by John Creasey
His wings fluttered once more as he lifted off.
Right, left, up, down, backwards, and even upside down
he danced and flew over the Garden, singing all the while!
The leaves in the trees were greener again and flowers opened to the sun.
Even the humans returned to the Garden to see and to listen
to the beauty there is in the heart of God
in the magnificent songs of the lowly song sparrow
and the delightful hummingbird dance.
27 Hummingbird
~ Ward Tanneberg / written in memory of my beloved wife Dixie / 4 August 2015
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Life is meant to be a
Sacred Journey
Questions
intended for Individual Reflection
and as a Discussion Guide for
Couples, Book Clubs and Small Groups
1.Calm before Storm
•Some impactful life changes appear suddenly and some can be seen on the horizon. Are you facing a life change at this moment? What do you see on your horizon?
•Life changes are inevitable. Facing these changes with someone helps balance the fear that comes. To whom or what do you turn when life goes upside down?
2.Valentine’s Day
•Prep aring for bad news is challenging; in fact, it may be impossible to be fully ready for it. Sometimes one’s only option is to choose how he or she will accept what comes. Describe a time when the news was bad and you had to decide how to move forward.
•Think of someone you know who has dealt (or is dealing) with extreme challenges in a way that you admire and respect. Describe what you admire in how he or she handled the situation. What can you do to incorporate these character qualities as your own?
3.Options Are Good
•During a time of crisis, to whom would you turn for needed support and care?
•When shadows fall onto your life path, how do you remind yourself that while it may feel dark, scary and lonely, you are not alone in the journey?
•During her illness, Dixie kept a special Scripture passage as a reminder of where she could place herself while considering her options. Read Psalm 131 and consider your own options.
4.Looking for Signposts
•Every journey requires direction . . . signposts. Dixie and Ward recognized their signposts of peace, calm, trust, faith and hope as reassurance through the shadows. Define the shadows in your life that keep encouraging signposts out of reach.
•In spite of the profound relief of a successful surgery Dixie’s family still felt the shadow of uncertainty for the things to come. What are some ways you deal with uncertainty?
5.Song Sparrows and Hummingbirds
•Pain inflicted by others is very difficult to forgive—even more so when the inflictor is someone who should be trustworthy. When forgiveness is required, what holds you back from giving it?
•Ponder the thought, Worry cannot empty tomorrow of its troubles, it empties today of its strength. In what way has tomorrow’s worry robbed you of today’s strength?
6.Looking for Warm Places
•Looking for a warm place means looking for comfort. Describe a way you can recognize someone experiencing a need for a warm place and what you could do to offer comfort.
•Stephen Covey says, “Begin with the end in mind.” Deciding how one ends is more important than how one began. After reading, “you choose how you will be remembered,” what resonated in your heart?
7.Regrets . . . There Are a Few
•Is there someone with whom you wish you had made amends before it was too late? If you had it to do again, what would you tell him or her now?
•Dixie felt she was not wanted or valued by her parents, but over time she deeply understood her value by God. What did she do to find the value God placed on her?
8.Looking for My Father
•Consider A.W. Tozer’s statement, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” How would you explain this statement to someone who does not believe in God?
•What obstacles are in your way of finding the most important thing?
9.The Numbers Game
•Sitting still on God’s anvil, being shaped to His perfection, is the challenge for any Christian. Describe a personal experience in which the results of His handiwork are viewable to you.
10.Waiting and Watching
•A trait Dixie practiced was listening to people. She drew people out by asking questions, showing interest in them, and seeking out their story. In the waiting room times of life, how do you stay connected with people?
•What keeps you from sharing your story with others?
11.Love Unexpected
•Just for the sheer pleasure of the recipient, write a letter to a loved one. To whom you would write? What would be important for you to say and why?
12.A New Normal
•Difficult outcomes often create what we know as a new normal. Have you had to adjust to a new normal?
•Do you feel alone in this new life? If you have let go of pleasurable things from the old normal, how can you incorporate those into your new life?
13.Yielding
•What do you think it means to yield to His work?
•Is yielding different from simply giving up?
14.Questioning
•Have you ever just dropped what you were doing and started over?
•How did you feel God was leading you in this change?
15.The “What If” Question
•In making a major decision, were you given a clear sense of which way to go? Did the sense of direction occur quickly or after long consideration? Do you sense it was God leading you?
16.The Restless Years
•Being criticized in a negative, faultfinding way is tough to work through. To deal with negative critique well, one must learn to evaluate which comments to consider as possibly true and which should be tossed out. What was your response the last time someone was critical of you?
