The Nightmare of Lost Agendas

Cynthia Ruchti's prose is heart-healing, filled with hope. In this Biblical Thinking UPGRADE, she encourages us to place our hope in God in one of the most practical areas of our lives—our schedules.

"I glared at my computer screen as if it had betrayed me," Cynthia said. "My calendar—ergo, my life—was gone!"

I (Dawn) shudder to think what that might feel like. I live by the calendar! Thankfully, there's some good advice here for people like me. And you?

Cynthia continues . . .

The calendar template showed when I clicked on the icon that nightmarish day. But all the spaces were blank.

I had no record of upcoming doctor and dentist appointments, no notations to remind me to send in a blog post before its due date, no scheduled radio interviews or contact information, no schedule of speaking events two years into the future, no record of events from the past, and NO HOPE of retrieving the information.

I checked the iPhone version and the iPad version, grasping at electronic straws.

     Nothing.

Panic remained off-stage for a while. There’s always a way to retrieve lost information, isn’t there? I’d invested in a hefty backup system.

Looked there.

     Nothing.

I contacted the company that sponsors the calendar.

     “Can’t help you, ma’am.”

I searched my files and piles of paper, thinking I might have printed off the next three months’ worth of calendar pages, at least.

     Nope.

That task—printing off the calendars—was on the To-do list on the now blank calendar.

All my agendas, lost. All opportunities, gone.

With a distressing number of phone calls and apologies to doctors’ offices and event planners, I could piece together bits of the missing information. But I couldn’t retrieve what I couldn’t remember was gone. It was on the calendar so I didn’t have to trust my brain and its sketchy recall abilities.

Days passed with no solution. I had no idea what I might have missed during those disturbingly empty days.

But I began to see what I could gain—a new perspective.

1. “My times are in His Hands” (Psalm 31:15 NIV).

They’re not the indentured servants of an online calendar.

 2. “You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail” (Proverbs 19:21 NLT).

I’d planned and planned and planned, wedging responsibilities between other responsibilities when I saw the slimmest opening. In a moment, my carefully constructed plans were gone. But God’s plans for me hadn’t and wouldn’t change.

3. “People plan their path, but the LORD secures their steps” (Proverbs 16:9 CEB).

I’d considered my calendar written in indelible ink. Instead, it was disappearing ink.

The only plans worthy of permanent ink status are God’s instructions to love, give, serve, and live according to His Spirit.

By a miracle of grace that I still can’t explain, the calendar notations reappeared days later. But not until I’d caught the significance of what it meant to lose my agendas in favor of the ones that mattered most. His.

The lesson was driven deeper when editing a book I’d written about a woman whose plans were upended by job loss and her voice silenced—blanked—by a collection of traumas. She was forced to face many of the same issues I stared at during the nightmare of my lost agendas.

That book—Song of Silence—just released.  

God misses no details.

Take a look at your calendar. Color-coded? Crammed with activity and responsibility?

• What if all you’ve included were erased and all that remained were God’s directions for your days?
• What would it look like then?
• And what can you do to intentionally erase a few unnecessaries before He has to hit DELETE?

Cynthia Ruchti tells stories hemmed in hope, drawing from more than three decades writing and producing a 15-minute daily radio broadcast. She’s the award-winning author of 18 books and a frequent speaker for women’s ministry events. To purchase Cynthia's newest book, Song of Silence, visit here, or to read about it: here. Check out Cynthia's website for information about her speaking ministry.

Graphic: "Computer Monitor," image courtesy of Teerapun at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Ready or Not ... Here It Comes!

One of Cynthia Ruchti's goals in life is to hem people's lives with hope. In this thoughtful Christmas UPGRADE, she encourages us to prepare our hearts for the true, hope-filled meaning of this special day.

“I watched the TV show with fascination as the hungry, curious crowd waited out in the cold for hours for the restaurant makeover to be complete," Cynthia says. "But that’s not Christmas. It comes whether we’re ready or not.”

I (Dawn) must admit, it took me a long time to get ready for Christmas this year. Oh, I readied all the "fixin's" of the holiday, but in the rush ... 

I wonder if I've taken enough time to prepare my heart. 

Cynthia Ruchti continues . . . 

It feels as raw as a bitter December wind, but the sting comes from its inescapable truth. Ready or not, Christmas is coming.

I’ve aged out of my earlier years of Christmas frenzy—two or three cookie exchanges, an endless stream of events and holiday parties that often butted up against one another, the perfect holiday centerpiece/gift/tree/decorations/meal ....

