857, 30APR

Found Again! Christmas the Crab!

Found Christmas the Crab… oh you know there’s a devotion here about me losing focus… and the Lord clue-ing me in.

I found the crab with the hockey sticks, behind the washer… I lost focus yesterday and left him on the living room floor, packed my lunch and went to work… home late, I saw the lid off of his home, I sadly realized I had lost focus… I was too exhausted for the exhaustive search, I went to bed knowing that I was going to have to tear the house apart.. I work up unusually early at 430 am with the realization that I better start looking. Better yet I best start LISTENING… Christmas the crab is active at these times… I took the battery out of the clock that was ticking too loud in the kitchen and just stood silent.  I probably looked like I was hunting for a hidden Easter basket. And I LISTENED.

I prayed to the Lord: “Please GIVE ME A CLUE!” and I rose my hand to acknowledge my lost unfocused self, I lifted my hand to the air to ask Jesus to pull me out of the water… I asked for help because how could I lose a crab I was so supposed to help? and honestly I prayed because I really didn’t want to tear my house apart!!!… and yes, just then, an image came that quick – I just envisioned the laundry room – I headed over. I listened for the crab but no. I simply kept thinking about the hockey sticks but those gaps seemed too small for a big crab… but there he was… THERE HE WAS!!!.. God knew… I was the recipient of His Power to forgive and focus. I was gifted a vision. I knew and know that I will forget how much help I got just then from the Lord…  I will forget that He flashed a vision to me. I will get a bit lost again and again the Lord will find me. If the Lord can find a crab for me, for sure He can find me when I am lost. Surely He can lead us back to Him.

God led me to find the crab, that I feel… that hunch and vision was real and undeniable… I could also say I KNOW that mini-miracle was from God because ALL GOOD THINGS ARE FROM GOD (Psalm 16, James 1)… So WOW, to feel that hunch is startling!!! That’s the feeling of getting help from Someone assembling my thoughts for me.

Whew… (and I didn’t even start cleaning, only listening)… Christmas lost and found again,  Easter-basket style… Whew Lord, Thank You…It was a simple bad mistake, like me forgetting the stove on, I am so very much human and get so distracted… I can be lost just as much as Christmas was lost in the sticks…

How blessed we are to know that the Lord refocuses us to His mission of seeing how much life is better when we rely on Him… Our focus is lost at times,  we are the lost sheep… we will always need to listen…

Amen

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Psalm 16 NIV, of David. (1-11)

Keep me safe, my God,

for in you I take refuge.

 

I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;

apart from you I have no good thing.”

I say of the holy people who are in the land,

“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”

Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.

I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods

or take up their names on my lips.

 

Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;

you make my lot secure.

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

surely I have a delightful inheritance.

I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;

even at night my heart instructs me.

I keep my eyes always on the Lord.

With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

 

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

my body also will rest secure,

because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,

nor will you let your faithful one see decay.

You make known to me the path of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence,

with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

 

AMEN

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James 1 NIV (1-18)

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:

 

Greetings.

 

Trials and Temptations

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

 

Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.

 

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

 

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

 

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.