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EVERYTHING, 05JUL

So much these days I pray for focus,  so much I pray that I finish something so that I can focus on other things – I pray to finish then remove other distracting tasks… of course I pray to focus to use what God has put together within my skill set…,  Yes in EVERYTHING, I ALWAYS wonder if I’m being efficient,  useful, and focused…

If I am (if we are) made in God’s image (of course we are), then I wonder if maybe I need to focus on EVERYTHING at the same time, because isn’t that what God is doing? WOW that’s too much… probably doing EVERYTHING is not supposed to be my focus, maybe only a few things are supposed to be in focus right now – and other things will move closer or farther away and be in focus later – or never…

I don’t have an answer here…

Sometimes I look at poison ivy and say “why is that in God’s plan?” Is it because sometimes we aren’t supposed to go into certain spaces? Is poison ivy  – or mosquitoes – from unbalance in the world after Adam and Eve left the garden? Either way poison ivy blocks us, it makes us think… Life things that are not in focus should make us think – EVERYTHING should make us think about God’s plan.

If I can’t get everywhere, then I should not worry about doing everything at the same time.

If I should NOT worry, then I should be able to take more thinking time thinking about God’s plan. Don’t worry – just think – Don’t worry just Be Still – and focus on stillness too…

Ecclesiastes 3 scriptures remind us that there is a time and a season for everything, it is not supposed to happen or be done at the same time…

God has God focus, God has a plan, God has His Own timing – and even He is not doing everything for everyone at the same time – He is doing what needs to be done at the one time it needed to be done for each and every person – a very very personalization of the plan by God Himself – and that’s EVERYTHING I need to know…

God makes it personal – God makes His plan…

That’s my focus – God’s plan…

Focus

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Yes – “The More We Live – Let Go” – music therapy of this song is therapeutic to writing about modeling Jesus, for the forgiving Jesus… Lots of new to me YES songs are very enlightening… Cool…

Let Go

Forgiveness… “Let go”… Jesus says forgive others as we ask (ok beg) God to forgive us… It’s tough, it’s going to take time… But it’s necessary… Maybe we don’t want to forgive others, maybe we just don’t know how… For people we don’t know, it can be easier, walk away and forget… Like the road rage incident I had, I was fine, the car was fine, he was in severe emotional pain which wasn’t my fault (see previous writing, I saw it over his face… pain… anger… frustration… I felt so sorry… Now if he had hurt my beloved blue Subaru window, when he punched at my face behind the window, this might be a completely different essay, one of a forgiveness that would have taken much longer, but it’s not… and I am fine, because the armor of God and armor of Subaru saved my face, and my faith, and I can forgive, I turned the other cheek and drove away… still scared, still aware, still I can see his face, but it was a need for giving forgiveness to him (and to myself for not being extra careful driving)… yeah maybe we more easily forgive IF incidents don’t hurt…

But what if they do? What if they hurt directly or someone we love? Recent or even if it’s twenty plus years ago? What if I would not personally want to, or seem to be able to, forgive them anyway??

It sounds easier said than done to forgive, and actually it might have to be a ripple effect forgiveness we seek… “Forgive me, oh Lord, because I find it hard to forgive this situation, this person… Forgive them Father for they know not what they do… Forgive them Father especially since they know what they did was wrong”… It’s easier to hear Jesus utter those words then for it to come out of our own mouths. Maybe God hears HIS children cry in pain because there is no glee in forgiveness, only tears in forgiveness – Jesus’s tears – Jesus wept – His cleansing tears for washing our souls… Jesus a gift for our salvation because he can walk the walk and talk the talk of asking God to forgive those people – which also means to forgive us, because we are unforgivable to some others too…

This level of forgiveness might work if whom pained you is someone your see daily, weekly… Maybe you can’t forgive them yet, yet you can try. Even if you are not there yet, God’s asks you to try and God has a mediator in place regardless… Jesus is the mediator – this ripple effect forgiveness might be your only hope: “Jesus help me forgive them for sake of my own forgiveness too – please Jesus ask God to forgive me”.

So this YES song, matches these forgiveness thoughts with the phrase: “Wanna change the world?”…    “The more we give, the more we love, the more we grow.”

That is forgiveness in a nutshell… The more we FORGIVE, the more we grow… Likewise, the more we shed light on the dark spots of our hearts, the more we ask forgiveness for, the more we grow… The more we move towards modeling Jesus the more we obtain the harmony God desires…  eternally in God’s house is where HE is calling all of us together, reassembles what was shattered at the biting of THAT apple…

Yea, we share the world, it’s up to us, we carry God’s burden of forgiving the snowball effect of man’s sins from eternity…

And we will help Jesus by forgiving, LET GO….

And we will help God by picking ourselves up, and moving forward… LET’S GO…

LET GO of the past, LET’S GROW because that’s what God desires…

LET GOD work us over

LET GO

——–
YES
The More We Live – Let Go

“You and I can change the world;
The more we live, the more we learn, the more we know.
From this moment on we share the world;
The more we give, the more we love, the more we grow.
The spirit of imagination can lead us through the dark;
The more we see, the more we try, the more we show.
The evidence of our confusion, life has left its mark;
The more we fear, the more we lie, the more we hide.
As we walk into tomorrow
(Turning away from the path we know)
Holding the future with our hands
(We carry the weight of the world we go)
It’s up to you and I — We hold the key; we hold the answers
All our thoughts of doubt and fear are leaving one by one
The more we live, the more we learn, the more we know.
For each of us the road is clear and life has just begun;
The more we give, the more we love, the more we grow.
It’s time to reach the goals we’ve set for ourselves;
The more we fear, the more we lie, the more we hide.
All we need is just to believe in ourselves;
We face the truth, we see it clear, with no disguise.
Cast away our doubt and sorrow
(Turning away from the past we know)
The Universe at our command
(Conserving the fate of the world we grow)
Together you and I, we hold the key to all the answers
Let go
Let go
Let go
Let go
Let go”

——
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant – Matthew 18:21
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

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Faith in the Flow – Only Tears, Only Love, 05JUL

I attended the funeral of a 64 year old last week but I actually didn’t cry as I didn’t know him at all,  instead I laughed at the amazing stories of his eccentric character… my spirit was joyfully filled and re-fortified with spirit at the sermonist’s sharing proclamations of spirit.  I REALLY appreciated how much life this “flash in the pan” had lived in crazy fun… an earthly life beautiful, flawed, and broken, now at REST. I have faith that he has flowed to heaven.

This week, a BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL but BROKEN 56-year old dear friend is nearing the end unexpectedly. I weep so much,  so many of us are, it bubbles up from our deepest soul pockets, my inbox explodes with messages, these are prayer warriors who have both unparalleled sorrow and collective knowledge of the complete healing that we know the Lord could and will provide. The truth is it’s a miracle either way – either a miracle beyond medical belief in Earthly healing or a miracle because of her belief in Jesus Christ – Jesus saving each of us now and eternally. It is a miracle whichever way – both ways – ALL ways… Always SPIRIT moves in miracles…

Thus this week our collective and individual weeping is our gifted spirit flow because of both miracle paths, because we know of the deepest sorrows of a life cut way too short and we know the highest joys of a life filled with seizing the opportunity to live life under His wing of LOVE.

Our weeping is like spreading the wealth of sorrow – our dear friend cannot medically or physically cry,  so we cry for her. She cannot speak the words of her immense pain,  so we call out for her.  She cannot laugh, so we giggle in our memories. We are the little holes of spirit flow that take over when a big flow is stoppered…. put your finger in a garden hose to stop the main flow and the water will shoot out the sides – maybe a couple or maybe thru hundreds of holes – that’s us – our connective brokenness makes for spirit flow in every way it can. God’s main flow of love is split and sent thru us… Our brokenness brings purposeful healing flow and we become a powerful witness – we have faith in the flow.

The Lord connects us children on Earth in non-random ways, seemingly coincidental but not. Conduits of spirit flow are purposeful in life – and purposeful in life after death – there’s a twisting lever on a garden hose – it’s not a back and forth toggle in real life, it’s one way… So which network of spirit flow that you are connected to will eventually switch over – from life to death – a communion of heaven and saints in Christ – the flow of the spirit is re-vining the garden now – the flow of the spirit might get clogged with earthly mud – but no worries, the pressure buildup will push the flow further down new paths… Have faith in the flow.

2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.  Galatians 6:2

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 1Corinthians 1:3-5

You and I take on the burden of pain and the blessing of tears from (and for) our dear friends, who are finishing their races on earth. God connects us to share our burdens and our joys. We replace their tears with our own. We comfort others because we have been comforted. We love because we are loved. We cry for the same reasons. Our tears are because of LOVE. Our spirit will use our tears for healing our brokenness from within to push the flow thru the vine to better hydrate the fruitful branches… We grow and heal because of God. We are filled with His LOVE. We have faith in the flow.

Amen

Be God’s Glitter, 02JUL

My Friend, you put the BIG letter G in Glitter. The big G of God.

My Dear, you ARE God’s Glitter.

Your witness to your faith Glitters, you remind us that it is God who holds us TOGETHER. You show how God glues our very finite dust particles TOGETHER for His purpose. And He shines us, sparkles us to Shine HIS LOVE.  God places Glitter on His beloved children with their shining SMILES.

My Dear, how many Glitter specks have you spread? How many faith seeds did you plant?  How many children first heard of Jesus’s saving LOVE because of you? Immeasurable!

How many families and friends faithfully saw the light of Christ shine thru you? Immeasurable!

How many lives were saved by your work being God’s hands and feet and especially God’s Glitter? Only God knows… My Dear you spread the Good News as fast as Glitter could be shaken out of a can… You Shine.

God glued you TOGETHER My Dear to Glitter.

Someday a forgotten box will be opened and Glitter will fall out. That’s God’s Glitter – because you taught God’s child to glue it. Perhaps it created a sparkle in a grandparents’ eyes to receive such a precious homemade gift, a gift that was made with LOVE. Perhaps it Glittered on a photo of a child’s shining Spirit. Perhaps the glitter covered a slew of gluing messes – no matter – it’s the HEALING shake of Glitter that catches our eye.

Glitter My Dear – you know Glitter, you know God – you witnessed that God glues us TOGETHER no matter how broken we are. You taught us to shine thru the tears because Jesus loves us, and that’s all that matters… JESUS CHRIST LOVES US.

Perhaps someday the floor tiles will be replaced and Glitter will ooze out of the cracks – and we will say that God was there. The leaf blowers will never clear all of the Glitter spread with happiness on this Earth.

And we will take up our own Glitter work for you My Dear, because we will Glitter because of God, we will glue, heal, teach,  learn,  love because of God.

We will SMILE because of God.

God’s healing now and eternally can and will Glitter thru our souls.

God’s glorious children are made by His own hands, and His Almighty Hands are completely covered in Glitter.

AMEN

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I wrote this for dear friend, I just looked at the VBS art frames she made with my kids – she was the one who started a Facebook group which triggered me to ask a mutual friend, a theology professor, important faith questions – I owe my knowledge of the realness of Jesus in part to the spirit moving thru her…

She was taken off life support last night. We have been praying for a complete healing miracle – I know that the Lord provides her and us the ultimate miracle of complete healing with Jesus – now and forever. I know the Lord glued her together from her brokenness and allowed her to serve Him in JOY – with sparkle – with Glitter…

I started weeping in the car driving and I had to stop to write this witness to her faith – I love her, I know she’s in the Lord’s miraculous hands, I pray that He heals her miraculously, I know He knows what is best. I trust in Him.

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Work It, Holy Spirit, Work It, 02JUL

Was great to have my son’s help lifting the heavy air conditioner into my window,  this annual occurrence is probably the clearest example of having to work TOGETHER – even if one strong person,  like my neighbor whom this year was out of town,  could lift it, the prep work and the guidance is still done best as a team…

It takes our coordination and often our humility to work as a team, to put aside our own way of doing things… ALWAYS we need guidance.   I’m not just talking about air conditioner placement, I’m talking about the Holy Spirit.

Yes my shoulder repair last year allowed me to lift that AC unit with no problem – YAY – but this year it was the first time this needed extra manpower came from a teenager, WOW how he has grown! YAY protein building muscles, for both of us! As you know, muscles not worked get atrophied weak… Yes this also us with the Holy Spirit. It’s not that the Spirit itself is weak, but our working of the spirit can be – we are in danger of not being used by the spirit for our and it’s full potential. Don’t let your branches wither and die…

But we can work it… The spirit urges us to move and be moved… the HOLY SPIRIT is here to work God’s plan… we should be thankful for the strength to work it too, because it comes from God with a purpose:

15  Jesus said: “If you love me, keep my commands.16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

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I decided to take a short vacation and work on my Mary… I planned this vacation to stop me from spinning my wheels and gathering no traction, I felt I was not even being a good Martha… So just me being me, I knew I could be a better me, if I recharged my batteries, took time for my kids, took time for myself…, if I looked for His hand to pull me up, if I prayed on a plan, if I acted and touched the robe. I knew…

So in front of a peaceful pool, birds singing, cardinals flying, teenagers sleeping, I stopped and wrote (with next morning edits) to thank the Lord for His Mercy, allowing me to tweak the system, my system… thank Him for His healing, both now and forever…

Tweak the System, 23JUN

In our daily travels, all signs point to Jesus waiting for us with open arms to help ourselves to His healing.

We have to tweak the system of our own brokenness to mentally let Him work thru us to heal… to heal ourselves and simultaneously bring His peace to the world. Thru that healing and for that healing we have to be willing to change.

I love the insight that author/singer  Michael Card gives for tidbits of scripture,  he imagines about Jesus’s first miracle of changing water to wine, at the urging of His mother Mary, that Jesus became willing to tweak the system… Even though Jesus knew God’s amazing plan, and said “my time has not yet come”, Jesus tweaked the system – He showed mercy on the situation – and/or knew that situation would come up and He made things happen… He came here to make the big plan happen and do small things too… Jesus is the Word made flesh therefore He spread the Word of God’s LOVE. Along the way, then and now, Jesus healed those seeking Mercy. He tweaked the plan. Maybe that’s the plan, do you think? For us to ask Jesus to heal us for our Father’s peace… Yes, the plan is all about PEACE.

That’s so true for our actions too – Jesus tweaks the system of us within us – and so can we… I bet you that’s the plan, the truth is that we ARE the plan. We need to tweak the plan too.

Jesus says don’t worry about all those unimportant tasks, yes, get them done but don’t dwell on them – instead focus on the most important tasks at hand… if we remember sisters Mary and Martha, we will understand that both had important ways to welcome Jesus: Martha prepped for all the visitors (very important) and yet was reminded by close friend Jesus to also be present (very urgent)… A reminder to be present… if Jesus is in the room, pay attention…

Invite Jesus to work thru your own temple so that you can worship and act on His behalf. Pause, pray, plan, praise. Tweak.

If life is changeable, then tweak it! Change what you can – create a new mission, existence, focus – all while listening to Jesus’s commands to LOVE – to seek justice, to love mercy, to walk humbly (Micah 6:8).

God is doing a new thing thru us!

19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. (Isaiah 43)

Jesus says: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 10:28-30)

Freedom is freeing and intentional: to free up your burdens just give them to Jesus…

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2nd Corinthians 5)

We can tweak the system because we should… we are being given freedom to live, humbly we should be thankful, pray on it, and restart if we fail…

We can become whom Jesus needs us to be – which is simply a better version of ourselves – whom He knew we could always become…

Jesus tweaking the plan, lingering slow enough to let us touch His robe, inviting us to accept His mercy, it’s our faith that heals us.

Tweak your system – Be healed – Tell of His power – Change the World.

Amen

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Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” Luke 8:46-48

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Just Need to Want Jesus, 17JUN

I just NEED Jesus, and I want to NEED Jesus, and I NEED to want Jesus.

I just WANT Jesus, and I WANT to need Jesus, and I need to WANT Jesus.

We all do, we just don’t all know that,

I surely didn’t…

I do now…

I LOVE that I know Jesus now, but I didn’t back when I didn’t,  how could I even know what I didn’t know?

I didn’t, but now I do…

Who told me I needed Jesus? God did.

Who told me God loves me? Jesus did.

So do I need more than Jesus?  Well no, but I’m human and humanly I want…

I WANT, because I’m human, therefore I WANT Jesus even more…

But do I REALLY need Him more then I already have Him? Well – No, because He has already been there for me BEFORE I even knew Him. Well – Yes, because He is still there for me to know Him more.

Yes, He knew me first!

So, do I really NEED Him if I already had Him?

Yes…

I still do…

I always will…

I always will WANT Jesus because He is a NEED.

I will always NEED to want Jesus.

We all do… We all do…  we just don’t all know that. But Jesus knows…

Jesus knows…

AMEN

Be the Dot. God is Drawing Us in His Plan, 01MAY-30JUN

God surely has a plan connecting us to Him, that plan is much bigger than we could ever see or imagine… We experience His LOVE – now how can we also be conduits of LOVING OUR NEIGHBORS? How can we connect to each other? How will God use His “connect the dots” plan? How can we BE THE DOTS?

We can be one of those encouraging dots… we can be one of those loving our neighbor dots…

We are able to connect with hundreds maybe thousands of dots of people for prayers… click click click…. dot dot dot…

Do you see all those dots that God is laying down? Can you see God drawing lines in between all those dots? Can you hear the Spirit moving? Can you feel His flow of actions and prayers passing thru us to help others? Oh that’s how God works…. we reach, we touch the robe of God fringe and His love transfers…

You and I are dots that God wants to connect…

I am not a solo lone or special dot, but all of us are HIS dots, made in ink, not just pencil…. God’s dots are all His own…. You are His!

Sometimes maybe it seems like my broken dot spills and splatters when the Spirit floods and flows… I reach for help and prayers whether I am strong or weak… My dot may be spilled out of it’s lines, but God still knows where I am.

Sometimes I open my big mouth to say “wow” at how God works, and maybe that’s the point,  we have to share however we share because God wants to use us as we are…. it’s ok even to be feeling lost and faded away, because God knows where He placed all His dots, and will find you when it is time to reconnect all His dots… (Psalm 139, God will hunt us down)

Weak or strong, faded or bold, ripped or rippling, convoluted or simple,  we dots are to be connected. God will re-light you and delight in you.

We do need to pray to be better dots too… we perhaps could strive to strongly hold the harp string of the harmonic sound wave that God wants to pluck and hear… and perhaps we can strive to create a trampoline bounce dot, so that new strings of praise can be bounced from our dot to new dot spots unknown…

Prayer is flow between the dots. Prayer is the SPIRIT travelling from your dot thru other dots and back and all around the net of life… God not only hears those prayers, HE MADE THOSE PRAYERS, God makes the SPIRIT flow from Him to within us and back to Him…

We can be His hands, feet, and dots… to do His work in His world.

BE THE DOTS, LOVE THE DOTS, look for the connecting stroke of God’s pen.

BE STILL to stop spinning and let God connect to you and thru you…

God’s timing, God’s puzzle, God’s plan

You are a chosen dot… Here is a fun thought:  “But you are a chosen dot, a royal dot, a holy nation of dots, God’s special dot, that you may strung together, lines drawn between, and you can bounce the praises of Him back to Him, who bounced you out of darkness and into His wonderful Light.” 1Peter 2:9 adapted

BE THE DOTS…

Amen

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Bear Fruit for VBS, 16JUN

In Mark 11 (see below about the fig tree and the temple),  Jesus humanly is frustrated at the withering of the people who are capable yet do not bear fruit… and He speaks and acts out. “And His disciples heard Him say it.”

This scripture set is about many things including Jesus very upset that the people forgot to honor the temple, it’s anger at the people who charged extra money for the doves, which were intended as sacrifices that the poorest of people gave (according to author Michael Card)…

Jesus curses the tree, even if it is out of season, that bears no fruit,  the people won’t either until they realize that they should…. the people with “empty works, empty words – that lights the fuse of Jesus’ smoldering frustration”

I pray people who do get it then try to give it,  try to help faith grow… VBS time is an opportunity to use resources to teach, provide, and give comfort to parents and direction to children… Our jobs are to give the doves away, let the children’s spirits shine,  set them up to blossom and fruit… that’s my prayer for VBS, the fruit we already bear is also to be used for His purposes!

VBS brings children’s energy into the church… that’s the spark to our faith – we get to see the fruit already being placed EARLY on these children of God – a church without children will wither..

We can be those children too,  we can bear the fruit that was drying – we can rehydrate – we can find the seeds that are in the fruits we were gifted – then we can plant those seeds… (and lo and behold God will hang more fruit)…

At VBS we send the seeds HOME too – seeds sprouting and seeds planted and preserved for future sprouting… in the children, and in all whom they meet…

Thank you all for your prayers and plantings, THIS IS YOUR/OUR MINISTRY – thanks to the children’s garden of VBS – it’s never too early to bear fruit,  it’s never too late to bear fruit,  it’s God’s timing of course….

God is NEVER out of season…

AMEN

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12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.

15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’ ”

18 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

19 When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.

20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”

22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.23 “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

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Open the Gift, 10JUN

I just now saw a beautiful photo of a beautiful daughter and Mom, both women strong and bold… I know some of their story;   I know it’s the Lord who made them strong!

It got me thinking about why God picks certain times for us to become strong not just for ourselves, but for Him…

It is seemingly as if the time we spend growing is so that we gather the strength and fortitude to stand up to the world – and I know so many in this world may not know it is strength grown from Him… So, when we realize His gift of time to heal, to grow, to shine, then how much MORE grateful we can be (I am) that He found us weak, then He grew us strong.

He Himself chooses us to be His messengers, sometimes subtle or over the top, humble yet direct, soft yet certain, and always thankful!

And He places us in the company of folks that He needs His message sent to… our brokenness not crippling but purposeful… His healing right on time…

He chooses to make us stronger by healing us, if we accept AND take time for His ways.

He gives healing and strength as a gift. When we receive gifts we could and should say thank you, because since it’s a gift we have nothing to do with its gifting – and yet it is up to us to actually open the present up!

Open the present, His present, as in a gift package, and open the present, His present, as in time…

Open the gift and gift it back to Him!

HIS LOVE, HIS PLAN…

HIS present

HIS presence

HIS PURPOSE becomes our purpose…

Open the gift of strength, of time, of healing – and then gift it back to Him!

AMEN

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Jesus Crossing Guard, 01Jun

The crossing guard at school this morning had such a stern look as she gazed down the road. She took a long view to see what was coming and what was going. Was she potentially looking for kids or watching the traffic? It was the most focused look you could imagine, not mean but very discerning… I’ve watched the same crossing guard for 6 years now and when the kids come she checks everything, she’s very thorough, and while her stop sign is up and the kids are crossing in front of her, her face changes and she smiles and greets them and is so happy to see them. She is a crossing guard who does just that – guards – protects – focuses on the task at hand – but she does not forget the joy of the children that she is tasked to take care of. Greeting and guarding go hand in hand.  She needs those kids to pay attention to her just as much as the cars need to pay attention to her. The kids need to cross safely, not hop across the intersection until permission, or jaywalk right into traffic.

That’s Jesus right there!! He is tasked with a mission. He wants us safe. He is our crossing guard – daily and eternally watching, discerning… It is through His cross that we cross to eternal life… It is His guard. He watches and protects. And it is thru His engagement with us that He can share Joy and peace loving smiles…

And Jesus has that long view of a crossing guard… He knows our past, He knows our future, and He’s ever vigilant to watch out for the big and the little things that can trip us up.

And Jesus does not forget to SMILE. Jesus wants to see life, see the joy of His children when they realize they are protected, when they realize they are being taken care of, and when they are crossing and walking WITH HIM.

The handheld stop sign which a crossing guard lifts does not prevent errant cars from speeding, it does not prevent people from completely being out of touch, it does not prevent all the evils in the world… Nor does it stop children who are not paying attention from cutting corners in the road – and in life… We are still children – we are still walking thru a broken world, a distracted and disheveled world, it is a messy world for sure…

Here’s hoping the stop sign for Jesus will catch our attention and we can look at our own actions and learn how to behave in all situations using His LOVE for guidance… Here’s hoping we know to move forward within His gaze.  Let’s hope we make it thru – and not lose our joy.

Remember Jesus has a long view – He sees our sin all the way back to original sin before we were even born – He sees it all, yet He does not judge it – and He forgives it all…. Since we do not even know all the sins we have committed, He forgives us… Since we know sins we still commit, even while we know Him, He forgives… And since we have no idea those sins we will make the future, He forgives.

Jesus has a long view in knowing that we need Him, He keeps that stop sign up and keeps watching, urging us to stay in this narrow path towards Our Father… No one crosses to the Father except thru Jesus – stray off the road and you might get delayed and lost without seeing the guard standing there ready to help.

Jesus will make sure those cars don’t block the box either when we cross, He wants to provide an open walkway – and then, while we are face to face with Him we can see His focusing Love and see His JOYful smiles to see us gazing directly at Him…  Jesus gives us the JOY of the Lord that we can hold on to now – and eternally…

Thank You for the cross Lord Jesus – the cross, the crossing and the crossing over  – thank you for our guiding path now. Greeting and Guarding – we will keep walking toward and with You.

Amen

 

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Let He Who Boasts, Boast in the Lord, 31May

Sometimes I wonder if I write too much,  but then I read my favorite verbose Paul…. he and I would understand each other… I’m thankful to know it’s a trickle effect of faith from one to another…. God “confirming testimony”…

I’ve been thru trials, but I’m BLESSED. I’m always thinking: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” when I recount my many blessings… People might see me as a Pollyanna, or even ignorant, but I know whose HOPE I hold on to…

1 Corinthians 1 New International Version (NIV)

1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God… 4 I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5 For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— 6 God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you.7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord…..

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

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God Watches, 26May

My friend said I could share this true story that shows God is watching out for us even if we are not doing the right things…

After a band gig, a friend’s husband was putting his equipment in his truck. He always locks his truck in between runs because his equipment is expensive. So on one run he comes out and his door is wide open and someone is inside passed out in the driver’s seat, so the cops came and took the man home. Turns out the passed out man mistook the truck for his and after he couldn’t start it he passed out   But my friend’s husband insists he had locked his truck, he said he remembers doing it – so how did he get in? Everyone says someone’s life was saved that night because if that man had gotten into his own truck and driven he certainly would have crashed….

God watches she says, she wonders how the truck got opened, but surely she doesn’t wonder why… 😉

God watches…

God saves…

God is cool…

WOW GOD!

Amen

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Spirit Heal Thyself, 24MAY

I try not to childishly whine, still do, I try not to complain, but that lack of venting out my soul is not good…. I realize as humans we have an internal bubbling volcano of emotions… as a vocal person, venting volcanoes keeps them from exploding….

Without whining, internal and external vocalizing also makes me realize how much others have similar and worse problems,  perspective is priceless… yup, I’m good Lord… I’m going to be fine… I rather should be complaining then acting about injustices in the world – I should be in the world, not of it, but  still walking thru it to work…. (Micah 6:8)

We need to be God’s hands and feet and mouthpiece of PEACE.

