Mount Up with Wings as ... Horseflies?

Rhonda Rhea. Just thinking of her makes me smile. This God-centered humorist never fails to make me laugh ... and think. In this SPIRITUAL LIFE and ATTITUDE UPGRADE, she calls us to trust God in our struggles and learn to soar with Him.

"Unbelievable. First of all, it was the biggest horsefly-looking thing I’d ever seen," Rhonda says. "Was it a bird? A pterodactyl maybe?"

Didn't I (Dawn) tell you? She always has a funny perspective on life.

Rhonda continues . . .

More horse than fly, really. I think I could’ve saddled it. We’re talking about a horrifyingly large horsefly here. I read somewhere that the lifespan of the average horsefly is only a few days. If that’s true then this one had been alive for about four years.

But in addition to being huge, it was scary-strong.

The thing stayed on the windshield of my moving vehicle for 10 miles—during most of which I was clipping along at a speed of at least 55 miles per hour. What even WAS that thing?

He just kept staring through the windshield. Like he was creepily saying, “I’m keeping a compound eye on you.”

Also interesting was the fact that although it looked like he was having a hard time keeping his wings attached to his body, he could’ve just let go and flown away any time. But he just kept hanging on. I kind of wonder if he thought he was actually pulling the car.

How often do we struggle? Flapping our flimsy wings, thinking we’re hauling some heavy-duty situation along ourselves, acting for all the world like everything depends on us?

Hey, fellow-horseflies! We’re not pulling the car! It’s too heavy. It’s too big. It’s too…it’s just too “TOO.”

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never grows faint or weary; there is no limit to His understanding.  

He gives strength to the weary and strengthens the powerless. Youths may faint and grow weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:28-31, HCSB).

The Lord knows our struggles. And He knows exactly what we need to be able to persevere, to overcome, to experience victory—to fly. He will strengthen us at our every weak place.

Horsefly wings? No thanks. How about that set of eagle wings instead. The key? It’s trust. “Those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength.”

The word for “trust” in Isaiah 40:31 is a word that includes the idea of looking eagerly for, lying in wait—expecting.

Oh blessed thought, expectantly knowing that the Lord will be our strength? That activates our strength! And it’s that trust that can launch us into victorious flight. Fifty-five mph? That’s nothing! No flapping and sputtering either. Peacefully soaring.

There’s nothing that’s “too anything” for our never-tiring, ever-trustworthy God.

Poor horsefly, he never soared. Before he finally let go and took off in a new direction, he looked a little like he’d taken a ride in a blender. We have choices too. Struggle to lift the car on our own and take a ride on blender blades, or let go in peaceful trust and let the Lord be our strength. And then…soar.

O Lord, let us trust in You in every struggle and soar in Your strength and peace!

As far as the bug on my windshield, I hope he doesn’t blame me for his lack of soaring. What if he decided to take revenge? It’d be like, an eye for an eye for an eye for an eye….

Are there struggles/obstacles weighing you down, keeping you from soaring? Ready to trust of the great God of the universe and let that trust outweigh all those temporary things?

Rhonda Rhea is a humor columnist and the author of 10 nonfiction books, including Espresso Your Faith and Join the Insanity—Crazy-Fun Life in the Pastors’ Wives Club. She also coauthors fiction with her daughter, Kaley Faith Rhea. Their first novel, Turtles in the Road, releases this fall with two more completed and coming soon. Rhonda speaks at conferences and events all over the country and she and her daughters host the TV show, That’s My Mom, for Christian Television Network’s KNLJ airing in mid-Missouri.

Photo in graphic from Morguefile.

Grace Comes in XXL

Rhonda Rhea combines humor with biblical truth for a blend that zings right to the heart. In this Spiritual Growth UPGRADE, she enlarges our concept of God's grace.

“Veni, vidi, venti”—maybe that’s not how everyone says it," Rhonda says, "but I’m pretty sure it means:  “I came, I saw, I ordered a large coffee.”

Coffee? What's that got to do with grace, I (Dawn) ask? Hold on. As usual, Rhonda has an important point to make.

She continues . . . 

Some days the coffee just doesn’t seem large enough.

Or maybe it’s simply that however big it is, the to-do list seems bigger.

But God’s grace? It’s always bigger than enough. And in 1 Peter 1:13 we’re told to stay just-had-a-large-coffee kind of alert to His grace.

“So brace up your minds; be sober…morally alert; set your hope wholly and unchangeably on the grace (divine favor) that is coming to you” (AMP).

Just think about God’s saving grace, His seasoning grace, and His sustaining grace.

His grace:

1. It Saves Us! We can’t earn grace or it’s no longer grace.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

If you have given your life to Christ, your sin has been thoroughly erased through the gift of His grace.

2. It Seasons Us! Then once we’re saved, we continue to live in that grace.

It’s His grace that changes us, grows us, seasons us. It doesn’t add duties so that we can live up to our salvation. It’s a change of purpose because of a change of heart. He transforms our desires, our thoughts, our words and our actions. That’s more of His grace at work.

