He Lifts Me Up: Shirley's Soliloquies, Volume 3

By Shirley Hudson

He Lifts Me Up is a collection of soliloquies composed by Shirley Hudson. Interacting with happenings in her life, she finds analogies that speak to the territory of Christian experience. Seeking to provide greater practical and devotional application, she has assembled an index in the back of the book listing the various scriptural passages that figured in each meditation.

The soliloquies were sent out on a weekly basis via email to an ever-increasing audience. Many who received them expressed appreciation and suggested that they be published in book form in order to have them at hand and to share them with a wider audience. Her first hundred meditations were published in a book entitled He Awakens Me. Her second volume was entitled, Meditations of My Heart. This volume contains her third hundred.

The author hopes and prays that they will not only reach a wider audience, but that they will prove to be helpful in promoting that quality of life that truly honors and glorifies her Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Aug 26, 2010
• ISBN: 9781450246736

Shirley Hudson

Shirley Hudson, born in Holland, Michigan, is a retired public school teacher. She and her husband served in pastorates throughout the USA and were also involved in evangelistic ministries in Europe. Shirley continues to be involved mainly with music, children’s work, and Bible Studies. She and her husband assist in itinerant ministries across the USA. They have three children, seven grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.

Book preview

He

    Lifts

         Me

            Up

Shirley’s Soliloquies,

Volume 3

by

Shirley Hudson

iUniverse, Inc.

New York Bloomington

He Lifts Me Up

Shirley’s Soliloquies, Volume 3

Copyright © 2010 by Shirley Hudson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

iUniverse

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www.iuniverse.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid.

ISBN: 978-1-4502-4672-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4502-4673-6 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

iUniverse rev. date: 8/3/2010

Contents

Some Responses from Readers

Positive Thoughts

Pointing the Way

Unity in Christ

It’s a ‘God Thing’!

SUNshine/SONshine!

My Head!

Wind Rustling in the Trees

Remember your Creator

What’s It All About?

He Knows Best!

You’ve Got Mail

Practice and Perseverance

Perfect Timing?

I Could Not Believe It!

Comfort in Affliction

Storms and Wars

Unknown Soldier?

Warm, Wonderful Feeling

Teachers and Teaching

Home Again

Why Do the Righteous Suffer?

God’s Kaleidoscope

Know God, Know Peace!

Stumbling Blocks?

The Big C

Thanksgiving with Family

Never Too Late to Change

Life Rushes By

Did You Know?

Foggy Conditions Ahead

Happy New Year!

Making the Right Choice

Follow Me

Needing a Physician

God’s Magnificent Mighty Power

Faithful Servants

‘Taken for Granted?’

If I Knew…

Bitterness, a Challenge?

TOO TIRED!!!

Forgive Me!

What ‘Stuff’?

Powerful Waves, Powerful God

Seeing Clearly

Whoosh! It was Gone!

He Knows My Anxiety

Oh, Those Annoying Viruses

A Most Unusual Thing!

The Breeze of Unfailing Love

Smiling with Joy!

Triumphant in Trials

It’s Time to Decide

The Sun is Shining!

Challenges & Opportunities

Too Difficult!

Peace Amidst Turmoil!

Remembering & Celebrating

Faithfulness, Failure, & Forgiveness

My Gratitude

Exercise Profits, But...?

Still More Exercising?

Just a Glimpse

Watch & Be Ready!

Discipline & Love

Double-Mindedness

Encouraging or Otherwise?

Missing Out on Blessings

I Felt a Calm

Last Day of Summer!

Show Me!

Is God Able?

God Hath Not Promised

Our Indescribable God!

Discouraged? Disillusioned?

Splendor of a Sunset!

The Lord Is Good

Flawed, But Perfect!

A Mixed Message?

Doggedly Digging

An Answer to Prayer

"But Who IS Jesus?

Blessings in Sharing!

What Can I See & Do?

I Can Only Imagine!

A Little Lonely Bird

Keeping God First

A Good Night’s Sleep

Accepted in the Beloved

Gray, Dreary Days

Lost Identity?

How Do I Love Thee?

Quake Shifts Earth’s Axis

Heartaches, Take Them to Jesus

Visitors Galore

Fickleness – Faithfulness

His Death and His Resurrection

‘What Level of Love?’