So that I can get back to my peace work, I will vent here,  then for the sake of your ears I will delete it all…. yes for privacy too, and yes also because you don’t have time to read all my vents… ready?

Sweet Jesus, here it goes…..

…….

……..

… whew …

Whew, I feel much better. Whether you know what my vents are or not, I feel much better spilling them out from clogging up my soul (but I’m glad I didn’t burden you with reading them!)…

You know what? All of our vents, desires, complaints, praises, and explosive moments, spoken and not, are heard and felt by the SPIRIT… God knows even our wordless groans… (Romans 8) (and they are loud and clear!)

Some folks barely sleep, but when I sleep I am out cold… like that collapse in the couch exhaustion sleep for forever… I praise sound sleep, I’m so grateful… isn’t that amazing that the body and the spirit need rest at the same time and couch coma sets in?… Why mentally are we required to sleep? Jesus wants us to find peace… even in small chunks… Without sleep and without peace we cannot live!

At 2:30 AM, waking me up a few years back, it was as if the SPIRIT said: “now just you and me have time to work things out”… Apparently I needed to question, ponder, praise and feel like I was being heard (by myself?) – but at 2:30 a.m.? …. But yea at 2:30 a.m. and at 4:00 a.m. and at 6:00 a.m. and at high noon and midnight, and every second in between, the SPIRIT IS heard…. God knows all…. who knows everything and is listening? God says “I AM” !!!

God says “I AM”

Jesus says “I AM” your friend, you must remember me!

The Spirit connection says “I AM” ready for healing… physically mentally emotionally spiritually blessedly healing is found in PEACE.

The SPIRIT is ready to move you and work you for God’s PEACE.

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11.

Rest your vents, random moments and dreams in the healing SPIRIT of PEACE.

Rest in His PEACE and keep walking…

God loves your PEACE – because He loves you…

Amen

——

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. Romans 8

8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6

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Be STILL the Child Jesus wants you to be, 19MAY

The Little Children and Jesus

13 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them. Mark 10

It’s raining – not super cold but dreary – I’m waiting for the warm up to my day, my life,  my future… I’ll get there, just take a moment to think about it first…  it’s a rainy day for a reason, even if I don’t see it… it’s a rainy day for thinking in… the future is filled with God’s plans, take the rainy day moments as a GIFT. Not a hindrance but an opportunity… be an opportunist for God’s work in you,  His child.

Jesus needs to feel the LOVE of the little children, as much as they need Him, we do too… As He needs them… He needs us too… hugging Him back…

Start to think about the message of a rainy day to regroup – as Jesus’s GIFT to us is too – recapture our inner child – not in childish ways but childlike wonder! Childlike innocence! Childlike JOY! Childlike LOVE!

If our doubts prevent ourselves from running like children into Jesus’s arms,  Jesus will rebuke those doubts for us. Remember we CAN run the race, let the Lord handle the rest… let no one steal your Joy!

So childlike “Receiving of the Kingdom of God” – what does that mean?

So many things…

Receiving the kingdom of God is receiving a heart that LOVES…

Receiving the kingdom of God is receiving a SPIRIT that connects to others…

Receiving the kingdom of God is receiving the opportunities that await us…

Receiving the kingdom of God is receiving it NOW, acting NOW like we are in the Kingdom of God – because we are!!! Maybe that garden is weighed down by the worldly things, but children deal with it and keep being children anyway – in awe of the kingdom…

Being a child is having seemingly endless energy… but needing the most rest…

We don’t always know how to deal with the world – a child just takes the world as it comes – deals with the moment – even sometimes tired, cranky (think grocery store moment of a toddler who needs a nap), and needy – a child who gets rest can then get back up to recieve the world in JOY once again… recharged… a child says “No” emphatically when someone tries to take away their JOY…

We have JOY in the Lord; don’t let anyone take away your JOY!

We need to rest our worldly troubles in the Lord, we need to regroup, retool, rebuke evil… We need to relax, rest up in His Love… wake up in His LOVE.

Children run into arms for joy and excitement, children run into arms for protection and reassurance. Are we those children too?

We need to RUN into Jesus’s arms to absorb His LOVE for us to know it’s there… We need to RUN into Jesus’s arms to absorb His LOVE for Him to know we love Him…. We need to RUN into Jesus’s arms to reshare His Love for His people…

Kingdom LOVE comes from within and it’s always present… children share LOVE without hindrance…

The everlasting kingdom might be here now – OR – the kingdom might feel like a long ways away…. But remember, the kingdom ALREADY has a King! The kingdom already has the LOVE!

Let Love reign over, rain on, rein in His children… We are children of the King!

Be still His child…

Be His child still…

Be still and know LOVE…

Amen

559

Transplant, 13MAY

I’m amazed at how God connects us – His timing – His flock – His connections…

We believers should and do cling to each other to strengthen our resolve to put on the armor of God and get back out into the world to do His work… God pairs us up to double time, encourage, stand by, witness in His work… collective prayers are synergistic…

I know it’s a messy world, but we can witness God working the system… I don’t know how better to explain God living in each of us than the fact that He works us to work His system… we have to know that God is not external but intrinsically woven thru our dust particles.

I got such emotional healing as I read thru some beautiful comments in get well cards that I asked the folks at a recent gathering to sign for a local child, who just got a life-saving liver transplant… I saw an opportunity to speak to the 200 plus congregation and I took it – and I asked them to pray for this child and her family and her donor’s family… I didn’t mean to get emotional, but oh I cried instantly when I told them that she has her whole life ahead of her – because she does – and yes we do too – our whole life ahead with God leading – that opportunity to live makes my spirit sing!

Often I feel placed in an open praise loop in life, and at this moment God helped me slip into and thru this 15 second time slot opportunity…. my tears and emotion with my words welled up and instantly there was a smiling soul, right in front of me who enthusiastically said “I had two liver transplants and a kidney transplant!!” –  Oh, how does God do that?! Both giving me the “coincidence” moment, and the support, and thankfully the fitting conclusion to my plea of prayers which got me to finish this 15 second opportunity… it was a loop of praise that I completed –  a HOPE loop – healing on the go… I smiled internally and externally and that pulled my tears back in enough so that I could keep moving…

Oh, that recovery moment for me and that connection placed by God made me smile and realizing that God did that – He did that – I witnessed that connection – I still do… That moment make me weep even more to feel and see and hear an overflowing presence of SPIRIT in front of me (with me in it!)… God works to refill our cups… my spirit-fill to balance the overflow then re-absorb my tears and rehydrated my soul.

I am blessed to be but a transplant of His Spirit where He puts me – YES, God places each of us where He needs, therefore I surely pray to be off to my next spirit-led place… spread tears here and smiles there and Spirit connections everywhere… How wonderful to witness the spirit moving so that we ALL get to cleanse and recharge our many sections of this ONE body of us all together…

God works His system and we are but transplants thru it… He moves us thru the whole body – one body – one SPIRIT – so very many moving parts…

Transplant – we are gifted opportunities to see where we fit – we are gifted opportunities to re-gift how our lives are spirit-charged and recharged… by witness and presence…

How can I help, Lord? – sometimes it’s to take action, sometimes it’s simply to have the pause in deep healing tears to rehydrate the system…

Sometimes to “just” remind us all that we are HIS spirit-moved transplants – the SPIRIT moves us to move…

Happily I got the cards signed, and in doing so, I also got my SPIRIT lifted – I got my hope renewed – I got to step back to see the body of Christ function while also being in the system…

I have faith that this is so normal for God, and so unbelievable to me….

We are called to work the system because God works us in the system!

We are His hands, feet, voices, eyes, transplants…

Where are we going today, Lord?

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It should NOT surprise me how GOD WORKS…

I misheard a song lyric today at marvelous retreat wrap up service, and it’s now the most powerful praise burst that I must write about,  so strong I had to write the lyric on my hand… bugged me all afternoon to write… I will write then rest (like dough)… let the rest lead to a good rise…

ONE LOAF, 12MAY

One Loaf – no, that’s not the lyric, but that’s what I heard!, because I think the Lord loves reminding us all being a part of “ONE LOAF”.

“One bread, one body,

one Lord of all”…

Instead I heard: “One bread, one body,

ONE LOAF of all”…

ONE LOAF – we are all in this together… we collectively are together, vine together, dust to dust together, and as ONE LOAF (like of bread, NOT meatloaf, LOL) we grow and rise and transform together…. connected in a gooey way that grows, then matures into the whole body of Christ…

“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it”. 1Corinthians 12:27

No division – all together – supportive and sacred connections… all tears of JOY and angst equally mix into everyone else’s…. all lost and all found are together… all bowed knees and rocket ship like reaches are together… all made in ONE SPIRIT…

ONE LOAF

Are you still feeling on the edge of your connectedness? Like crumbled cracker meal, not stuck in a nook and cranny? You are NOT; you are within the ONE LOAF…

Are you burnt toast? Branches burnt, crumpled and fire toasted scrapes? You are NOT; you are just losing what hinders you, you are within the ONE LOAF…

Are you undone sticky dough under God’s fingernails? You are NOT forgotten; you are maturing and you are within the ONE LOAF…

Are you tucked and buttered inside the warmth of a nook and cranny? Take a moment to feel the heartiness of God, yes thank You Lord! Then, perhaps in a new way, you need to seek out those who need you as Christ’s messenger the MOST, stretching the loaf in new ways of LOVE, you can and will stick to some connections that God makes and pray that they can also find their own way, to realize they too are within the ONE LOAF…

“God has so composed the body,……. that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”

ONE LOAF – together – with – for – in – thru – Christ – ONE LOAF broken so that Christ could work us back in to Whole…

Grain TOGETHER – The LOAF is ingrained into the WORD – and the WORD is ingrained into you… “gathered together for all”…

One bread, one body, One LOAF, LOVE, LORD of all

Love never ends. LOAF never ends

ONE LOAF – ONE LOVE

AMEN

——-

1Corinthians 12:12-27  For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

—-

Lyrics:

One bread, one body, one Lord of all, one cup of blessing which we bless.

And we, though many, throughout the earth, we are one body in this one Lord.

Verse 1. Gentile or Jew, servant or free, woman or man, no more.

Verse 2. Many the gifts, many the works, one in the Lord of all.

Verse 3. Grain for the fields, scattered and grown, gathered to one, for all.

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I’m Tired Lord, 11MAY

I’m tired Lord. You woke me up 20 minutes before my alarm.

I’m tired Lord,  SNOOZE…. 5 more minutes…

I’m tired Lord,  it’s Friday… TGIF, SNOOZE… 5 more minutes…

I’m tired Lord, yet those birds sound happy, spring has sprung, SNOOZE… 5 more minutes…

I’m tired Lord, these covers are so nice, the house is warm, the sun shines in brightly, SNOOZE… 5 more minutes…

I’m tired Lord, my daughter’s alarm is now going off, she’s such a hard worker, she needs 5 more minutes to SNOOZE… 5 more minutes…

I’m tired Lord, my son’s alarm clock is actually me, he’s tired too, he did so great at his band concert… In addition to his trumpet playing, I’m even more proud and happy watching his social banter with the kids next to him, his smiles and laughter, he needs and gets 5 times 5 more minutes to SNOOZE… 5 more minutes…

I’m tired Lord, the kids are tired, they were up late laughing,  playing with the cat,  filling the house with life and how awesome hearing such intellectual chat, they are so grown up and yet still so wondrously wild!!!… they need 5 more minutes to SNOOZE… 5 more minutes…

I’m tired Lord – the cat’s meow – the crab’s crawl – the house stirs – I’m in awe Lord even if I’m not moving…. I’m listening Lord and I hear life…. that’s You Lord knocking on my head, You rustling Your leaves, You hustling me into the day…

I’m up Lord!!! I’ll take a couple of 5 minutes to write praises – I’m still comfy and warm, tired but happy… I’m still in awe Lord, always in AWE…

Sometimes, like last night, I withdraw, realize I am too quiet and too tired to be my normal social self, the circle of the day slows so that I can see the circle of life…. even tired I was still being Mom, I don’t know any other job that compares in benefits… I’ve worked hard as a mom to give my kids the best, but You gave them their SPIRIT, I take no credit there…

Well, there’s one way that I’m even more in awe – The only additional job to being a Mom, is being a child – more than a child of my parents is especially being a child of God – working for You Lord as Your child…. there is no better 5 MORE minutes or 10,000 MORE years in awe to know I am Yours….

I am awake now Lord,  thanks…. time to begin the day… tired but TGIF…. 5 MORE minutes to praise…

The kids say I’m late now, figures… “Come on Mom! Let’s go!”…  THANKS for making me a Mom,  thanks for the hustling me, Lord…

5 minutes – is that too many to use to write? 5 minutes – is that too many to rest in the PEACE of Our Lord? 5 minutes – is that too many to praise? I don’t think so…

5 MORE minutes…

5 MORE minutes…

THANK GOD! I HAVE 5 MORE MINUTES!

THANKS Lord for 5 more minutes and the all the REST!

AWAKE, ALIVE, A CHILD

Now I’m ready to GO!

Thanks God…

Thanks

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Encounter to Encourage, 26APR/06MAY

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It is God – it is not me, 03MAY

A big take home message from scripture over and over again is that God wants the credit… why? God wants others look to Him too –  and only to Him rather than worldly wins and woes!

A wiki page for Gideon recounts that: “God informed Gideon that the men he had gathered were too many – with so many men, there would be reason for the Israelites to claim the victory as their own instead of acknowledging that God had saved them.”

OH….. that is what speaks to me – when I payoff  a bill, when I make a deadline,  when I can take a moment to rest and SMILE … God found the way for me to get to that point – to get thru life… I have to still put in the effort,  and I have to pay attention… and I have to give credit where credit is due… yes it is still good to fear the Almighty Lord – as a Father – a loving Father –

God wants us to acknowledge that God is the one who saves us both here on Earth and eternally – and that is 100% the truth… we enter our lives with limited power of our own – and sometimes we are distracted and confused too – but GOD IS STILL WITH US…  “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

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Be the Dot. God is Drawing in His Plan, 01MAY

My friend got a kick out of the hoopla of a secret video of his basketball game with a “random” stranger that went viral,  200,000 views to date, TV news, in just 3 days,  but he takes it all in stride… Understandibly the man who took the video is so excited about it going viral!! His kids are excited too!! They saw the coolness of the moment and became the conduit of connectedness….  Another friend (a social media savvy friend) saw the newsfeed, tagged me on Facebook when she saw the story and I connected the video taker with my friend … not by social media but physical stopping by to find him at the pizza place on Sunday. He laughed – he said “look at that big dot of white hair” remarking at himself in the video… As he was just being normal friendly gentleman he is, the news here is the world is all looking for connecting to friendliness… it’s a feel good story… God knows we like feel good stories that tug our heartstring…

It’s bigger than the bouncing dot of white hair or the bouncing of a basketball, it’s a warm fuzzy feeling of having HOPE  in mankind… it’s a direction for connection that God wants us to be thinking about… how can we be conduits of LOVING OUR NEIGHBORS? How can we connect? How will God use this “randomness” in His “connect the dots” plan? How can we BE THE DOTS?

God surely has a plan which is connecting us to Him, that plan is much bigger than we could ever see or imagine… there were endless examples for me this week: a new drummer of an old band posted on facebook about his critics hounding him, and the flood of fan encouragement poured in… they were connecting dots of encouragement,  that’s what God’s SPIRIT can do… and we can be one of those encouraging dots…

Another few faith conversations with friends, time to encourage… we can be one of those encouraging dots… we of course can also be one of those loving our neighbor dots too!

So importantly, last night I was half awake on the couch and a text message comes through about one of our Vacation Bible School and girl scout families whose 4yr old daughter needs a liver transplant… So in the course of half an hour, not moving from the couch, I, my girl scout leader and others were able to connect with hundreds maybe thousands of people for prayers… click click click…. dot dot dot… including the person and social media outlet thru the basketball game… dot… dot… dot….

Do you see the dots that God is laying down? Then can you see God drawing lines in between those dots? Can you hear the spirit moving? Can you feel His flow of actions and prayers passing thru us to help others? Oh that’s how God works…. we reach, we touch the robe of God fringe and His love transfers…

I don’t know if any of these connections will come up with a liver donation but what I do know is that being in prayer is the most important thing we can be in. And I thank you for your prayers.

Prayer is flow between the dots. Prayer is the SPIRIT travelling from your dot thru other dots and back and all around the net of life… God not only hears those prayers, HE MADE THOSE PRAYERS, God makes the SPIRIT flow from Him to within us and back to Him…

You and I are dots that God wants to connect…

I am not a solo lone or special dot, but all of us are HIS dots, made in ink, not just pencil…. God’s dots are all His own…. You are His!

Sometimes maybe it seems like my broken dot spills and splatters when the Spirit floods and flows… I reach for help and prayers whether I am strong or weak… and I open my big mouth to say “wow”, and maybe that’s the point,  we all have to share however we share because God wants to use us as we are…. it’s ok even to be feeling lost and faded away, because God knows where He placed all His dots, and will find you (psalm 139 hunt us down) when it is time to reconnect all His dots…

Weak or strong, faded or bold, ripped or rippling, convoluted or simple,  we dots are to be connected. God will re-light you and delight in you.

We do need to pray to be better dots too… we perhaps could strive to strongly hold the harp string of the harmonic sound wave that God wants to pluck and hear… and perhaps we can strive to create a trampoline bounce dot, so that new strings of praise can be bounced from our dot to new dot spots unknown… and we can let our heartstrings be pulled too…

We can be His hands, feet, and dots… to do His work in His world.

BE THE DOTS, LOVE THE DOTS, look for the connecting stroke of God’s pen.

BE STILL to stop spinning and let God connect to you and thru you…

God’s timing, God’s puzzle, God’s plan

You are a chosen dot…

“But you are a chosen dot, a royal dot, a holy nation of dots, God’s special dot, that you may strung together, lines drawn between, and you can bounce the praises of Him back to Him, who bounced you out of darkness and into His wonderful Light.” 1peter 2:9 adapted

BE THE DOTS…

Amen

553

Five MORE Minutes, 30APR

A follow up to the previous devotion… thx for prayers

https://debbieupper.wordpress.com/2018/05/14/5-years-5-minutes-27apr-552/

Oops…. car accident prevented by God…

Five more everything gifted by God saving me from the accident I almost caused… no accident whew… THANKS LORD!

I try to be good but I did allow some divisiveness sneak into my world and I allowed it to make me lose focus…

I got distracted…. without giving details, I’ll just say I saw an evil divisiveness invade a situation not involving me it did… and even though it was diffused (praying Jesus words: “Satan get behind me “), it still it had a ripple effect, and I was distracted rethinking about it while driving… evil sneaks in, therefore we are to be vigilant… I need to send a praise to God to let me see it clearly now… God unmasks the situations… I got His save…

I know we should not be surprised by divisive situations because they will present themselves again and again… they still surprise me because I am human… So we prepare and do the best we can and not let the evil in the world steal our focus or our JOY…. the truth is that JOY…

Therefore my needed self-control is to not let the distractions keep me from obeying the TRUTH – that is a gift from the SPIRIT !! A fruit from the spirit… I am blessed to “keep running the race!” Scripture from Paul says: “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through LOVE.

“7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? 8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you…

“22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5

Thanks Lord for the save…

Five MORE minutes…

Thanks Lord for fruits of the SPIRIT…

Thanks Lord for the TRUTH!

Thanks Lord for helping me continue the race!

552

5 years, 5 minutes, 27Apr

My favorite Bowie song – “5 years” – David screams it – I do too…

He sings about only five years left for the Earth… how urgent!… “oh my brain hurts a lot”, he screams!

“We’ve got five years, what a surprise
We’ve got five years, my brain hurts a lot
We’ve got five years, that’s all we’ve got”

I do think about life and death, especially with my long commute, I think about the time we have here, on this Earth… and I think about what Heaven is like…

I wonder looking at the clouds when things will end. I should…

I wonder how “to cram so many things” into such a short time… I should…

I wonder how to rest enough… I should…

I should keep moving. I should keep moving… I should…

What would you do with only 5 years left in life? 5 years? 5 months? 5 days? 5 minutes?

Would we start by thanking the Lord?

WOULD we say: “I LOVE YOU LORD!” constantly?

5 years, 5 minutes? Would I ask for the Lord’s mercy? I should…

5 years? Oh what could I accomplish in 5 years? How many lives could I help? How many times could I tell my kids, my parents that I love them? Tell them constantly? I should…

5 months? Would I take time for myself alone? or would I fill it with every person I could visit as fast as I could? How many hugs could I gather and give in that time? Should I SMILE? I should…

5 days?  Would I go back to finish the unfinished?

Finish that sewing pile? No!

How about finishing that stolen kiss? Maybe!

Would I “Finish the race? Yes! I would finish the race… I should…

5 anything? Would I even tell the people I would be gone? Would I want to burden them? Or inspire them? I should INSPIRE… I should…

5 minutes? How many times would I call out to the Lord? How many times could I question Him? How many times could I thank Him? How many times would I cry: “Why?” How many minutes would it take me to STOP my questioning? How many minutes would it take me to start listening? I should…

How long before the ONLY thing I say is:

“I love You, Lord”

I should…

I would…

I will…

How long before I LISTEN for the Lord?

5 years, 5 minutes?

Focus on loving the Lord?

Focus on loving everything He does and made?

I should…

I love to question “WHY?” – I do…

I love that the ONLY answer He ever gives me is:

“Because I LOVE you!”

I should use every moment to BELIEVE that…

“Because I LOVE you!”

For every moment we live is in His Love, of His Love, and with His Love.

Because of Him we LIVE to LOVE

We should…

Amen

551

I had to mirror my previous writing about the stars – from when I was on a blessing of a retreat 6 months prior –https://debbieupper.wordpress.com/2017/11/03/the-stars-27oct-496/

I HAD to write again – close to the same situation – same camp setting – same road – same nighttime climb of the hill – but different because I was not attending this retreat (and I snuck out early to get home to the kids) there was no one to talk to! – once again the ONLY praise and explosion of my thoughts could be shared with the one and only who deserves the praises – the Lord…

I felt like I was taking a mini retreat while dropping off someone to this retreat…  and this WAS different because instead of the Fall, it was SPRINGtime – yes there were different stars and oh the new sounds that sprung into my ears from the rare sound of the Peepers – “and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” Sing to the Lord a new song, His praise from the ends of the earth… (Isaiah 42)

“There are Peepers, Lord!!!!”, 26APR

I am screaming in my head while walking up the EXACT same hill where just months prior I had screamed in my head: “The stars, Lord!” – To whom can I call out? Again with no one to talk to – I can only call out to YOU, Lord! Only and appropriately only have praise for YOU – “to whom all is due”

I can hear those PEEPERS, Lord! WOW!

I can see those stars!

There are people too, Lord! I can feel them calling out Your praises tonight, even if I can’t see them.

I know they are praising – after I leave camp I will not hear them, but You can hear them, and that makes me happy.

There are REALLY LOUD peepers, Lord. I am floored at how blessed I am at this very moment – to relive an awestruck moment – to hear Your creation so loud… but Lord, why are peepers SO LOUD??? Do they need to hear each other? or perhaps do we need to hear them loud and clear so that we know that they are from You – praising back to You?

Why are the stars SO bright, Lord? Do the stars need to shine to each other? or perhaps do we need to see them so bright so that we know they are a sign from You?

Why is the moon SO mesmerizing, Lord? Does the moon need to startle the world? or perhaps do we need to just say ‘I do not know how God does all these amazing things!’

There’s our world, Lord! Why is our world so diverse, Lord? Is the earth for us or is it for You, Lord? – dust to dust with YOU… Can we remember to look for You in our mesmerization?

Do we need to understand the world to love it? or perhaps do we just need to know that You love it? Can we take care of Your beautiful Earth, Lord? Can you help us? Can we take a moment to care? to stare? to see? to listen? Will Your future children ever get to hear praises out of the voices of peepers? I don’t know – but I pray that they will…

Do we need to understand the people in the world to love them? Or perhaps do we just need to know that You love them and we should too? Will Your future children ever get to hear praises out of the voices of people?  Will Your future children get to feel Your love? I know that answer – they WILL feel your LOVE – but of course I pray that they will know it is from You…

Can we truly ever know how much You love us?

Can I simply walk up this hill and know You are with me always? To the ends of the earth? I can Lord – I can!

Can we keep walking with you Lord? We can Lord – we can!

Can we understand that You most simply and most intricately want to show us that You love us! We can Lord – we can!

Can I hear praising peepers again?

Actually I still do hear those PRAISING PEEPERS – Your Spirit placed them in my head – and LORD, THEY ARE LOUD!

550

I reached for my phone when this firecracker of a spirit thought connected in my head last night, but I was in a church service and I had to wait to write… but WOW, please tell me someone had already had this spirited thought, I don’t read much so I think God just has to repopulate these notions again and again in us… my view of the cross changed forever in that moment yesterday… I hold onto the cross not JUST for life after death but for OPEN ARMS – TODAY…

Open Arms, 23APR

The Cross, Jesus’s Cross, is a great physical shape to hold onto in our hands, and the spiritual Cross is essential to hold onto in our faith. The Cross crossed Jesus over, life-death-life.

The shape of the cross, the image, the message, is not JUST of a reminder of the physical torture of Jesus’s tired abused body. But THINK about that shape, Jesus died with OPEN ARMS!!!! Arms that were forced humanly open by nails on wood, but actively mentally held OPEN by Him. When Jesus was at HIS last earthly moments He still kept His open arms OPEN!

Jesus has opened His arms to hold us, His arms to rescue us, His arms to lift us…. look at that shape and remember that His arms on the cross, and forever more, are OPEN ARMS to welcome us HOME…

If we focus on the shape of the cross, we should already feel home… “for today you will be with ME  in paradise”… Feel the love preparing our way thru His way. Christ connects life-death-life by His crossing over for our salvation. He welcomes us today. I invite you to feel how Christ is ready to peel His arms off that cross and lift you today, lift from under your rib cage and hold you TODAY – just as He would hold you FOREVER.

Jesus has OPEN ARMS to hold, hug, lift, LOVE.

We can live again by first living in Jesus’s arms – TODAY…

Hold onto His OPEN ARMS and squeeze Him too. Lift Him up and He will Lift you!

Lift

LOVE

Live

LIVE!!!

AMEN!

549

CAPABLE, 15APR

We are human, we are limited, God is INFINITE

God is God

God knits into us His GIFT of strength and His empowering lift of SPIRIT

God makes us CAPABLE…

WOW that is EXHAUSTING!!!

God wants to use us!

