What do you do after you ask God for His wisdom?

July 28, 2025

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I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. Ephesians 1:17 NIV

You know how people often advise “You better not pray for patience, for then the Lord will give you lots of opportunities to practice!”?  Similarly, I believe that asking for God’s wisdom brings on situations where we must turn away from trusting ourselves and instead look to Him for guidance. 

Mike’s brother and his wife find themselves in this situation as they search for a house. They’ve been house-hunting on and off for more than a year. They sold their last home some years ago. And ever since have been renting. Presently, they are living with Eve’s mom in Toronto, taking care of her.  But they have to find a new place to live soon and that back in the US, for Steve, Mike’s brother is not Canadian as is Eve. 

All along they have been praying for wisdom and a breakthrough in a tight real estate market in upstate New York. I don’t know their hearts, but if they are like me, I have often pleaded with the Lord for wisdom and then continued on doing what I thought was right. 

Recently, God dropped some guidance into Eve’s heart.  It actually was a reminder of something He had told her a while back, something she had ignored. The counsel was this: “First find the church. Then you’ll find the house.” She took Him seriously this time.

When Eve texted me her word from God, I grew excited. God’s direction to her resonated with me. It’s confirmation of Jesus’ commandment: Seek first and prioritize God’s kingdom and then all these things you need will fall into place. (paraphrase of Matthew 6:33) 

Paul, in his encouraging letter to the Ephesians,  links praying for wisdom with the purpose of knowing our God better.  Various other wise Christians agree. From my journal where I collect quotes, here are three such writers.

– Malcolm Muggeridge once wrote, “Every happening, great and small, is a parable whereby God speaks to us, and the art of life is to get the message.”

–Oswald Chambers penned the same.  “In each event, we should say: Speak, Lord, for I am listening and ready to receive.”

–And Ken Boa has taught: “Events in our lives are not neutral; they are God-given opportunities to gain wisdom.”

Looking at the Hebrew term for wisdom, I’ve discovered that this practical or ethical knowledge for living life, hakmah, can also be a kinesthetic attribute. Like a motor skill, it’s something we do, a physical ability we grow in, like a craft. 

As I pray for my brother- and sister-in-law to keep seeking and receiving God’s guidance, I ask the same for myself, my family and friends. I trust Him to come through, but I believe He is asking more, that is to let go of depending on ourselves. In the end, as we walk by faith in God’s promise to provide, we will grow to know Him better. 
Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment. Proverbs 9:10 NLT

If God loves birds THIS much……

July 12, 2025

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Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. Matthew 10:29 Berean Standard Bible

We named him Enoch.  Our little bird for whom we have been praying. He finally left the nest in one of our hanging baskets. Each spring, we suspend two ferns from our upstairs balcony.  The first few years living in this house when bird mommas would select one of our plants to lay her eggs,  I would disassemble the nest’s progress each day. Miserly Maria did not want to sacrifice a large fern!  But the bird parents proved unstoppable and I finally yielded to God’s will.  Now we pray for the eggs and the hatchlings to make it.  We don’t water the ‘chosen’ fern, but just monitor it, knowing we’ll replace it once the little ones launch.

This season, as the hanging basket chosen by a new bird family  grew lighter from no water, occasional strong winds would whip it around. One night during a rainstorm, the unthinkable happened. Mike found the fern on the deck the next morning.  Two naked fledglings had been tossed out, one dead and one still breathing.  He quickly scooped up the survivor, carefully placing him back into the nest. 

We started praying, not knowing if the parents would take care of him.  But they did. And Baby Bird started to grow. More rainy and windy days followed, so we carefully placed a small can of tomato sauce in the nest to give it some weight.

In time Enoch, as we named our survivor later, sprouted wings and started to flutter everytime we came near to water the other hanging fern.  His parents appeared attentive, feeding him regularly.  He seemed to have reached maturity.  But he wasn’t leaving the nest.  Could he have PTSD from having been flung to the ground?  Or was one of his wings broken? 

On Monday of this week, an entire community of sparrows flew around the nest, loudly chirping as if to encourage Baby Bird to try his wings.  We didn’t know what to do.  We kept praying for wisdom. We wanted the One who loves birds to handle this, since He knows them better than we do.

Then yesterday we decided to place the hanging basket on the floor of the balcony and turn it so Baby Bird could look out at the sky and not at our balcony door. Once the basket was on the deck, he was almost head down at an angle, looking like he would fall the two inches out of the nest. There he remained, seemingly paralyzed with fear.

