Glynnis Whitwer

Apr 2013

Why do I blow it??

Posted by Glynnis

Today on Encouragement for Today, I wrote about a time (not too long ago) when I blew it with one of my children.

One frustration after another piled on top of me. Being late piled on to a broken rear view mirror, piled on to rush hour traffic, piled on to a frustrated teenager, and all kinds of yuck poured out of me.

My reaction wasn’t honoring to God, nor was it honoring to my son.

In that moment, I valued myself (my emotions, my circumstances, my to-do list) above my son (and his emotions, circumstances and to-do list).

God convicted me quickly of my attitude, and I’m so glad He did because I was able to choose humility (even though my flesh wanted to defend my right to snap). With God’s help, I set the relationship with my son above my need to be right.

As I’ve thought more about this issue of justifying myself, God brought another scripture to mind:

Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

Oh how hard this is for me. Especially when it comes to wanting the last word.

Which I want.

Always.

But most of the time, my desire for the last word … my desire to speak my mind … my desire to be understood … doesn’t come from a pure heart.

Sadly, there’s usually some selfish ambition or pride trying to sneak its way in through a crack. Pride is a weakness of mine, and so Philippians 2:3-4 is a key verse for me to remember.

When I value and honor others above myself, those cracks get smaller.

This idea to value and honor others above ourselves is opposite of what world tells us to do. The world tells us honor people because of who they are or what they do – in comparison with us. With this mindset, people must earn honor and respect.

However, God tells us to honor people because of who we are.

Honoring each other is a choice we make. And I’ve found that it has to flow from a place of humility.

It’s not easy being a follower of Jesus. I’m just telling it like it is. Some days it feels like I’m always the one who has to rein it in, have self-control and make loving choices.

But here’s the good news. The peace God has given me when I set aside my rights is a gift – pure and simple.

Here’s something to remember today when your boss snaps at you, your husband is late or your child calls you on the freeway annoyed:

It’s a blessing to show honor to others … not because they deserve it, but because you deserve peace.

Thanks for joining me today.

Love,

Glynnis

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22 Comments | Filed Under: Peace, pride

Apr 2013

A peek into my morning routine

Posted by Glynnis

Thanks so much for joining me today. It’s going to be a fun day as I’m sharing some photos and a video of my precious doggies.

If you haven’t had a chance to read my devotion running on Encouragement for Today, I hope you’ll click here to read it. It will set the stage for my blog post today.

There’s a lot of love in my household. I have five children … can you call a 21 year old your child??? … still trying to figure this new phase of life out. And three dogs. Plus my dear husband.

We sometimes call ourselves the “loud family.” You know that family … they are the ones you stare at in the restaurant as your children sit quietly and play with the crayons and coloring pages.

I accepted years ago that God did not plan a quiet life for me. And oh how thankful I am that He didn’t leave me to myself. God knew I needed to be stretched outside my comfort zones!!! And I LOVE IT!

My kids are loud. And my dogs are too. Ask anyone who has ever tried to have a phone conversation with me. My dogs are worse than kids! The husky starts “talking back” (do a YouTube search for Huskies talking and see what I mean). The German Shepherd has patterned herself after the husky in this regard (my apologies to all true lovers of German Shepherds) and the “old lady” (our 16-Y-O Australian shepherd mix) barks for fun of it and to join in the gang.

I love that God teaches me supernatural lessons through the natural. When my eyes are open, He is everywhere!

So today I’m taking a few minutes to share my dogs with you. They have unique personalities, very different, but I love them all. Here are some photos:

Kona knows the art of relaxation!

Sammie is always on alert and listening for the jingle of car keys.

You know how mommies often have baby drool on their shirts. Look carefully at the car door. I have doggy drool on my car door.

My sweet old girl.

Now, here’s the video of what a typical morning looks like in my house. First, I feel the need to explain a few things in the video.

1) Why did I shut my bedroom door? As I was walking out, I thought “Watch! This will be the one day Kona decides to be ready to go! The day I’m trying to make a point.”

2) I don’t normally say “Are you ready to go” so many times. Apparently I will never be sought out for on-air talent.

3) And just so you know, Sammie had been sitting watching me for about 20 minutes. I figured that was too long to video tape.

Thanks for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed this peek into my life. And I hope you are ready to go when your Master calls you. I promise the adventure will be worth it.

Love,

Glynnis

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23 Comments | Filed Under: faith, family

Apr 2013

What kind of leaves are on your family tree?