CAPABLE

I am stubborn,  short-sighted, cranky

I am simple

I am bold

I am rushed

I am lost

I am blind

I am SO very human, but God is SO very God

CAPABLE

God is CAPABLE of using my humanness for His purposes

Eye-opening for sure

CAPABLE

I am silly

I am flighty

I am a child

I am me

I am so very me, to a flaw, but God is so very God

CAPABLE

God is capable of using my flaws for His purposes

Maturing me

CAPABLE

I am so very shallow, but God is so very God

I look deep inside and know where I stop and God goes deeper, MUCH DEEPER

The infinite vast expansion of the universe is mirrored only in the infinite vast depth inside one’s own soul…

My words, my LOVE, my spirit are NOT from me

My God is infinitely more deep than the depth of me

My God is vaster than the widest expansions of the universe

My God is CAPABLE

My God connects all that is His

CAPABLE

My SPIRIT is His, lent to my mortal body for a flash of the most faint mark of His infinite time

My God gives me His SPIRIT anyway,  for His purpose

My SPIRIT is CAPABLE to reconnect to Him

My SPIRIT is CAPABLE to flow to His SPIRIT in others

My mission is to NOT hinder the flow… HIS FLOW

My mission is to LIVE

My mission is to LOVE

My God is LOVE

LOVE is CAPABLE

God, You are my God

You are CAPABLE

I am me, but

You are God

I LOVE You Lord

I wish to return the LOVE to You thru using Your LOVE

Thank you for making me CAPABLE to LOVE

Thank You for making me Yours

Amen

 

 

548

Suffering for Christ, Not Ourselves, 14APR

Suffering…. Jesus says we will have struggles, suffering, and strife in life…

We need to choose, however, what is real suffering and what is caused by our focus on worldly things…

Scripture tells us to not worry about what we will eat or drink,  or overindulge in drinking and things that cloud our understanding of reality… what we worry about breeches our understanding of real suffering… our perception of suffering is what becomes an escapism drive… our placation of life to make everything alright for ourselves becomes our drug of choice. We all do this. We are human. Jesus is trying to open our eyes to let us shed our human ways and return to being the forces of LOVE in the world.

Choose suffering over stuff… Choose wisely what to suffer about… Choose to suffer for Christ and NOT for ourselves…

We often don’t understand or choose to negate our distractive ways which make us avoid the real problems in the world…. we are clouded… we continue to be a sinful generation… we forget to work on loving…

Choose LOVE over being lost….

As disciples, we could and should see that Jesus was and is suffering not simply thru physical pain (even though that was tremendous) but thru emotional aching to re-vine a garden of God’s children who are distracted, fighting, squabbling and lost. Can you see the burning branches (John 15) of fruitless human endeavors which make it hard for Jesus and us as disciples to rise a garden back out of the ashes when fires are still actively burning?… We know that we are supposed to shed our concerns but we keep getting distracted… we (you and me) are walking disciples… much of the world hasn’t even started walking yet… ignorance… much of the world can’t even get to disbelief then eventual belief if their ignorance still reigns… seeds not yet planted can not sprout.

Jesus walked continuously with the disciples and yet they were also so very clouded in their belief – but at least they kept walking with Jesus and asking questions… they witnessed miracle after miracle and still had continued disbelief – they even saw repetitions of miracles – loaf after loaf of bread – and yet could not convey the true meaning of their journey back to Christ when He asked them what was going to happen to the Son of Man… they barely grasped that Jesus was actually God’s chosen one… Imagine knowing what we faithfully believe now, that they could have unbelief? Imagine if we saw Jesus transfigured and talking with Moses and Elijah – if we saw Jesus not as a human but in His Godly radiance – would we hesitate for a moment to BELIEVE everything, no questions asked?… Would we?? Peter, John and James saw this REALLY happen and yet the continued discussing and questioning EVEN MORE after the fact than before…. “What does this all mean?” “Does Elijah come first?” “What does it mean to rise from the dead?” (See Mark 9)… Jesus keeps working His plan, but even Jesus was surprised at their disbelief… Jesus may have wished to transfigured them and each of us for a brief moment to show the SPIRIT-filled soul under our heavy humaness…

Jesus wondered and wonders now when His then and current disciples will shed their disbelief? When will they have the knowledge and willingness to move thru the world as God’s hands and feet? And the willingness to teach that Jesus REALLY was real? When?  The disciples were able to perform miracles, as needed – not to be used as sideshows –  but miracles as mercy moments to help the masses…

Similarly, when will we, you and I and the masses, believe that we can do the work that Jesus called us to do – when will can we ALSO provide mercy moments to the masses?  When will we, like they, accept Jesus’s GIFT of the Holy Spirit to guide us. And when will we BELIEVE in His power?

Back to the same question – when will we choose to suffer FOR Christ and NOT for ourselves?… to do this we need to choose to keep walking past our own distractions… to put ourselves last in order to help… to put LOVE first and hate last… to BELIEVE that LOVE will win… We must choose to play to win – for God!

Jesus’s first challenge to us is to BELIEVE. And to LOVE.

“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” Mark 9

Jesus’s challenge to us is to accept the Holy Spirit to guide us.

Jesus’s challenge to us is to keep walking…

Jesus’s challenge to us is to testify about His LOVE,  to plant seeds of faith…. For seeds not yet planted can not sprout, but sprouting seeds give HOPE.

Jesus’s GIFT to us is HOPE

Jesus’s GIFT to us is HIS SPIRIT

Jesus’s GIFT to us is our forgiveness

Jesus’s GIFT to us is our lives

Jesus, “I do BELIEVE, help me overcome my disbelief”

Jesus, “I will keep walking… please light my way… God knows the plan, please help me hear and follow the SPIRIT…”

Jesus, “Please fill my soul with Your SPIRIT…”

Amen

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Mark 8

34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?

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John 15

If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’

26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”

547

Foundation of LOVE, 10APR

I’m itching to get out in the garden, NOT that I’m gonna have a beautiful garden but I just know I should be out there tilling the soil. NOT that I’m ready to be out in the actual garden, because I still have leaves to rake and I just moved my bare Christmas tree LOL that’s been sitting for 4 months waiting for the compost recycling trash pick up to start again…

And I’m itching to plant, but that’s rushing it, as the garden itself needs a new fence, and the soil needs to be tilled and I need to put a good soil foundation base down before I can actually grow plants that are not choked by weeds…, because otherwise it’s ALL weeds and bunnies…

I’m also thinking this way about the church, the global church… I’m thinking about God’s garden – that He wants – that He is re-growing. We can’t start fixing all the world’s problems and negating all the hate unless 1st we put down a good foundation base and that foundation has to be LOVE! Love that comes from God, love that is pure and truly from God, and love that is meant to be spread through the world…

And just like the garden, sometimes we have to compost the old stuff to give a good rich base to grow again.

The garden that God wants to bring our world back to is right here in our mist, but it needs reconnecting! If Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches and God is the Vinedresser then naturally it’s a mission to reconnect the world, to re-grow the garden…. Our job is planting seeds, our job is tilling the soil, our job is spreading the Good News…

We live locally… but wouldn’t it be great to solve ALL the world’s hunger problems and jet off to every 3rd world country and clean up the air and the water and give food to all the starving children??!! Wouldn’t that be thrilling??. How are we gonna do that? In our churches we are called to develop the future leaders. Our churches are NOT supposed to be comfy zones for us to rest on Sunday morning, they are supposed to be trampolines to spring us into action, they are teaching grounds, they are testing real life situations in Christian love, situations that we can build upon by using the Word of God to move forward… We need to find NOT our comfort but our uncomfort in the world…. We have got work to do, we really really have work to do…

And we need to start with ourselves, clear up our own hate, learn to live more simply, love our enemies, see and share the LOVE that God wants us to share…

If we are a branch of God’s garden, we need to be willing to hold and share the fruit that He places on us…. The fruits of labor (ours and His) will ROT if they are not shared…

Yes, please do what you can…. work locally, teach, develop leaders, grow the collective garden… Yes, enjoy the fruits of our labor but remember that really we have to get back to the basics of garden preparation, we have to grow the LOVE underneath as a foundation, we need to dig down deep and remove the hate…

I can do this with God’s help, in my garden and in His garden.

Till the soil, mulch in the good, plant the seeds, protect LOVE with a fence of the armor of God…

Pray for rain…

Grow…

Start with a base Foundation of LOVE…

LOVE is from God…

Cultivate the LOVE…

546

Bloom, 07APR

Winter is not yet releasing us into spring, snow in April? It’s just flurries, but still we are waiting and waiting for the warmth.

The forsythia started blooming anyway, it snuck its bright yellow flowers incrementally out with every degree of temperature increase…. It’s time to bloom, no matter the impending snow doom. The forsythia will get noticed for its boldness of color.

But oh! Wow, when we do get that big warm-up, wow EVERYTHING is going to bloom all at once!! Watch out my allergy-suffering friends, get ready to be overwhelmed, big time…

Our faith is that the blooms of spring will come eventually…  Our faith is also in God,  but that’s a fraction of God’s faith in us! God’s faith is that we ourselves will bloom in His Love for His Love. God wants us to awaken from our winter of life and see the NEW life in Him… God desires that we will recognize Him and feel how much He loves us. The warmth comes from WITHIN.

God waters the seeds of our faith like He waters the earth. Our faith could and will grow like the flowers of spring, some folks have faith that eeks out incrementally and noticeably early like the forsythia, some folks slowly wake to bloom with taking the time to grow their stems taller and their roots deeper, and some get a shock of faith bloom all at once…. and maybe like those dealing with allergy-inducing pollen bursts from the trees, some folks have to adjust to a new explosive faith that shakes them up and REALLY gets their attention… ACHOO!

Bloom, all God intercessions are for HIS Garden… “He who lives in you…”

God wants to bloom in you. Why? He’s planting and pruning His Garden (John 15).

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 1John 4:4

Why???? Why does God want to bloom His LOVE thru us? Because we are the branches of His Love sent into the world today. We are to bear His fruit and share that SPIRIT of LOVE.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1John 4:7-8

LOVE will bloom, spring will come, and God will nurture us and all for His harvest… Let us pray for a new robust season to yield yet another future crop of seeds generated then joyfully spread for God’s future watering…

The SPIRIT of LOVE will burst thru the cold winters of faith. The Garden will Grow…

HOW? We need to tend to and strengthen our faith, develop our boldness, believe,

AND WE WILL BLOOM…

Amen

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1 John 4 (below)

Also see

Galatians 2:20-

Romans 8:10-

John 14:20-

John 17:23-

Ephesians 3:17-

Colossians 1:27-

1John 3:24-

Revelation 3:20-

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1John 4 KJV

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Knowing God Through Love

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Seeing God Through Love

12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

The Consummation of Love

17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us.

Obedience by Faith

20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

545

TOGETHER, 06APR

Together

God wants us to be TOGETHER.

I went to a work happy hour – end of a hectic chapter in the day, beginning of another…. Fun to relax, chat and feel at home with “the regulars” who collectively come sometimes alone to be TOGETHER.  Encouragement all around, people are social creatures by design. We grow closer together for support.

God wants us to be TOGETHER.

I went because a friend sings there, it is fun and very freeing to sing along… MUSIC is an island getaway for our minds, provides a stream of comfort and lets us be together internally harmonizing with our inner peace. Music also gives us lyrics to work out the untangling of rough thoughts of the day and to quiet the loud mental static in our heads… we sing to get our heads together.

God wants us to be TOGETHER.

My singing friend encouraged another great singer, then half a dozen more singers and guitar players that night as they took a turn at the mic, cool… a small gathering majorly amplified in spirit. (I sang my favorite song not on mic but five feet away leaning against a pool table to keep my nerves TOGETHER… my friend encouraged me saying: “you had beautiful harmonies”… SMILES).  The right mix of people was not a coincidence, I witnessed the cozy crowd become the best encouragers – yes, encouragement is a spiritual gift to us from God. Together we harmonize; we make our own oasis of encouraging support (and fun!).

God wants us to be TOGETHER.

I skeddadled out just in time to get to another gathering of community, oh that amazing welcoming feeling stepping into my praise band practice, but not singing this night but rewiring, reworking, untangling networking lines to make it easier each hurried Sunday morning to “plug in” – simplifying our complicated situation so that we can get it together and keep it together before serving the Lord for the congregation to sing along. Together to gather His flock.

God wants us to be TOGETHER.

Come Sunday morning we will each plug into our own style to be the hands, feet, and voice for God, singing and playing together creates harmonies… “where two or three come together in my name, I am with them…” Matthew 18:20… Solo we surely praise, but truly we want to be together to worship, to be His flock.

God wants us to be TOGETHER.

Home (I did make it home), whew, couch collapse, home with the kids, HOME… Together…  Collected, content, comfy couch coma collapse…  “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” by finding joy in the journey, then by finding our way HOME…. Home is finding peace and togetherness, by knowing the Lord is ready to be with us wherever we are mentally or physically (Psalm 139)… and there, together WITH the Lord, we will find rest…

God wants us to be TOGETHER.

Even alone, yes completely alone, we are not alone, God NEVER leaves us… Always we are TOGETHER WITH HIM!  He gathers His flock. He holds us in His hands… We rest our burdens on Him, His HOPE is secured, His LOVE never ending…. For His own togetherness,  He is always looking for us…. Forever….

God wants us to be TOGETHER.

With Him.

Forever.

TOGETHER.

Amen

544

Speak to Hear, 29MAR/08APR

Sometimes I can’t take the time to finish a spirit-led thought – and I promised the Lord I would get back to this one –

“HEAR” it is…

I love Michael Card’s writing as much as his singing – like him i would call myself a “Jesus junkie” – I love pondering the spirit – so this writing came together from two separate non-related items – but when I read and the Spirit connected the dots – boom into my head  – I have to say: “It’s a match”…

Jesus Heals a Deaf and Mute Man (Mark 7:31-37)

Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him. After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!”(which means “Be opened!”). At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

In Mark 7, Jesus opens the ears of a deaf man. Boom… “BE OPENED”…

Mark is a writer of stories of the emotional Jesus – thru the eyes, ears and reminiscings of Peter – His emotional disciple…  Michael Card interprets that this miracle and hearing Jesus’s own native tongue could be Jesus speaking to us – emotionally – “BE OPENED” –  as an urging that Jesus wills for all of us to hear… “BE OPENED”…hear the good news thru your own ears…

Surely CS Lewis has his own take on life, but when I heard this quote recently, I related it immediately even if ironically to that scripture…  CS Lewis wrote: “I wrote the books I should have liked to read. That’s always been my reason for writing. People won’t write the books I want, so I have to do it for myself.” As quoted in C.S. Lewis (1963), by Roger Lancelyn Green, p. 9

CS Lewis writes books that “he himself” wants to read… Although that may sound reverse of us hearing God’s word and not our own selves – it does connect to that fact that we won’t hear Jesus’s words until we hear them thru our own words to our own hearts… the spirit conveys the wisdom – we need to actually formulate and say those words to ourselves and then to our worlds: “Jesus is Lord”…

Jesus was asked to open that man’s ears – then asked the ears themselves to be opened – Jesus asks still today that the whole world of people’s ears be opened – Jesus wants us to open our ears and our mouths…  We won’t hear Jesus until WE OURSELVES ‘be opened” – we need to hear Jesus’s words thru our own ears – thru our own hearts – Jesus won’t ring true until we hear it for ourselves… “so I have to do it for myself” – yes, yes you do…

Yes, Jesus’ teachings were not just for those ancient times – Jesus was and is on a mission to open the whole world’s ears – Jesus taught in tremendous parables, stories that did and will still will be retold, reiterated, and will reverberate and reverberate – shaking us until they rattle enough inside our own ears until our sound barrier shatters…

God scripture does its work before it is returned to God… God wants us to hear Him so we can reiterate AND reverberate His Word back to Him….  “the purpose for which I sent it”

As Jesus is the Word made flesh, then we need to be the flesh that now speaks the words of the Word…

Speak to HEAR!

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“…As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands… “ Isaiah 55:10-12

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In Paradise, 02APR

I appreciate that this bible story (in the devotion section of Michael Card’s email newsletter) is cropping up so many many times lately for me – it is the story of the criminals on the crosses with Jesus – it is also one of our “Shipwrecked” VBS stories this year…  Michael Card says the criminal is the ONLY person in the bible who called Jesus by His own name – interesting…  I like the thought that Jesus so much wants to be on a first name basis with each of us – that we are supposed to be close enough to reach to Him without hesitation, NOT JUST when we sink, but when we are running in JOY too…

It was a kinship of pain for those two – Jesus could appreciate that the criminal was in such physical pain but yet still took the time to teach and rebuke the evil from the other criminal – every little bit of rebuke helps – like in James 5:20 “he who converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins” – perhaps it was just so they could have some “peace and quiet” (?) if only for a little bit… I would appreciate that and maybe (?) Jesus did too… taunting on top of pain – tough… Jesus was human and was God at the same time – He humanly enters the next phase of death (and everlasting life) with someone who understood the physical human pain too…

(Of course none of us could imagine Jesus’s and God’s God-sized pain looking at all the lost people – I feel only a fraction of that loss every time I go to a packed store just after church – the packed store has multitudes of  lost folks, can you even imagine the scale of God’s pain? Nope I can’t. )

Of course the most pleasing likely is the sinner’s repentance – “Remember me Jesus” – Like the repentant criminal, we should want relief, and we should ask, not expect but ask… to enter the next phase of life with someone who would welcome us too…  Jesus will welcome us…

Jesus’ humanness that day also hinted to the fulfillment of Jesus’s own suggestion that everyone travel in pairs for mission work while teaching and comforting…  Jesus as God is also forever with God His Father – but in this instance Jesus was very human and while hanging there, and realized that others felt his pain, that repentant criminal maybe understood Him – humanly… We all want someone to understand us…. that’s an emotion Jesus shares with us.

The criminal as a “last” became a “first” – and the “first” self-righteous crowd folks became “last”…  I bet the other non-repentant criminal was alone and was probably a “none” – even though he also was surrounded by multitudes of similarly hateful people, he was alone – and those people were alone too – they were separated from God’s comfort by their own sinfulness of ignorance… but Jesus even extended an amazing grace request to His Father – our Father – for them all… “forgive them for they know not what they do”…

All the one repentant criminal had to do was admit his guilt – and ask forgiveness…. as we remember that we all are sinners of equal sin weight, we all need to do this: simply ask IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH – ask Jesus in our own confessional way – and ask Him by His name – we speak by the spirit to the spirit – and we KNOW that He is the one who will give us that HOPE – of paradise… None other than Jesus can bring us back to paradise…

Yup… died for the lost…. paradise is lost until it is found by reconnecting with Jesus….

Amen

 

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Michael Card

Date: Sat, Mar 31, 2018
Subject: The Card Community Newsletter – March 2018

From A Violent Grace   p. 103-109

He poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.  For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.                 Isaiah 53:12B

  He had always been a troublemaker, it seems – a criminal, a rebel, an unwanted specimen of humanity.  And two thousand years later, the repentant thief who died with Jesus is still making trouble.  Some people – especially very religious ones – protest that Jesus was too soft on him, too forgiving, as He was with the woman taken in adultery.  Others have used the story of the thief to argue about baptism.  I once heard a preacher say that regardless of what Jesus said about being with Him in paradise, the repentant thief could not have been saved since he “never got wet.”

  But then, it is in the nature of criminals to make trouble.

  Exactly who were the two thieves who died with Jesus?  In the absence of personal information in the Gospels, ancient manuscripts have filled in the gaps with names like Dysmas and Gestas, Joathas and Maggatras, Capnatas and Gamatras, Zoathem and Camma.  But these are most likely guesswork or fiction.

  We don’t know the details of their crimes, either, since we find no mention of titular inscriptions above their heads.  John refers to the simply and perhaps generously as “two others.”

  From Matthew and Mark, we learn that they were robbers or bandits.  Yet because in Roman law robbery was not punishable by death, the charge that brought them to Golgotha must have been more serious than an incident or two of lawbreaking.  Perhaps they had been bandits by profession.  Or perhaps they had been jailed along with Barabbas for taking part in the insurrection mentioned in Mark 15:7.

  Luke’s account of the two thieves is his longest and most significant addition to the crucifixion narrative.  As concerned as he was to emphasize Jesus’ innocence, Luke may have chosen to portray the two guilty men in more detail in order to highlight the contrast between them and Jesus.

  Whoever the two men were and whatever their crime, three men received the sentence of death that day.  Three were flogged.  Three stumbled out of the city, carrying crosses, guarded by soldiers, and followed by tormenting crowds.

  When the three arrived together at Golgotha, an awful sight might have greeted them.  Earlier victims – dying or long since dead – may still have been hanging, since it was customary to display the corpses of those crucified.  In the third century A.D. one witness wrote, “Punished with limbs outstretched, they are fastened and nailed to the stake in the most bitter torment, evil food for birds of prey and grim picking for dogs.”

  Guilt or innocence notwithstanding, the Place of the Skull received the three men with grim indifference.  The soldiers raised the mallets with the same brute force and drove the spikes through the flesh with equal finality.

  When the job was done, three new crosses broke the skyline.  On the left hung a criminal.  On the right, another criminal.  And in between, His arms spread out to each, hung the Son of God.

  The three crosses have been raised and the clamor of the crowd has subsided.  The earlier screams of the two dying thieves have given way to groans and curses.

  Now they turn to the silent man between them, trying to find some relief from their own misery by tormenting Jesus.  “Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him,” wrote Mark (Mark 15:32). 

 “Aren’t you the Christ?” gasps one.  “Save yourself and us!” (Luke 23:39).

  But somehow, one of the criminals has a sudden change of heart.  Perhaps when he heard the soldiers mocking Jesus, calling him “King,” something in his heart softened and broke.  Maybe the profane ranting of the other thief threw into stark relief the gulf between his own guilt and the silent man’s innocence.  With his next breath, he rebukes the other criminal.

  “Don’t you fear God since you are under the same sentence?” he asks.  “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.  But this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:40-41).

  And then a miracle happens.  The thief turns to Jesus.  “Jesus,” he pleads, “remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42).

  With these words, an unnamed thief becomes the only one we know of to speak to Jesus on the cross without derision or mockery.  An unnamed thief is the only person in the Bible who calls Jesus by His personal name, without any kind of title attached, as if their mutual suffering has placed them on an intimate, first-name basis.  In so doing, he becomes the first to address Jesus the way most of us do today.  And with his words, that unnamed thief becomes the first to be drawn to the crucified Christ.

  Jesus answers with a guarantee.  “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

  Paradise – it is one of the oldest words in our language.  For centuries it has maintained its basic consonantal form, prds.  In Hebrew it is pardes; in Greek, paradeisos.  The best we can tell, it is an ancient Persian form that originally referred to a walled garden.  The word appears two other times in the New Testament.  In 2 Corinthians 12:4, Paul speaks of the vision in which, whether in his body or out of it – he is not sure – he went to paradise and heard “inexpressible things.”  In the same passage he also calls this place “the third heaven.”  In Revelation 2:7, John says he heard Jesus use the word to describe the place where the tree of life grows.

  Was the criminal’s desire for salvation driven only by fear? Was it a pain-crazed plea from between clenched teeth? Or was it a sincere leap of faith based on sudden contrition?

  We don’t know.  The sentence could easily have been the first prayer of an entirely misspent life.  But the thief asked only once – and needed to ask only once.  The Son of God looked over at him and gave him his answer:”Today….”

  A few hours later, Jesus died.

  The thieves clung to life for several hours more.  When the soldiers saw that they were still alive, they picked up heavy mallets and broke their legs.  No longer able to lift up and draw air into their lungs, the two survivors started a grotesque dance, a losing battle with suffocation.  Soon, they too hung still and lifeless against the sky.

  But one of them awoke in paradise.

  Those criminals perfectly represent all humankind.  Like them, we have all sinned.  Like them, we all deserve only death.

  Like one of them, many people today will refuse hope, rejecting the possibility that Jesus could really be King.  The love, mercy, forgiveness, eternal life, and paradise He offers – all will seem impossible, unbelievable, unreachable, unacceptable.

  But some will receive all, simply by asking.

  Jesus was stretched out on that cross between criminals so that we can know for ourselves the amazing reach of His love.  From every wasted life, from every compromised motive, from every personal hell – it reaches all the way to paradise.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, You answered in love the thief crucified beside You.  Answer me, I pray.  You remembered him; remember me this day.  I, too, have been a rebel from birth.  In my coveting I have stolen, and in my anger I have murdered.  I deserve punishment no less than that dying thief.  So look on the one You love and died for.  Remember me in Your mercy so that I may deeply know and faithfully express Your love – and live forever with You in paradise.  Amen

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There is Good in Good Friday, 31MAR

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)

I was spinning my wheels… Friday – Good Friday – first I was in hyperactive overdrive and actually making good traction – I had work work to do – my responsibility to organize my department’s donations for a mega fundraiser – I had a plan,  just barely the time, and with everyone’s help I powered thru it – whew… FABULOUS… done.

I was still spinning my wheels while shifting the gears of my head, what should I do next? Stay at work at the fundraiser, enjoyable but not sure I could timewise justify my fun when I could go to a local church for Good Friday (since I was an hour from home church), OR take half day vacation and attempt to do a massive errand that could have waited but I was being inpatient but also knew I had this window of time… so i wrapped up my work, knowing I could and would pick up at home later on the laptop and high tailed it out of there… I knew I was rushing, God has convicted me of rushing big time so many times, but still I dashed…

Shifting gears while you’re still in motion strips those very gears that help give you drive… but off I went…

I justified in my brain all I was doing… but that brain also was bugging me “It’s Good Friday what if they are closed?”… I kept going, but it started bugging me louder in my brain… In half an hour I decided to actually call and guess what? CLOSED. Boom. Plan gone… gear stripped,  wheels spinning and no progress… I had driven halfway to nowhere.

Why Lord? “Lord, You always have a plan for me, where am I supposed to be? Where can I find the good here, I messed up but can you direct me, can you salvage these wasted moments, can you make me understand?”

