I was so privileged as to have the opportunity to co-write a blog post with my sweet friend Linda Reppert recently about a story from her life and what we can all learn from it.

The rumble of dozens of motorcycles were felt before they were heard. We were on a weekend getaway in the early years of marriage. To fit this trip into our tight budget, we made our reservation site unseen at a low budget motel near Stone Mountain, Georgia.

The rumble grew to a roar, then to a stop…

Read on.

God Stuff

Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Diebler Rose

I just finished reading the most amazing story of faith by Darlene Diebler Rose entitled Evidence Not Seen.  She and her husband, as newlyweds, were missionaries serving in the jungles New Guinea when World War II began and they were taken prisoner by the Japanese and spent the next four years in Japanese prison camps.  She was forced to sign a confession to a crime she did not commit, faced an executioner’s sword…and was miraculously spared.

This story of faith and perseverance and humility and strength is amazing.  If you love Corrie ten Boom’s The Hiding Place, you will absolutely love this book.  Miracle after miracle happened, evidence of God getting the glory for providing abundantly more than they could ever ask or imagine happened regularly!  My favorite scene was her begging for even one banana and ninety-two bananas showed up.  WOW.  How can you not cry at that?

Her willingness to learn more and more about His character throughout these trying years and life-threatening circumstances without letting bitterness drag her down is only one aspect of this amazing testimony that inspires me.  It remains inspiring and convicting all at the same time!  How important it is to hide the word of God in our hearts!

Pick it up.  You won’t regret it!

God Stuff

You may or may not remember that nearly two years ago I posted a YouTube video about Cardboard Testimonies, even sharing my own cardboard testimony if it were me on that stage.

Yesterday, I got to be on that stage.

Can you believe it??  What a blessing!!  I was just so incredibly humbled and excited when I got the email asking if I would participate.  See, God reads my blog, doesn’t He??

What an incredible service it was.  Our pastor has been doing a series on hope and this was ideal for that series.  There was a video testimony earlier in the service from a couple who lost their little girl in a car accident a couple of years ago.  Yes, tough to watch.  Then the cardboard testimonies.  There was not a dry eye in the room and by the end, everyone was standing and clapping and crying and singing.

What was so amazing about having this event in your own church was knowing the people on that stage – knowing them, knowing their testimonies, having the opportunity to know them more – it just makes it that much more powerful.  Knowing that some were hanging on to hope in that very moment as they held their sign – hanging on with everything they had – was more powerful than I can describe in words on a mere blog.  Knowing how far some of these precious people have come is just incredible.  Seeing victory before my very eyes is joy unimaginable.

Wanna see?  Of course you do.

Chets Cardboard Testimonies – May 16, 2010 from Tim Trinkle on Vimeo.

God Stuff, God of My Story, Great Music/Videos

Psalm 119.

So admit it…do you get nervous, or maybe worried about being bored, at the thought of reading through Psalm 119?  If you are

Thorncrown Chapel, near Eureka Springs, Arkansas where we spent our honeymoon. One of the most amazing chapels I have ever seen in my life. It was so beautiful and peaceful.

unfamiliar, this is the Psalm also known as the longest chapter in the Bible with 176 verses.  This chapter is all about God’s word – with it in our lives.  Or without it.

I’ll admit it.  It made me go cross-eyed once I got past verse ten or twenty, it seemed to be all the same.  Yes, yes, I get it.  Read God’s Word.  Obey God’s Word.  Check.  Double-check.  Next…

Then a dear friend challenged me to read Psalm 119 slowly and carefully and write out a list of the benefits of being in God’s word.  Intriguing.  Challenging.  And a LIST.  Now you’re speaking my language. I love lists.  So I started off on my adventure and was more, much more, pleasantly surprised than I thought would be.

I was floored.  I was changed.  My faith was reawakened from a restless nap and renewed.

Psalm 119 is a chapter rich with personal assurance and promises for every, and I mean every, situation in our lives.  It is also filled with praise and thanksgiving for God and His word.   What a fantastic combination!

I love to read through and/or handwrite my list periodically because the simple act of doing so is such a great reminder of all that I learned, not to mention a huge encouragement.  I’m not going to post my whole list because it is something very personal to me and you should do your own list (if you feel you should, of course).  But here’s how I started mine.

I read the following passage:

^1[a] Blessed are those whose^(A) way is blameless,
who^(B) walk in the law of the LORD!
²Blessed are those who^(C) keep his^(D) testimonies,
who^(E) seek him with their whole heart,
³who also^(F) do no wrong,
but walk in his ways!
⁴You have commanded your^(G) precepts
to be kept diligently.
⁵Oh that my ways may^(H) be steadfast
in keeping your statutes!
^6(I) Then I shall not be put to shame,
having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
⁷I will praise you with an upright heart,
when I learn^(J) your righteous rules.^[b]
8I will keep your statutes;
^(K) do not utterly forsake me!

⁹How can^(L) a young man keep his way pure?

By guarding it according to your word.
^10(M) With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not^(N) wander from your commandments!
¹¹I have^(O) stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.

My beginning of my list, derived from those verses.

1.   I will be blessed, joyful, blameless, undefiled when I walk in the way of the Lord according to His word.

2.  I will be blessed by seeking Him with my whole heart and keeping His statutes.

3.  I will be unashamed.

4.  I will praise Him as I learn His ways.

5.  I will obey Him.

6.  I can keep my way pure by living according to Your word.

7.  Hiding Your word in my heart will help me to not sin against you.

God Stuff, God of My Story

In the car on the way to lunch the other day:

G:  Daddy, what’s your favorite word?

Daddy:  (not wanting to play favorites, of course)  Mommy, G, and S

G:  Mommy, what’s your favorite word?

Mommy:  (following Daddy’s example)  Daddy, G, and S

G:  Daddy, what’s your favorite word?

Daddy:  (same answer)

G:  Mommy, what’s your favorite?

Mommy:  (same answer)

G:  S, what’s your favorite word?

S:  God.

There you have it.  Totally shown up in the wisdom department by a three-year-old.  Imagine the silence in the car as Chris and I just stared at each other.

Think on it this Resurrection Sunday.  Love to all.

Giggles, God Stuff