A few hours later, he was no more to be seen.  Mike looked all around the balcony and I checked the ground underneath including in the bushes. Enoch was truly gone.  The Lord had come through! Our baby bird had launched.  

Now you can understand why Mike named him Enoch. Genesis 5:24 describes his namesake: Enoch walked with God, and then he was no more, because God had taken him away.

God really did hear and heed our prayers for this little sparrow. What a beautiful picture of why we can be all the more assured that Jesus hears our prayers and knows exactly what we need. We can confidently rest in the Lord who cares for all His creation, especially those who bear God’s image.

Ever-present help that brings peace

July 1, 2025

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May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, . . . Romans 15:13 NIV

I’m editing a book of 365 short devotionals that I composed over a four-year period.  Just now I re-read one of them and found encouragement and perspective I could retro-apply to a recent visit with family.  In my earlier devotional I wrote about my dreading an upcoming planned occasion and how Paul’s verse together with the Holy Spirit changed my outlook prior to the event.  So encouraged, I launched into a mystery hunt, expecting to learn something that would bless me.  And God came through, using His word and a changed expectation to see and receive the gifts He had planned. 

Fast forward to this month when Mike and I shared eight days with two of our grandkids. Some intense emotions and puberty girl drama occurred during their stay, eliciting all  our empathetic listening skills.

Compared to when we raised our two sons years ago, we proved better equipped to offer supportive listening with lots of hugs as well as spoken prayers for this precious Chrisitan granddaughter. She clearly was struggling with some important and deep early adolescent issues. We HAD to depend on God and He came through in a beautiful way. The Father gave Elizabeth some spiritual insights while communicating His total love for her when she doubted. We felt privileged as she confided in us which enabled us to support her with love.

A couple weeks have passed since our grandkids were here, but my empathetic skills have remained sharp. Omniscient God had already prepared me to assist my husband when he felt battered by two painful life occurrences. How did that unfold? During a sleepless night, while depending on the Holy Spirit, I received an insight prompting me to offer something to Mike out of love. In the morning, when we talked, my offer quickly dissolved and softened the blows he had received. 

Maria’s lesson?  The God of Grace is enough, both for me and for me to help others. He promises supernatural joy and peace when we trust Him. Looking for God’s spiritual gifts and listening for His voice is how I can receive exactly what I need from Him.

How does God answer our prayers?

October 19, 2024

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How does God answer our prayers?

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. James 1:5 NLT

The first time I tried out God’s promise to give me wisdom in a career situation, I resolved to take him at his word and wait for his guidance.  I was teaching school and had been living tenuously in tension with the high school French teacher who counted on me to prepare my middle school students well. She expected them to have a good foundation in grammar and vocabulary.

The problem was that I had found a better way to help students acquire the language and it wasn’t through teaching and testing grammar and vocabulary. Hence the conflict.  She was not my boss, but a colleague.  

We had graciously danced around the issue for about 4 years. This fifth year I felt her impatience and now pressure mounting. Although she acknowledged that my students were speaking far better than her students, that was not her goal. So, in October, I asked God to let me know if I should cede to her or leave this school and seek another place to teach French with freedom.

I didn’t know what his answer would look like and I was afraid of getting to the end of the school year, without having felt, seen or sensed the wisdom and help I needed to decide. We needed the income I brought in, so a lot was riding on what I would do.

But then God on Valentine’s Day sovereignly brought the other French teacher across my path as I was walking to the copy room.  Elaine stopped me and announced, “Maria, you are just going to have to go back to the text book next year.  Your students are not coming to me adequately prepared for French.

“There it was! “, I jubileed in my heart. “That’s my sign!”  For I immediately felt the Lord release me to seek a teaching position with a different school. 

When we ask for wisdom, I don’t think anyone knows how that wisdom will come. Will someone say something to us? Will the Lord open or close a door in a different way?  Which circumstances will change? That is the adventure, if we can truly leave the issue with the Lord, in seeking wisdom.

The reason this turning point in my life came to mind is because I am facing another decision and I don’t know what to do.  So, I have left this issue with the Lord. I don’t know how he’ll guide me, but I know he will. 

Are you needing medical advice? Or don’t know what to do with a family situation where all seems dark? I don’t know how our Father does it, but he DOES guide us.  Through people, ‘random-seeming’ turns of events, novel ideas. We don’t have the capacity to imagine all the possibilities he has at hand.  But we know he is the ultimate Creator.