Posted by Glynnis

Today I’ve got a devotion running on Encouragement for Today. I wrote the devotion about my husband’s grandparents, and the legacy of faith they left for their family.

For the first 10 years of my marriage our vacations were spent in Couer d’Alene, Idaho where Grandma and Grandma Whitwer lived in a little one-bedroom house. They had both served God faithfully all their married lives and had saved every penny for their very modest retirement.

Our guest room was a little loft with just enough room for a bed. But their sweet hospitality and love more than made up for cramped quarters.

Their tiny backyard was carefully laid out so that every space was wisely filled with raspberry bushes, vegetable plants or flowers. So industrious they were.

Homemade cinnamon rolls, fresh baked bread and delicious fruit preserves somehow came out of their tiny kitchen.

Evenings were spent discussing the Bible and honest questions about how to live out faith in a changing world.

Here’s what I learned from Elise and Amel Whitwer:

You don’t have to have money to make an impact.

You don’t have to have a big house to change a life.

You don’t have to have a fancy title to earn respect.

You don’t have to be young and hip to have influence.

You don’t have to be dynamic to compel attention.

In fact, the most influential people in my life have been those who have quietly impacted my life with faithful, loving kindness. Here are a few others and how they changed me:

… letting me make mud pies and smiling as I tried to sell them to neighbors. I remember your gentleness Grandma. Thank you.

… sitting in the back booth of a pizza parlor with a tear running down her face as I sang a song she’d heard me sing 50 times before. Thank you for your faithfulness Mom.

… counting my freckles and making me feel pretty for having what others tried to remove with lemon juice. I will always remember you Dad. I miss you.

… inviting me (her little sister) to join her and her boyfriend as the drive in movies. I remember. Thank you Paula. What value you assigned to me.

… always, always, always making time for me and making me feel like there was NOTHING more important than me at that moment. I will never forget you, my beloved sister Helen Ann. We’ll see each other again one day soon.

I could go on and on. But the reality is, the loving kindness of others – some gone ahead and some still here – has imprinted God’s love on my heart.

Today, I invite you to join me in taking the time to remember the impact others have had on your life. And if you are so inclined, please consider making a donation to Proverbs 31 Ministries in honor or memory of that person.

We are starting a Legacy Campaign today to honor those people in our lives who have changed us for the better, and support the life-changing ministry of Proverbs 31. It changed my life, and with God’s help, P31 is changing the people in my family too.

If you’d like to join us, please click here for more information.

Thanks for joining me today.

Love,

Glynnis

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8 Comments | Filed Under: make a difference, Proverbs 31

Apr 2013

Just exactly HOW am I supposed to act?

Posted by Glynnis

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. I sure did. And part of my day was spent reading every comment that was left on my Friday post. I spent a wonderful hour sharing a bit of your hearts, praying for many of you and smiling at the comments that made me realize how alike we really are.

Using a random number generator, I did select a winner of the NIV Real-Life Devotional Bible, featuring 366 P31 devotions. But you’ll have to keep reading to see who won!

Today I want to share something that happened last week, and how God prepared me for it.

As I was writing Friday’s post, I was reading some Bible verses on suffering. One of them led me to another verse that stuck in my mind. It was Philippians 1:27a:

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. (NIV)

Little did I know I was going to put that verse into practice that very day.

It started out with my husband asking me for a favor. He had bought two trucks for his company and he needed me to drive across town with him and drive one of them back. Since I live in the Phoenix area, that means a one-hour drive each way.

We had a short time span between one son getting out of high school (who had to go with us) and another one needing to be picked up from college (which is also across town) and the youngest daughter needing to be picked up after that (which is near home).

However, no one else in my family seems to be able to manage all those pick up and drop off times except me. (Can any other mom relate?) So it was up to me to fit this cross town trip in to the afternoon and get everyone picked up on time.

Of course everything takes longer than you think it will. We got across town a bit behind schedule. But then it got worse. The guy with the trucks was on an errand. He ran late. And I’m watching the clock, realizing the college boy needed to get picked up which was going to be my job, and I needed to get back to pick up the daughter too because my high schooler had a dress rehearsal at 4. Mercy!

So I changed plans and sent the high school boy to pick up the college boy and then head back to rehearsal.

That sounded so easy in my head. But somehow two teenage boys got very confused. They weren’t sure what they were supposed to do, despite what I thought were crystal clear instructions on my part.

They happened to call me frustrated and annoyed as I was also frustrated and annoyed trying to drive a HUGE diesel truck across town with a right rear view mirror that I couldn’t adjust on a busy freeway in the middle of rush hour.