Sometimes it’s sitting in the car, in the moment that you know you just fell, that God could say something, but He lets you hear the QUIET until you stop spinning your own wheels… His mercy comes when we ask Him for mercy. We ask…

Fittingly, I had just read about Jesus giving mercy. A pagan woman with a demon-possessed daughter engaged Jesus in back and forth discussion. Jesus challenged her with a question and she answered truthfully, wittingly, and with the tone of asking for mercy (Mark 7 scripture lesson of feeding crumbs to the puppies)… Jesus had a forgiving heart healed the girl and told her: “For such a reply, you may go…

ME – I said Lord, I was thinking I was on the right track, please have mercy… I sat at that intersection of the road and my brain quieted down… and I asked God for mercy, for direction, for a glimpse of His plan…

Ok, click click click, let me let God turn my wheels now – and re-engage my active brain – the clock said there’s time on the click to go find a “random” church for Good Friday… at least Lord, I could be a warm body to boost the attendance… YES, put me to Your service somewhere… Google maps… make a plan…

God’s timing, I had to find a rest stop, found it, found there was a screaming child in the shopping cart, the mom doing what she could. I wanted to help, so I found something in my car to give him,  I don’t know if I helped, she showed him – “look at the basketball pictures” – I just felt better that I tried… “the child is screaming Lord, I have to try, is this your plan for me today?”… some time ticked away, I saw him a little calmer – I left…

Mission: find a local cute church not a mega church – find a little church with a BIG spirit… not much to ask huh? So what highway was I on? OH YEAH!!!! Click click click, wow I was ONLY 7 minutes away from one of my former Pastors’ church,  7 minutes huh? Off I went… whew, pulled into a decently full parking lot after not even knowing if they were having a service!  I knew at that moment God had shown me mercy… I hit the door 7 minutes late… sat down to absorb the “7 last words of Christ”… I missed the first word, but swooped in the back sat anonymously and the chimes started right behind my ears and I wept, God is that good!! God continues to show me mercy when “I wing it” – when I go astray – when I ask for mercy. Actually before we were born He set up a plan for each of us to be received into Heaven – the mercy of LIFE in His Love… THERE IS GOOD IN GOOD FRIDAY…

Goosebumps don’t describe realization of mercy – tears flow… tears for the littlest of mercies, big tears and shouts of JOY for the biggest mercy – it’s God’s Good Friday – His plan – His Son to gather back all His Children… I sat and wept that even if I wasn’t supposed to be here, His mercy from our engaged conversation landed me here – safe – from humbled moments to my JOY amplified. I stopped spinning my  wheels, I was there NOT JUST for my joy, NOT JUST for their joy too, but because God tweaks the system and saves the day… we can collectively give Him all the praise… THERE IS GOOD IN GOOD FRIDAY…

Stop spinning the wheels when we realize this is just a normal day for God… When we ask, He knows the plan, He directs the plan… THERE IS GOOD IN GOOD FRIDAY…

Goosebumps for a parishioner when I told her how I “randomly” got there… Encouragement for the sermonists as I was able to tell two of them that their delivery touched my heart. I even got to go to lunch with my blessing of a friend! I got home in time for a big work call – and I got to see my kids for dinner – mercy on a very good Friday…

Unlike the woman with a demon possessed daughter, I was NOT in a grave situation – if anything God told me (again) to slowdown – and He had an opportunity to remind me (again) that when I feel like I’m overstretching and go wrong (again) that it is OK to ask for Mercy, Jesus says: “For such a reply, you may go…”

God floats us… if we stop focusing on the Spirit, we will surely crash… If we hold onto His wing, we will soar…

Fittingly the first Word scripture that I missed 7 minutes late was: “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.” Luke 23:34

Forgive us Father (again) and show us Mercy – Thank You for Jesus!

Jesus saves us – Jesus says “It is finished” – the plan to save us was already placed in our hearts…

Even when we don’t know what we are doing, Jesus intercedes with Our Father… “forgive them”…

THERE IS GOOD IN GOOD FRIDAY…

AMEN

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Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” – “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

(Mark 7:24-30, this scripture detailed in Michael Card’s book helped me a few days prior see Jesus acting with Mercy because the woman engaged in back and forth conversation with a heart of asking forgiveness)

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Closure to Open, 29MAR

a Holy Thursday Reflection

A counselor once told me: “You need closure, so that you can open up fully…”

I thought that was an interesting juxtaposition of terms – of closing to be open…

I’ve been praying on that irony… and I understand. To close wounds allows us to redirect our energy, our purpose, our hope. God heals and we help by allowing Him to do His work.

The Living Water of Jesus was purposefully directed to us, His flow allows us to LIVE.

A rose waiting to bloom is ready to open, but not until directed cues cause the water to enter the petals, the cells to expand, and a bloom form for the eye to behold…. see, feel, smell the sweet aroma of life.

Can you see your heart like a rose ready to bloom? God holds your heart petals together. Can you see how the closures of leaks would not remove the water that may have leaked thru the tears but redirects the water into hydrating flow that will grow you? He will bloom you. He makes all things beautiful…

“You need closure, to open fully…”

Jesus thru His death and resurrection brings back the sweet aroma of life, today, everyday, evermore. Back to the Garden… Easter is the opening, the redirection of His Spirit for our future to be realized in the present – God wants to be known. He blooms new life into us because of closure of Jesus’s short earthly form. The flow of Living Water now available for all.

“You need closure, to open fully…”

Closure is a process none of us takes lightly, nor can we try to force it… Any time we need closure, remember that it’s because Loving God wants redirecting of His Life in and thru you… to open you… to bloom… to bear fruit…. to LIVE… to LIVE now… to LIVE again…

Amen

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Bobble, 25MAR

You know sometimes (well ALL the time, and especially during Holy Week) we need to “Be Still” and remember the stabilization that Christ gives us. His comfort. His peace.

Often I bet that you, like me, would like to stop the head spinning times and find focus…  Even when we keep busy we sometimes can be so Martha-like that we end up spinning our wheels…

Jesus says:  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

We sometimes work SO hard at keeping ourselves afloat that we become like those red and white fishing bobbles, jumping up and down, sinking then bobbing up, oh the spinning…

How can we stabilize our emotional rollercoasters? Where do we attach our anchors? Where do we cast our lines?

We are to remember, especially at Easter, how much God has loved and still LOVES us… Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life!

God has sent us a life-saver… if we are a bobble that may float in the water, it’s because of the lift of an air-filled pocket inside… if we are a child of God, it’s because of the LIFT of a Holy Spirit-filled pocket in our soul…

How can we keep our wild ups and our downs on an even plane? It’s about finding our focus to keep from sinking. Sometimes there are snags in the water that will catch our bobbles – stuck – yet what do you think would be the best snag? What if you could sink your hook into wood the shape of a cross? Ah wood floats, Christ floats … If we are accepting that we don’t want to tred water alone, that we do need stabilization for this life and forever, then we ought to long to be caught forever on this floating cross – linked with our fellow swimming souls we can travel together… Let us carry our own crosses, and while we carry each other’s burdens, let us not caught up in the current of woe…

Stabilization – we may not completely stabilize in this world, but in our new life in the risen Christ we will find eternal rest… While in this life can share our joys, lift each other’s spirits, and “do good to all”…

My bobble, I will look for the Spirit-lift, I will try to snag myself into the loving arms of Christ – my Fisherman, my Savior,  my Lord.

I pray you all find comfort in His catch.

WE ARE SAVED!

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For at least 2 friends this week who both wondered why they wondered about God SO MUCH – I said because Jesus is just adjusting your antenna…

Ping, 22Mar

Yup – we are loved by God, so much that He keeps us thinking about Him… it might make us think (well I certainly did) that we are crazy contemplating Him so much, but He knows it is for our own good… it keeps us bearing His fruit and that means because of Him we are spreading the meanings of His Word and encouraging others…

“Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8  (and Psalm 1)…

God is “pinging” us… Yes, like a cell phone, if we were lost in the woods, the ping might help find us. The ping goes BOTH ways – towers and phones – both actively involved in communication…. Isn’t that what happens with God and us too? It’s not God pinging an inanimate object, like a rock, it’s God pinging the SPIRIT within us! We are filled with His SPIRIT, we can answer back, He can stir our souls because we ARE made of His stardust…. Even those souls who don’t know Him personally are His children… He pings them all.

How will we hear? What will we hear? How can we discern thru all the noise?

Perhaps the SPIRIT within each of us is constantly adjusting our antenna?…. Click-click, click-click, is how my Grandmother’s T.V. box for the big roof antenna would sound…

Yes, we can ask Jesus to hold His hands behind our ears like a receiving dish for God’s ping! We can ask Jesus to hold His hands behind our hearts as well, to heal our brokenness… Not simply like the fairytale boy with his finger in the dam to stop it from breaking, no.  Jesus can hold His hands behind our hearts to allow HIS living water to flow thru our hearts and back out thru those same cracks to nourish others… Jesus allows us to show His healing thru our brokenness… Living Water moves…

That’s me – that’s us – broken but on the mend – less us, more Him – lost but found – but NEVER really lost to God, He has been pinging us all along…

The amplification of His signal drowns out the noise, we become a tree next to the noisy rippling life-giving stream, bearing more fruit, connected, rooted in the Living Water… Have you heard the pings of those fellow people calling to God? Messages in a bottle? I bet you have…

I had a crazy dream (well sure many seem crazy) and I was second guessing myself, being filled with guilty feelings, and in the dream a store promotion monopoly game piece floated down from the sky – yet like a fortune cookie it had a saying: “when are you going to listen to the Living Water?” Why in my dream did this message appear? God was and is pinging me – sure it freaks me out, but He’s just calling to me to LISTEN… Ring, ring, pick up the phone – allow myself – all of us – to be forgiven by Jesus’s actions, healed by His message, and moved by His SPIRIT to bear His fruit… Jesus adjusts our antennas “still” – to get REALLY good signal for His teachings…

We are called to hear Jesus’s Words this Easter – “It is finished”…. He died for our sins – done – finished – God’s goal achieved – so what are we waiting for? We know “the rest of the story” – God wins… Open the door. Pick up the phone.

Number one message – God loves you – He wants you to accept your brokenness to accept His healing – He loves you no matter what… And guess what? it’s not just love once a day at the “same time, same God station” – it’s eternal – forever… And why? So that we LOVE HIM and LOVE all His Children… we can show our actions are from His phone conversation in our ear because we picked up HIS call…

Jesus asks: “Let those who have ears, hear”…

Ping…

Amen

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Traffic Cop, 16MAR

“The communion of saints in heaven and earth”…. my pastor was teaching confirmation class as I sang thru the hallway on the way to the copier machine, the praise band was waiting for me and I had very limited limited time to chat, I wished I could have been in ten places at once… luckily the spirit quickly packed a seed into my ears so that it could sprout later… “the communion of saints in heaven and earth”… I can see her hands stretching to signify those places as she was urging the answers to flow out of our quiet, very quiet, confirmation kids…

I could and did fill in the blank space of sound… Jesus connects heaven and earth… and I scurried off back to band… that seed placed in my ear now sprouts, after a good night sleep, and I can now let the spirit flow back out thru writing… we can all allow the spirit to weave thru the convolutions of our brain traffic. We can bear His fruit by allowing His spirit sprouting.

Jesus brings the saints of heaven and earth together – thru communion – commonality – conduit ….Traffic Cop…

Yes, Traffic Cop – Jesus is the traffic cop – listen for His signal – see and hear the spirit flow – Heaven and Earth together thru communion – His beckoning to us that it is safe to cross the intersection – His reckoning to those who pass to heaven – we all await His instructions.

Jesus is the Traffic Cop…

“We are all saints”,  that was my pastor’s take home message… and we often fail to understand that due to the semantics of language, and being down on ourselves, but we ARE all saints by virtue of Jesus, by victory of Jesus’s resurrection over death… (if I could have lingered at class or anywhere yesterday, I would have,  but I felt swept by the crowds of life…)

Now, don’t we ALL get swept by the crowds? – hard to hear any instructions huh?… we are yapping and fail to listen – sometimes Jesus needs to blow that whistle… Jesus helps us discern the spirit of truth vs the spirit of error… His whistle works both ways – hear the warning, see the way…

Worship in Spirit and in Truth… (LISTEN…)

Blowing the whistle, Jesus surely gets our attention, our closed ears open to the Holy Spirit flow – we move – we can commune and cross…. gee, cross – how did that verbiage translation sneak in there?… because of Jesus’ cross we can now cross safely to heaven… Jesus thru human death on a cross, crosses all of us over with Easter’s Resurrection…

Safe… saints on their way… thanks traffic cop Jesus… Can you see His hands? See His arms stretched out WIDE… thanks Jesus… we are safe thus far… amazing grace…

Safe travels all…

Happy Easter EVERYDAY…

AMEN

—–

1 John 4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spiritof truth and the spirit of falsehood.

 

 

537

“That I Might Live”, 11MAR

The repeat message for me these days is that Christ died so we could LIVE… But that repeat should not surprise me, that IS the point of LENT into Easter, the repeat message is Jesus came and is coming again, and the prayer is for us to know WHY… why would He work so hard for our Father, and die? why? “That I might LIVE”….

It’s Lent, sadly I have ignored it mostly so far,  just been busy,,, hard to figure out the seasonal cues this year too with wacky weather… I know Easter is coming, but I’m not ready – mentally or otherwise…

But there is still time, there is hope… We can focus on the message if we choose to.

The disciples were ignorant too… Not that I should use that as an excuse… It’s true that the closest followers of Christ saw miracles and performed miracles, and yet they were ignorant – actually the scripture from Mark (6:52) said “their hearts were hardened”…  WOW… (Michael Card’s book drove this point home for me)…  Yes, Jesus chose folks just like us – HUMAN… hardened hearts miss miracles…

What ceremonial thing should I “give up for lent?” Surely NOT chocolate this year… nope, the best thing I can give up is my ignorance. The best thing i can learn is to LIVE… I can choose to see the gifts every minute that God gives me, especially when I have gifted time to think about Him…

I can choose to give up ignorance… I can choose to see miracles all around…

Christ had compassion for His lost sheep… people are lost… yet my eyes were opened by God thru Christ… I don’t know why me,  why do i get to see the beauty amid the nasty parts of the age we live in? Why do I get to LIVE? Teach? Sing? Praise? Feel JOY? Love? Smile? Because Jesus took compassion to save me and I listened that JOY comes from the Lord…

My heart WAS and IS softened by God bringing me to Jesus – and it’s up to me to keep it from drying out… LENT brings Living Water as a repeat cleansing hydration… we need it… ours and my most cherished gift from God is to LIVE for Him. My ignorance is still great, but Jesus has compassion on me and us… He came to save all… one at a time… every one of us…

The last line of the song “Amazing Love” drives home that Jesus is driving us HOME… I remember now that I should buckle up, it’s Easter… time to LIVE.

And thru Jesus I will LIVE again… Amazing…

Amazing Love…

—

Lyrics: Amazing Love (My Lord what Love is this),  Graham Kendrick

My Lord, what love is this
That pays so dearly
That I, the guilty one
May go free!

Amazing love, O what sacrifice
The Son of God given for me
My debt he pays, and my death he dies
That I might live, that I might live.

And so they watched him die
Despised, rejected
But oh, the blood he shed
Flowed for me!

And now, this love of Christ
Shall flow like rivers
Come wash your guilt away
Live again!

Amazing love, O what sacrifice
The Son of God given for me
My debt he pays, and my death he dies
That I might live, that I might live
That I might LIVE!

536

It’s a Wacky World, 07MAR

Jesus lived in corrupt times… often people are very distraught that we live in corrupt times… we do and He did… life on earth is a work in progress…

John the Baptist, extremely important foreteller of Jesus, was beheaded because of a wacky world of corruption (Mark 6:14-29). He was beheaded by Herod who actually was intrigued by him… and he was beheaded because of Herod Antipas’ off-hand promise, made during a banquet with his wacky, corrupt family – a situation detailed by Mark and explained by Michael Card in his book elaboration of this “Gospel of Passion”…

Michael tells us that gospel writer Mark may have detailed the story for his readers about this impulsive evil mindless behavior of that ruler Herod because the readers were living in a time of Nero’s also brutal rule… it was re-confirming that evil is real, the world was wacky “in the olden times too” – but urging them to keep the faith – the need for Jesus’s hope was real then – the need for Jesus’s hope is real now…

Jesus lived as an example in corrupt times, and so can we…

Jesus was so distraught over the immediate senseless acts, and died for the long term evil influences of the world… He knew we live in a sea of evil influences – we need to keep swimming towards Jesus’s hand… and we can ask for the cleanse of His salvation.  We can grasp the hope others show too, they are living side by side with us on missions here and now.

To swim thru the wackiness of life, we must try to focus on a mission, be the good, do the right thing, show sacrifice for His mission…

And we need to tell redemption stories… explain where good triumphed over evil… spread the good news that we have the hope in Jesus to live now and forever… that we look for the path and so can they… we all can follow where Jesus lights the light…

Jesus had to forge His way thru a dark world filled with problems, ignorance, strife… He left not just breadcrumbs of a trail to lead us all home but he left the whole loaf of His existence for us to find, learn, acknowledge and emulate… His disciples like Mark took time to reach… so should we… our world work is our mission,  planting seeds, leaving more breadcrumb trails…

To follow Jesus out of the World has to start with our search for Him thru it first…

Keep the faith…

———-

John the Baptist Beheaded

¹⁴ King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

¹⁵ Others said, “He is Elijah.”

And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.”

¹⁶ But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”

¹⁷ For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. ¹⁸ For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹ So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, ²⁰ because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.

²¹ Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. ²² When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.

The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” ²³ And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”

²⁴ She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?”

“The head of John the Baptist,” she answered.

²⁵ At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

²⁶ The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. ²⁷ So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, ²⁸ and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. ²⁹ On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

535

Prepare the Way, 25Feb (Merry Christmas in February)

I don’t worry when it rains, when I stepped years ago into my house with the realtor, I heard my father repeating my grandfather’s advice “ALWAYS live on a hill”. It rains in spring, as it should, but those 100-year floods come seemingly way too often now, but we are ok, we are on the top of the hill. My neighbors are ok too, because this 1950’s subdivision was established most properly and all the water pours down to an already natural stream and flood plain… The builders took advantage of how the natural landscape already “prepared for rain”…

If there ever is a drought, the best thing a gardener or farmer can do is prepare for the coming flooding rains is prepare the soil by first softening the soil with water – presoak it – allow the soil to open and absorb the needed water.

Preparing for Jesus, we are to presoak in the SPIRIT, to make our own fields soft and ready…

All four Gospels recorded what Isaiah foretold: A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.   –   And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together.” (Isaiah 40, Mark 1, Matthew 3, Luke 3, John 1)

Prophet John urged us to Prepare the Way – get ready. I know you all already are absorbing His great comforting ways… You have strengthened your hearts… And still do…

In a similar fashion, just like if you are someone who placed your children in daycare, you remember those early days when they were sent home with so many new ailments – tough days – but that inoculation built immune system responses that prepared their way for them to be healthier and not missing school in the elementary years… They had already been exposed to the same or similar bugs… Similarly, if you got the flu shot to prepare, you may not cover every strain that comes our way in late winter, but you were able to build up a layer of defense – to be prepared to fight the real danger germs… And a tetanus shot? Well countless times I’m so glad I’ve had it (multiple times) – my immune system prepared for rain… my body prepared for pain… I stepped into the nails, scrapes and harm of day to day life… And my path to recovery was made ready…

We need Jesus for trekking with us through the droughts and pain-causing fields of life. We need to listen to our own wilderness and hear the SPIRIT whisper inside us – reaching and teaching. When we embrace His embrace, then we are prepared for the rain and the reign – to be good soil as we open our ears and the desert of our souls. Jesus is knocking… Let’s let Him in. Let Jesus pull you out and save from sinking when you took your eyes off Him.

We are preparing for now and for eternity: ” 7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.” James 5

The Lord is “mighty to save”, as the song lyric harmonizes… So we are called to strengthen our hearts. Jesus is our way…

Prepare the Way…

Amen

—–

Prepare the way
Make straight the path for Him
Let the King of Glory enter in
Let the King of Glory enter in
Who is this King of Glory

The Lord strong and mighty
The Lord mighty to save
The earth is full of His glory
Creation calls prepare the way

His love endureth forever
His power is without an end
His strength is victory’s treasure
Let all who call His name prepare the way

Let the King of Glory enter in
Let the King of Glory enter in
Let the King of Glory enter in
Let the King of Glory enter in
Who is this King of Glory

Jared Anderson
© 2004 Vertical Worship Songs

https://youtu.be/WNjta8VxA4s

534

Watch Your Step, 10Feb (a follow up to #533)

And then I asked the Lord “why is the Sun SO bright and painful to look at directly?”, and then the Lord laughs at me and says “So you look down and watch your steps you silly people”

#FallingTearingRotatorCuffoneYearAgoThisMonth

LOL

533

Good Morning Moon, Good Morning God, 10Feb

So many times I ask the Lord: “Why is the moon SO beautifully lit to catch our eye?”…

I think He answers that it’s so we know where the Sun is, it points to the Sun even if we don’t see it – we can know it’s there – we can feel its warmth – and we can know we are alive to live another day…

That’s just like a reflection of You Lord, yes…

Thank you Lord for today…. I feel Your love and I await Your beautiful sunrise to tickle my eyes….

532

The Warm Glove of God’s Love, 06Feb

Occasionally I drive by and stop at the 911 memorial at the local fire house, it calls to me and I need to touch the steel girder… And today this place with its contemplative music and austere tributes certainly reminded me to put my own real and perceived problems into perspective. I touched the steel with my right hand – ungloved – to feel the energy from the girder but it was freezing… Instead of taking my hand away, I felt compelled to put my other hand on the steel as well, but that one did have a glove on – wow – how warm… How different the feeling…

Immediately, I knew what this meant – I knew I needed to relate it to God’s love. When people face the cold harsh realities of life without knowing and loving the Lord and without reaching to the Lord, it’s a cold hard life… unforgiving and you feel frozen… frozen like you are unable to move into the Lord’s house of many rooms to find peace there… But with that glove on,  we’ve put on the loving warmth of the Lord… WOW…

God’s love not only protects and comforts, God’s love enables us to remain holding on tight. That cold steel and the cold harsh realities of life is exactly the same – but how we approach it surely changes… put on God’s love and you can hold on… put on God’s love and you can keep functioning…

September 11th, I pray that those lost knew God’s love… there is an image in my head thinking about a Bruce Springsteen song,  The Rising, while the people were racing down the towers, those firemen were racing up.

Where does that warmth of God’s love emanate from? His people are His treasures… He fills them with His warm spirit. That warmth in the glove came from internal warmth – warmth captured and sustained by cloth for the hand, physically… and internal warmth captured and sustained for all of God’s love, spiritually…  The warmth captures the feeling of the mighty hands of Jesus lifting you, the winds of the Spirit moving thru you and the emanation of God’s love out from every dust particle that has formed your living breathing being…  It is LOVE – God’s LOVE – God’s love THRU you.

Think about all of God’s people that September 11^th day – while the towers were falling their souls were rising…. And I envision and pray that they felt the warm hand of Jesus grabbing theirs… He was scooping them all up – and yes, He’s always reaching for us too…

His warm love is there when we reach for it.

His LOVE is what is emanating thru us.

His LOVE endures forever.

Amen

531

A thousand different reasons that people and I are waiting today – there’s precedence for the waiting… There’s HOPE for the future…

It Takes Time, 04Feb

Time, waiting waiting… (Sometimes it feels like there’s no time at all… But not when you are waiting)…

Waiting – a biblical mainstay –

Simeon waited his whole life as the Lord promised that he would see the messiah, in the flesh… Simeon was patient…

Noah waited for those flood waters to recede… Must have felt like an eternity – a year or so of waiting – these things take time – Noah had to be patient.

Jesus waited…

The Gospel of Mark – written with urgency while Rome was in chaos – captures the haste of Peter detailing the stories and also the haste of Jesus’s short three years of ministry… And I wonder how many times that Jesus thought, during his forty day retreats into the wilderness, that He needed to balance His sanity and his mission? That’s a human trait, Jesus was ALL in ALL plus human too… If we think it, He’s experienced it. If we wait, He’s waiting with us.

Jesus had to get away from the massive crowds who were seeking his physical healing over HIS message of eternal healing… He did show the physical miracles, because His believers asked – perhaps a side reason was to convince HIS critics – but He was really here to teach the deeper forever healing. Healing that comes from repentance and a willingness to be repaired. Healing comes from your own faith in Him. His message was getting lost… Only time will help spread this message now…

And I wonder ALWAYS if Jesus wished He had more time…

Now He has to wait too… Jesus has to wait, wonder how long until fulfillment of His mission… When will that cloud come by to scoop HIM up to return? Jesus also waits for His Father’s plan – our Father’s plan…

Waiting….

Waiting was what a few men decided NOT to do in Mark 2:1-12 when they ripped off part of the roof of the home Jesus taught in and lowered down a paralyzed man on a stretcher… Jesus’s message that day was that forgiveness of sins is why He came… “I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”(Mark 2:10)…  Michael Card writes about Jesus forgiving of sins plus physical healing: “The visible reality of the man’s healed limbs is evidence of the invisible reality that his sins have been forgiven.” Jesus has been waiting for each of us to realize that for ourselves… Jesus is waiting…

Waiting, waiting for all His lost sheep to turn for home… It’s their faith which heals them… Jesus is waiting what feels like an eternity because it IS an eternity – all those God sends to Jesus will return home. It takes time to realize the search has to travel inside one’s own soul.

The Holy Spirit is here now to fill in the gap. Waiting is replaced by witnessing God’s SPIRIT moving. We should take the time to watch for God while we wait, stay disciplined and focused… What we are to be waiting for is NOT our plan but God’s plan to be fulfilled… Hope is fueled by knowing God is in charge. God is in charge of the time. The plan is fueled by disciplined focus on using God’s time wisely. It takes time to teach the people, one soul at a time.

God is worthy of our attention. He makes it worth the wait… We should work that wait too…

Amen

—–

Mark 2: A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves,7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God,saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

530

Anger, Frustration, Wilderness, Lost in a Lost World, God Found Within, 31Jan

I’m not about to copy Michael Card’s whole book about the real, emotional Jesus of the Gospel of Mark, I do urge you to read it, but one more section I will add a picture in here for detailing a most important aspect of Jesus – HE WAS REAL – He got frustrated – He got angry – He felt loneliness… But He continued in His Father’s plan… He found Himself and His mission and His strength… All came from WITHIN Himself by seeking God – and God alone – in the wilderness… Physical and mental wilderness… We are NEVER alone…

GOD IS WITH US – ALWAYS!

Wilderness, Jesus retreated to pray it out… He was driven away from the crazy crowds, you surely can imagine that mob scene… the “man with the plan” couldn’t do his desired teaching, couldn’t connect, couldn’t make it into a perfect scene with ALL the people truly understanding… and He knew it….

Frustration of the situation, just can’t snap HIS fingers and make it all better instantly – how many times have we wanted to do that? for ourselves? for our children? for the aching world?!!!…

Jesus, full of compassion for the individual, emotionally flips “immediately” – He mentally realized the crowd scenes would do Him in, and there was nothing He could humanly do… Everything was in motion… Michael Card teaches that there are more people upset and disturbed by Jesus historically than who understand His ways… The world was/is lost – the Jesus we know was “lost in a lost world”… Working hard but it’s hard work…

Yes, Jesus found his way back out to continue His mission to preach…. God WITHIN pushed Him back to the plan, the road to Jerusalem, still the toughest road to travel, but no one said this was going to be easy… No one, not even God the Father said it’s an easy road. No one, not even God the Son, was above understanding the sheer enormous feeling of loss…

Wilderness, Michael Card reminds us that we have to follow Jesus into the wilderness to understand the depth of His pain – the man who came to save surely felt the immense loss of the people He loves… Still loves the people but frustrated by the loss.