“He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time” (2 Timothy 1:9).

3. It Sustains Us! He also gives us comforting grace for trials we face.

It’s the kind of grace that holds us up when circumstances are difficult and when life is painful.

When Paul was in pain, the Lord told him, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

There it is again—the “enough-ness” of His grace. It’s everything we need.

Just when you think there couldn’t possibly be more, there’s more grace still.

“For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16, ESV).

So I’m thinking about the grace of God today and His great love for me. I’m thinking about that grace upon grace, my heart overflowing with gratitude.

You can bask in that grace too. Know that it’s yours.

Do you want a stronger faith? Second Timothy 2:1 says to “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” If you’re searching for strength, look toward His grace.

So are you ready to let staying alert to God’s amazing grace be the “venti-est” part of your to-do list today?

Rhonda Rhea is a humor columnist, radio personality, speaker and author of 10 books, including How Many Lightbulbs Does It Take to Change a Person?, Espresso Your Faith - 30 Shots of God's Word to Wake You Up, and a book designed to encourage Pastor's Wives (P-Dubs): Join the Insanity. Rhonda,a sunny pastor's wife, lives near St. Louis and is "Mom" to five grown children. Find out more atwww.RhondaRhea.com. 

Blog post adapted from Espresso Your Faith—30 Shots of God’s Word to Keep You Focused on Christ.

Out with the Ick, In with the Peace

As a writer, I’ve often wished I could exchange brains with witty, truth-gritty Rhonda Rhea. She says more with 15 minutes of humor than most people spout in an hour. In this Spiritual Life UPGRADE, Rhonda explains how a decluttered mind can help us grow in peace.

“O, they tell me of an unclouded brain!” Rhonda says. “How can I exchange brain clutter for peace?”

An unclouded brain. An uncluttered brain. I (Dawn) would like either one! Too much brain fog lately! Help me, Rhonda!

Rhonda continues…

I had a wrestling match with my vacuum recently. It was doing that wimpy-clean thing—you know, where you have to get down on your hands and knees and hand-feed it every little fuzz ball?

If I’m going to do that, I might as well not have a vacuum cleaner. I could just pick up the fuzz and throw it in the trash myself, right?

A vacuum that’s lost all its “suck-ocity” is not worth much. So I got the thing in a headlock to find the problem.

Hey, why are the contents of a vacuum cleaner always gray? It doesn’t matter what color your carpet is. Doesn’t matter what color dirt you’ve tracked in. The vacuum dirt is always gray. What is that?

Every once in a while I kind of wonder if I lost my mind, then vacuumed it up.

Amongst the disgusting gray matter, I found a problematic little lump of sock. Then there was that piece of string. While I call it a string, it was more like a length of yarn that could’ve been an entire sweater in another life.

I was also surprised to find what I thought was a loofa. But then I realized it was just a bunch of those little plastic fishing-line-like connectors that attach price tags to things. Who knew they could find each other inside the dark recesses of the vacuum and form their own little solar system? Weird.

At least it gave me a little reminder. When we let our minds suck up the wrong things, we can’t expect them to work the way they’re supposed to either.

We need to stay alert to emptying out the dirt clods and to filling our minds with thoughts that feed our spirits and grow our faith.

Negative, evil thoughts will find each other in the dark recesses of our minds.

And they multiply.

The next thing you know, you find yourself with a solar-system-sized problem in your thought life.

There’s so much garbage available to us. On the Internet, TV, movies, magazines—it’s accessible at every turn of the head. If we let our minds continually suck up trashy junk, we shouldn’t be surprised when we have difficulty walking out our faith-life well.

It’s not just a matter of emptying our minds. No one wants to stay empty-headed.

We don’t want our minds filled with mere fluff either.

It’s about filling our minds well. Paul tells us in Philippians 4:8-9 what we’re to feed on: 

 “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

There’s a lot less wrestling with our minds when we fill them with the right things.

Less wrestling, more peace. As a matter of fact, that passage doesn’t simply say we’ll experience great peace, it tells us that the God of peace Himself will be “with” us. Remembering His presence makes all the difference.

And as far as the vacuum is concerned, I think it’ll make a difference there if I clean the thing out a little more often. Pretty sure I found a gerbil. Even though we’ve never had one.

Ready to de-clog, getting rid of anything cluttering up your mind and stealing away your peace?

Rhonda Rhea is a humor columnist and the author of 10 nonfiction books, including Espresso Your Faith and Join the Insanity—Crazy-Fun Life in the Pastors’ Wives Club. She also coauthors fiction with her daughter, Kaley Faith Rhea. Their first novel, Turtles in the Road, releases this fall with two more completed and coming soon. Rhonda speaks at conferences and events all over the country and she and her daughters host the TV show, That’s My Mom, for Christian Television Network’s KNLJ airing in mid-Missouri.

Article adapted from Espresso Your Faith: 30 Shots of God’s Word to Keep You Focused on Christ.

Friendship Praying

Rhonda Rhea is known for her humor, but I also appreciate her practical leadership and encouragement. In this Relationship UPGRADE, she touches on one important way to strengthen our friendships.

