Ann Farabee

By Ann Farabee

Sometimes, going to the emergency room is our only choice. As I sat, I sensed a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness in the great crowd of people. Some slept in chairs. Some were covered from head to toe in blankets. Most were in obvious pain.

But I mostly remember the one who cried, “Help me! Please!” It was haunting and the begging for help was non-stop. Those in the waiting room tried to ignore it, but one person finally had all she could take and yelled out, “Will you stop?” He was silent for a second, but then the cry for help started again, and grew even louder.

Later, as someone called out his name, his relief was obvious. He cast away his blanket. He rose. He went to receive help.

I am not sure what happened next, but I imagine he was asked, “What can I do to help you?” I am sure he told them his need. And since I saw him leaving the hospital an hour later, I would imagine they had met his need — and told him to go home.

He had come to the emergency room. He cried out for help. Help came.

In Mark 10:46-52, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was in a crowd with a great number of people. He heard there was one who could help. He cried, “Jesus, have mercy on me!” The crowd yelled at him to stop, but he cried even louder, “Jesus, have mercy on me!”

Jesus called for him. Bartimaeus cast away his garment. He rose. He went. When Jesus asked what he could do for him, he asked to receive his sight. Jesus told him to go his way — his faith had made him whole.

Both men — the man in the waiting room and Bartimaeus — had gone to their emergency room in a time of desperation to beg for help.

In desperate and helpless times, scheduling an appointment for later is not good enough — our need for help is immediate. That is when we go to our emergency room, and beg, “Help me, please! Jesus, have mercy on me!”

The emergency room prayer is a sincere, short, heartfelt prayer that cries out for help from our heavenly father. It is a prayer that expresses our faith in God, as we ask him to deliver us from trouble. It often comes at a time that we feel we cannot even pray, for helplessness and hopelessness have overwhelmed. The emergency room prayer has few words — but many tears.

Have you been there? Yeah, me too. We have all been in our emergency room, and needed our emergency room prayer. God hears it. God holds it dear to his heart. God wants us to pray it.

Psalm 50:15 says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee.”

By Ann Farabee

By Ann Farabee

Do you remember learning how to ride a bike? Me, too. I balanced myself for a second — and my mother let go. I kept going, the wind in my face, completely free. But the driveway was about to end, my bike began to wobble, and fear set in. The crash was coming. That is when I realized I had been followed by my mother — the entire 10 seconds. She grabbed the bike just in the nick of time to keep me from falling.

I remember my little ones learning to walk, as I followed along behind them, hunched over, leaning down toward them in order to catch them if they fell.

I remember my children a few years later, walking excitedly around an amusement park, becoming oblivious to the fact that they needed to stay with me. When they realized they had walked away from me, they looked back, fearful that they were lost. But, I had been following them the entire time.

These were special times — my mother following me — and me following my children.

But they pale in comparison to the promise of being followed in Psalm 23:6.

For it says:

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

Just for us — I am going to break the verse down, so we can savor every ounce of it:

Surely — surely means we are believing with assurance and confidence that what is being said is true. How in the world could anyone doubt it?

Goodness — God is not only good, but is good to us. He helps us avoid evil. He helps us when we begin to wobble or fall, and supports us when problems arise. He surrounds us withgoodness.

And — not only is there goodness, but there is goodness and mercy. And joins them to let us know we can have both.

Mercy — mercy is compassion and forgiveness. It delivers us. It comforts us. It restores us. Our sin is not greater than God’s mercy. Does it ever run out? No, it is new every morning.

Shall — shall means it is inevitable that it will happen.

Follow — when one follows someone, that means they travel behind them, run after them, or pursue them. Goodness and mercy are following us.

Me — me means me — and you.

All the days of my life — all means all — in all the days — and in all the seasons — of our lives.

God sends goodness and mercy to follow us — because we are his children.

Being followed by goodness.

Being followed by mercy.

For how long?

All the days of our lives.

That’s a promise we can cling to.

By Ann Farabee

By Ann Farabee

A good talking to?

The sixth-grader was cornered. The parent-teacher conference had reached its conclusion, and truth had come out. He had been quite slack at school — and his grades were proving it. As they were leaving, his dad said, “He will be getting a good talking to when we get home.”

I have thought those words.

I have heard those words. 

I have said those words.

A ‘good talking to’ is an idiom that means a stern lecture or scolding.

An example is when I was a teenager, and my mother would say, “Get that chip off your shoulder.” I knew there was no actual need to look on my shoulder for a chip, but I got her point.

Sometimes, we may have to give ourselves a good talking to if:

• Our joy has not felt joyful.

1 Peter 1:8 says that though we have not seen him, we love him. We believe in him. We rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.  

Our joy is inexpressible and glorious. Joy is the kind of happiness that does not depend on what happens. 

• Our compassion has not felt compassionate.

Matthew 14:14 says that Jesus went forth, saw a great multitude, and moved with compassion toward them. Jesus went. Jesus saw. Jesus moved. How? With compassion. Where? Toward them.

 We go. We see the multitude. We need to move — with compassion — toward them. Compassion is passion with a heart. It is about giving all you’ve got.

• Our words have not been sweet.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 says to let our words be few. Proverbs 16:24 says that pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweet to our soul, and health to our bones. 

Words can encourage. Words can destroy. Choose them carefully. Talk less. Use pleasant words when we do.

• Our labor has become laborious.