Jesus aches – because He Loves all of us…

GOD IS WITH US ALWAYS…

Imagine His Joy to follow for each of us who find comfort IN HIM…

Amen

38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” 39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

41 Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44 “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” 45 Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

—

PS – in writing “lost in a lost world” – immediately the lyrics of the moody blues song of the same name seeped into my brain with exact lyrics about empty shell people – ONLY LOVE will fill that shell… We bend a knee to pray… Amazing matching sentiment… You tube with full lyrics:  https://youtu.be/80nUhHofw0U

Have we forgotten who loves who?
(So many people, so many people)
Children from a family tree
That’s longer than a centipede
Started long ago when you and I
Where only love…
(So many people, so many people)

I woke today, I was crying
Lost in a lost world

 

529

The Emotional Jesus, Gospel of Mark, 26JAN

How I love Michael Card, his music pulled me in and my ears delighted, my heart grew, and now with his writing my head fills in those gaps I really didn’t know I had!!! And they are vast chasms for sure, but nothing is impossible with God, and here’s Mark’s Gospel to bridge gaps by filling the deep chasm in with living water… It will take my whole life to study Jesus…

Jesus is as deep and real and amazing as we can only scarcely imagine – This Gospel of Mark brings another dimension for us to see – Jesus’s emotional human side – as seen and shared by Peter… Mark is like a son to Peter, and records his accounts for the ages… we learn our faith deep inside an emotional deep relationship with Jesus… Their lives for our faith… God is showing that Jesus implored “I know EXACTLY how you feel…”

Cool… Who knew the four complimentary dimensions of the gospels (I constantly say: “why don’t they teach this?” Well, I guess it’s OUR job to seek it out – no, I KNOW it’s OUR job and it is a blessing to seek it out….  then I guess – I don’t have to guess – I KNOW it’s OUR JOB to share what we know) – and it is my amazement that unbelievably this information is lost to the average reader… Luke is the gospel of AMAZEMENT, Mark is the gospel of PASSION… I’m so grateful for deeper thirst of knowledge – and it’s SO important to share…

Mark was writing in the middle of Rome burning and in crisis… We have a connection of real time to history books – we have a book, this gospel, as a connection of real time to Jesus – God’s timing finds us and finds the time to share – Mark had to get this down and written because Peter was running out of time… Peter’s story is NOT lost… We are not lost either.

Mark’s Gospel is showing how Jesus can relate to us in our deepest issues and angst – even when we are emotionally charged, we can be changed, and He WILL find a way to challenge us to be changed… Maybe this understanding comes in the nick of time for us…

God knew I was lost, I didn’t, but He knew where to find me… He still does…

God knows…

He’s been there, and He knows us, our pain, our passion, our path…

Jesus came and comes for us, deeply looking for us to turn our hearts and tune our hearts with Him…  We see that He understands when we are in turmoil too… Joy is found in the understanding of the journey that is sometimes wrought with twists and turns… We look with urgency to God… God urgently aches for us.

Mark wrote with urgency… Peter spoke with urgency… God’s timing for sure…

I can’t wait to read this gospel…

Thanks God for my time to learn…

528

Green Flag, 22JAN

Jesus gives us the Green Flag…

In life, I don’t know what lap you are on – only God knows – but I hope you are running a good race!

But even if sometimes we feel like we are in the pit  – just know that we are all STILL IN THIS RACE…  Apostle Paul reminds us: “You were running superbly! Who cut in on you, deflecting you from the true course of obedience? This detour doesn’t come from the One who called you into the race in the first place. (Galatians 5:7 The Message)”

Life feels like a race but when you turn the corner and see the Green Flag, you know you are almost done – almost home – one more lap…. Of course this is a ROAD race and God designed this course of variable distance, so only HE knows the length – but you are in charge of your speed and your attention to the road, best to strap in with those seatbelts!… See, the path is narrow but sure – bumpy but sturdy – curved and you can’t always see around the bend… BUT you know you have made it “safe thus far” – that is by God’s grace – you know God says keep motoring – it is time to finish the race…

The greens of Christmastime remind us of life with Christ’s birth – the greens of Easter with our renewal of life – the green flag – look for that green flag. Listen for your pit crew chief Jesus calling out the instructions – Jesus speaks on God’s GPS to get you there. “Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” Hebrews 12:1

Look for the Holy Spirit to light your way. God gears us up. Yes, let us check in often with our pit crew chief Jesus, because when we give Him our mindful attention and our heartfelt devotion, then we are given that loving green light to life everlasting…

Some finish the race in super fast speeds, some crawl over the finish line with barely any gas left in their tank, and many are at every speed in between – actually your position at the finish doesn’t matter – because you know the truth – NO ONE is left behind!

And ALL the racers are cheered HOME!

Amen

527

Vined Smiles, 20JAN

Was great to visit a friend today who was moved into a retirement community – she feels like a fish out of water… Another friend and I hit the road and she was thrilled to see us. We were blessed to share this time together… We also felt like we escaped and retreated from our busyness to go…

Our friend misses being in her element.  As she is new, she’s learning the ropes and has struggled with a few things you can imagine. It’s been a shock to be plucked out of her routine and her home…  She would rather be home – but better yet, she would probably love to be sitting at camp playing cards with us women’s retreat folks… Wouldn’t you all love to be taking a break at camp right now? So the three of us enjoyed a retreat moment with a few hands of cards… It made her roommate happy too… Her face lit up when we talked about all our friends…

A shining star beamed in just before we were going to leave, she was an aide for the night who was from the other side of the building, and she explained about herself and it was a great match for the night, I was relieved that as soon as my friend feared this new situation after we left, that instantly here came this appointed helper… God provides… He surely watches over all of us…

We prayed before we left and I invited this new aide and the neighbor’s family member (who had just come in the room) to pray with us… As my friend chimed in on prayers, I can’t tell you how blessed the Lord has made me feel to just be able to openly pray and for me to hear others heartfelt prayers… I’m always just appreciative of being open… I also can’t tell you how unreal and blessed it is for me to feel free to sing too… My friend was thrilled about singing and I “just happened” to have song sheets in my car that I take to the nursing home once a month… NOTHING seems to lighten a room better than singing… The neighbor’s face beamed in contentment too as we sang along joyfully… I started to tear up thinking how much it means to me that I get to sing, that the Lord uses me in that way – “whoda thunk” I always tell myself – I know music is a gift, and no one cares if we sing off key in a nursing home, no one cares what you sing, they just want to keep singing… What’s the next song?!

I pray that our friend  gains strength and shares her special self. I pray people see those hidden gifts in her (and all people) and not what folks can’t do… God certainly sees all the possibilities in each of us… God puts a song in our heart, and a smile on our face… God knows how to bless us with people into our lives…

We have an extensive church family… The thought that I envision pairs of us travelling together to go visit folks makes me smile in advance… Our church family is an outside the building kind of family… Our branch of the family is a little twisted, LOL, but the vine pushes thru these folks to each other… My church family makes me smile…

I know I’ve been blessed in witnessing this tremendous spirit that is vined thru smiles…

Thanks God for letting us see Your SMILES…

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The JOY of music is HOPE, 19JAN

I’m copiously reading a lot of scriptures about the Lord protecting us – there ARE a lot of scriptures reminding us how He will protect us… about all HIS ways to comfort us so that we can comfort others…

As ALWAYS, I’m ALWAYS singing… in the car, in the store, in the church, in the nursing home, and especially in my head – with or without the earbuds – music that comes out of your ears provides your mental tabernacle of sanctuary, an ever-expanding sanctuary to feel the PEACE of the Lord. After singing in band on Sunday my memory will resonate like a bell those very special catchy verses that the Lord has laid on my heart. These verses are for the past and surely they are for the present and they definitely are for the future when we will continue to walk with the Lord.

I think music is one of the biggest gifts ever –  even when people are physically or emotionally in the deepest worst places, there still can be a song in our heads bursting or seeping out of our hearts… It doesn’t matter the depth of human intelligence or the languages that we speak, because music is universal… We have soothing songs in our dreams when we sleep, we have songs of heartache to keep us company in bad times, and we have songs of sheer JOY…

If God has taken care of the littlest birds with songs of joy, sorrow, and warning, then surely He will take care of us! (Matthew 6)

We have songs to sing about mercy, love and SALVATION…

With all the hardships thru the ages, thousands and thousands of years, music has continued to delight and direct us – and it must be because the Lord wants to hear us in a state of trying to find BLISS – to be in an active state of BEING STILL – and to be soothing ourselves (psalm 131) calming and quieting ourselves by trusting the Lord – knowing He is present – to be content in ourselves…

This state of looking for comfort is so that we are able to be comforting others (2 Corinthians 1)… and when we look at others we can be grateful for our blessings…

It all means we believe in HOPE…

There’s a TRUE JOY, that we have HOPE…

The JOY of music is the JOY of Hope…

“Put your hope in the Lord now and forever more”…

Amen

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Psalm 131
My heart is not proud, Lord,    my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.
But I have calmed and quieted myself,
I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.

Israel, put your hope in the Lord
both now and forevermore.

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Psalm 136:7-8

Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve my life.
You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes;
with your right hand you save me.
The Lord will vindicate me;
your love, Lord, endures forever

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Psalm 130

Out of the depths I cry to you,Lord;
Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.

If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

P.S.  I Bow My Heart to Sing, 19JAN

https://youtu.be/WQ7xzvmAAAQ

Of the praise songs we sing in church, this is probably the best line I get to sing – from this Paul Baloche song Your Mercy: “I bow my heart to sing” – i actually bow dip and bow my heart – how could I not?

God gives us Mercy and He blesses us. We are called by God to know we have received God’s mercy. We are called by that and know that He loves us!

Beautiful song…

Beautiful feeling to be loved.

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God Knows 3AM Silver Linings…, 17JAN

Two Facebook posts with scripture in between:

1AM – I can’t shut my brain off now, sigh, fell asleep then awoke… The only consolation to this 1AM is that I heard and saw Christmas the crab eating, he hadn’t moved for a week or more I thought…. I REALLY thought maybe he’s molting again (or worse…) – but he is OK! YAY!

As for everything else most seriously swirling in my head, I ask our prayer warriors to hyperdrive some prayers to folks I know struggling… I appreciate and love that community that keeps us all together… I appreciate the net of community… Thanks

1:30AM – I read some scriptures from last year VBS:

God is with you… At Home:

“You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do.” (Psalm 139:3)

God is with you… When You’re Confused:

“And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” (John 14:27)

God is with you… In Dark Times:

“Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.” (Psalm 23:4)

God is with you… Because God Loves You:

“And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

2AM – a flurry of activity that required my awakeness… Made me forget my problems too…

3AM – I updated Facebook with a new praise post: “3AM does have its advantages,  besides seeing the crab, I was awake to chat with my friend on messenger and see a photo of her brand new grandchild. I was awake to give my daughter a hug who had woke up from being on the couch, then I made her lunch, AND THEN very urgently I discovered that the refrigerator has stopped working sometime during the night, YIKES, and I was able to rescue a few hundred dollars worth of food which is crucial in the life of teenagers! WHEW And I realized that  my unexpected medical reimbursement of $400 is probably going to go straight to a new fridge, earmarked by God earlier in the day I guess, geez… WOW, that’s timing…

SO…  DON’T discount Silver Linings….  To every 3AM there is a purpose, under heaven….  (but I don’t think I should have eaten half a pint of the premium chocolate ice cream that didn’t want to throw away, yummy but bad, but yummy)…”

Yup, now at 3:30 I’m still not sleepy, but I’m more at PEACE… Modified Serenity prayer: No, I can’t change the things I can’t change – my friends both that are in the hospital and headed towards surgery and in strife of life are still in strife, but YES, I can pray for them and ask others to pray… I can change the things I can change – especially when it’s my attitude that needs adjusting… And I pray for the wisdom to find the PEACE in between…

My Lord, thanks for reminding me to look for YOUR PEACE… YOU are my PEACE…

I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.” (Psalm 23:4)

Amen

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Signed Sealed Delivered, I’m Yours Lord, 15Jan

Romans 13:1 “Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God and those which exist are established by God.”

Matthew 22:21 Jesus said: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” 

Render to God the things that are God’s – well that’s a lot – that’s EVERYTHING for His purpose… That includes our time, mind, purpose.

Our time – and what we do – belong to God. He’s in control, but that doesn’t mean we get a cushy lifestyle to our standards… Some may say it’s debatable whether the Lord is a micromanager, yet we know angels work the system… His angels are tasked for work we can’t even dream of, we have no idea, but sometimes we see the result of tweaking the system.

Our mind – we need to focus on God’s will. We also have to be willing to be tweaked by the system. I’m not saying we understand it all, but we have to be listening to be shepherded.  “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me. . . . My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” John 10:14, 27

Our purpose – we need to listen, and hear the call to be “fishers of men” type disciples… We need to walk humbly, love mercy, and seek justice for all God’s children (Micah 6:8)… Perhaps the most important start is to share the Word by action and voice… Plant seeds – let God water…  LOVE others as God commands… LOVE GOD…

“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.”

Love does make the world go around because LOVE is from God… Love is the good stuff that belongs to God – it’s for sharing!

Amen

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Dotted Line, 14JAN

A friend of mine is in the hospital for a reason that’s different than why she was delivered there, but angels seen to have tweaked the system and an unexpected life-saving diagnosis came “out of the blue”…

Maybe it’s a linear solid path that got her there but we only sometimes see the dotted lines… maybe we only see a roundabout path…

Either way all paths point to God being in control…

Thanks Lord for the safety net, thanks for the save!

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I have been blessed so many times by the saving grace of the Lord – both the ultimate Grace and the little graces along the way – so many that I don’t even know a fraction of them – but as Peter reminds us we are forever to keep looking to the Lord and not to ourselves – I am to not rush the Lord – I am to be content – we are to remember that the Lord has us in the palm of His Hand!

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Expect Nothing, Gain it All, 13Jan

Easter, all the world is behind us, all is open before us…

Easter, the cross cracked open the path to our future…

Our future’s eternal LIFE with the Lord – STARTS NOW…

This free-flowing LIGHT of the future can guide us thru the present – it is the WORD – the messages that Jesus brought and the SPIRIT that Jesus shared… Jesus came to LIGHT our way – to LIGHTen our load – Jesus is the life – the truth – the way…

Michael Card’s book on Luke (which I just deLIGHTfully finished) reminds us that the disciples had “no expectations” for Jesus to be risen after crucifixion, even though they heard it predicted directly from Jesus on many many occasions…. How could they not understand when it actually happened? Well they didn’t until the LIGHT hit their eyes and opened their hearts… God’s timing… Well – we, individually and collectively, fail to comprehend that too… But when the disciples heard then saw RISEN Jesus Himself??? WOW – was not that presumably the brightest LIGHT in their darkness????… WOW… WOW… AMAZEMENT…

Are we amazed when Jesus LIGHTS our way? WOW…  AMAZEMENT… From NO expectations then gaining EVERYTHING – blinded by the brightest LIGHT. Verse 45: “Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.”

LIGHT, can you see it? I pray you find and focus on it… God knows our needs.

God’s timing is His, it’s purposefully His own… Minds are closed until God’s Will is understood… Isn’t that what happens to us as well? Are we blinded by dark until we see the LIGHT? Does the LIGHT becomes brighter when it is focused as well? Either we see instantly or we see slowly – the LIGHT crashing in or creeping in – both ways illuminate the truth of Jesus, He came for us to see the LIGHT…

The LIGHT is the only way to chase away the darkness –  “repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations starting in Jerusalem”.

LIGHT traveled into the disciples hearts in Jerusalem, and then it expanded out into the world. We are called to be part of that LIGHT journey and help it keep moving and illuminating. LIGHT travels and bends when reflected in and thru the hearts of those open to receive it… Reflected LIGHT is bright too…

The last chapter of Luke, the gospel of amazement, amazes even more – Jesus left in ascension while still blessing them, He is still blessing us continuously thru His teaching and thru the Holy Spirit, whom was sent as “another”: “51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.”

JOY – Jesus instilled JOY for the journey ahead… JOY carries thru hardship, the journey will not always be easy, but the journey will continue… The JOY from within sustains because it’s from God WITHIN… The kingdom of God is the kingdom of the heart… The LOVE of God for us brings us to Jesus and THRU Him we are blessed… Jesus blesses WHILE on the journey, we can carry that LIGHT with us ALWAYS…

LIGHT travels. His LIGHT illuminates.

LIGHT travels. His LIGHT is the weight-lifting gift we can share. We can lighten other’s loads by sharing the message of forgiveness…

EASTER – Expect nothing – Gain EVERYTHING…

Follow His LIGHT – JESUS knows the Way…

Amen

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Luke 24 (the Emmaus road witnesses run back to tell the others they had seen the risen Jesus…)

33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.

44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

The Ascension of Jesus

50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

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Emmaus Hat Trick, 09JAN

I am grateful for a new program book for United Methodist Women for this year which talks about sacred spaces for encountering God. It’s a series on scriptures that relate to our current lives. It even includes coloring pages for each program. So tonight’s program is to talk about the Walk to Emmaus scripture, where Jesus appeared as a stranger along the road that first Easter morning to folks who were distraught from him being removed from the tomb, they did not realize they were walking with HIM… Later on when they realized it was Jesus they recounted that their hearts had been burning the whole time while He had been discussing the scriptures with them…

It’s our opportunity to realize in our daily lives when we are encountering God.

SO, it amazes me that this walk to Emmaus scripture program was open in the book when I pulled it out of the bag. And in my personal Gospel reading it is the next scripture where my bookmark sits in Michael Card’s book on Luke.  AND of course it’s ALSO the theme retreat I attended in the fall. So there are no coincidences, we call them God sightings in VBS.

I am very grateful how our United Methodist women ladies last month took poinsettias and Christmas cards to our many of our Homebound and persons of concern…  I look forward to hearing these stories tonight. And I appreciate how witnessing their walks strengthens my walk as well – I love hearing how the Lord’s Word and His Love is spread…

God knows when to open ears and eyes to see feel hear HIS love – life itself is more than coincidences and Hat tricks when the maker of the hat is the one wearing it!

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¹³ And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.

¹⁴ And they talked together of all these things which had happened.

¹⁵ And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.

¹⁶ But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.

¹⁷ And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?

¹⁸ And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?

¹⁹ And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:

²⁰ And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.

²¹ But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.

²² Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;

²³ And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.

²⁴ And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.

²⁵ Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:

²⁶ Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

²⁷ And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

²⁸ And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.

²⁹ But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.

³⁰ And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.

³¹ And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

³² And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

³³ And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,

³⁴ Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.

³⁵ And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.

 

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Float Forward, 07 Jan

Best deepest movie look – Boo Radley – Robert Duvall in “To Kill a Mockingbird”… Oh… his deepest look of deep caring towards the child Scout, the smile in his eyes beams from His love … And you can feel the movie actors “exude expressiveness” a great saying my friend wrote… Yeah, God’s LOVE exudes expressiveness…

Yeah, seriously such a deep book and movie, glad my daughter got to watch it with me… we love Netflix… I heard the movie lines as fresh to my ears tonight, having watched it so long ago… I knew each scene coming up but I acutely heard much more this time – and now I can’t help but pick up on the scripture too:

“Let the dead bury the dead”… The sheriff would see that “justice” was served – like the universe correcting itself – letting the town try to heal – and also keeping shy Boo out of the spotlight… Essentially telling all to keep moving forward… (And DON’T kill a Mockingbird…)

The scripture in the movie is adapted from Luke 9, where he actually details Jesus telling a disciple candidate (and us) to stop and drop everything hindering and follow Him… the cost of following Jesus is not looking back… The task at hand is working now for God: “but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

It costs us our personal will to follow Jesus, we are instead to look to God’s Will for us… And our lives sometimes are warning beacons to others and sometimes we are the sweet sounds of a singing mockingbird… Raising the praise…

We have tough choices though, we are NOT to choose human desire over spiritual work…. Oh, a tough spot, this is why we have to cling to the cross for each wrong decision or when we are holding back even if God says “go”…. Or simply because we are human – God knows… We need Jesus and God placed HIM here for us… God’s word and God’s will… God’s way…

Plow forward by looking forward… Timely message for a new year, a new life, a renewal of purpose each day – and if we stumble each day, let’s grab for that cross once again… the song lyric is: “the world behind me, the cross before me… No turning back”

And remember, the cross is made of wood, so even if you think your drowning just grab it, it will float… Jesus floats…  Float forward and let the current carry you… God’s way…

Thank you Jesus for the call, thank you for the saving grace… Thank YOU for YOU.

Amen

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57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

59 He said to another man, “Follow me.”

But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”

62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

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Luke 23, the Last Breath of Jesus, 05Jan

Luke 23 – I’m nearing the end of Luke’s gospel in Michael Card’s “Biblical Imagination” series book… So many lessons in such few verses (posted at the end of this page) near Jesus’s last breath…  Luke’s writing is a way to teach us in heart-convicting lessons shared with astonishment and always careful watch…

In verse 39, the criminals scene shows us God’s mercy – the repentance comes with acknowledging one’s guilt, and the saving comes from understanding and asking Jesus to remember us… Jesus’s continuous ministry message is that He is doing all this by His Father’s command – He will not lose anyone that His Father brings to Him…. If you are drawn to Jesus, then know that God Himself has brought you there! We come for gifted Mercy… Jesus knows our needs, we are led there but it’s up to us to ask, to reach. When we ask Jesus for Mercy, He will tell us that we already have it… (v39-43)

The darkness scene of the crucifixion shows us God’s pain (v44) – the Sun failed – the Son was felled – God’s scale of grief to lose a child?… Jesus’s scale of grief to not reach each lost child of God?… No one could imagine God’s trade off – the human life of Jesus for fulfilling His desire to reach all of us… Painful purpose…

The Temple’s torn curtain scene shows us God’s promise (v45) – Jesus was and IS the answer. Jesus is the promise that God gave us to show that there is no barrier to worship Him. We have a direct link. The curtain that tore was more than a physical and ceremonial event, it was like a foot thick and it instantly split apart… That indicates miracle but what Jesus truly opened for us was THE WAY HOME… God’s promise to bring us under His wing.

The centurion scene shows us it’s never too late to accept Jesus (v47). The man integral in execution was still saved… He was saveable, we are saveable too… NOTHING we do will keep us away from God’s plan to correct and cherish His Children… We are called to be in God’s plan.

The dispersing crowd scene (v48) shows us God’s path for us to see the light out of the darkness…  The massive crowds have seen the darkness of brutal death, then see the darkness of the deepest night… Convinced now that it was no longer an average crucifixion, they were silenced.  They beat their chests in the understanding that something real had happened… If their conviction is felt so sharply here – their darkness SO DARK… How could we NOT imagine our inner darkness too, our deepest pain and doubts…. Where is OUR faith in dark times?

The women on the hill scene shows us steadfast faith (v49) their faith and God’s faith in us… They would have seen the dark too, but they stayed there waiting and watching… They were the ones who travelled with Jesus and were ALWAYS watching… These women became integral in the early voice of the Christian church because they were there. Women who showed the world how to be bold in their presence, in their silence and in their sharing…  We can use these examples as women and men today – to remember that we are called to witness and share…

We are not always understanding this world, we are just visitors, workers in these fields, but ALWAYS we can be watching and be on the ready to move physically and be moved emotionally and to be witness to others of God’s faithfulness – of God’s plan…

God’s Faith in us is that we too will see the LIGHT.

The death of Jesus brings His everlasting life and ours…. And this brings to us OUR chance to witness the commitment of the Lord to us.

Luke’s gospel has one more chapter, I can’t wait to read it…. I suggest that we already know how the contrast will be SO HUGE – not silence – not darkness – but instead, on Easter and forever more, there will be an explosion of sound and LIGHT… Hear the Good News spreading and behold those that see the LIGHT.

After the last human breath of Jesus, we pray to hear the next news of Jesus rising, wait for it to pour into our ears and eyes – to feel its healing to our broken souls – and to speak it as witnesses thru our own mouths…

Easter feels like it is just a faith breath away… It is… Behold the next breathe…

Amen

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Luke 23:

39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

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The Death of Jesus

44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” 48 When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. 49 But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

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Jesus Betrayed by Apathy, 03Jan

I’m reading the last bits of Luke about Jesus’s many trials by the Jews and the Romans, it’s interesting to me that the further up the political chain that He gets paraded in front of, it’s just that, a parade…, less substance more show, the rulers don’t want to deal with figuring out what’s really going on…. They really DON’T want to get the real story as it will cost them their lifestyle and power…. And Pilate and Herod want to quiet everything (and maybe wait for an entertaining show)….

Jesus was innocent, but suffered worst of all… Luke tells us of hearings and trials – and thru them Jesus was who He was: a man given a mission… Jesus never hid… Jesus was exposed – was on task – to show the world that He had a message to share – and to show He suffered to understand our suffering…

Whatever the masses construed, Jesus’s silence to Herod indicated there was no defense for what the spiritually-blind could not or did not want to see….  That makes sense – that it didn’t matter what Jesus did, His presence in front of those apathetic hot potato-passing rulers hit on their pre-conceived notion of TROUBLE. Trouble was stirring up the mobs and that was politically bad… But stirring up the mobs was why Jesus came… His coming of course turned the world upside down… It still does… Jesus still reaches to the mobs, still wants to shake up those who are ignorant of their sins, sometimes in silence and sometimes in blatant calling out… as intense in both ways…

As many have been made aware of, beginning a Christian journey means trouble for one’s ignorance… Apathy has to be sacrificed. Beginning and continuing the walk with Jesus is the beginning of awareness of what troubled Him… Continuing the walk with Jesus is to seek justice, love mercy, and especially to walk humbly… Micah 6:8

It’s hot potato passing all over again, we want to preserve our happy existence and pass off the world’s problems to someone else… But that’s not seeking justice… And the evil that permeates the world is not new, we have to fight the right fights… It’s not unusual for not knowing where to start, we are ALL just wanting the best life we can get, but it’s true, I hate to say, many still turn a blind eye to why Jesus came… It’s not hard to simply ignore the outside world, that’s kinda easy, but it IS hard to venture past our own comfort zones… Jesus’ comfort is much more comforting than our worldly comfort zones – it has to be – how could it not?

I have no answers here except to keep walking the narrow path laid out for us… I do know that constantly God pushes us out of our comfort zones… Yet remember that we not alone… He equips us with the tools He has already given us… He sets us into faithful communities to support each other… We are called in the Great Commission to keep Jesus’s spirit alive and moving… To be the hands and feet of God, we have to wrap our heads around the hard work… Stirring up the people with Jesus’s teaching… His message will always be betrayed by apathy… His life-changing teachings are being directed to individuals so that it will stop mob mentality… Jesus’s message changes hearts one by one…. We can at least start with ours…

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Luke 23

4 Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”

5 But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.”

6 On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. 7 When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort. 9 He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer.10 The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. 11 Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate.12 That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.

13 Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him.15 Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. 16 Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.”

 

#517

Sifted, So Strengthen, 28Dec

Jesus said: 31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22

I used to sift – separate the seeds from the rest of the plant material in graduate school, it’s a long process…. And now I am learning a good deal mentally sifting through the gospels, it’s the best life-long process I will ever have… Not necessarily violent sifting as how wheat was thrashed in Jesus’s time, but still it’s internal mental sifting just the same, finding my faith away from the fluff… Quiet time for Being Still to study, shake it up, sort it out.