17.Success and Sadness
•While many happy times were enjoyed in California, some of life’s experiences would bring each of the Tanneberg family to the brink. For what purpose do you believe God allows both good and bad experiences in people’s lives?
•It can be during the most difficult times that some walk away from faith in God. If God knows this about people, what might be a reason God would allow difficulty at all?
18.Full Circle
•Describe a time when life took a different direction than you thought it would. Do you look back on that experience with regrets or gratitude? What did you learn about God and yourself?
19.Farewell for Awhile
•Have you ever felt a sense of divine protection in an uncertain or dangerous situation?
•What fond memories do you have of absences and returns?
20.Any Port in a Storm
•Can you look back on a time when God fulfilled His promises and your fears and doubts were forgotten as He answered your prayers?
•As you think about your own life story, describe as many specific instances as you can of God’s faithfulness in difficult times, even the seemingly small ones.
21.Always a Bride
•What goes through your mind when you think of eternal love?
22.Why Do You Think You’re Here?
•When have you asked God a question and expected an answer?
•Describe how you would know if He was asking you a question.
23.Where Help Comes From
•Do you think God lets us experience things that cause us to need His help so we would ask Him for it?
•Think about a need He has allowed for the purpose of bringing you closer to Him.
•Please read Psalm 22, verses 1- 21. How would you des
cribe verse 21?
24.Left Alone
•Read the very last sentence of the gospel of Matthew. What do you think when you read this? How does that passage make you feel?
25.Satisfied . . . Not Settling
•It is a matter of faith to believe what God provides is always enough. What feeds your faith when hardship overwhelms you?
•It is a matter of faith to believe that God always answers prayer, even when the answer is not what we hoped. How has your faith grown by all the different kinds of answers God has provided?
26.Seeing with the Eyes of God
•One of the pleasures of living this American life is enjoying the wide variety of cultures from around the world. Although Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel,” it might seem that the world has come to us! How do you think God expects us to speak of Him given today’s cultural dynamic?
•Do you think the meaning of the Great Commission is any different today than when Jesus first proclaimed it?
27.Against the Wind
•Disappointment is a great challenge to faith. We hope for and expect certain things but when disappointment creeps in, it can be a point of great sadness. Have you ever been so disappointed in something or someone that you struggled with your trust in God? What do you think God’s purpose was in allowing your disappointment?
•If you are still struggling with the results of that disappointment, what would you say to God about how you feel?
28.Lifting Weary Hands
•It is so easy to help someone who is weak and hurting and almost a joy to feel needed. What makes accepting help so difficult when you are the one in need?
29.Ring That Bell!
•Take time to recall a moment of sheer joy that emerged after a long, painful struggle. Recall that moment and put on the final movement of Beethoven’s 9th. It has a good beat and you can pray to it.
30.Selah
•His strength, our weakness. Pause to think how you will apply this thought to the biggest problem you have right now. Write down what comes to mind as you ponder.
•Describe how this exercise helps you realize God’s presence.
31.Perspective
•Recall a time when perspective in a situation allowed you to be more calm and able to cope than the others around you. What was it about the situation that helped you through?
•Describe how perspective is important to keep in mind when life seems overwhelming.
32.When Setbacks Come
•Think of a moment when close friends helped you through a difficult situation. What was said or done that you particularly appreciated?
33.Uncharted Territory
•The significance of Dixie’s gift of time at this point should not be lost. What did Dixie do from within to make herself available to the young woman she met? How significant was this action in your view?
•What is the life message you see from Dixie’s example of selfless giving?
34.Midcourse Check
•Describe something beautiful you have seen in someone who is in the Winter of Life.
•Reading Ward and Dixie’s journey through this particular time, what is clear about where their strength really comes from?
35.My Journey Through the Valley of Shadows
•Shadows fall at various points in our lives, but when they do, He is there. Read Psalm 23 and underline the passage that is most significant to you.
•Which passage did you underline and why is it significant to you?
36.Road Trips
•Ward and Dixie’s road trip to the beach was a much-needed respite from the gritty work of cancer fighting. Why do you think it is important to periodically draw away for a time of prayer, refreshment and restoration?
•Plan a road trip with someone you love. Do it today. Don’t wait.
37.The Bad Week
•Are you living as you were designed to live? Dixie described how in her journal when she wrote, “to glorify God; to drink deeply from His source; to live joyfully, lovingly, richly; to bring pleasure to Him.”
•What habits would you need to incorporate in order to live as you were designed?
38.The Thousand-Year Day
•If the primary discipline of prayer is waiting, how long should our waiting persevere?
