Category: Faith Stories

Daring. Leadership. Promise.

These are the star words that I’ve collected over the last few years. I gaze upon them regularly, as they hover beside me 40 hours a week, clipped to the lampshade on my desk. These are the words I carry with me for at least a year, and even beyond, as I really haven’t been able to shake any of them yet. They have taken my breath away; they’ve left my mind pondering, my heart pounding and my soul stirring; they’ve made me pay attention to them.

It’s great to have a star word to hang one’s hat upon for 365 days.

My star word resides in my periphery. For a season or longer, it rests on the tip of my tongue; it is imprinted on my heart. I am keenly aware of it when I encounter it in my daily living, or in worship or in song or prayer; the hearing or seeing of my star word or its illustration prompts me to turn my eyes upon Jesus, praying for guidance, querying its application, or even insisting upon my denial.

Prior to 2020 I had been reading Embracing Obscurity: Becoming Nothing in Light of God’s Everything by Anonymous. I was seeking insight as to how to love God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind and with all my strength, albeit obscurely, as glory is the Lord’s, and vainglory is waste, right?

But then I received my first star word in 2020 – “daring.” Upon seeing it, butterflies erupted in my stomach, and I laughed out loud, wondering what new, exiting, anxiety-inducing thing God might have in store and how daring is obscure. God and I still have a good giggle about that. In looking to The Source, “daring” is living a life of hope, bold in love with Emmanuel, thanks be to God, and the filling-to-overflowing provision of the Holy Spirit by the God that is love forever and ever amen. “Daring.” It’s just wow. It’s star word jazz hands and I enjoy it immensely.

In 2021, “leadership”, garnered a weak-in-the-knees response: “surely I am not a leader”, I muttered to myself – I’d prefer not to be the one in charge, but rather be the bathroom attendant or the valet at the banquet as in the parable in Luke 14. Yet God showed me that leadership is found in servant hood, and I pray that God might make me a faithful servant forever in His service.

Eliciting a “wait a minute, I’m not so sure about this” response in 2022 was “promise”, which I suspect would provide comfort to many as it did for me initially, but I didn’t particularly like “promise”… I was certainly reminded of God’s promise of presence and then acutely aware of my lacking in this relationship and considered a star exchange. But in “promise” God reminded me that my inability to be sinless does not dictate his love for me, and showed me in new ways that His Promise is always more than enough. Jesus fills and covers all.

My star word is a reminder to focus my attention on the Giver of Life, and how I might live into the love so freely given to me, and live into God’s call for me. My star word harkens me back to Him, again and again; it’s a call to contemplation or a call to prayer, a call to mercy, a call to action. It is truly a guiding light illuminating the way to God’s service.

I am excitedly anticipating a new star word for 2023. My draw is my draw and I can’t wait – it’s unlikely I’ll make a trade. Whether the word offers comfort or excitement, or elicits a giggle or bubbles up feelings of discomfort deep within, Emmanuel journeys with us all as no one is obscure to Him.

Be not afraid! May the Light of the World illumine brightly!

Natalie Cooper

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. –Isaiah 9:6 (NIV)

What is peace to you? If you look it up in the dictionary you get many definitions. It can be inner peace or it can be peace in the environment. If Jesus is the Prince of Peace, is that peace within your soul or peace in the world? Maybe it is both.

When our son was younger than 17 he had a dream to become a Marine and he was going to serve for at least 20 years. He asked us to sign for him to become a Poolee in the Marine Corps when he became 17. This meant he was going to join as soon as he graduated from high school. He would train with Marines before leaving for boot camp.

People asked me how could we sign for him to join. It is an honorable profession. But he might get killed. Well, he might walk across a street and get hit by a bus, too. I just do not see how you can do that. … I felt at peace signing for him to join.

The day he left for boot camp, Rev. Donald Avery had a blessing ceremony to send our son off. It was a beautiful service with family and friends present. I felt peace after such a gorgeous blessing. I felt like things would be okay.

During MOS school, our son had duty on Christmas. Christmas was a family celebration. He was glad to be a Marine but sad that we could not worship or be together. We flew to Camp LeJeune and spent a wonderful, peaceful Christmas seeing him when he was not on duty. We had a non-traditional Christmas on the beach. There was a small artificial tree that is still used at his house every Christmas.

The next Christmas was at Camp Pendleton. Again, our son had duty on Christmas. We were able to attend church services on Christmas Eve, however. During that stay the power went out, and we had so much fun all piled into the double bed and playing games. I was at peace.

In 2003 while we were at Boy Scout camp our son called us. He had gotten the notice that day that he would be shipping out for Iraq the next day. We told him he was a well-loved child of God and that we loved him and were very proud of him. I was at peace. Fortunately, he did not have to go that time.

In 2004 the orders to Iraq were carried out. I had time to go to California to bid the troops farewell. It was February in California and everything was brown. As we were driving to the other side of the base, I saw a green plant on the side of the road. To me that was the sign from God that things were going to be okay. This gave me much peace about the situation.

My son saw many things and experienced horrible things while in Iraq. He never lost his faith, and it became even stronger. He came home not the same but still a fine young man. Even though he is not what we might have expected him to be at this age, we know God is with him, and we can release our cares to God. We have the peace of God that exceeds all understanding.

My peace is within me. The world has not yet found peace, but the Prince of Peace is still at work in all of us.

Daphne G. Grady

I chose my Star Word on 01/23/2022 on United Methodist Woman Sunday. My word was perfect for that day and time. I looked at the word and said, “Wow, God, you are always right.” The word was EXCITEMENT and that was a very exciting day for me.

