Kristin Saatzer

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Thankful for Shingles?

November 26, 2015 By Kristin Saatzer 4 Comments

SALE Bible Verse Print / Thanksgiving Decor by AnayaMichelleDecor: Furiously working on a talk for a women’s retreat, I felt a weird sensation on my neck. The retreat was sixteen days away and I would be presenting  five messages. This was talk number three. I loved the content: recharging through prayer, recharging by getting away, recharging by silence and stillness. Ahhh.

The next day, after returning from a walk, I noticed a red spot underneath my baseball cap. Thinking it might be staph (going around my son’s football team), I visited the doctor. Shingles was  diagnosed. Shingles? I’m not old enough. Evidently I am.

Praying as I drove home from the doctor, it occurred to me that this bout of Shingles was most likely caused by stress and my lagging immune system. 

This fall has been crazy. Non-stop. My spiritual cup hath runneth almost  empty. The wonderful content I was focusing on for the upcoming retreat had become almost non-existent for me. Ironic. I was barely praying, nor was I being still in God’s presence. Instead, I was running around like a crazy woman. I wasn’t getting enough sleep and had an obnoxiously long “to-do” list.

I am usually intentional in this- remaining balanced and purposeful with my days, saying “no” sometimes, wanting to live deeply instead of  wide. But this Fall, I’d let myself get spread too thin and pulled myself wide. So wide that it landed me in Shinglesville.

Yet, when I look back on this last month. I am filled with immense gratitude. Yes, Shingles is painful and draining and it stinks! But God and His mercy met me there in my need. 

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On the Fringe

October 14, 2015 By Kristin Saatzer 4 Comments

With a writing idea brewing in my brain, my fingers touched the keyboard. I paused, asking God to speak to me and through me as I usually do.

Breathing deeply, I sighed as I looked at my screen.

I’m tired. Spent. Oversensitive and on the fringe between functionality and a semi-catatonic state. Maybe I’m not alone? Thus, I’m feeling like the Lord wants me to share about this today instead of my original idea. 

My schedule and that of my people’s is cooking this fall. On top of this, three of my sons have been sick, one with a funky infection that almost landed him in the hospital. My output exceeds my input and it shows.

Do you relate? Are you on the fringe of your own? Tired? Too busy?

Let this verse speak to you – breathe it in:

Jeremiah 31:25
“I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”

 gods-place-of-rest1

To get off the fringe, I’m going back to the basics. I go back to Him who refreshes the weary and satisfies the faint. I take the time to rest and go to bed earlier. I check my schedule and take out what I can. Delegate. Simplify.

Let this verse sink deeply. Let it travel to the place where peace and rest awaits.

Examine your plate and I will do the same:

~Is it overflowing with too many “to do’s”?

~What can I take off my too-full plate?

~How can I invest in more time with God to study His peace-giving Word?

~What changes can I make in my time budget to get more rest?

~Is there a friend whom I can share my burden with? Someone who can pray for me?

 

I would love to pray for you, friend. Feel free to leave your request in the comments of this blog or message me through my website.

Let’s join hands, breathe deeply and step out of the fringe together.

Synonyms for fringe: periphery, edge, rim, verge

Antonyms: center. inside, stable margin

 

Freedictionary.com and The Synonym Finder

 

 

 

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A Pattern of Hope

February 11, 2015 By Kristin Saatzer 3 Comments

Why, my soul, are you downcast?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him,

My Savior and my God.

Psalm 45:3

Starry night

 

The nurse asked me to rate my pain level on a scale of one to five. One to five? Fifteen I screamed in my head! Then I breathed deeply and replied, “three”. A seemingly brave yet dishonest answer.

A simple surgery gone bad. A predicted one-week recovery turned into months of pain.

Yet  another season of my life spent in physical pain and emotional defeat. Downcast and disturbed much like our favorite Old Testament shepherd turned king- David.

I love the Psalms. In the high and low turns of my life, I always go there. One-hundred and fifty Psalms written as poetry, prayers or music by fifty-seven authors.

Psalm forty-five, verse three is a repetition verse. These same words were spoken by David three times,  refrains written by a hurting soul. When something repeats in scripture, I take notice. In this particular refrain, I see a pattern.

In the first part of the Psalm, David asked questions to himself, “Why my soul are you downcast…Why so disturbed within me?”

Me too David, me too.

To myself I’ve asked, “Why am I so down?” “What is wrong with me today?” To God, “God, why are you allowing me to suffer yet AGAIN?”

You too?

Life on earth is one big question mark.

And my friend, it is OK to ask. That’s what the people in the Bible did and so can we. Unload your heart to Him. We don’t have to be brave yet dishonest  with our pain because He is the Mighty Counselor. He knows the pain you are experiencing is a fifteen and not a one.

But we  must not stay here though, in this place of asking. It is essential to take the next step or bitterness and discouragement will consume us.

As we peek at part two of this Psalm, we see that David turned to HOPE and PRAISE after his time of questioning. “…Put your hope in God and I will yet praise Him…”

The Greek definition of hope is:  confident expectation.

This is no willy-nilly kind of hope. This is a confident hope in knowing that our God is for us. We wait with  expectancy,  remembering He is there, no matter what circumstance we find ourselves in.

Next, after choosing to hope, David chose praise. Praise is my  greatest comfort in trials. I call it “praise-therapy”. We praise Him not because He needs it but because we need it and He is worthy of our praise.

Matthew Henry said,

The way to forget our miseries, is to remember the God of mercies.

Amen.

David’s blueprint is one to follow. Let’s go to God with our pain and honest questions, then let Him lead us to HOPE and PRAISE. Keep coming back to it until David’s pattern is your pattern.

Oh and here’s a little free advice… when the person who can greatly reduce your pain asks you to rate it, be honest and tell her it’s a fifteen. Save the bravery for another day.

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