•If God doesn’t dispense answers to prayer like a candy machine, what should we expect from the prayers we pray?
•What should be our attitude when approaching God in prayer?
39.Doctors Treat . . . Jesus Heals
•Treating comes through various methods. Healing comes by various forms. We don’t always like the methods doctors use to treat and we aren’t often content with the form Jesus uses to heal. What action of faith can we exercise as we participate with both kinds of healing?
40.Merry Christmas!
•Dixie recognizes that the One whose name is all-powerful intimately knows her name. How does this fact impact your feeling of significance with God, the Almighty?
•The best gift one can give is an invitation to a personal relationship with God. You are invited at this very moment to know Jesus as your personal Lord, Savior and Friend. Contact your local Christian church if you are interested in more information (or contact Ward Tanneberg Ministries at [email protected]).
41.The Greatest Small Gift
•Who, within your church fellowship or neighborhood community, would benefit from your greatest small gift of presence?
42.When Rights Are Not Always Right
•Describe a time when you were right on principle but the argument was diminished by your attitude.
•Is there someone with whom you should make peace?
•Whose forgiveness do you wish for?
43.It’s Not Over ’til It’s Over
•In sports, one doesn’t leave the game until it’s over. Even when a player is benched, he or she still suits up. Why do you think this is important to the team dynamic?
•Have you ever left a challenge before the end was called? If you had to do it again, what would you change? Say why.
44.The Thing Between God and Us
•Suffering is a stressful, lonely time that can cause one to really question God’s intention and plan. Have you experienced suffering? How did it impact your interaction with God?
•Does it help to think of suffering as the thing between you and God?
45.Happy Valentine’s Day
•Dixie felt relief at Dr. Park’s recommendation, though it was not something she favored. Our ability to give guidance to others at the right time can relieve them of a burden; given at the wrong time it can be counter-productive. How do we know the right time to give guidance to someone in need?
46.Our Family in Christ
•Explain why you believe we are called to participate in a church body.
•Has there ever been a time when you felt God has told you, “Follow Me?”
47.Don’t Breathe
•What is the most difficult medical treatment you have experienced?
•What did you discover was the best way to endure it?
48.It Takes a Village!
•Have you ever been a part of someone’s village?
•Describe what you learned from the experience.
49.“Beam Me Up, Scotty”
•What is the best part of aging?
•What have you grown to like better about others as they’ve gotten older?
50.Traits of the Long Distance Runner
•Recall a time in your life when you were metaphorically running. Did you find that you were running with (or for) someone else?
•During that time, did you find you became an owner of another’s burden, or were you able to run alongside to help carry the burden?
51.More Traits . . .
•It is very easy to give into feelings of self-pity and sadness when someone you love is battling illness. As your loved one’s caregiver, why is it important to be real, but also encouraging, a
nd fight the desire toward self-pity?
52.Chemotherapy Round 4
•What does it mean to say God is silent?
•Do you feel when God is silent that He is also absent?
53.Icons of Aging
•Psalm 52:8 says, “But I am like a green olive tree flourishing in the house of God, I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.” The olive tree symbolizes God’s faithfulness and steadfastness toward His people. Describe someone who has been a green olive tree in your life.
54.Attitude
•Sometimes a single person can make all the difference in handling a dire situation. When has this happened in your life?
•Do you sense there is a person for whom you can make all the difference in the world right now?
•Have you experienced a crisis in your life in which your attitude and / or tenacity, or that of someone else, made all the difference in achieving a successful outcome?
55.The Most Important Thing
•Put on your last-day shoes and think carefully. What’s the most important thing you can imagine on the very last day of your own sacred journey?
The remainder of the book speaks for itself. There are no more questions.
More of What People Are Saying About Sacred Journey
Put on your hiking boots, pick up your trekking stick, load your backpack and join Ward Tanneberg on this extraordinary sacred journey. It is a love story, a life chronicle, a handbook, and a psalm of praise to a God who is ever present. Join with Ward and Dixie as they do life together . . . with the God they love.
Brenda A. Smith, President
Breakfast With Fred Leadership Institute
www.facebook.com/bwfli; BWF Project, Inc., www.breakfastwithfred.com
Breakfast With Fred (Regal Books)
Before we ever knew each other in the ’90’s, God knew Dixie would be a special influence to carry me forward after those years together in Palm Desert. Her love of Ward and family was a witness to me of this unique, one-of-a-kind friend God had in mind when He created her . . . a Proverbs 31 Wife of Noble Character living in our present times. Sacred Journey is the story of a very special person.