Michael Card’s writings are just like being in the room with Jesus… helps me study and sift the meaning… He comments (in his “Gospel of Amazement” book page 242) that Luke chronicles so much about Jesus’s prayer life… Jesus prays all the time, converses with our Father so much, and also pre-tells folks what will happen… Jesus knows Simon Peter will be tested, ALL disciples will be tested, even now… Satan’s sifting is severe mind-wrenching… But Jesus knows Simon Peter will come back to be restored, that day on the beach after the resurrection “Do you love me Peter?”… Jesus prays for Simon Peter’s restoration IN ADVANCE…

“Yes Lord, I love You.”

Jesus prays for Simon Peter… Jesus also prays for us – for our past – for our present – for our future… “NOTHING happens without prayer”… Jesus restores…

Jesus knows Satan wants to sift us, thrash us about to see when and how our true faith comes out… Satan might tempt us, but Jesus prays for us… God is supreme.

Michael Card reminds of Paul’s words: “no temptation is more than God can handle” 1Cor10:13… This means God can restore us… We will be sifted, tempted, shaken because, we are human… God provides Jesus who intervenes… We are to do our best to adhere to God’s laws and His Will… We are to focus on Jesus so that we don’t sink… We are to grab for His hand…  No matter what’s ahead, Jesus will be there for us.

There’s a great Facebook meme: “I asked God, “Why are you was taking me thru troubled waters?”. He replied, “Because your enemies can’t swim.”

Satan-sifted…

SAVIOR-Saved…

SALVATION-secured…

Let your Savior strengthen you.

So then: “strengthen your brothers”…

Amen

#516

Ah, this Christmas crab….

(Thanks to Joni Mitchell for the title of this blog)

Come in from the Cold, 26Dec

Christmas the hermit crab was cold, lost in the woods, those October evenings are cold… We took him home… One of the first things I learned about hermit crabs is that they don’t mind being held because they get warmth from your hand… So happy to get Christmas… Our purpose was to be a caregiver… “Come in from the cold”…

Christmas is all about coming in from the cold… Christmas is all about Jesus arriving for His purpose of giving us a way home… God says “Please come in from the cold”… God holds us in the warmth of His hand.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of PEACE.” Isaiah 9:6 NIV

Jesus says “The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” John 14:21 NIV

Christmas the crab came to Christmas Eve service, I brought him to show kids, big and little, and talk about next summer’s Vacation Bible School “Shipwrecked, Rescued by Jesus”… So many amazed at the story!… Yup, everyone was happy to see the crab… JOY at Christmas, and at least I knew he wasn’t cold… And the people’s reactions warmed my heart too…  I trust that this crab was a gift as a way for me to share the Good News (God knows I love props)…  shipwrecked then rescued – lost then found – AMAZING GRACE…

Outside, after the service, it was COLD, but I wanted a silly photo opp with the camel at the living nativity… I got that pic but I didn’t expect a REAL baby in the manger! Oh, that’s the best photo for sure… Oh baby Jesus…. This particular baby, little Michael, is fifth generation of our original church living nativity organizers… Sixty years, and now Michael was baby Jesus… Warm and sweet, he was exuding warm baby love from a cold manger… LIGHT beckoning warmth…. Christmas the hermit crab got a pic… Yes, Christmas is all about a warm baby… Jesus, the “Word made flesh” John 1:14

Christmas is all about staying warm by being humanly connected, vined, to the human Jesus, Immanuel, God with us!

Baby Jesus brought the warmth of heaven, but as a baby He started with nothing… Love was provided thru Mary and Joseph to take care of him. We also have and need nothing but LOVE, we live from our connection to this warmth from the LOVE of heaven…

But as time goes by we all need to come in from the cold, don’t we?…

We actually and actively need to physically pick up Jesus to feel His warmth and to grow… We need to actually pick up the human baby who is God living in our hearts and continue living thru spiritual growth… Then we need to urge others to pick up Christmas too – Christ’s LOVE is for sharing…

LOVE from Jesus is waiting, just pick Him up… Christmas is waiting… Christmas is the gift of God to us… Don’t hesitate, pick up Jesus as a baby and commit to raising HIM… Jesus will grow when nurtured in you…

 “I am the way and the truth and the life.”

“The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” John 14

Christmas the hermit crab was SO good until I exceeded his patience – a camel photo opp? no, that was enough he said, he was cold and started to pinch me… Not much pain, but enough to urge me to go back inside, I didn’t have my coat on either… So I came in from the cold… It shouldn’t take cold or pain for us to want to enter the warmth of Jesus either, but many do have pain, life can be tough and we can reach, we will find Jesus is there waiting, He meets us where we are… And we realize JOY is to be found in Jesus.

Christmas is all about you – it’s a gift you have to accept – to take away the pain of being lost and cold, God provides Christ… Jesus’s work is to take away God’s pain of having lost children…

Home, God says come home…

Come in from the cold…

Amen

#515

GAP, 23DEC

You might think it’s funny I’m reading about Easter at Christmas, but the alignment of my bible reading with my time schedule seems classic God’s timing…

The Passover Lamb, Jesus… He was the lamb, sacrificed for us… In Luke 22:7, they prepare for the meal and as Jesus uses the bread and cup, explaining that He is being shared himself in body and blood by God, He explains that there’s a gap of timing before He shares again when the Kingdom of Heaven has been fulfilled…

“14 When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15 And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”

Until “IT”, finds fulfillment… IT had a long preparation… IT needed everything to fall into place between Adam and Eve and that last supper feast, the times Jesus remained, left then returned to those disciples and even coming to us now in Spirit… Those gaps of time was filled with God’s timing and His plan… Passover orchestrated by God… These gap times now filled by God… God’s timing is just that, HIS…

What’s the “gap” of time, empty or full?

Full… Fulfillment from Full…

What’s in our own gap? Empty? Full? So do we wait for Christmas, Easter, life, death? What’s in between? How will we spend our “gap” before we see our Lord fulfilled for all? We, like Jesus, have serious work to do in the gap time… We should not forget to fill our lives with purpose for His Fulfilment… Let us let God fill the gap…

Fill the gap…

Help bring everyone home…

Amen

#514

Christmas’ Shell Armor, 22DEC

Christmas the hermit crab has quite the new tough shell…  Christmas is moving around, I enjoy the clunking noises, and he was checking out his old shell too, flipping it like a toy, the one that looks like a Christmas ornament and which earned him his name… It’s so tiny in comparison to the big crab he’s grown into now, only two months after we found him lost in the woods…

Christmas carries such a huge shell with him now – funny how he doesn’t know that he’s in like the most safe place of the aquarium, but he probably knows that I will pick him up and take him out and about… and he NEEDS that protection, because you never knows what’s out in the real world.

I think that’s a good reminder for US also to be putting a shell of Christmas around us, to buffer us, and allow us to go through our days and nights in the real world… and yes a good strong shell is certainly akin the “armor of God” Ephesians 6.

When we are getting ready to venture out, whether it is real or perceived danger in the unknown of life, or simply the complicated scary places that our mind drifts to, Christmas is provided, Christ is provided…. God’s mighty power is sufficient… God asks us, well He tells us, that if we believe in His power, then we may be able to stand our own ground – even if and because we ARE weak, He will provide the exoskeleton of armor and the inner SPIRIT of fortitude…. We are to remember it is OUR FATHER who calls us HIS CHILDREN…. We are sons and daughters of the King… God wants us to do EVERYTHING we can to stand… And then because of Him, we are called to STAND FIRM….

Christmas the crab was found lost in the woods… We were lost too, yet Christmas (Christ) found us! Christmas is always the “Word made flesh”… A baby is vulnerable like us, a crab is vulnerable without his shell… but we are ALL made strong by God!

EVERYTHING we do, we can do most safely and spiritually within the armor of God…. It’s Christmas folks – Venture out – Grab the best mightiest strongest (and even blinged out) shell you can get…

Stand with the armor of God because your feet are firmly placed on the “gospel of PEACE”. Be alert – not just for yourself – but for ALL God’s people…

Amen!

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Ephesians 6:10-18(NIV)

The Armor of God

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

#513

A Revisit of Mary and Mary Writing… 21Dec

I did not edit the content of my initial processing writings – for good reason – i knew that one day i would look back and see how God has brought me deeper into my faith – especially in my attributes of Mary Magdalene and of Mary in Lazarus’ story – i long to sit at Jesus’ feet these days and learn… it is time for many of us to stop being Martha – Michael Card sings: “Hustle and Business last year after year, but this little baby won’t always be here!”… Yes it is time to come to the cradle, come and find peace.

So today I edit and seriously condense this message now (revisited Christmas processing)…

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Revisit of Mary and Mary, 22DEC2014, 21DEC2017

It’s Christmas – who wants to be Mary?  Every woman and every girl – all of us are jumping with our hands up to be Mary in the play – in the living nativity scenes – we all love Mary – I love Mary…

I love Mary’s blue garments – the dead snake at her feet – the roses and flowers we place at her feet… I got to be Mary once in our living nativity – oh the awesomeness of that… a lifetime of aspirations came true. Catholics are not supposed to worship Mary anyway but to “venerate” her…  but let’s face it – Mary is the “end all and the be all” for little Catholic girls – we all want to be Mary.

The Hail Mary – Hail Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners – I can still recite it at great speed – recite it word for word without hesitation and recite in a crisis – like when hearing of my father’s stroke – prayers at lightning speed.

May is Mary’s month –  oh the first crocuses then the daffodils then the lilacs – I so looked forward to those early first spring flowers – the first ones picked and wrapped in a wet paper towel and aluminum foil to carefully carry by hand into my elementary catholic school where every classroom had a statue of Mary…  Oh to place those flowers by her feet.  I still think of the abundance gifts of spring rebirth when I smell that scent of lilacs.  

Although we (or I) aspire to be Mary –  mother Mary – I have to wonder if I am not already or supposed to aspire to be the second Mary – Mary Magdalene.  I am certainly NOT like that third Mary of the bible, Mary the sister of Lazarus and Martha – we (I mean I) are too Martha-ish –  I am worrying about this detail and that – I don’t think I can sit and listen to the Lord like Mary – I am certainly not taking the time to sit and read the bible enough. Yes I am  truly Martha… Jesus rightfully scolds me – I mean scolds Martha in Luke 10:  ““you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one – Mary has chosen what is needed...”

Back to the other Mary – Mary Magdalene – some accounts of her said she was a possessed woman – some said she had multiple personalities… Mary M was “cured” “discipled” “brought into the fold” – an apostle in her own right – one of the chosen few who witnessed Jesus’ journeys, teachings, miracles, and trials first hand.  Mary Magdalene first to know Jesus rose from the tomb – first to go on with her duties as a woman to take care of the dead body – she didn’t hesitate to go into the tomb – she was the first to be blessed to witness and believe with her own eyes – she went from “worst to first” – she came from the furthest reaches of sinfulness – from the furthest spiritual distance (by choice or circumstance) from the righteous ways of God – she journeyed far and made it into the fold – made it to the first to hear of the Resurrected Christ and then yes – she told the others too – she was bold and was able to speak of Jesus.

In this time of Christmas – we await the birth of Christ – we are called to give birth to a child placed in our hearts – to raise and nurture the Jesus within us – and we do admire Mary – mother Mary – to be impregnated by that holiest of spirits, giving up her body to birth a God – not to mention to be entrusted to raise baby Jesus and we dream we have her strength and devotion to be the “handmaid of the Lord”  -Luke 1:38.

But let’s also remember that we should aspire to be the other Mary too – Mary Magdalene – let’s not hesitate to embrace our Mary Magdalene – to be willing to be healed by God for all our sins and imperfections, to witness to the miracles of the Lord, to perform our dutiful callings even in the times of greatest crisis, yes, to be willing to be bold and enter the tomb – and most of all – to tell others of the risen Christ.

#512

An Unsuccessful Angel, 18DEC

WOW, I never knew the small tidbit in Luke 22:43 that while the disciples slept in the Mount of Olives, Jesus was attended to by an Angel. The Angel came to strengthen HIM…

This is the only place it is told, in the Gospel of Luke, and not in the other Gospels. I learned this from the Biblical Imagination book series by Michael Card the singer who means so much to me…

Yes, reading the bits and pieces of the Bible in small digestible chunks is where I get the most nutrition of faith and time for comprehension…

Michael Card’s words mean a lot to me this evening and in life… Michael suggests that it seems Jesus has even more anguish AFTER the prayer time while this angel attended – because Jesus discovers His closest friends, the disciples, have betrayed Him by falling asleep… Michael suggests that the angel has been unsuccessful in giving Jesus a lasting relief, so I will extend my extra insight that rings true to me in this event – that even an angel might fail when God’s plans are God’s plans… that makes sense to me now – how can I relate? Are my plans ever being changed and interrupted by God’s plans? Yup… Even if I have the best intention, my plans might crumble? Will my plans sometimes fail? Yup… Yeah, I speculate the thought that even an angel could not make everything better…. Sigh…

See, we know that God’s mission for Jesus, however painful, was to include Jesus’s experience of every broken feeling, every sorrow, every betrayal, every lost hope in the world – and this is because God needs us to know that in truth there is NOTHING that we will ever go thru that Jesus didn’t already suffer…. NOTHING…

Our pain has precedence… We can feel the depth of pain but will we remember that God will pull us out of it?… We will be made whole, eternally, but may stay broken now… Jesus didn’t feel the wholeness on earth, He felt the brokenness, and He stayed with God’s plan anyway… broken… His body for our lives… He suffered to let us know that HE understands.  We are not alone, even if we feel alone, we aren’t… Jesus gets it…

The angel did what the angel could do and yet…. Christ was comforted, but that doesn’t mean all was fixed -“it’s all better?” – nope…. We do what we can, but life doesn’t always fit our plans…

Human worldly ways are faint when facing the will of God…

But perhaps the most important lesson here is that we will persevere, because Jesus could… And we will persevere because God wants us to… We will never be alone… And God so LOVED the world, that He gave His only son…

That’s LOVE…

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39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

45 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”   Luke 22:43

#511

Look Up, 17DEC

It’s Christmas time, three years since I wrote Christmas Flood 17DEC, which started a flood of my faith… now I am continually called to stay awake and to LOOK UP… (Fittingly it’s 2am, I fell asleep on the couch at 8pm, awake at 1am, LOL… God likes to remind me that He calls me when He calls me)… I’m to be awake for HIM. We are ALL to be awake in our FAITH.

The Christmas message simply is that God loves us and Jesus saves… He came to bring us home. He saves us by connecting us to Him… We can feel Him flowing through us, Living Water from the Vine – simple, divine and true… Spiritual growth requires our commitment to keep drinking in His LOVE… Forever…

As much as I’m excited/exhausted with Christmas fluff, I remember ALWAYS that Christmas excess can flood and wash you away! WHOOSH!…

But each Christmas, we are called to actually focus more simply, more divinely, more actively and humbly bow down (before we are knocked down)… and called to worship the most AMAZING gift – baby Jesus… We are called to hone-in on a vastness of God without being distracted by the Christmas human adornments to God… Jesus alone is worthy of our focus… We are called to be ready to give it ALL away for the sake of our King…

It’s Christmas, but actually I’m reading the last chapters of Luke (from Michael Card’s Biblical Imagination series books), and here in Luke’s “gospel of amazement”, Jesus talks ever so seriously to the disciples about end times – this teaching opportunity opened when they were distracted by human adornments to God at the temple – and Jesus refocuses,  brings with them right back to focus on the future… It’s a reality check – HIS reality…  Just before His earthly time is over, Jesus teaches them awareness of end times, theirs and ours… Again, like at Christmas, we are called to cast away the excess and the distractions – to focus… It’s a revelation to those with ears open that we are to “be at the ready”… At end times we certainly may feel like we are to be felled with earthquakes and terror, but instead we are called to stand up and LOOK UP!

We are told to be forever watchful – certainly we would not want to miss the sight of Jesus coming in on a cloud…

25 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Luke 21

YES we are called NOT to hide but to look forward, this is why we are called to appreciate how Jesus makes us fit for redemption… We are to STAND UP and LOOK UP!

Jesus…

Let us NOT miss the chance to bow down at Christmas for our baby King, to know Him better. Jesus alone holds the HOPE of the world… He is a “LIGHT for REVELATION” as Simon praises in Luke 2 – can you imagine the old man Simon lifting baby Jesus to the sky as he stands up and looks up at Jesus Himself knowing that foretold glory of Jesus – Savior of all who answer the call… Goosebumps… Goosebumps…

Our certain actions to focus our worship will hone us in on the truth… Jesus saves us by gifting us a Christmas focus that we will bring to an Easter redemption focus… and we are to pray for our forever wakefulness… We don’t know when Jesus will come back, nor He, we are called in the meantime to be disciples, to just be ready…

Jesus is a cherished gift forever for our forever…

Christmas is a reminder to keep looking for Christ…

LOOK UP!

Amen

Merry Christmas

Thanks be to God…

#510

Plasmodesmata, 13Dec

Good morning!  Here’s your nerdy word of the day –  The comfort of God flows from person to person like plasmodesmata conducts messages from plant cell to plant cell – if we stay connected, then LOVE will flow… Vined on the microscopic scale…

I think of this VBS scripture often, and it pertains to me so much – “[God gives us comfort so that we can share comfort]”… And I read my “life verse” yesterday, Luke 1:38 “I am the handmade (slave) of the Lord”…. Yeah I work for HIM…

And yeah, it’s fitting for everyone’s situation too, God has given us HIS source of comfort and the ability of comforting others…. Therefore because we look to the Lord, He will use us for His work…  it’s not always easy, but it’s HIS work…

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort.

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He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” 2 Corinthians 1:4-5

#509

Math as a Spiritual Gift, 06Dec

It’s Saint Nicholas Day – December 6th… A gift would be left in your shoes in old Europe, or in my case on a fancy favorite campground plate! Yeah, my Czech-heritage mom said St Nicholas would take our Christmas wish lists (set out the night before on a special plate) and leave us this huge plate of goodies, yum candy!!! Later as we became teens the plates were filled a bit more practically – like toothpaste and deodorant and socks or stockings, but still some candy…. A tradition on Dec 6th, and St. Nick didn’t disappoint… In college, St. Nick even managed to mail goodies to this dorm room bound homesick girl… Yeah, blessed… blessed gifts!

Today I am thinking of another gift – the gift of math for our use and for our study – but is math really a spiritual gift? Or is math a tool that man developed? Or is math an unveiling of a certain section of our minds for use of divine understanding? Is it a gift for connecting with the great Mathematician in the sky who has counted the uncountable, and has dreamed of spiral Golden Rule ratios to decorate His kingdom with spirals of snail shell to match whorls of flower petals and pinecones? I think so… Yeah I am pretty sure God loves math…

Fascinating nature gives way to FABULOUS Fibonacci numbers which abound in beautiful ways… just look at a sunflower, or a daisy spiral… Why Lord? Why use the most elegant of math to decorate the most transient of wildflowers? Why tantalize math people? Tell me Lord, is looking deeper and deeper into a Mandelbrot set like looking deep into the crevices of Your brain? Or to understand the divine nature that formulated the crevices in our brains?

Lord, if we let YOU do the math, then we find that YOU are timeless…

Lord, if we let YOU do the math, then we find that YOU are infinite…

Your Word endures forever, Your Son, the Word, is also on Your timeline… We become Your sliding beads of the Master Abacus… Jesus keeps us vined as we slide away or spin, our bead will stay connected because You are counting us… You are counting on us… Math, it is all about the MATH…

It’s all God’s LOVE…

Happy St Nicholas Day, may your plate be filled with God’s plans, today and ALWAYS…

Amen

508

“What Her Heart Remembered” song, 01Dec

You know, as powerful and meaningful “Come to the Cradle” is to me as my awakening song, my FAVORITE song in Michael Card’s “the Promise”, which we will present Christmas eve Sunday morning, is the blissful “What her heart remembered”.

This song’s lyric “He would weep A dark so deep, For all her love, She couldn’t comprehend”, tells of the great sorrow Jesus had and has for the lost souls.

In Michael Card’s biblical imagination of his lyrics, we can imagine that Jesus must have had and still has deep cries – knowing, even as a baby, about the brokenness of the world, a continuous conscious stream of every day between Easter and the second coming – imagine HIS sorrow of all the lost sheep…  and this world could not understand – Mary could not – nor we could ever understand the depth of those cries of Jesus..

In between those dark times of not understanding His cries, we can also imagine that Mary could “live in the moment” and feel the bliss of being with baby Jesus… Her baby AND her King…

BLISS is my new favorite word for this Christmas…  we can “live in the moment” – sometimes in sorrow and struggle but always touched with a feeling of bliss knowing we will go home to our Lord…  a feeling of bliss while still being so ever watchful for Jesus’s return…

And I love singing this song of bliss and learning… “marvelous memories” that I too ponder and hide in my heart…

Thanks Jesus, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you and blissful rebirth to us…

BLISS

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And here’s Michael Card original on YouTube – so beautiful a portrayal

https://youtu.be/QSundvO5FEA

Here are the lyrics, I have written about this song before, but just like Christmas comes every year, it’s good to relive marvelous memories….

“Out in the stable yard
She sees a glow
Could it be angel light?
How would she know?
Shepherds stand wondering
Afraid to come in
But the baby that’s born tonight
Will free them all
To never fear again

“As He lies in a cattle trough
She kneels by His side
Sweet baby breathing
Soft infant sighs
Soft sounds of swallowing
As soft fingers part
Marvelous memories
She pondered then and hid them in her heart

“Like a good
Mother would
Sh learned His cries
If He’d awake
With a bellyache
From hunger or fright
But now and then
Sometimes when
The dark would descend
He would weep
A dark so deep
For all her love
She couldn’t comprehend

“Her warm loving carpenter
His strong gentle hands
His dark and bewildered eyes
Can they understand?
That this Baby she’s given him
Is theirs for a time
In truth came to give Himself
The Treasure and the
Ransom of mankind”

507

ETC., 24NOV

HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone!

I’m so BLESSED that you are all in my life!!!!

This thanksgiving, I’m so thankful for the “ETC”…

This is a photo of a gift tag my Mom wrote on a present for me today… She wrote: “This Thanksgiving, I am grateful for FAMILY, FRIENDS, AIR, FOOD, etc.”

ETC…

How I love my parents and their simple and divine understanding that the ETC is so well worth PRAISE… We have ETC in addition to the most important staples in life, it’s a tremendous gift to be able to wake up every morning and take in the “ETC”…

How BLESSED we are for EVERYTHING… How BLESSED to know that “ETC is from God”… God wants us to feel the LOVE, and then we get ETC too!

“17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17″

God provides…

I am thankful for life itself, then all that ETC too…

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Amen

506

A NEW SHELL FOR FAITH SPACE, 21NOV

Not a coincidence!!!!

Christmas the crab has emerged!! I missed him! He is trying out a new shell, while staying close to his old one… Me too…. Me too…

Christmas the crab has a new skin! He emerged from the sand after molting, and has a Christmas morning-like array of new shells to choose from…. They are certified pre-owned sea snail shells, scooped up, cleaned and I got them on EBAY… Lots of them… knowing one might be JUST right… A new shell for a new skin…

I have a new skin too in many ways but mainly, I am a new creation in Christ (2ndCorinthians)…. I molted off a layer of disbelief in God’s plan, I molted off a veiled existence of the truth, I regrew a new skin of Spirit from within and everything else is relative to that…

I have a new shell too, one of many – of a tabernacle of faith space – I newly have a pre-owned SUBARU – my third Forester – RED – Christmas Red? Actually I prayed for Holy Spirit Pentecostal RED…. my first Subaru was green (271,000 miles), second was blue (239,000 miles), and now I accepted this gift from the Lord of a newish (37,700 miles) portable faith tabernacle to grow safely within… I was granted the gift of FAITH SPACE.

We have all been gifted of FAITH SPACE of community… As local as we have or as big as the world community – all our friends plus all those whom we don’t even know yet…

FAITH SPACE is where we are safe to grow, a shell of protection physical and emotional – the protection and space within these faith communities allows us to grow. And we can grow fruits of the spirit… Fruits given by God.

The ultimate FAITH SPACE is us realizing we are already nestled in the crevices of His hands…. All we need He has provided…

Jesus came at Christmas, came as a baby, the most vulnerable form of human life. He was God’s gift – Jesus is cherished by so many – God’s gift of LOVE – HIS gift of Christ at Christmas is His gift of GRACE…. We needed Christ in this world because God hurts with the loss of His Children – we are broken people, most in this world do not know Him – God wants us whole and he wants his whole world whole… people are caught in the trap of Earthly sin pulling them down,  so Jesus came  first as a baby then Jesus grew his skin thicker, because He knew the brokenness of His people…. This broke Jesus’s heart… Ultimately, His body was broken for us… And we were given the GRACE to go home…

Jesus molted from His earthly body in resurrection, we will too… We will cast off the sin that keeps us down… We will cast off even death… We will go home… We have salvation… We have a Savior…

Our salvation is the ultimate gift that God gives to Himself – He wants all of His Children home – He sent Jesus in a new skin to find us…. The ultimate Christmas gift list that Jesus verbalized was “LET all those with ears hear”…

I’m praising gifted open ears for each of us… I am so glad to hear those that accepted the real gift of the Lord – His Grace thru Christ….  my heart is warmed with seeing the spirit moving thru others…

That is the Christmas gift, opening one’s own shell of FAITH SPACE to see how it joins with that of others… Take a peek, and enjoy the view…

Merry Christmas!

505

Molting within God’s Protective Shell, 19Nov

Christmas the hermit crab started investigating his new digs, his new aquarium home complete with sand and plant material, new shells, water and food.

But then on that exact same day – he disappeared. He was searching and searching, apparently for a long time, digging and digging… Apparently he was searching for a safe place and a chance to shed his skin and start fresh again. Christmas the crab needed to molt!!!! Ah finally…. he must have been relieved… (I was and am nervous, but have done everything I can  and I put it in God’s hands)… So Christmas the crab must have thought sweet sand… Finally…he got the opportunity to find a safe deep nestled pit in this colorful de colores blue sand.

Hermit crabs carry their shells around for protection, they may try out new shells which they adopt, but they are never without a shell. They need them for protection and they fit perfectly inside. They are hermits living in a borrowed abode…. Especially they need protection during molting times when they have to shed their skin and they are completely vulnerable and open for injury, they bury themselves for privacy, safe time for creation of a new skin.

Isn’t that us as well?!!! Yes, we are gifted a shell of safe haven in life, living on this borrowed abode of earth… we decide when we are hermits and when we venture out but always we are gifted to being nestled in God’s hands and under His guiding eye as we change, we grow, we shed that old skin, and we become “new creations in Christ”.