“Ever feel lonely? You’re ‘not alone,’ as it were, in feeling alone,” Rhonda said. “It’s amazing how so many can know a gazillion people—yet still experience a devastating loneliness. Prayer can change that.”

I (Dawn) know the Word of God encourages us to make “supplication” for “all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18) and “for all people” (1 Timothy 2:1), and this certainly applies to praying for our friends. So many scriptures about prayer can be applied to our friendships, and especially to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Try it!

Rhonda continues . . .

The truth is, we need each other.

We need to pray for each other. We need to pray for our friends!

Here are some “ifs” for friendship praying:

1. If you’re experience smothering loneliness:

• Ask the Lord to send you a “breath of fresh air” kind of friend.
• Ask Him to help you become someone else’s breath of fresh air as well.

2. If you’ve been wounded in a friendship:

• Ask the Lord to give you the ability to forgive and to help you move forward and trust again.

3. If you’re not already:

Ask the Lord to give you courage to become proactive in making and maintaining friendships.

4. If you have at least one close friend:

• Thank the Lord for the amazing blessing she is.
• Ask Him to make you a blessing to her.
• Ask Him to give each of you wisdom in honoring Him through the friendship.

Which of these “if” prayers could make the biggest difference in your friendships today?

Rhonda Rhea is a humor columnist, radio personality, speaker and author of 10 books, including How Many Lightbulbs Does It Take to Change a Person?, Espresso Your Faith - 30 Shots of God's Word to Wake You Up, and a book designed to encourage Pastor's Wives (P-Dubs): Join the Insanity. Rhonda, a sunny pastor's wife, lives near St. Louis and is "Mom" to five grown children. Find out more at www.RhondaRhea.com.

Post adapted from Rhonda’s book, Join the Insanity: Crazy-Fun Life in the Pastors' Wives Club.

Graphic adapted—Image courtesy of Witthaya Phonsawat at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

How to Grow Faith at the Cellular Level

Author and pastor’s wife Rhonda Rhea always tickles my funny bone, right before she whops me right upside the head with truth!

“My kids are all in their early twenties and all very tech-savvy, so it was really funny the other day

when they saw one of the earliest cell phones,” Rhonda says. “I’m talking vintage here—just this side of fossilized. And huge. A dinosaur in every way.”

            

If you know the kind of phones Rhonda’s talking about, you’re dating yourself. Dr. Martin Cooper (pictured here) is credited with creating the first cell phone for Motorola. Imagine holding that to your ear for while … can you say, “Muscle cramp”?

Rhonda continues …

I dubbed the phone “Cell-a-saurus Rex.” My kids thought it must be some sort of coffee grinder. I think one of them was trying to get it to churn butter.

If you want to know what it was really like with those first mobile phones, try holding your microwave oven upside your head. All the mobile phone bells and whistles? I’m pretty sure on those first phones, they were actual bells and whistles.

I told my kids that I thought people probably had a tough time back then knowing if a guy was listening to his boom box or talking on his cell phone. Of course, then I had to explain what a boom box was. I told them it was a giant mp3 player.

I’m thankful technology is always evolving, coming up with something bigger and better.

Or sometimes something smaller and better.

Sometimes size is pretty relative. I want a big faith. I really do. I want super-sized faith with all the bells and whistles. But when the disciples asked Jesus to give them bigger faith, Jesus answered in a rather surprising way.

In Luke 17:5 the disciples said to Jesus, “Increase our faith.” Jesus’ answer? “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you’” (HCSB).

Matthew tells us that Jesus said, “For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you,’” (Matthew 17:20, HCSB).

According to Jesus Himself, with even the tiniest faith, we can do huge things. Impossible things. Impossible things like bearing fruit in our ministries. Even finding great joy in it.

It’s not so much the SIZE of the faith as it is WHO the faith is in.

A faith planted firmly in Christ and an obedient response to His lordship makes a huge impact on life. Mountainous!

It’s good to remember that faith grows at the deepest part of who we are. At the “cellular” level, if you will. Not just the surface parts. Not even just the p-dub service parts. But all the way to the heart.

Paul tells us in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Don’t you love it that His Word teaches us about His character, His history, His power and His incomparable trustworthiness?

Studying the character of God has changed my faith. It always changes our faith—all the way down to our deepest, heart-of-heart parts. The more we study Him through His Word, and the more we know Him, the more we respond in obedience, and the more our faith grows.

How has God’s Word deepened your faith? Increased your faith? Stretched your faith?

Rhonda Rhea is a humor columnist, radio personality, speaker and author of 10 books, including How Many Lightbulbs Does It Take to Change a Person?, Espresso Your Faith - 30 Shots of God's Word to Wake You Up and a book designed to encourage Pastor’s Wives (P-Dubs): Join the Insanity. This sunny pastor’s wife lives near St. Louis and is “Mom” to five grown children. Find out more at www.RhondaRhea.com.

Note: Post is excerpted/adapted from Chapter 10, Join the Insanity.