Tagged: Audrey Frank

Helping others heal is a tender task. How many could be healed of heart wounds if we took the time to learn how to respond? Jesus invites us to be First Responders. Read Part One of this series by clicking here.  Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool… Read More

This post originally appeared on audreyfrank.com July 21, 2019. The author has not learned much since she first wrote it. Maybe this time around. And Solomon assigned 70,000 men to bear burdens… 2 Chronicles 2:2 Some of us are assigned to bear burdens. [bctt tweet="There are projects in God’s kingdom that cannot be completed without burden-bearers. #perseverance #honor" username="audreycfrank"] The stones hewn from the mountain would not carry nor assemble themselves into towering walls to form Solomon’s glorious temple. They needed strong arms to bear them to their purpose. God’s assigned burden-bearer must be careful how she carries her load. I have a beautiful bowl handcrafted from the wood of an orange tree native to North Africa. Golden brown, it is inlaid with floral patterns of… Read More

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne (Hebrews 12:2). Everyone eventually faces a season of letting go.  Sometimes we are ushered into this inevitability without warning. The day we raced through midnight chasing the helicopter that bore our son to a burn trauma center was one such moment. The night my best friend sped over twisty mountain roads to the hospital where her dying daughter lay was one such hour. Strange and terrible that so many seasons change in the darkness of night. Sometimes we know a season of letting… Read More

[caption id="attachment_3985" align="aligncenter" width="805"] This image is copyright owned by David Padfield 2015 and used with his kind permission, with additional images copyrighted by the LUMO project or public domain from WikiMedia Commons and StateofIsrael.[/caption] Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake (Mark 6:45-48). Jesus sends us into storms.  This may sound contrary to what you’ve… Read More

For Bruce. Thank you. See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands (Isaiah 49:16). I was dreaming, but I could feel my breath. Slow and shallow, full of fear. I stood before a weather-beaten house. Its rough-hewn wooden door was colorless from years of storm and sun. There was no knob. No place for a knob, either. Open the door. Jesus stood beside me, like a friend who goes with you to help you be brave. But it has no knob. And I’m afraid. He placed His hand on the door and it swung wide. Entering first, He reached out his hand toward me. I gripped it and followed.  To our left in a small room, a man cradled a baby. His… Read More

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Isaiah 52:7 I thought my heart would burst with joy as I glimpsed our parents coming around the bend of the dusty African road. They are here!!!!  With them, they brought good news, comfort, and refreshment to our souls. Not to mention chocolate. We lived among a tribe in the bush of East Africa. We slept in a mud house, collected water from our tin roof, and read by lantern light at night. Beans and rice were regular fare. We hadn’t seen our family since we waved goodbye at the airport over a year… Read More

And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” Mark 5:9 “What's your name?” the kind man in the appliance department asked my eighteen-month-old daughter. Blonde curls framed her dimpled face and her blue eyes sparkled as she answered. “Fweetie.”  Fweetie was her version of the affectionate name we always called her: Sweetie. Unashamed of her name, she knew who she was: dear to her father and me, no matter how she pronounced it. Not everyone knows how precious they are. Too many call themselves by dishonorable names, names like Hopeless Case, Ugly, Unlovable. Shame has forced them into isolation and stolen the affectionate names they were given by the One who made them: Talented, Beautiful, Loved. Shame’s goal is to steal our name. Shame itself… Read More

I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, creating words of praise.” The Lord says, “Peace, peace to the one who is far or near, and I will heal him” (Isaiah 57:18-19). She was shouting on the phone. I’d never heard her shout, not one time. But she’d had it. How could God allow this? What is He doing? When is enough enough??? My dear friend, she who had followed Jesus alongside me for decades, was struggling to understand. My pain, the crushing circumstances God was allowing in my life, was forcing her and other friends like her into a faith crisis. Could she trust Him despite all He was allowing in… Read More

For Steph. Thanks for answering the phone. Again. Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place…they made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him (Job 2:11). “Just change my name to Job in your contacts.” My sister-in-law didn’t laugh at my nervous joke. I was calling her for the third time in a year with devastating news. The kind you think you might receive once in a lifetime but hope never to hear at all. Our life had become a series of traumatic events, and our friends and family were beginning to dread our phone calls. I dreaded making them. But one thing was clear to… Read More

I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. Joel 2:25 They sounded like tiny tap dancers in chaos. Wings flapping, jaws chomping, they stumble-flew all over each other, ravenous. Like a cloud they swarmed; like a machine, they destroyed. Up till now, I had only read about locusts. Today, outside my window in Africa, I was witnessing their demolition derby first-hand. Amidst the whirring, clacking cloud of little winged invaders rose another sound… a keening. The kind reserved for death and funerals. The villagers were mourning the loss of all they’d worked so hard for. Their families’ sustenance. Their livelihood. The very food… Read More