Life brings challenges but always new adventures and God gives us that shot of courage to move forward… God reminds us to guard our hearts because everything we do comes from them (Proverbs 4:23)…. But we are NOT to live timidly. (2 Timothy 1:7) but live in the spirit of power, love and self-control … God gives us freedom and space to grow, and He Himself will bless and keep us. He is our protective Father.

God loves us. God loves you and wants you to find His PEACE. God wants you to take that big deep breath and remove your worry and anxiety and allow yourself to grow.

God needs you to grow, because He knows how you fit best in His plan…

New skin, new life, new mobility, new prospects. New blessings.

And until we shed our earthly skin and go home eternally with our Father, we will move through life “as Christ ambassadors”….

Home awaits, but in the meantime remember that safety net of community, our friends are God’s provisions… Keep growing in His LOVE, and rest in His PEACE…

Amen

——-

2 Corinthians 5 (NIV)

Awaiting the New Body

5 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

The Ministry of Reconciliation

11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. 12 We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us,so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. 13 If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

504

God’s Got the Box, 19Nov

Life is a puzzle, surely you feel that.

At a recent retreat, my new friends and I worked on two intricate and fun jigsaw puzzles during break time. I love puzzles, I did so many as a kid and pausing to work on a puzzle is a rare gift these days. Your mind gets a chance to change up its processing for a while, there’s a soothing challenge ahead of you, oh feasting your eyes on all those colors, looking and looking, drag your hands thru the box, and oh the satisfaction of getting the pieces to fit…. meanwhile you get to chat with friends or work alone and ALWAYS you get to ponder life.

Life is a puzzle and we are all pieces. We are all pieces of God’s amazing puzzle.

When we are sorting through life’s issues and finding our way, often we are wondering where we fit.  But we can feel the comfort of those other people puzzle pieces that we are nestled with, we can feel the fingers stirring up the pieces, we can look past our own edges to see where we might fit… Sometimes it takes a while, maybe our whole lives, to find the right fit. Maybe things snap together easy which is also puzzling.

Thru life we need to remember that we are ALL in God’s puzzle.  God is holding that box lid. He’s got the whole puzzle in His hands.

God is not JUST holding the box looking at the big picture, but HE created that big picture of this puzzle…. Even though that box is full of seemingly random pieces, all shapes and sizes scattered about, He sees the Divine plan.

His LOVE is looking for us – to bring us back home. He even sent Jesus to us, Jesus’s job is to collect all those pieces scattered about, even those that fell off the table…

Jesus looks – Jesus saves.

Next time you are puzzling life, remember that you do fit for His purpose… and His purpose is to want you to know that you are loved. His desire is that you then share that love. Share His Love thru you.

Remember God is holding that puzzle box lid. God knows the plan.

We don’t always know the plan but we need to find peace anyway…. remember that God desires that PEACE.

God knows.

You fit.

503

Appreciating  scripture and writings about anxiety and JOY, 17NOV

I thank the Lord that I wrote these pure pep talks over a year ago – really I have found that I have gotten even more busy as time goes – and these pertain even more – but I also find that I am less stressed because I try to listen and discern the Lord’s plans because they are much much better than mine!!!

Today I was thinking at physical therapy that my shoulder recovery made it to only about number 5 on the list of major things going on in my life right now – I figured that God even threw in my car dying and new used car shopping into the mix right now because why not?!!! Might as well process and change up EVERYTHING at once – in this good window of time before Christmas – then girl scout cookie season and then VBS…  Fall is actually my “slow time” HA!!!!! God is a tinkerer of time…

Even though there is much more on my plate – I know that the Lord helps me control how I deal with it – and when – and everything i moderation – and I sample the complexities of life and really it is a picnic in His kingdom with Him telling me that I can handle – and He reminds me of the blessings of life – today one of my physical therapists and his wife had their baby – and yesterday a friend and I talked about His daughter’s improved health – yeah – whew – there are so many good things happening all around us….  My subaru – seems so minimal an issue – and honestly I think God held it together just long enough until my finances opened up some more breathing room this exact week – yeah the timing is crazy God’s hands all over it…

I am eating out of His hands – LOL – funny to think that way – but true – God keeps me tried and true – He is amazing… “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.” – and trust me – i have a LOT of JOY right now and try not to say that boastfully – but in truth I have A LOT of JOY following HIM!!!!!

SMILES

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https://debbieupper.wordpress.com/2017/06/09/removing-anxiety-with-christ-23aug-426/

426

Removing Anxiety with Christ, 23Aug2016

Convergent scriptures God placed in my sight, about being anxious – about learning to be content in all circumstances – and letting God lift us to JOY… Accepting that God has a plan for each of us means we have to work that plan WITH God in mind.

God tells us NOT to be anxious, that’s a tough one… Just as tough as God telling us NOT to be jealous, well that’s really tough if not impossible, because we are human…  Yet we are to strive to remove jealousy and anxiousness…

Two sets of scriptures – telling of how our devotion to God relieves anxiety. . .
Paul letter to Philippians 4:5-7:
“The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

God doubled back HIS reminder to me with the Psalm 94:19:17-19 scripture… Praises from David, the shepherd who became king:
“Unless the Lord had given me help,
I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.
When I said, “My foot is slipping,”
your unfailing love, Lord, supported me.
When anxiety was great within me,
your consolation brought me joy.”

David saw his anxiety lifted not just to PEACE but ultimately to JOY…

God is not JUST saving us away from death and despair – BUT He wants to lift us even higher than that – to JOY.

Paul acknowledges and teaches in his letter to the Philippians (verse 2) that our devotion to Christ is to actually be found within us! Imitating Christ IS the path for us to follow, the LIGHT to find in our LIFE…  we are to emulate Christ’s obedience by taking on the role of the servant – He calls for us to humble ourselves – for us to do everything without grumbling – to serve – to “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill HIS good purpose.”

And Paul acknowledged that he also was STILL WORKING ON THIS!!!
In Philippians 3:12 – “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”….
In Philippians 4:9 – “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ— the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.”

Paul was imprisoned and struggled –  and yet Paul was still able to encourage others with his letters: Philippians 1:29-30 ” For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.”

Paul suffered and acknowledges that we all suffer too, but Paul focuses on Jesus’s GIFT of salvation and urges us to as well. The scriptures give the “How” for moving forward and removing anxiety – IT’S CHRIST WORKING IN US: “13 I can do all this through HIM who gives me strength”.

This is NOT easy, it’s not instant, but it is God’s GIFT to us – We are to look to HIM and draw upon HIS strength within us. HIS strength is not external but internal. We are to focus- looking forward, be moved by the HOLY SPIRIT and look for the JOY that comes from devotion.

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)

AMEN

Philippians 4 (NIV) – (Paul writing to the Philippians)
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Thanks for Their Gifts
10 I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Philippians 3:
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Following Paul’s Example
15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Philippians 2 (NIV)

Imitating Christ’s Humility
2 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Do Everything Without Grumbling
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. 17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.;

Philippians 1 (NIV)
Life Worthy of the Gospel
27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel 28 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. 29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, 30 since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

Psalm 94 (NIV) from David

1 The Lord is a God who avenges.
O God who avenges, shine forth.
2 Rise up, Judge of the earth;
pay back to the proud what they deserve.
3 How long, Lord, will the wicked,
how long will the wicked be jubilant?
4 They pour out arrogant words;
all the evildoers are full of boasting.
5 They crush your people, Lord;
they oppress your inheritance.
6 They slay the widow and the foreigner;
they murder the fatherless.
7 They say, “The Lord does not see;
the God of Jacob takes no notice.”
8 Take notice, you senseless ones among the people;
you fools, when will you become wise?
9 Does he who fashioned the ear not hear?
Does he who formed the eye not see?
10 Does he who disciplines nations not punish?
Does he who teaches mankind lack knowledge?
11 The Lord knows all human plans;
he knows that they are futile.
12 Blessed is the one you discipline, Lord,
the one you teach from your law;
13 you grant them relief from days of trouble,
till a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not reject his people;
he will never forsake his inheritance.
15 Judgment will again be founded on righteousness,
and all the upright in heart will follow it.
16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?
17 Unless the Lord had given me help,
I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.
18 When I said, “My foot is slipping,”
your unfailing love, Lord, supported me.
19 When anxiety was great within me,
your consolation brought me joy.
20 Can a corrupt throne be allied with you—
a throne that brings on misery by its decrees?
21 The wicked band together against the righteous
and condemn the innocent to death.
22 But the Lord has become my fortress,
and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.
23 He will repay them for their sins
and destroy them for their wickedness;
the Lord our God will destroy them.

 

502

A Catch, 15NOV

Why does literature and life refer to a desirable person as “a catch”? A desirable prospect, a potential suitor, an amazing helper thru life… all considered “a catch”…

It is not even a play on words, but it’s the visual of a catch… There are many fish in the sea, but to get a good one in the net is called “a catch”… in current terms that means a really really good one, someone that you don’t throw back…

But wait!  All fish, of all shapes and sizes, and ocean junk as well, certainly could be caught if the net was of appropriate size and shape…. Are they all considered “a catch” too? Not just particular special folks, but ALL fish folks might become “a catch” to the right person…

the right person…  the right Savior…

Actually that’s EXACTLY what we ALL are in Jesus’s eyes and in Jesus’s net…. We are “a catch”… sweet…. We are all “HIS catch”…. And He will NEVER throw us back!

We are all part of the bride called “the church”… God picks the time and place and leads the dance… Jesus comes in to scoop up “His catch”…

Jesus, a fisher of men, casts His net deep and wide…

Jesus, a fisher of men, sends His disciples to help in the catch….

We are caught… Caught by Jesus…

Disciples learn to help pull in the catch…

The catch is the whole world, it’s HUGE and the time is so very short!!!! So naturally many hands are going to be needed for this greatest catch….

Jesus needs you. Won’t you pitch in and help? …

Let’s go catch…

——

Luke 5:1-11 (NIV)

Jesus Calls His First Disciples

5 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

I’ve had a couple people conjecture that my early morning wake ups were hormonal, not spiritual… But even if they were/are coincidences, God certainly makes good use of my time which is His time!!!… 500 writings plus… It’s JOY from the Lord, approaching life thru the eyes of a child and sharing that JOY…

Writing #501, 14NOV

God is SPIRIT and we worship in SPIRIT and in Truth… All our praise is by the Holy Spirit thru us… It’s all His time and we are in it – on Earth – for the time being…. I’m excited to spend this particular phase of time, however long on earth, with fellow children of God – spiritually and emotionally and in person… We are ALL pieces of His AMAZING puzzle!

God is so good…. We are BLESSED!

Just smile when you realize God’s in control… Drink in His water and replenish…

Let your heart smile at the Lord ALWAYS…

SMILES are in SPIRIT and in Truth!

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To the Samaritan Woman (John 4):

13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

—

Jesus continued:

23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

500

For this writing I had the title for days, I have the AMAZING incidents that prompted it, AMAZING blessings seemingly dropped out of the blue – dropped out of the sky…BUT this particular writing I am not sure is done or even being forced by the Lord to get out thru my fingers… But I will write this time anyway as a THANK YOU to our good Lord – sending my love back up and out to our great God.

I know this writing is number 500. My mind blown away and constantly replaced with His Peace… That’s staggering to me, 500 in nearly 3 years, that’s all in a normal workload for God… Lighting my path… Lord I LOVE you forever and more and more with each step.

“Each new day is a kiss, sent from up above, with an angel’s love” (Joni Mitchell)

Processing and prodding, production and peace…. It is peace all along that God aims to share… It was always about the peace… It’s ALWAYS about PEACE.

Dropped from the Sky, 11NOV

God provides, and sometimes, especially recently, things that God has provided in blessings seemingly have dropped from the sky…

Scripture reminds me that things of the world are evil… want and need and all that…. “Of the world” not of God…. But if God placed us into this world then perhaps we are bound to bump into God sightings, God’s children, God’s spirit… Yeah – how could we not….

I could endlessly tell you what dropped from the sky this week, this month, and especially this year…. But you have similar occurrences I am sure… And suffice it to say, God provides… Don’t worry about what you want or think you need (Matthew 25)… Don’t look to the world (1 John 2)…. Look to God…

ALWAYS WATCH FOR GOD.

But perhaps my biggest failing now and in the past – yes probably ALL our biggest failing – is when we are surprised at how God takes care of us! For me to simply think things have been dropping from the sky in surprise gain (or loss), means that I (we) simply haven’t connected how God works every last detail, and we fail to see His behind the scenes work…. But this is not a surprise; we miss a lot of cues and clues because we are human. AND this is not a surprise, for He’s God for God sake!!!  How to even begin to understand the depth of His LOVE???…. How can we even try to rethink His ways (Job 38)…

How did you do that Lord? How?

Why did you do that for me Lord? Why?

God is God… He’s got no tricks up His sleeve, but a path under our feet… If we walk and watch the path then we are bound to find that He’s been blessing us all along, because He has…. If we look up to anticipate gifts from the sky or sideways to plans of the world then we are likely to trip and fall from the path… So, where do we look? We look straight ahead, we plow ahead (Luke 9:62), and we look for the sure but narrow path….

And we thank the Lord….

And we LOVE this Father of ours…

And we LOVE His ways and His Children…

And we LOVE His Son.

We work for His PEACE.

The lamp is lit, let’s keep walking….

Amen

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Matthew 6:25

Here is the bottom line: do not worry about your life. Don’t worry about what you will eat or what you will drink. Don’t worry about how you clothe your body. Living is about more than merely eating, and the body is about more than dressing up. 26 Look at the birds in the sky. They do not store food for winter. They don’t plant gardens. They do not sow or reap—and yet, they are always fed because your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are even more precious to Him than a beautiful bird. If He looks after them, of course He will look after you. 27 Worrying does not do any good; who here can claim to add even an hour to his life by worrying?

28 Nor should you worry about clothes. Consider the lilies of the field and how they grow. They do not work or weave or sew, and yet their garments are stunning. 29 Even King Solomon, dressed in his most regal garb, was not as lovely as these lilies. 30 And think about grassy fields—the grasses are here now, but they will be dead by winter. And yet God adorns them so radiantly. How much more will He clothe you, you of little faith, you who have no trust?

31 So do not consume yourselves with questions: What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear? 32 Outsiders make themselves frantic over such questions; they don’t realize that your heavenly Father knows exactly what you need. 33 Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things will be given to you too. 34 So do not worry about tomorrow. Let tomorrow worry about itself. Living faithfully is a large enough task for today.

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Job 38 (NIV)

The Lord Speaks

38 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

2 “Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy? …. (continued….)

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Glorious, 04NOV

Oh, an AMAZING passage, it stands for itself…

Being in Christ is experiencing Him taking the veil away… The new glorious ministry of Christ is what removes the veil, we are transformed and we are empowered to share, we are experiencing the SPIRIT who wants to use us to keep spreading this Good News… And we share that no matter the dullness and darkness of situations, Christ wants to lift us all… I pray everyone feels that and knows Christ is there lifting us… He breaks the chains, it’s up to us to shake them off. We rise because He rose… His glory is glorious indeed.

“8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much MORE glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! ”

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2nd Corinthians 3 (NIV)

4 Such confidence we have through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The Greater Glory of the New Covenant

7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

12 Therefore, since we have such a hope,we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

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Forty Days, Wait on the Lord, 03Nov

I know my small experience stories of waiting has no weight compared to the disciples plight, but waiting for time to pass or even just waiting on the hermit crab “Christmas” to emerge from his deep underground molting session reminds me about being patient… But what about the enormous waiting on the unknown, what about the disciples waiting for Jesus???

Jesus retreated and THEY WAITED. Jesus was gone for 40 days of fasting retreat in the desert… Did the disciples know if HE would return? Did they fear for Him? Did some drift away? Did some lose hope?

I don’t know how much Jesus told the about His retreat plans, if He told them He was going for short or long times? If He even said anything? Were they worried about Him – both His safety and their situation? I’m not sure the Bible addresses these unknown situations of the disciples fears, some passages do say that Jesus quite often went out to pray alone. I do know Jesus foretold the disciples about His death too but that many times the disciple’s ears were not open… why was that? How did Jesus tell them to not worry? Surely they worried. Humanely they worried.

What did the disciples process about their situation when they were in such a tricky spot?… as they left their families and their livelihood to follow Jesus, what fear did they also carry? What unknowns did they experience? Thankfully they were often able to be with Jesus those many times when He chose quiet prayer. And the disciples even asked Him to teach them how to pray.

How do we process our discipleship as well? How do we pray about each day for ourselves and for others? and for the whole world? AND how do we pray about our own discipleship?… See, we know “the rest of the story”… We know of many of the events of Jesus retreating and returning… unlike the disciples, we already know of Jesus dying and resurrecting, and of His second coming, even if it hasn’t happened yet. We have been gifted the scriptures to instruct us. We have been instructed to pray, be still and keep moving.

40 days… Mountain top times… even short stints of prayer… Even sleeping in a boat during a storm… Jesus needed to rest and retreat… Jesus in His humanness had to process all the human temptations and sufferings by experiencing them… Plus, Jesus knew the end of the story, He had to pre-process as knew He would be taken thru crucifixion after only such a short window of time to teach… He also shared witness of His Father’s suffering – that we here on earth are lost sheep… with so many more lost sheep yet to be born. God weeps for His lost children.

Jesus had to endure so much, so that we would know that He has suffered as much and more than we will ever suffer.

Jesus had to see it, feel it, and still work thru it…

How did his early disciples wait? They were instructed to pray and to move out thru the world.

The disciples – both His closest and His curious onlooker crowds, what did they do when Jesus was away?… Did they know when they would see Him again?

How did they get thru those three days of hiding after Jesus brutal death…

How were the women who went to tend to his dead body in the tomb able to keep moving?… Duty as well as divine courage, enabling God to reveal the resurrection. They did not know what we know. We know the rest of the story…

We know it was part of the divine plan, Jesus wants to bring us home.

The Bible has told us Jesus is coming back at a time point that He doesn’t even know. Do we relax knowing He’s coming? No. Or do we work knowing EVERY DAY that we must pick up our crosses and continue to walk with the Lord. We must look, we must move, we must retreat to pray for guidance…

We must wait… We wait on the Lord…

And we pray…

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5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standingin the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father,who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Matthew 5

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Surely I was bound to have to write this anyway (this is a first draft for probably a series about Christmas the crab) – then I was asked by the director of the local retreat to share for their newsletter. Who knew that the crab gave me a prop that dropped from the sky to share about my weekend and share the love that God has for us. After the sharing wrap up time the director asked me “do you think you could write something up about finding the crab?” I smiled, and said “yes, yes I think I could”, LOL).  Who knew God would place Christmas the crab in my sight for His will? God did… Who knew I feel drawn to write? God did.  It brings me to tears to know God holds me and directs me, gives me focus and the avenues to share His message. It makes me SMILE bigger than these tremendous flowing tears… It’s God’s LOVE watching and warming our hearts, and we are called to go out to share…

There’s a whole Vacation Bible School Shipwrecked series in my head too that will come out eventually… Christmas the crab has traversed four states so far just in a few weeks, he’s a portable praise to tell a story of being lost then found then cherished.

We are lost and found – and we are ALWAYS CHERISHED!

Christmas is Waiting, 28OCT

How long was Christmas waiting, we don’t know… Maybe he wasn’t waiting at all, he just existed and it was up to us to find him. Maybe our instinctual guidance directed us that way on our walk. We didn’t know it, but apparently God knew we needed to find Christmas. Maybe we just never figure out all the little nuances of life, maybe it’s just fun to listen and watch for God.

A friend and I really enjoyed the walking parts of the retreat – both in the spiritual walking and also in the chance to hit the trails of Camp. A few of us walkers took quiet time to enjoy this exercise which keeps us young physically and young in marvelous appreciation of being spiritually out in God’s great creation.

Camp is an old friend, a compact oasis of retreat facilities and woods in a sheltered setting.  Up the hilly trails, a friend and I took off, a chance to talk. We climbed past the frisbee golf trail, up to where I’ve only traversed on a hay wagon ride during an open house… A fork in the road? Which way to go? She and I discussed and we listened to our instincts and we took a right… Grassy trail towards the road… of course we didn’t want to be late for dinner!

Christmas… What was a Christmas ornament doing out here? I looked and then it MOVED!!! WHAT? The Christmas ornament was no ornament, it was a hermit crab!. How in the world did this floral-painted shiny but muddy hermit crab get out here? In these woods? We could speculate all we want about the camp setting, and who might have thought this crab would be okay in the woods and apparently he was okay for the unknown amount of time…. We even put him back on the trail and let him be. We marveled that we saw this hermit crab but for some reason we didn’t take him with us. We kept walking…

We told the others, who were excited!!! But then we started to think maybe we should have taken him. It was starting to dip in temperatures at night to a seasonal cool, although it had been unusually warm this autumn. We thought he’s not going to survive the winter. We need to go back the next day. Could we find Christmas?

Beautiful Saturday – another spiritual gift of morning and we knew we had just a certain little amount of time before lunch, so we teamed up immediately and up the hill we went. Took a left into that grassy trail covered in gorgeous woods… could we find him? Did he run off? My companion immediately spotted him, like a good grandmother would. Christmas! We found Christmas! Oh YES still alive, still near the same chilly spot… Didn’t want to move? Hunkered down for the cold? Still there, yup, seemingly dropped from the sky.

The people back at camp we’re shocked – half cringed and half clamored to hold the crab – but we all agreed how unusual that the crab was there… how unusual we found the crab (twice)!!! We cherished him, fed him, loved him. Camp crab!

How NOT unusual was the JOY that this little crab brought in an already cherished retreat situation… How NOT unusual was that we, who had been focusing on God’s direction for our lives all weekend, knew it was more than just luck that we had been led to find Christmas the crab. There are no accidents… Why us? Why then? Why not??? It’s just normal for God to tweak the system… God provided us for this crab, and God provides all of creation, including crabs, for us to LOVE and nurture… Scripture tells us to nurture nature, watch over and protect.

In hindsight, it connects to the scripture “If we did not praise, the rocks would cry out”, and this little painted rock moved!

Scripture tells us to walk… And reminds us to always be aware of those around us, we are walking with Jesus even if we don’t know it. God could have walked us right over Christmas the crab too and we could have been distracted and wrapped up in our own problems but it was up to us to notice him. And he moved! Not exactly the same, but similar is how God has placed Jesus in the world for us!!! Jesus came and He is still here for us to notice him. Listening to the Holy Spirit guidance is another gift from God – for us to keep walking as we work for our Father – and are called by the Great Commission to spread the Good News. Jesus came for us – we must pick up on the clues that God puts right in front of us – it is up to each person to accept the gift of Jesus – the kingdom of God is the kingdom of the heart. We can do our gifted job to point Jesus out to others. We can share His LOVE. We pick up the tools that God has given us and we use them with our spiritual gifts for reaching His Children to know Him better in this world.

Christmas is waiting for everyone.

Keep walking.

De Colores

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The last of the three backlogged retreat writing that had to wait until I had the peace-filled time to write… Blessed…

THE STARS!!! 27OCT

Off the grid, out of the way of intrusive light pollution, “Oh, the Stars” – I screamed thru my eyes… I screamed in my head… I screamed up… I reached down and grabbed for my phone… GONE… Nope… Facebook, texts and even faith writings had to wait…

No phone, no Subaru, no glue gun…

This camping retreat was seriously roughing it for me. No collection of stuff, no props… And at that moment not even people to whom I could speak to… at that exact star-gazing moment there was nothing…. but there was EVERYTHING… because I had time to pause and I had time of prayer and I had time for praise… I had only LOVE that I could share – and it was pulled straight UP! Thru the stars shined the LIGHT and the LOVE. Thru me the LOVE went right back out.

Oh, those stars!!!… Oh the praise!!!.. To Whom did I call out?

First I instantly and naturally wanted to send my praise to my friends, I just wanted to share this marvelous observation of brilliant stars, but I had no phone to text, hmmm…. So, to Whom could I really call out – in the very moment?

There was ONE and ONLY ONE to whom I should have called praise – so I did –  I had to call out to our Lord…

Praise worthy for only ONE – God who made those very stars – God who immersed me in those stars – God who immersed me in His LOVE.

The Lord loves us in the moment, and we LOVE the moment because of Him.

“All praise and honor are Yours”

Lord, You are so precious, and You make me want to scream Your praise. You are the ONLY ONE I should and could praise. No one else makes it clearer than You Yourself that it is You who holds us in Your hands. You hold us and keep us inside Your time plan.  I know it’s just all from You opening my eyes to see You Lord renewed in my sight. Your stars, Lord, they fill the sky shinier than diamonds. Your colors, Lord, shine on earth so brightly to call out Your splendor. Your people, Lord, Your people shine Your LOVE… Thank You Lord for all these.

Thank You, Lord, for waking me to see…

To see You in all these things….

Thank You for making me sing out Your praise back to YOU.

Lord, help me to also live Your LOVE thru me and back to YOU.

YOU are THE STARS that fills my eyes, YOU are THE SPIRIT that fills my soul.

YOU Lord are LOVE.

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Isaiah 42:

This is what God the Lord says—
the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out,
who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it,
who gives breath to its people,
and life to those who walk on it:
6 “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles,
7 to open eyes that are blind,
to free captives from prison
and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

8 “I am the Lord; that is my name!
I will not yield my glory to another
or my praise to idols.
9 See, the former things have taken place,
and new things I declare;
before they spring into being
I announce them to you.”

10 Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the ends of the earth…

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Sledgehammer, 24OCT

Beginning again… Beginning fresh each day… New or Renewing faith… Paying attention is key to the renewing of one’s calling from the Lord to follow Him… Oh, there are MANY doors wide open, quite a few cracked open… Perhaps too many doors it seems for us to choose from…
Perhaps we are perplexed at the array of opportunities to share our faith – which door to enter first? Step away from some as others also seem to pull on us? Select certain times in each? So many opportunities to share the Good News – so little time… So now what?
What if instead of dilemmas and separate directions, God chooses us to look for a plan – His plan – a plan that doesn’t exclude opportunities… Proceed with wisdom, look for God’s guidance, listen…
Perhaps there are tools already laid out in front of us, which we ourselves must take action with… Perhaps these tools include a sledgehammer and a chisel…

What if so many doors are open because it’s our job to knock some holes into the walls between those rooms – what if it’s our job to connect the rooms…

Sledgehammer?… well, maybe test the wall first and use a small chisel and a listening device and start digging, poking, aerating, and then decide whether the situation is ready for a sledgehammer… Perhaps others will join you on both sides and hand break away the barriers… Let God’s plan drive the process… He’s the one with the big picture plan.

