Joy F. Strang

My husband, Steve, and I own property that has an eagle's nest on it. One day after a spring storm we went out to check on the property and found that a third of the nest had been blown down.

As I looked at the fallen pieces, it occurred to me that often when we think of eagles we picture the majestic bird that is our national symbol--a bird that is able to soar high above any tempest that might come along. We rarely think of eagles as having to go through storms.

Yet if a storm comes while young are in the nest, the mother eagle has to leave her soaring and return to the nest to protect them. When it is over, she has to rebuild what has been lost and go on.

Evangelists Charles and Frances Hunter recently visited our office. After ministering at our noon prayer meeting, they offered to pray for anyone who needed healing.

Frequently when the person requesting prayer listed his ills--no matter how serious they were--Frances delightedly exclaimed, "Oh, that's easy!" and then prayed a simple prayer in faith. She knew that no ailment, from fibromyalgia to heart disease, was too hard for God.

Later I found myself repeating that phrase in my mind as I dealt with issues at the office. We have a conference facilities problem? Oh, that's easy! A staffing issue in a critical department? That's easy for God.

For years I prayed for a healing miracle for my eyes. From the time I was in junior high school I had worn corrective lenses for myopia (near-sightedness), but the condition had continued to worsen until my vision was no longer fully correctable. I could see, but not clearly.

In 2000 I heard about a new procedure that could reverse the effects of myopia and learned that I was a good candidate. In an amazing operation that took only about 10 minutes, my vision was restored to such a degree that I no longer needed lenses. I had received new eyes to see, and many things changed as I looked at the world differently.

A person who is totally blind in the natural can still have vision. Helen Keller (1880-1968), the well-known American lecturer, was both blind and deaf but was able to see past her darkness. Her life impacted the world as she accomplished things that were unbelievable for one with such a handicap.

By nature, I am a doer--and I like projects, whether they are related to decorating my home; running Strang Communications, the business my husband and I started in 1981; or helping a person get his marriage or his finances on track. But a number of years ago I learned that the activity of a Martha is meaningless without the heart of a Mary. We aren't to be one or the other, but both--at the same time.

In other words, our goal is not to break down our daily lives into segments, making sure that we "pray" as much as we "do." Our goal is to learn how to pray and do simultaneously. Paul says we are to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17). How is this possible when we have so many responsibilities to attend to?

The key, as Quaker Thomas Kelly describes in his book, A Testament of Devotion, is to live on two planes at once. It is possible, he says, to remain in continual communion with God while also carrying out the duties of our individual stations in life. Our spirits maintain the inner connection, and our minds and bodies do the work.

When a woman is planning to be married, she generally spends months preparing for the wedding ceremony. She shops for a wedding dress, chooses outfits for her attendants, orders flowers, addresses and mails out invitations, secures a location for the reception, engages a photographer and musicians, schedules a church and a clergyman, and does scores of other related, time-consuming tasks, all to ensure that the service itself will be a memorable occasion and a fit beginning for her new life--a life she has yearned for and dreamed about for a long time.

What some of us don't realize is that whether we have ever planned, or will ever plan, a wedding in the natural, we are preparing for a marriage in eternity with the Lamb of God.

God's plan for us is that we become the bride of Christ. According to Anna Rountree, author of The Heavens Opened (Creation House), this plan is much like an arranged marriage. At the point of our new birth, our future spiritual marriage is set up in heaven somewhat as arranged marriages are here on Earth. It is essential that we keep this vision before us throughout our lives so that every decision we make will serve the end of preparing us for our destined role.

I once heard a message in church on "the balanced life." The speaker made the point that we need to give equal time to each of the most significant areas of our lives so we don't get out of balance.

I felt prompted to do a search on the word "balance" in my small computer Bible to find scriptural backing for the message. The only reference given that contained the word was a verse in Proverbs, and that had to do with a scale--in other words, with weights and measures, not with the way we use our time.

What I found did not convince me that the preacher was right. I asked the Holy Spirit to show me the truth, and He replied, "The truth is that being wholehearted for God is the key to balance."