So, with this decision about which I don’t know what to do.  It’s not life-threatening, but has to do with time commitment and the best investment of resources. Instead of turning it round and round in my mind, I have handed all over to the Lord that his will be done, and that he gives me his wisdom. And when the situation comes to mind, I remind myself and the Lord that I am waiting for his guidance.  I don’t know when or how he’ll show me which direction to take, but I trust him.

Do you need humbling?

April 11, 2024

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He crowns the humble with victory. Psalm 149:4 NIV

A dear friend of ours, a pastor, is undergoing a Calvary-like experience. He and four other ordained ministers are being unjustly accused by an insecure senior pastor of many things. Over the past two years at his church, these experiences have been growing progressively worse. All those who are standing with him pray for ‘victory’ soon.

His painful trial triggered a memory of the humbling trauma I endured at my last school. Lasting almost six years, it blind-sided me. With joy and excitement, I had started a school year, in this new environment with 21 years of teaching French behind me.  Never did I anticipate what the Lord would put me through.

Half-way into my first year, some disgruntled parents painted a false picture of how I had treated their middle-schoolers.  The administration, anxious to keep them as paying clients at this high-end private school, sided with them.  I spent the rest of my time under probation, with much documentation of my ‘progress’ or lack in my official file.

Even though the accusations were unfounded in my mind, I did grow spiritually.  I clung more to Jesus than I had in recent years. I trained myself to submit to the shame-producing supervision and frequent evaluations.  My stomach learned to produce acid each time the principal’s secretary notified me that ‘Jeff’ wanted to meet with me.

I came out of those years a more humbled woman, a better teacher and grateful for the support I received from family, a few close friends and a couple of sympathetic colleagues. 

I had undergone a previous humbling story at an earlier school, half-way through my teaching years. Never did I anticipate another one. Nor did I imagine God’s other delivery method of lessons in humility, family members!  (I’ve already written about that in this blog.)

So, what about humility?  If our Father loves us and is good and has our best interests at heart, why does he plan all this?  It hurts!

The only conclusion is that we must need it. I’m not saying that what our friend is undergoing highlights a character flaw in him. But God has designed and ordained these lessons.  Knowing our gentle friend, I doubt that he has a big ego that requires ‘tailoring’ to size.  Our Father has myriads of reasons for his lessons. For now, his purposes must stay in the category of ‘the secret things of God’.

It helps to recall that Jesus suffered a lot of humility.  Just even coming to earth as one of us defines humiliation. Imagine his trajectory, that from King of the Universe and honored, beloved Son of God, to a baby born out of wedlock into a poor family in the backwaters of Galilee.

But the difference between Jesus and us, is that our Savior didn’t need to be humbled.  Yet in God’s plan, he had to suffer all that we go through to be able to identify with us and help us.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Philippians 2:8 NIV

All I’m reading these days points me to the value of humility.  One thing is for sure! This time, I don’t want to wait to BE humbled.  I want to start seeking little ways to grow right now new reflexes and attitudes.  I want to receive correction and criticism with gentleness, accepting that it comes from my Father’s hand.

I’ll close with some quotes on how to grow more humble from Dallas Willard towards the very end of his book, A Life without Lack.

“Accept every humiliation, look upon every fellow-man who tries or vexes you as a means of grace to humble you.  Use every opportunity of humbling yourself before your fellow-men as a help to abide humble before God….This is your best prayer and proof that your whole heart desires to grow in humility.”

When you don’t know what to do.

November 20, 2022

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If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. James 1:5 ESV

I drafted a different kind of post yesterday, thinking that God wanted me to take a break from writing these weekly blogs.  When I talked it over with Mike, he responded that this is one of those neutral issues, that I am free to cease or to continue. When we prayed before dinner, he asked the Lord to guide me in this decision.

After dinner, since I always check emails before settling down to read, I caught a text that gave me pause. Valerie had written me to say how much my last blog piece had helped her in the midst of some self-reproach. Wow!  I took that a guidance from Jesus to keep writing. And then this morning, Linda reenforced that encouragement with her kind words.

So, I will continue.  Below is what I THOUGHT I was going to post.  But, God!

***

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:a time to keep silence, and a time to speak….Ecclesiastes 3: -1, 7 ESV

I have been blogging regularly since 23 November 2009.  That is thirteen years.