College boy: “Mom! What is going on??!! Why is Robbie picking me up and not you? Are we supposed to go get some trucks? Robbie doesn’t know what’s going on!!!” the college boy asked without any compassion for me.

And in that moment, I felt very justified to let some steam off.

Me: “Seriously? Seriously??!!! You are frustrated? Well, let me tell you about being frustrated! ….. (I’m sure you can imagine the rest).

I hung up the phone angry.

And then I remembered Philippians 1:27:

Whatever happens …. (like an errand taking longer, rush hour, annoyed teenagers, a right rear view mirror that doesn’t work)

Conduct yourself … (you mean, control myself God? Keep things in perspective?)

In a manner worthy … (in such a way that shows who I really am …)

of the gospel of Christ (and who I represent.)

Before I had a chance to call my son back, he called me. He apologized. So did I. We had ourselves a growth opportunity, as my friend Lysa calls them.

What a powerful Scripture this has been to me the past few day. All I have to think is “whatever happens” and it keeps me in check.

Because the interesting thing about that word “whatever” is it means “whatever.”

I keep looking for a loophole, but I’m pretty sure there isn’t one. (grin)

I don’t often write P31 devotions from blog posts, but this thought has been so powerful to me that I’m going to study that verse a bit more and write a devotion for May. So when you read it, you’ll know you heard it hear first.

Now I’d like to announce the winner of the NIV Real-Life Devotional Bible. And that is Crystal who posted at 2013/03/29 at 6:45 pm. Crystal I’ve sent you an email letting you know.

Thanks so much for joining me today.

In His love,

Glynnis

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25 Comments | Filed Under: complaining, Controlling the tongue

Mar 2013

A Good Friday Message

Posted by Glynnis

Thank you for joining me today on this important day in our Christian history.

Today I’ve got a devotion running called “Suffer with Me Awhile.” The day I write about in my devotion is still vivid in my mind. I desperately wanted to remove the taste of communion from my mouth. I can recall the bitter taste of the juice, and my desire to replace it quickly.

Grief tickles at my heart when I recall the many other times I’ve avoided discomfort and inconvenience. The truth is, discipline does not come naturally to me in some areas of my life. Perhaps that’s normal.

I can work from sun up to sun down. Work is fun to me.

But ask me to cut just a few hundred calories from my daily diet in order to get to a healthy weight, and you’d think you’d asked me to sacrifice my firstborn. That’s just one of the easiest things to share. There are many other areas I resist the discipline I know will impinge on my comfort.

And yet this life I’ve chosen … this life to follow Christ … is one of suffering.

I need to get used to it.

I need to not avoid it.

I need to press in to it, and thereby share in what my Jesus experienced. In fact, the Bible presents it as an honor to suffer for Jesus. Philippians 1:29 says:

^“For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him …”

Don’t the words “granted to you on behalf of Christ” sound like a privilege?

The longer I live, the more I’m convinced Christians are not to shy away from trouble. We aren’t to avoid discomfort. Rather we are to be the first to run in to it.

Head-first.

Not foolishly.

But prayerfully.

For if we don’t enter in to the suffering of others … into discomfort on behalf of Christ … who will?

Paul put it this way, “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” (Phil. 3:10-11)

Today we remember Christ’s death. Today is a day to share in His suffering. And in three days we get to rejoice. And how much sweeter will it be to share in Christ’s resurrection when we have shared in His suffering.

The same is true every time I have set aside my own comfort, and willingly stepped into a place of pain for the cause of Christ. The rejoicing doesn’t happen immediately. Often it’s more than three days. But there is great joy to have set aside my own comfort for obedience.

Today if you are in a place of suffering, know that you are not alone. Our beloved Savior knows exactly what you are going through. He suffered too. And He promises to bring joy after grief (John 16:20).

I’m so glad you spent a part of your day with me. I consider it an honor. But don’t leave just yet. I also have the great honor to host a giveaway today.

I don’t know how many of you realize this but in 2011 and 2012 I had the privilege of selecting and editing 366 devotions to go in Zondervan’s newest Women’s Devotional Bible titled “NIV Real-Life Devotional Bible” featuring devotions from all the Proverbs 31 Writers.

This month we are celebrating the release of this effort.

And today, I get to give one copy away to one of you beautiful women.

To enter, please leave a comment on my blog. It can be about anything. On Monday, I’ll select a winner completely at random and announce her on my blog.