Always Wanting Something More

The Fading Flowers

Scriptures Used

Dedicated to

the memory of

my beloved parents:

Frank & Sadie Smit

whose consistent training and example

put me on the way to life everlasting

"But they that wait upon the Lord

shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings as eagles;

They shall run, and not be weary;

and they shall walk, and not faint."

Isaiah 40:31

Soliloquy:

an act or instance of talking to oneself

Scriptures used are from

various translations of the Bible

King James Version

New King James Version

English Standard version

Holman’s Christian Standard Bible

New Living Translation

Some Responses from Readers

S.F., Massillon, OH, Perfect!! Thanks! This brought sunshine into my day, despite the weather.

A.D., London, England, Last week was emotionally very painful....So your soliloquy is a present from heaven.

M.G., Foley, AL, As always, it is wonderful to read your soliloquy. They are so uplifting and encouraging and often convicting.

J.H., Minneapolis, MN, Thank you for the Soliloquy Shirley. Very profound!

M.S., Canton, OH, What a beautiful soliloquy and most needed right now...I'm sending your soliloquy to my daughter just for extra comfort.

E.B., Holland, MI, I very much enjoy reading your soliloquy each week. It is a nice quiet peaceful time that I look forward to.

J.L., Birmingham, AL, God has given you a wonderful ministry....Your Soliloquies have been a blessing. You ought to consider putting them in book form....

Shirley's previous books are: He Awakens Me, and Meditations of My Heart. This book He Lifts Me Up is her third volume of 100 Soliloquies.

Soliloquy # 201

Positive Thoughts

‘My feet are cold! To be exact, every one of my ten toes are cold!’ As I sat in my chair contemplating what project I was going to start next, I mused, ‘Strange, but it’s near the end of the month of May. Certainly I shouldn’t still be so cold.’ Then I realized that all ten of my fingers were cold too!

It’s interesting how in retirement I have the luxury of thinking such thoughts! I remember the constant activity, whether physical or mental, that I had before I had retired. In retrospect, there doesn’t seem like there were so many times that I even thought about those individual fingers and toes.

That brought to mind a good friend of ours who always pooh-poohed such statements. Cold? Why it’s not cold! It’s all in your head! This was his familiar response even during the cold months as he climbed on a roof or to the upper levels of some building where he was working.

Going back further, I remember how my Dad would prove the power of ‘mind over matter’ as he’d try to get me to take some ‘castor oil,’ or some horrible tasting medicine. Mmmm, that’s good! he’d say as he would taste a bit and smack his lips.

And I also thought of the times when we were young that Dad would take us for rides in the country on a Sunday afternoon. When we’d pass a farm, invariably we’d hold our noses and try not to breathe! But again, as he would deeply inhale the odors of the ‘natural’ fertilizer, he would say, What? That’s good perfume! In later years I remembered not only his psychology, but also that during his childhood, he was brought up on a farm. Probably those odors brought back pleasant memories for him.

Some people talk of the idea of the power of positive thoughts as being something new. But I think of the statement of Solomon who is said to be the wisest man who ever lived. He said,

"What has been is what will be,

and what has been done is what will be done,

and there is nothing new under the sun."

Ecclesiastes 1:9

That verse brings me to the advice that was written about two thousand years ago in the book of Philippians (4:8, ESV). Today it still proves to be true. I know if I follow it, I am much better off. Maybe it is ‘mind over matter’ or ‘positive thoughts,’ but these words continue to be good advice for me.

"Whatever is true,

whatever is honorable,

whatever is just,

whatever is pure,

whatever is lovely,

whatever is commendable,

if there is any excellence,

if there is anything worthy of praise,

think about these things."

Shirley’s Soliloquy #202

Pointing the Way

I noticed a most unusual phenomenon this afternoon. I was sitting on our porch swing reading, when I looked up to rest my eyes. Something very strange registered in my mind.

I saw a young looking, but tall, straight tree with a circumference of about a couple inches. It was leaning on a 45-degree angle! I thought perhaps it had fallen. But as I was looking at it, I noticed it was blowing gently in the wind just as the other upright trees were. It appeared to be normal and healthy, except that it was leaning at such an extreme angle. I wondered how that could be possible!

Then I noticed that it was as if it were pointing to a straight, tall full-grown tree. That was obviously a large healthy one. Its perfection seemed to stand out among all the others. How interesting! The young abnormal tree seemed to be directing my attention towards the seemingly perfect tree.