I started writing publicly in order to capture those thoughts God generated in me based on Scripture. I had filled notebooks with them, but never went back to read my ‘nuggets’.  I ended up throwing my journals away. In shifting to blogging, my reasoning went like this:  ‘At least I’ll have a permanent record of this growing in understanding God.’

Sometimes something I heard on a Christian podcast or read in a book would prompt me to think more deeply and apply what the Lord was showing me.

No doubt you recognize my vanity in believing that my reflections can help others see something new and fresh about God.

But, even if these posts don’t connect with anyone, my life is proof of one of Mike’s favorite quotes, ‘Writing is thinking’.

But recently I have wondered if my self-generated weekly commitment to post something publicly hasn’t caused me to think too much and too often about myself and what I am feeling or going through.

This morning, the Holy Spirit focused that line of thinking, directing me to the suggestion that I ‘fast’ from writing these blogs.  I noted in my journal: “Is my blogging perpetuating this ongoing inward focus on Maria?”

You’ve heard the description of humility, no doubt: “Don’t think less of yourself, just think of yourself less.”

To that end, I am initiating an Advent fast. Will I still write?  Yes, but with a focus on magnifying God.  And privately. 

My goal is to grow into the kind of woman described in 1 Peter 3:4 and 6.  You remember that glimpse of Abraham’s wife Sarah whose inner beauty came from her faith in God during scary times?

“And you are her (Sarah’s) children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening…..” Verse 6.   Peter has just written earlier in verse 4, “You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.”

I want to cultivate that quiet spirit.

Thank you to all of you who have written kind comments and thoughtful responses. You have encouraged me in both what I have shared and my writing skills. 

So, faithful and kind readers, I bid you ‘au revoir’ or possibly ‘adieu’.  The Lord will direct me. In the meantime, keep mining the Word for the gold that is there.  Our God promises that if we seek him with a sincere and persistent heart, he will meet with us and reveal previously hidden things.

‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ Jeremiah 33:3

I need God’s light!

October 2, 2022

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Light shines in the darkness for the upright – Psalm 112: 4 NASB

Right now, all is dark regarding the ‘Mom Move’. Our almost-94-year-old mom lives in Seattle. Due to her hospitalization in July, she no longer can live independently. The plan is for her to settle in a care facility near Steve and Eve who are moving to Asheville, NC. However, their new construction occupancy permit date keeps being delayed. These constantly changing details about their relocation are making Mom’s transfer to the East Coast appear logistically complicated and huge, a veritable mountain.

We need wisdom, clarity, a plan.  Darkness surrounds us. What does darkness represent?  Confusion, fear, unknowns, questions, blockage, and ignorance about the way to move forward. We need God’s light!

For You are my lamp, LORD; and the LORD illuminates my darkness. 2 Samuel 22: 29 NASB

Whew!  What good news that we actually have access to a source of light in our darkness.  Actually, there is no better light.  We fool ourselves when we think we can furnish our own wisdom. As creatures and living on the horizontal, we see ‘dimly’ as Paul mentions. We focus on human options, common sense.

By design, on purpose, God limits what we can know and understand.  His plan is for us to depend on him.  As the source of all that exists, seen and unseen, he holds all resources, including the supernatural. He will reveal them when the time is right.

When His lamp shone over my head, by His light I walked through darkness. Job 29: 3 NASB

Job experienced a long period of darkness.  I can imagine his depression, sadness and fear. Nothing good to look forward to on earth as he cast his mind forward. No light to reveal his actual past faithfulness to God, vindicating his character. Nothing but nothingness.  But then God’s light broke through his gloom, bringing hope and life and something new.

He reveals mysteries from the darkness, and brings the deep darkness into light. Job 12:22 NASB

Boy, do we need to see God’s plan for Mom’s move, up to now still a ‘mystery’ to us.  What a relief that he promises to bring our dark path into the light. 

…..for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move…..Matthew 17:20 NASB

Okay, Lord, I’m taking you at your word.  You promised your followers that if they trust you, if they believed what you said, they could declare that the mountain be moved. Therefore, we, Mom’s kids and spouses, also exercise our right as your adopted children.  We say: “Father, move Mom to Asheville!”

I know she WILL get moved.  I feel reassured.  I don’t know just how or when the Father will unfold his plan.  But that he will provide the path and the energy, I don’t doubt.  Today, that is enough for me to enjoy his gift of supernatural peace.

My favorite word about resting in his promise is this: 

…..(the one) who keeps faith….you keep in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts you. Isaiah 26: 2-3 ESV