Ecclesiastes 5:18 says that it is good and pleasant for us to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all our labor. Verse 19 says we are to rejoice in our labor. It is a gift from God.

Enjoy our labor. Rejoice in it. It is a gift.

The ‘good talking to’ between the dad and his son may — or may not — have brought great results. My mother’s warning about the chip on my shoulder may — or may not — have brought great results. But, being talked to from God’s word always brings great results.

Ready for action?

Write this down:

Have joy.

Have compassion.

Use sweet words.

Rejoice in labor.

Let’s carry it with us as a reminder.

We never know when we may need to give ourselves a good talking to. 

By Ann Farabee

By Ann Farabee

January 2020 had arrived. In the year 2000, I had asked my students to predict what 2020 would be like. They overwhelmingly decided that the big story of the year would be flying cars.

I was not seeing that, but the new year did feel special, and I decided to pray for a year of transformation. It was a prayer that seemed to transcend my normal prayers, for it went leaps, bounds, rivers, and mountains past a New Year’s resolution.

It felt like a cry from my heart.

Transform means to change completely.

Transformation is the process we use to get there.

I began to form my strategy for transformation 2020 by making a list:

• This needed to be changed…

• That needed to be changed…

• If only they would change…

Oops…my list had already begun to include changes I felt others should make.

Planning the transformation of someone else in order for me to be transformed?

Probably not the best strategy.

I needed for change to begin in me — not for me to attempt to change others.

My planning was not going well. It reminded me of watching a bee stuck in a spider web, buzzing around, putting forth great effort, but making no progress.

I remembered working as a cashier when I was a teenager. Change had to be given back on most purchases. We were not allowed to say, “Here’s your change,” and hand it to them. Instead, we had to count out the change one coin at a time, as we placed it into their hands.

Quite often, after customers had gathered their bags and walked away, they would turn back and ask, “Did you give me my change?”

I would smile and say, “I sure did.”

As the months of 2020 began to pass, I realized my change had begun.

It was not the change that had been on my list.

It was much better than that.

My change came from Ephesians 4:23, “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”

To renew means to give fresh life or strength to — which was what I needed.

The changes were delivered into the spirit of my mind. It was not instantaneous. They came one at a time. They came straight from the hand of God. As they came, I reached out to accept them.

The spirit of my mind — had been renewed by God.

For God who made me can also renew me.

Change had come — and not through my plans or my power.

I had not even needed my list of changes — he had a list prepared for me.

When I began to realize change had come, I could not help but think, “Lord, did you give me my change?”

I somehow think he smiled and said, “I sure did.”

By Ann Farabee

By Ann Farabee

Her voice. It stayed with me for years. I would hear it in my dreams — or hear it in my head. It always helped me to not miss her quite as much.

She left for heaven quickly without giving us much time to prepare, but we did have a beautiful moment by her bedside as we sang, “Amazing Grace” and held on to her as tightly as we could.

Losing your mom is hard. She wasn’t with me nearly long enough. So glad I have pictures and memories, my favorite being her sitting in “her chair” reading a Grace Hill novel, Reader’s Digest, or her Bible.

But years later as time has gone by — her voice — slipped out of my mind. I still try to hear it, but it will not come.

I looked up “voice” in my Bible concordance and surprisingly, it was in Psalm 29:3-9 seven times, sandwiched between four of my favorite verses — Psalm 29:1,2,10,11.

I had drawn an arrow pointing from verse 1-2 down to verse 10-11, like the in-between verses were nothing.

Guess I should have learned a lesson from my mother when she used to offer me a “nothing” sandwich every time I could not make up my mind about what kind of sandwich I wanted. You guessed it — I got two slices of bread with nothing in-between.

Those “in-between” verses. I should have known not to skip them all these years.

For those verses are about the voice of the Lord — and they are beautiful.

As I thought about my desire to hear my mother’s voice, my heart began to sense a bit of the magnificence of the voice of our Lord.

The voice is upon the waters. The God of glory thunders. When the waters are deep, we tend to listen to the roar of the waves. But those rushing waves are overpowered by the clap of the God’s thunder as He speaks from above.

The voice of the Lord is powerful and full of majesty. It is a voice of honor, royalty, beauty, and power. Psalm 104:3 says that he makes the clouds his chariot, and walks upon the wings of the wind.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. Thirty feet in circumference and up to 129 feet in height. Only the most powerful voice could split the most powerful cedars — and we can hear that voice.

The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire. Who could do that? No one. But God’s voice can. The flames listen to the voice and melt the hearts of men.

The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. A wilderness is neglected, abandoned, uncultivated, or in a position of disfavor. The voice can shake our wilderness.

The voice of the Lord makes the hinds to calve, discovers the forest, and in his temple everyone speaks of his glory. The voice makes the deer give birth, strips forests bare, and everyone says, “Glory!” We will be so overcome by his voice that the word, “Glory!” will spew right out of our mouths.

I can almost hear it, can’t you?

Clap! Crack! Boom! Roar! Snap! Swish! Crackle! Rattle! Glory!

It is like God’s Word is giving us an audible display of his power!

Sounds like the fireworks of the Holy Spirit to me!

Oh, Lord, give us ears to hear it!

Will we know the voice when we hear it? Of course! If I heard my mother’s voice today, even though I have not heard it in 25 years, I know I would recognize it immediately!

Hear the voice — it is all around us.

Contact Ann Farabee at annfarabee@gmail.com

By Ann Farabee