Probably since I’ve been reading the Gospel of John, my mind went immediately to John the Baptist. I thought how his ministry was to prepare the way for the coming Messiah. In fact, when the angel of the Lord told Zechariah of his son’s coming birth, he said, And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High because you will prepare the way for the Lord. Luke 1:76, NLT

How interesting that after John grew up, people realized he was different. He had been in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel. He was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. (Mark 1:6). The people were puzzled over his ministry. They wondered who he was. He tried to explain by quoting the prophet Isaiah, "I am ‘the voice of one crying out in the wilderness. ‘Make straight’ the way of the Lord." John 1:23. He was pointing the people to the Lord. He said. After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. Mark 1:7.

It is interesting to see how John’s disciples seemed to be protective of him. At one time they came to him, concerned because some of his followers were beginning to follow Jesus. But John told them again that he was not the Messiah, he was only there to prepare the way for Him. He likened his ministry to the friend of the bridegroom who rejoiced greatly by being able to stand with him and hear his vows (John 3:26-28).

I can only imagine what an exciting moment it must have been when he did finally see Jesus! He exclaimed,

"Behold, the Lamb of God

who takes away the sins of the world!"

John 1:29, ESV

What a wonderful example he was! He lived a life that was totally unselfish, having the one desire to point people to the coming Messiah/Savior. So that reminded me again of that tree pointing in its own humble way towards the tall, mighty tree, I thought of the example of John. Instead of being bothered that his disciples were turning to follow Jesus, He rejoiced and said,

"He must increase,

but I must decrease."

John 3:30, KJV

Shirley’s Soliloquy # 203

Unity in Christ

Amazing news in our paper this morning! Two local churches, a Reformed Church and a Christian Reformed Church, are going to share communion for the first time in 126 years! The newspaper said Two pastors talking over a cup of coffee will result in the passing of the cup between their two congregations. Evidently they had split more than a hundred years ago when there was an internal disagreement which caused some members to break away and leave the denomination. It brought to mind Jesus’ sayings that I had pondered while reading the Gospel of John.

"And I have other sheep that are not of this fold.

I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.

So there will be one flock, one shepherd."

John 10:16 (ESV)

"I do not ask for these only,

but also for those who will believe in me

through their word,

that they may all be one,

just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you,

that they also may be in us,

so that the world may believe that you have sent me."

John 17:20-21 (ESV)

My mind conjures up the image of not only those who were following Jesus in that day, but also down through the ages all who have believed. Then I think of all the denominations that are in the world today. All of them probably feel they are the ones who are truly faithful in following Him to the best of their abilities. So how wonderful if every true Christian, regardless of their particular distinctions, could say, we are one with our brothers and sisters who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ!

The Apostle Paul had much to say about unity in the ‘Body of Christ,’ even between Jews and Gentiles. This was revolutionary in his day, because Gentiles were called ‘outsiders,’ ‘uncircumcised heathen!’ (Eph 2:11, NLT). But Paul had received something new from the Lord that had been hidden from ages and generations. It was basically that there was now no difference between Jews and Gentiles. His words were remarkable! Some people believed and praised God, but some hated him and went so far as to try to kill him! Yet he kept proclaiming the news that,

"Christ himself has brought peace to us.

He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when,

in his own body on the cross,

he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us….

He made peace between Jews and Gentiles

by creating in himself

one new people from the two groups."

Eph. 2:14, 15 (NLT)

This is so wonderful! How glorious it will be when Christ returns when we won’t have all these man-made divisions! We will have fellowship with all believers, no matter what color, denomination, or socioeconomic background! There will be no insults or slights to anyone. As Ephesians 3:6 records it,

" Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News

share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children.

Both are part of the same body,

and both enjoy the promise of blessings,

because they belong to Christ Jesus." (NLT)

Shirley’s Soliloquy #204

It’s a ‘God Thing’!

Her face lit up like the sun breaking brilliantly through the clouds! She exclaimed, It has to be a God thing!

A good friend had made it possible for us to attend a Military Reunion in Italy, and we were sitting in the airport boarding area waiting for our flight across the Atlantic. There was a young lady sitting a few seats to the side of me. She got up and asked if I would watch her books while she went to the restroom.

While she was gone, I noticed she was obviously a student. There were various large books about mental disorders of children next to her seat. When she got back, she thanked me for watching them. I laughed and said that probably not many people would want to steal those books anyway!

She caught my interest in the subject and asked if I had been a teacher. When I said I had, her eyes lit up, and she said she was too! She said she thought I had been a teacher because teachers are friendly people. She asked what