I used to make handcrafted cards for all 140 homes on my Christmas card list, while caring for young children, serving at church, writing for radio, and making homemade gifts for the neighbors.

In some ways, I felt a little like Mary’s birthing coach as Christmas neared, begging her, “Don’t push! I’m not ready!”

I’ve trimmed all but the essential and most meaningful from that overcrowded list of Christmas preparations.

My heart had no opportunity to ready itself for Christmas when my mind was engaged in readying everything else.

The heart that wants to be truly prepared for Christmas in­cludes on the calendar only projects, activities, and special events cleared through, approved by, introduced by God.

A new opportunity is added only when there is clear confir­mation that participation will draw us closer to the heart of Christmas rather than pull us farther away from it, from Him.

Some who are now taking a different approach to filling (or trim­ming) their holiday schedules suggest we ask our­selves questions like these:  

• Will I be doing this out of a sense of obligation to other people or out of love for Jesus?
• Will my relationships with my family be strengthened or ham­pered and strained if I partici­pate?
• What will it cost them? What’s the ROI ("return on my investment") of time and energy?
• Can I miss this activity or oppor­tunity without serious consequences or a sense of loss?
• Am I convinced that it will strengthen my spiritual stamina?

Des­criptive of Christ’s birth, these familiar words also serve as guidelines for us in our spiritual preparations:

“Keeping watch over their flock..." (Luke 2:8b).

In other words, not neglecting the needs of our “flock”—our families. 

“Good tidings of great joy...” (Luke 2:10).

This is not losing sight of the truth that, ex­cept for His resurrection, the birth of Jesus is the highpoint in all of history. 

“Born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord...”(Luke 2:11).

 We realize His coming takes on very personal significance.

“Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us" (Luke 2:15).

We go straight to "Bethlehem," bypassing some of the social activ­ities and so-called obliga­tions of the moment. 

“But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).

What would happen this Christmas if we spent less time scurrying and more time “ponder­ing”? 

A cherished Christmas song says,

“Let every heart prepare Him room.”

What activity or obligation are you intentionally trimming from your list this year so your heart can be better prepared? Ready or not, here He comes!

Cynthia Ruchti tells stories hemmed in hopt through her award-winning novels, novellas, devotionals and nonfiction, and also through speaking events for women and writers. She and her husband live in the heart of Wisconsin, not far from their three children and five grandchildren. Connect with Cynthia at hemmedin hope.com and look for her new Christmas novella, An Endless Christmas.

Graphic adapted, Nativity crib, from Pixabay.

He's Making Art

Cynthia Ruchti invites us to think biblically about our lives, and in this Attitude UPGRADE she asks us to examine our hearts: How is God making my life beautiful?

"I now walk through art galleries and fairs asking myself, 'What had to be broken in order to create this art?'" Cynthia said.

I (Dawn) don't usually think of brokenness and art at the same time, but I love Cynthia's approach, and it makes me more grateful for the grace of God.

Cynthia continues . . . 

While researching artistic mending techniques for a recently released nonfiction book titled Tattered and Mended: The Art of Healing the Wounded Soul, I could feel the angle of my heart shifting.

Something has to break first in order for an artist to create.

Under the skilled hand of a master jeweler, gemstones in their raw form are chiseled and ground and intentionally shattered into smaller, workable pieces before they can grace an artistic ring or necklace.

GemologyOnline.com says, “Bruting grinds away the edges, providing the outline shape (for example, heart, oval or round) for the gem… Once the fully faceted diamond has been inspected and improved, it is boiled in hydrochloric and sulfuric acids to remove dust and oil." 

• A stained glass artist uses bits and pieces, scraps and shards of colored glass. Sometimes the artist takes a full sheet of glass and intentionally breaks it to create the piece he or she needs when creating the masterpiece.
• A painter breaks the seal on the fresh tube of pigment. 
• A fiber artist twists the threads, or separates them, or punches a needle into fabric.
• A potter starts by cutting or “wedging” the clay, then kneading it for as many as fifty strokes before throwing it onto the potter’s wheel.
• A mosaic artist rejoices over finding broken pieces of porcelain, china, pottery, envisioning the art it can become.

 The deeper I look, the more convinced I am:

Broken pieces don’t spell the end of something, but the beginning.

The psalmist David said so, too. “A broken spirit is my sacrifice, God. You won’t despise a heart, God, that is broken and crushed” (Psalm 51:17 CEB).