Upon thinking about and researching the word, the following thoughts came to mind. First, of course, I verified the correct definition for the word. According to Webster: A feeling of Great enthusiasm and eagerness! Synonyms: exhilaration, elation, animation, enthusiasm and eagerness.

In my mind this word is “felt,” never bought, and it just enters your entire self, in other words your soul, your heart, and your mind.

As humans we have all experienced excitement in our lives, such as marriage, birth of children, and all types of celebrations. However, the more you study the word of God, “Adonai,” you learn about a real and true, different kind of excitement that is very difficult to describe, but I will try.

I am in a Bible Study group that takes on each word of each verse and chapter in the Bible and talk and research what God is telling us. In Leviticus you get a small sample of the cleansing of oneself to even be able to go into the Tent of Meeting to worship God and then you see just how little we know or understand of His “holiness,” His perfection, His grace, and His love for his creations. Every order given to man by God was done exactly as He ordered.

I did do a Walk to Emmaus and that is a true joy to really start to understand why God sent us his perfect son in human form to atone for our great sins, and great they are!

Adonai has commanded that he is first in our lives, worship and praise him every day, all day! He demanded TOTAL submission to him. Holiness is a word we read, in church we hear the word, but do we really think about the word?

Close your eyes and try to imagine the excitement of just Moses. He stuttered in speech, but he saw his staff turn into a serpent, saw it turn the Nile River into blood, and parted the Red Sea.

Now keep your eyes closed and see if you can see the excitement of the leper being cured, the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, the woman who was bleeding, Lazarus being raised from the dead, Jesus being crucified, coming back to life and then being raised into heaven. 

God has always and will always love us, and He has sent us so much excitement and exhilaration to study and learn from. In other words, He is an exciting and loving God. Just his grace is an excitement that enters our souls and gives us such comfort and joy to walk through this very hard thing called life, but this is what he sent us so we could get through it.

Kathleen Adams

Last year I was eager to pick my “Star Word” from the wall of St. John’s. I was expecting to get a word like “joy.” However, what I got was “cleansing.” I remember looking up and saying, “Really Jesus? Do I need a bath?” Cleansing was not the word I would have willingly picked for myself, but apparently it’s what God felt I needed. So I began to pray these words, “Lord Jesus, cleanse me.”

I’m a member of St. John’s Writers’ Group, and Mari suggested that we write about our “Star Words.” The first thing I wrote was an acrostic poem. Then I wrote two more poems, which are more like prayers. I continued to pray, hoping that God would reveal what I needed to have cleansed.

In August, the first day of school arrived and I started to realize that I was feeling some type of way about a coworker.  I did my absolute best to avoid her, because she was getting on my nerves. The student I work with even noticed.

“Miss Dickson, you don’t like her,” she said.

“Why would you say that?” I asked her.

“Because you roll your eyes every time you see her,” she said laughing.

I felt so bad. Did I roll my eyes every time I saw that woman? I began to pray and ask God to help me let go of my dislike for her. God works in mysterious ways is an understatement. In December of 2020, right before Christmas break there was an incident with this same coworker, and I was furious with her. I needed to forgive her. I needed CLEANSING. I was determined not to let what she did to me bother me, but deep down it did. I forgave her and I now have no problem talking to her. I even stopped avoiding her. God knows what we need even when we can’t see it. God spoke to me from one little “Star Word.” That’s what I call amazing grace.

Cleansing

Lord I need you to cleanse me
Cleanse the worry from my mind
Cleanse the hate from my heart
Cleanse the anxiety from my soul

Cleanse me Lord and put your Holy Spirit in me
Restore peace in my mind
Restore love in my heart
Restore tranquility in my soul

Cleanse me oh Lord God from anything that keeps me from you

L. Darlene Dickson

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old, they will not turn from it.

Proverbs 22:6

Years ago, when I was in elementary school in St. Petersburg, Florida, I went to Sunday school at a little church a little more than a mile from my house. The church was within walking distance, and when I eventually got a bike, I rode. Each Sunday before separating into our small grade-level groups, we met together for opening exercises and music. Mr. G was our pianist.

I never actually knew Mr. G’s last name. It was too long and complicated for us to pronounce, he said, and G was all that we needed. This was just before and during the early days of WWII and since then I have often wondered if Mr. G. was a refugee from central Europe. He was an older man—he looked ancient to me—who lived alone as a permanent resident in a hotel not far from the church.

For the Sunday school, Mr. G played the traditional hymns we sang and also gave us the gift of original songs and choruses he wrote. I remember being impressed by their beautiful melodies and wish I could hear them again.

For Christmas and Easter, Mr. G devised programs for the Sunday school children to present to the church. We practiced weekly for months before the holiday. We sang in parts—for one Easter he prepared a simplified Hallelujah Chorus for us. Those with special singing talents were given solos but singing was not my strong point. I was still included because I had a talent for memorizing and reciting Scripture passages. That year I shared from Luke 2: 1-20 and participating in the program was an important part of my life.

By the time I entered high school, my family had relocated across the bay to Tampa. I moved into a different world with new friends and new interests.

While I was no longer in contact with Mr. G, his influence on my later life remained strong. I have found myself working with young people during most of my life, often putting together or writing plays and programs for school and church. Would I have done all of that without the model of that long-ago friend?

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for the friends who guide us on our ways through life. Help us to be worthy guides to those who follow. Amen.

Guy W. Johnson