although there is the team element, you can be a winner even if your team doesn’t come in first. Just improve your time from your last race, and you’re a winner. In fact, just crossing the finish line makes you a winner. How many of us can run those 3.1 miles?

At my son’s last race, as I was waiting for our guys to start coming back, the previous race was concluding. It was a girls’ race, and many girls had come in already when my eye caught one girl who was struggling with the last ¼ mile. She was bent over, and it was clearly an effort for her to put one foot in front of the other. And it was uphill besides! Then I saw 5 girls run over and begin running beside her. They had already crossed the finish line, some wearing medals indicating that they had been in the top 10. But now they ran beside their teammate shouting encouragement along the way. “You can do it, Jen!” “Keep it up, Jen!” “You’re almost there, Jen!” “We’re with you, Jen!” Jen still struggled, but her head lifted higher. She found new energy to keep going. (It was all I could do to not start bawling out loud.) I had just witnessed teamwork at its best.

And that is what we are called to do as well. We are all part of the same team, and we must continually encourage one another as long as it is called today. Solomon tells us that two are better than one because if one falls down, the other can pick her up. He goes on to say, “A cord of three is not quickly broken.” You, me and God –now that’s a team!!

Susan

Holding Hands with God

Posted on by Susan Panzica

Thanks for visiting Eternity Cafe today. Well, friends, I’m finally in the 21st century, and here’s my first post!! It is my desire that this blog will serve to shine God’s light in your life and mine. I just love to share ideas, stories, illustrations, photos, even recipes as they come to me, either through my crazy brain or by way of email, devotions, sermons, conversation, etc. I hope that you will join me adding your insights by posting your comments.

For my first post, I chose a story that is near and dear to my heart. Years ago, when my 20 year old daughter was just four, we were standing side by side in church singing during the worship service. (By the way, she now stands beside her dad as she plays bass guitar leading the worship with him! How time flies!) But at that time, my observant little girl asked me a question. She said, “Why do people raise their hands when they worship?” I was just about to share my great wisdom with her, providing some brilliant answer when I felt what seemed to be the Lord just shutting my mouth. So I asked her, “Why do you think that people raise their hands when they worship?” To which she replied, “I think that they are holding hands with God.”

From that moment on, I always asked her (and my son) what they thought before I provided my answer!

Her answer revealed so much insight into what our relationship with God ought to be. It was the prophet Micah who said, “He has showed you, O man (or woman), what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” You might say “… to walk holding hands with God.”

Now just imagine that you are a child holding the hand of your Father. His hand covers yours, and you feel His protection. He is so much bigger than you are. He is gripping you tightly because He doesn’t want to lose you. He doesn’t want any harm to come to you. He wants to protect you, even though sometimes He allows you to reap consequences, because that too, is for your good.

Imagine as you hold His hand where His eyes are. He can see across the street. He can see what lies ahead. He can see where the dangers are, and He can shield you from them. Imagine His vision and realize how limited your vision is. And remember, when a child holds her daddy’s hand, it is gripped and supported – He is doing the holding! It is not nearly as difficult as when you try to keep your hand raised on your own.

Imagine how much the owner of that Hand loves you. How He cares for your every need, even those that you don’t realize you have. How His grip is a confirmation of how you are tenderly loved with a strength beyond your own understanding. Realize that if a great danger were heading your way, how He would push you out of the way, and sacrifice Himself that you might live.

This is what it is to be a child of God.

See you next time!!

Susan