Walk the halls of His gallery. What do you see? Portraits of uncommon courage. Displays of resilience that speak of God’s power to endure. Pictures of the reformed, reshaped, remolded, recovered, rehabbed, reclaimed, rebuilt, redeemed.

Where does that leave us when we scramble to collect the shards of a broken life? What hope can we draw from His Word and His character?

1. He invites us into the mending process. (Psalm 34:18; Psalm 147:3; Isaiah 57:15)

2. He can’t resist the broken. (Psalm 51:17)

3. We won’t always find the process comfortable. (I Peter 4:19)

4. What emerges when He’s finished will have an impact on others. (Job 23:10)

5. God doesn’t merely iron a temporary patch over a threadbare spot or sweep up shattered pieces and discard them. He sorts through them, handles them tenderly, and creates art. (Isaiah 61:3)

When you hear about—or experience—heart-shattering news, are you more likely to ask, “God, what are You doing?” or to assume, “He’s making art”?

Cynthia Ruchti is an award-winning author and frequently-requested speaker. She tells stories hemmed in hope through her novels, novellas, devotionals, nonfiction, and speaking events for women. You can connect with her at cynthiaruchti.com and learn more about her books, including the July 2015 release—Tattered and Mended: The Art of Healing the Wounded Soul.

Graphic adapted, Image courtesy of Feelart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

When the Ache Won't Go Away

With the wisdom of a story-telling sage, Cynthia Ruchti leads women to the Source of grace and hope:

“Like an abscessed tooth, the memory of Darren’s betrayal kept Marika from chewing on that side of life,” Ruchti said. “The pain throbbed through her entire being. She thought she was doing fine until she’d chomp down on something hard—like her daughter’s fatherless recital—and restart the cycle of pain.”

Her words are more than one woman’s story. It’s a lesson to help us UPGRADE our attitudes as we deal with life’s hurts.

Ruchti continues ...

I pray you don’t identify with Marika’s stabbing distress. But I know better than to assume you don’t. Or that you don’t care about someone walking her path.

We’ve heard the stories too often—the husband who walks away from his family, who chooses to ignore his responsibilities and his marriage vows in favor of the adventure of someone who comes packaged with no responsibilities but a good time, someone who treats him like a pubescent boy rather than the man he’s supposed to be.

He gets a condo in the city. The Marikas in the story are stuck with an impossible mortgage, the full weight of raising their children, an awkward or no social life, leaky gutters, a mini-van with an ailing transmission, and an abscess-like sense of rejection.

Or the situation is flipped, an all-too frequent occurrence. She and her girlfriend decide to leave their husbands and kids and share a condo in the city, a place that allows them a freedom that comes at the cost of their marriages and their children’s happiness.

Referring to fractured families like Marika’s, a quote from Ragged Hope: Surviving the Fallout of Other People’s Choices says,

“The spittle of parental hostility always lands on the children. A feud between Mom and Dad is as hard to breathe through as secondhand smoke.”

As a gossamer, balm-laced overlay to that picture, though, is this unshakable truth that cuts through the pain:

God doesn’t just care; He understands.

We lean on His power, His ability to hold us, His tenacious love for us, no matter which part of the abscess equation is ours. But this too is true—His understanding has no limit.

His love is limitless. His forgiveness is limitless. His compassion knows no bounds. His mercy is limitless. We cling to those promises. But here’s a holding-on place for trying times that gets less attention than others. The Bible assures us there is no limit to His understanding (Psalm 147:5).

He understands how deeply betrayal cuts. He understands our insomnia, our frustration, our weariness, our battle to keep from letting bitterness dictate our reactions. He understands it all.

          He doesn’t just know. He understands.

          He doesn’t just see. He sees why.

          He doesn’t just react. He creates.

          He doesn’t just care. He shows it.

          He doesn’t just love us through it. He gets it.

He understands exactly how fast our world is spinning and how close it’s tiptoeing to the edge.

He understands how ragged and worn we sometimes feel.

          He understands it all. All.

Fill your lungs with that bracing breath of life today. No matter what we face, Someone understands.

Now, there’s something to hold onto while we wait for the pain to subside!

When has God’s understanding encouraged you to hang on and persevere?

Cynthia Ruchti is the author of Ragged Hope: Surviving the Fallout of Other People’s Choices, a book that takes a look at the realities of the consequences we face because of another’s wrong, hurtful, misguided, or sinful decisions. Filled with stories of those who responded admirably and with uncommon grace, the book also addresses those of us who walk beside people caught in the aftermath of someone else’s bad decision. You can connect with Cynthia on her website or Facebook Reader Page to find out more about this book and others she’s written.