I’m talking about combining different areas of your life callings and making less barriers and more common spaces between situations… Can you think of any rooms within in your life callings?
Sharing faith at work, or in school situations, or in public – like the hallway of a medical building? With a crowd of scared kids on a camping trip – telling them angels are watching over them? Or ordering a bagel and chiming into the conversation behind you where this guy says to the hysterical women in the other end: “Give it to Jesus…” then when you agree and call out to him in line, he hands you the phone and you also try to calm the distraught woman….. “Give it to Jesus”… Opportunities… Sharing… It’s about being aware in the present…

Grab your sledgehammer, see how the light peaks thru the holes?.., these walls disappear and the global church connects where it didn’t before… Then hands are free to join across the barriers… The voices too…
Jesus gives you the tools, so that you can find the way… “It is in your power to act”. The way is sharing in new ways… The way of the Lord is the way of wisdom.

Open the walls… Let the barriers fall… Pray for wisdom…
Pray for the wholeness of God’s children.
Pray.
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Proverbs 4:5-7 Get wisdom, get understanding;  do not forget my words or turn away from them.  Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;  love her, and she will watch over you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

Proverbs 9:10-11  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For through wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.

Proverbs 3:13-14, 19-22, 26-27  Blessed are those who find wisdom those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold…. By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place… by his knowledge the watery depths were divided,  and the clouds let drop the dew. My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight,  preserve sound judgment and discretion; they will be life for you, …. for the Lord will be at your side and will keep your foot from being snared. Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.

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Michael Card lyrics:

The Way of Wisdom starts out
With a step of holy fear
And it makes its way alone
By every good word that you hear
It has to do with passion
And it has to do with pain
It has to do with One
Who has both died and rose again

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I have a backlog of writings in my head from being “off the grid”, this is the first stemming from retreating to an AMAZING event, the Walk to Emmaus, I would encourage you to think about joining a walk sometime, I was BLESSED to know of yet another great faith family that wrapped their love around me! And yet another array of pairing of fellow disciples called to work out in the messy world.

This writing topic had to wait in my head, but God found the right opportunity to get it back out, quiet 6am camping…

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It’s a Messy World, 21OCT

Bear!!! I’ve not felt that level of fear in quite a while…

Bear!!! My friends and I saw him at the same time that he saw us, he was just wandering like a deer would, apparently accustomed to our voices, probably smelled the smores, actually going for the bread the neighbor left out for him (oh!)… We were close enough to see his face… And he saw ours…. My fear couldn’t have been more real. My whole brain focused on “how do I get to that porch?” – he watched us – I envisioned him charging at us – but no, he went the opposite way – he ran scared too … I got to the porch of the cabin – Thank the Lord! But, then I didn’t want to leave the porch – even though I really wanted to get back to the campfire – but oh the fear…. it was a big bear! A real bear!

None of us at my friend’s cabin for girls’ weekend had been that close to this bear before, but I’m told he’s a regular traveler to the yard… Yeah crazy… The balance of co-existence, always a trade off for being in bear territory but a rare opportunity to stand around a campfire with the girls, it was a blessed escape off the grid, making new memories and decompressing life…

It’s a messy world… There are many tradeoffs for living in the world that we endure while we move thru life, but this particular event was also a reminder of the balance of living in the natural world, a world which could get dangerous… Bears are native and repopulating this and many regions. They were part of the natural balance of the woods before we, as industrial Americans, starting taking over every postage stamp-sized parcel for “safer” living, and we as Americans have both over-gleaned the natural resources and “sanitized” the heck out of life…

It’s actually amazing that bears can return to our wooded areas, just like there also are gators in Florida backyards, we barely remember that our ancestors lived in respectful fear of the natural world – with many more of these beautiful creatures…. They also maintained knowledge of what plants to NOT eat, they had to think about survival too, we don’t really experience that level of survivorship…Essentially the world, the natural world, was a messy world…

A week ago, I had another treat of a camp scene… a blessed time away, as a pilgrim at the Walk to Emmaus retreat. A series of faith education talks over multiple days of being with God, focusing on His love, His plan for everyone, His plan for us. Three days I was blessed to be able to be phone free, time management free, and embraced by a new layer of supporting fellow travelers. We are called to be disciples – we are travelers on this journey of faith and sharing – where do we start? – what do we bring? – who will we meet? The retreat was blessed time but really a regrouping to re-enter the world as disciples… Yes pilgrims on continued voyages thru the world… a world that we are “in” but not “of”… (John 16:17)

It’s a messy world.

The first series of the presentations stuck with me all weekend, and probably forever , reminding us that “it’s a messy world” but we are called to be disciples in this messy world.  Jesus came during a messiest of messy time – we should remember that ours is not necessarily messier, it is just different messy – killings, devastating poverty, human trafficking, serious afflictions from substance abuse to fatal diseases taking their toll…. Whew…. Jealousy, greed, hate and probably the most insidious of ancient and modern-day plagues: APATHY… Whew… Isn’t that also one of the hardest affronts to overcome? Yes, APATHY… It’s a messy world. Many choose to ignore as much as possible rather than work for better life for all…

We are pilgrims – we are disciples – we are called to serve – to spread the Good News… How will we enter this world everyday – what are we going to do about our own attitudes, our history, our baggage, our self-serving drives? How will we accept our commissions?

Jesus said: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

And Jesus knew that even He was not taken seriously in His hometown, they all had to hit the road:

Jesus said: “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits. These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” Mark 6:4-11

Did the disciples have fear? Do we? How will we keep continuing to step out into this messy world of ours? – how we will remember to not let it paralyze us? – how will we put all our life concerns into a global perspective? Surely we will pray and try to obey. One step at a time…

We cannot and should not sugar coat the world just to live above the fray. We are continually called to remember to pick up the phone…  Jesus is calling, He says “Follow me”. We are to step out in faith and bring a friend. What’s your plan?

Bear! I was frozen in fright, but I had a plan, I was focused on getting to the porch and instinctually (although foolishly) thought about out-running that bear, but I knew to go slow. The others simply waved their hands – oh and they tried to grab their phones LOL – and he ran off – whew – safe for now – they returned to the campfire quickly…. I wanted too as well, but it took me a bit longer to be brave – to get off the porch – but I did – and I became ever vigilant for the bears return… I learned new fear and courage, I faced a fear that didn’t disappear by sugar coating it. And then as a team we all watched each other’s backs… As we should – for bears while camping as well as for the pitfalls of life…

Jesus needs us to walk with Him, He’s forever here with us as He gave us the Holy Spirit to be another guide “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever.” John 14:16

But we have to get off the porch…  It’s imperative that we grab for Him, pick up our tools (which are our God-given gifts of talents) and then use our skills and take our crosses to bear, and keep moving… We acknowledge the weight bearing we must take on for our mission, the directions known and unknown… And those bears of the world’s problems we are called to face… And we step out in faith…

Perspective – it’s crucial to remember the scale of our problems (and maybe they are or aren’t as horrible as we think when we put them into perspective)… We think of the scale of our more unfortunate neighbor’s problems, the world’s problems, and God’s problem… God’s problem is that not everyone knows Him or knows of HIS love… We are called to work on His solution, suspend our agendas and work on His… called as disciples to step out into the messy world with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit…

The fear understandable, the commission great, the world messy…

God does not call the equipped but He does equip the called…

Go with God. God bless you fellow disciples.

Amen

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Wildflowers – Treasures, 10OCT

Ahhh…. Tis the season to look at all the beautiful wildflowers… Tom Petty sings of us belonging in the wildflowers, but even better is the notion that we are to look at those wildflowers as examples – for scripture tells us NOT to worry in our lives…  “If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you”…

As disciples, we are NOT to store treasures here on earth where they decay but instead in heaven… “Where your heart is, there your treasure also will be…”

It’s about sharing your stuff and living IN the moment – giving up that control too… instead you get much better heavenly stuff, you get eternal LOVE! And Jesus says everything else will fall into place…

It’s about not being afraid, because no one, no one, can take better care of you than God!

Don’t worry…

Amen!

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https://youtu.be/Ozgmyx919a4

Tom Petty “Wildflowers”

RIP Tom October 2017

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Luke 12: 22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

27 “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

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It’s been a long while since I’ve written a blog, but I think post-surgery (follow up shoulder scar tissue removal) I’m gifted to have this resting phase for my body which allows my brain to also take the time to “just be”.  To “be still” for me also means I have to keep walking. And that is to keep walking with Jesus.

At first I thought I would write this morning about physical pain about how pain is instructive for my shoulder physical therapy, but no – besides I probably already wrote about that…

A friend posted on Facebook: “Don’t let distractions keep you from looking for God”….  So I know the best thing to write about today, and all days, is walking with Jesus – because He’s walking with us.

Keep Walking, 06OCT

Jesus is with us thru our pain, and thru our joys…. He’s walking with us everyday, when we don’t even know it. He’s here to light fires for God in our hearts. God’s FIRE WORKS (see writing at https://debbieupper.wordpress.com/2017/06/03/fireworks-26may-406/ ). Jesus is here to bring PEACE. We are called to be disciples of His life: giving life.

I’m blessed. I will soon be able to go on a retreat, which is called a “Walk to Emmaus”. This wonderful opportunity, that my new pastor made available to me, and it reminds me that it is all about the walk… It’s NOT a new walk, but a NEW OUTLOOK while walking…  Right now we try to walk with Jesus, try to keep walking even when we are mired in life, therefore we should look for Him now – in the present. When we see how he helps us in our walk then we should share about Him… Our destination on earth while walking with Jesus is anywhere we are called to share the Good News, our destination in eternity will be our eternal life back home with God our Father. Jesus will light our way.

While we are here on earth, our walk is intended to be walking on the path that is “narrow but sure”… Are we listening, looking, experiencing Him? Are we quiet? Can we hear the Lord?… Jesus came to earth, He listened to His Father and did what He was told to do – He came to be with us, walking with each of us until we can see Him for real – hear Him for real. He gave us the Holy Spirit, as “another” to help us walk… “If you love me, keep my commandments. “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another comforter, to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; but you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14

The key phrase that called out to me in the retreat booklet is that we are all distracted by life’s trouble, whether it’s our angst about us or even about the church, it distracts us from being in the present with Jesus. I have no expectations going into this retreat except I’m ready to be there, be used by God, be present, meet and be with my fellow travelers… I love people… I love God and HIS people are HIS children… (And yeah I’m excited for the rustling trees, the sound of the water creek, and that great retreat oatmeal too)…. See this walk for me is a gift to allow me to be in the present… Isn’t that a gift everyday?… Jesus is just as present in our stress as in our joys…  And guess what? Jesus was known to have retreated by Himself as well… How could He not?  He wanted and needed to listen to HIS father… We too need to listen. We need to remove the fray and focus on the day.

I delight in seeing how each of us can we see Jesus EVERYDAY, walk with Him, then use this knowledge of Him to make a difference… “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”. Micah 6:8…

We need retreat – to focus on the present. Knowing that knowledge of Him for everyone is the goal, God’s Word wants to be spread… Jesus is God’s Word made flesh… God’s LOVE is for all – if only everyone knew…

Peace resulting from LOVE. “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” How can we all put aside all the distractions that block our vision from seeing Jesus? Maybe we don’t but we try, maybe we just try to see Jesus thru life’s issues and walk anyway… and we walk with Jesus’s spirit each day… Jesus is never farther than an internal hand grab away… Grab the Lord and be pulled out of sinking in the water. Appreciate the rescue of the Savior. “but you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you”.

God provides a Savior in the risen Christ… Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” John 6:6-7 When we believe we then are called to be disciples…

Do we walk for ourselves or walk alone? We walk together – we work with all the skills we are given – to spread the GOOD NEWS. We believe … Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” John 6:29…and therefore we now walk with the Spirit of Christ.

Psalm 46 – “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble… He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God’ “

Each person walks with Jesus until they see Jesus for themselves. Let us keep walking.

Amen

———–

Here is the Walk to Emmaus scripture:

13 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, “What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, named Cle′opas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19 And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. 22 Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning 23 and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see.” 25 And he said to them, “O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, 29 but they constrained him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?” 33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, 34 who said, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

36 As they were saying this, Jesus himself stood among them. 37 But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 41 And while they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them.

44 Then he said to them, “These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high.

491

Taming the Tongue, 16Sept

Very important scripture… Very mindful to hold the tongue –

Very very important time for me to listen and be quiet – always was- always will be… I know the Lord has great plans, I am patient… Be quiet – Be still… Let the Lord do His work…

James 3 scripture is good in all seasons of life… Taming the tongue… There’s a balance of using the tongue and abusing the tongue… We are not to curse others but show them mercy… And especially the teachers should be careful… I take this scripture to heart – we all should – I am a teacher and actually we are all teachers showing that our faith lights our way…

We are all called to be peacemakers…

“Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”

I wish you all peace, I have reaped awesome comfort from all you do and all your prayers for me. Thank you! I thank God for you!

——

Here’s the important scripture…

James 3 (NIV)

Taming the Tongue

3 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Two Kinds of Wisdom

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

 

490

Broken Chains, 12Sept

Here are two scripture stories about being released from prison chains –

Acts 12 NIV

Peter’s Miraculous Escape From Prison

12 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3 When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews,he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.

5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance.7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.

8 Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.

11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.”

12 When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”

15 “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”

16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place.

——

Acts 16

Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi

11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district[a] of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatiranamed Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

Paul and Silas in Prison

16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

35 When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.” 36 The jailertold Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.”

37 But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”

38 The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. 39 They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. 40 After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left.

 

 

 

 

489

Be Still but Keep Walking with LIGHT, 24AUG

You’ve seen those summertime moths being drawn to the light from within the house, or to a lamppost?… The floodlight outside my childhood home was flooded with big moths, the biggest mosquito looking bugs, and anything that mistakenly thought they were following the path to daylight… The spiders knew too, and set up shop, ready for the catch of the season, yum! And at camp in the wilderness, the swarm around the spotlights was unparalleled… Thicket of fluttering lost moths, many dead by morning… Sad… Lost… Returned to dust…

What these moths didn’t realize was that the artificial light was merely distraction and became busywork, not a true calling… They often get burned out by busyness.

Are we burned out by busyness? We are drawn to flickering lights of life on this earth too. We are distracted and reach for excitement, as if we are following lights to a carnival. But when the temporary carnivals of life pack up and go, dimming their lights at dawn, where are we? Moths confused, bewildered, exhausted… We need to not burnout…

True LIGHT comes from within, likely you already know this, feel this, love this… Prayerfully I hope you can feel this LIGHT, focus on it giving you direction and purpose. Yes life holds great purpose… And God gave us true skills and purpose.

The gurus of the earth remind us to love the LIGHT… but where can we find it? The true LIGHT of Jesus’s LOVE shines within each of us… Be Still and know… (Psalm 46)… Be Still – take time to focus, BUT do not become idle, as we are reminded to work as the whole body of the church… Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

LIGHT that is focused should stir us internally… Proverbs 31:8-9 “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.”

The kingdom of God is the kingdom of the heart… Chase not the external light like a wayward moth chasing aimlessly, but choose the LIGHT of Jesus.

Jesus said “the kingdom of God is in your midst.”…  “23 People will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them. 24 For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.” (Luke 17)

Jesus warned about distractions and enemies… He reminds us to always remain faithful, He told us to “Stand firm, and you will win life“. Luke 21:19…

Jesus said “33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

34 “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21

As we start each day, may we know God, may we pray to hear His voice.  May we look eternally internally to His kingdom of all our hearts… Life’s busy, distracting, and full – but let’s Be Still and follow the right true LIGHT… Let’s be filled with LIGHT.

Amen

 

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Psalm 46

1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

8 Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

488

Any words that are insufficient to even begin to make any sense of a tragedy this week experienced by a friend – how dare I try to make any sense of a senseless couple of days… so I am not trying to – I am on the outside and on the inside of this situation at the same time. Typing words bump my prayers out thru my fingers, typing slows my thoughts down from racing. And I have to tell you how God kept a different situation moving along – God is there right alongside all of us as we process life… God

This week held the most difficult of questions – “Why God? Just Why?”

I question endlessly – and God answers in His own time – at the end of time all will be answered – I am not allowed to rush the time… and with so many questions somehow God still loves me, His pesky questioning child… “BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD” – it is the only ANSWER that actually makes sense – God is in charge. Not us – GOD.

Yes the purpose of life is to LOVE –  to LOVE GOD – to Love others like God loves them – and to know that we are all loved… God does use everything to remind us about His presence and guiding hand. WE ARE TO LIVE IN THE MOMENT

CHARLIE – LIVE IN THE MOMENT

Charlie was a dog that caught me off guard – I mention Charlie because I want to use the example of this sweet dog to reiterate that God wants us to “live in the moment” – He really does…  I was picking up my daughter from camp – with the last trip to the store – and she says “SO, what did you do this week???” – hmmm my pause… as I wasn’t going to tell her about a particular tragedy this week if I didn’t have to – as I never want my kids to ever carry my burdens – but she did ask so I disclosed what made this a tough week… I only shared the news in a few sentences – not much more – very succinct – and she said it was so sad…

Then INSTANTLY – before I could speak the words that were about to roll off my tongue – there was this unreal, scariest, freaky, cold and gross feeling on my ankles – I SCREAMED!!! I thought I was bleeding?? UGH!! I am usually calm but this stilled me into a quick scream…  Charlie, the dog, was waiting outside the store – I was so wrapped in my own mind with my daughter and never even saw the people sitting there and Charlie – a dark brown lab – started vigorously licking my legs – ugh – cold – wet – weird!! – I am so surprised that I didn’t fall… As soon as I realized what this feeling was, I then laughed – petted Charlie – and realized that God was taking me away from my thoughts… God was stopping a discussion – FORCING me to stop my speech and go back to let my daughter have her JOY in the moment – and He was telling me by use of His angels to go back to having this focused time with my daughter… God said you must process internally but you don’t need to disturb the beauty of the moment for others – “live in the present – live in the moment.” Charlie was interrupting me for God’s timing – Charlie then parked himself across my legs until I stopped, in the moment, and smiled in the moment, and acknowledge that God orchestrated that very moment.

Yup a wakeup call from God via Charlie… I was then released from Charlie’s tangled leash – yet I still see his eyes looking at me. I am not a dog person and God knows that – but that type of sweet dog will always induce love and smiles with his loyalty and gentle playfulness… Thanks Charlie…. We did our store shopping and I thanked Charlie on the way out for keeping me living in the moment – living in the present with my bubbly child…

Live for this moment – don’t over process. Keep moving – be still even in the crashing of mountains and waves and yet keep moving – BE…

Live in the moment – Live each day to the fullest. “From dust we came and dust we shall return” (Gen 3:20 Ecc 3:19). BE present in the meantime…

Be God awakened (and dog licked).

Amen

——–

John 4 scriptures say: ¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

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Psalm 46: God is our refuge and strength. An ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging….

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

487

Merry VBS Christmas in July, 25JULY

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES! Merry Christmas in July!!!!

Wow – what a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas in July today – with so many wonderful VBS children… All of us made by God!!! WOW GOD!!!

Over last weekend, when we were setting up the many marvelous VBS decorations, I continually thought of how blessed we were/are to run this program for not only the many children (over 100) but also the many many teens and volunteers who come to help (over 75) and the families that donate their time and material goods for the good of GOD… it may look chaotic at times (or all the time) – but the energy level is amazing and just think about the visual of everything in motion – how blessed to see the excitement – and how it is about the exact OPPOSITE of the old old phrase “This is NOT my circus, these are NOT my monkeys”…

The exact opposite is true when you look at Christmas and the children of God – from God’s point of view…  God says “This IS My Christmas – these ARE MY SHEEP!!!!!!!!!!”

Merry Christmas in July to all of you – to all of us – We are God’s sheep!

God knew that we needed a shepherd – for help in life – and for life – we are truly shepherded as God not ONLY makes us HIS children, He moves us into place – for HIS purpose and plan – and that plan is to let everyone know how much HE LOVES US! And He asks for our LOVE in return!  And He asks us to share the Good News!

Jesus came as a baby – a physical presence of God in human flesh – and we are continually reminded with the energy and love of our collective VBS children (young and old) of Jesus actions in the scriptures: “Jesus called the children to him and said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ “ (Luke 18)

We are all made by God (WOW GOD!) and blessed to be called to be children of God and see HIM thru the wonder and beauty of a child’s eyes – our eyes – we are HIS sheep – we are called to RECEIVE the Kingdom like little children! We are called to follow Him! Jesus is our shepherd.

Blessed are we to be in the loop – God brings us to Jesus who will take us back to God eternally! The SPIRIT in us gives us life here and now!

In John 6, Jesus speaks to his followers: “It is not the flesh that gives a person life. It is the spirit that gives life. The words I told you are spirit, and so they give life.”

Jesus says: “The Father gives me the people who are mine. Every one of them will come to me, and I will always accept them. I came down from heaven to do what God wants me to do. I did not come to do what I want to do. I must not lose even one of those that God has given me, but I must raise them up on the last day. This is what the One who sent me wants me to do. Everyone who sees the Son and believes in him has eternal life. I will raise him up on the last day. This is what my Father wants.” (John 6:37-40)

God sent us Jesus – and when Jesus left, He sent the Holy Spirit to guide us – to save us and to LOVE US!

God says “THIS IS MY CHRISTMAS – THESE ARE MY SHEEP”

Thank you Lord for making us – being for us – being with us – for loving us eternally – and for making a plan for our lives!

WOW GOD!

Thank you for sending Jesus as our Shepherd

Thank you for making us YOUR SHEEP

AMEN

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!

486

Reflection 22JUL

I saw the light this morning – the sunrise – but I also get to see the light of the best Son-rise, Jesus, shining through so many people whom I see every day. There is a spirit from within that can’t help but to spill out of us…. Ah, not everybody knows whose light they shine. But I know… All light and life – All joy and truth -All in all – Life is a reflection of the light placed within. LIGHT cannot be hidden…

In my 6 a.m. walk, processing VBS thru my head, I finally saw the physical sun that I had been tracking ever since dawn, but I did not see it directly at first – I first saw its REFLECTION in a window. And that’s what we are too – we are windows to the light placed inside of us – we are reflections (and hopefully the focusing beams) of the greater true light that comes from God. Not light from us, but LIGHT thru us…

Sometimes our windows need cleaning but the LIGHT is still there – and sometimes our windows get cracked and certainly the LIGHT will beam on through then… The LIGHT is also found when we are in the coldest darkest times, no matter what; nothing could prevent us from focusing on the LIGHT within. LIGHT heals as it warms…

We reflect God’s LOVE to others as they reflect it to us… And we should look for it – in them and in us… And we should focus on it… And we should LOVE it…

God – the great tinkerer of all time gets an idea – and a LIGHT goes on – HIS idea is to make a person – and to LIGHT a LIGHT inside of them…. God Made You – God knows you – God loves you!

It’s time to shine…

Reflect LIGHT

Reflect LOVE

485

Made in His Image, 14 July

I rattled this idea in my head for a couple weeks now and it’s time to get it out…

For us to be made in His image, let me propose an interesting thought that God and we are made as a NET. I know that scripture tells us that God is SPIRIT – but please let me take a moment to write out my thoughts on God…

This writing is also for vacation bible school… The scriptures on day one are from Genesis, the bible point is: “God Made You”…

“So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;”

Yes, so many times I think about how we are made in His image and how He made the world so complex… And how we are to learn to take care of this world…

As a scientist, I also am as bemused as much as I am bewildered with how glorious a system we are a part of… And how we can take a step back to describe what we see… And how we are allowed to take a step back to study God…

From the smallest DNA molecules to the largest ecosystems there is nothing living that is beyond God’s reach. From the smallest atomic nanoparticles to the vastness of the universe, there is nothing beyond God’s reach. Because God is already in all these systems. He is not external, He is internal, He is intercalated, HE WAS and HE IS!

For us to be made in His image, let me expand this interesting thought: if you look at the circulatory system, the nervous system, the muscle systems, the organ systems, the intricate systems under the skin and layer them all together and have them work together… what do they look like? Our bodies look like a NET. 

If you trace all our brain waves internally, what would that look like? Those paths would look like a NET.

If you emotionally connect with people near and far, what would that look like? Life connections look like a NET.

If you study the heavens, trace all the beams of light reaching not just your eye, but all directions, what would that look like? The universe looks like a NET.

If you allow this role of humans to take care of all creatures big and small to pull on your heart strings, what would that look like? The string connections look like a NET.

If your gut tells you to pay attention to some feeling – and it is trying to convince your brain to pay attention – then responding to all those intertwined signals looks like a NET.

If you allow life’s joys and sorrows to fill the depth of your soul? Your life looks like a NET.

The WORD written in letters and pulled from the pages, is made to be spoken in language form – that creates spiritual sound waves – that net result is the WORD made flesh in Jesus. The WORD is a NET.

Who is Jesus?

Jesus is a Fisher of men.

Jesus is the WORD made flesh.

Jesus, like us, was made in God’s image.

Jesus is more than just integrated into the net – HE IS THE NET.

Jesus is the one who captures us, who fishes for us as His Father requests, and who holds us from within.  Jesus said “I am the vine and you are the branches.”

If we are created, integrated, and moved as a NET, then who can we catch and hold?

First we must catch ourselves. We hold the Truth within us when we acknowledge who we are and who made us and how we should live. We show the Truth in us when we allow ourselves to freely move with the Spirit and love because of the Spirit. We shine the Spirit, quite often unconsciously, but we shall shine like we are on fire when we purposefully share this greatest of Truth – that the Spirit makes up every part of our being.

If we are made in God’s image then we are made of LOVE

If God’s image is like a deep NET, then we are deeply made in God’s image…

The net within us is THE NET within God’s reach.

The net within us holds God inside us – to be able to reach out.

God catches and holds us in HIS NET of LOVE in order that we would love Him. God made us for His purpose to LOVE us. God loves you. God is for you. God made you.

Life is not for us to love the world but for us to LOVE all of Him and those that He placed into this world.

God is LOVE. We are made of LOVE.

LOVE is a net. Tend to your net, repair your net. Let God’s WORD heal your frayed strings.

LOVE yourself and LOVE all.

LOVE God.

Amen

484

Time, 13July

It’s time, it’s always about time… And we don’t know all the ins and outs of God’s time… A terrible news story just came out about four missing young men, they found their graves… So sad beyond belief, it is from some reason unknown… I can’t comprehend the loss for those parents… My heart aches but truly my heart cannot even begin to comprehend it…

My kids are here… So my kids I hold ever so much tighter tonight in my heart… And I put them to bed at 2am… I stayed awake for this time… It’s was an unusual summer night… Tonight, I was gifted extra time with the kids because when I arrived home from band practice at 930 pm instead of being tired, I was wired… awake and happy to see my kids… Then I got sucked into watching back to back BBC Sherlock Holmes mysteries on Netflix with my daughter… Amazing show… I love Sherlock Holmes and this TV time is all my daughter’s fault, LOL, yes she forced me to sit and watch TV with her – seasons 1 thru 4… This is gifted time with my kids and that is all my shoulder’s fault, I had to take downtime after my surgery, that was a gift of downtime… She made me watch and spend time with her… The shoulder injury was my fault, I was rushing around a corner and slipped and fell… Therefore this downtime has been turning into a huge BLESSING… This change of time is gifted time… My rushing turned into an opportunity of God’s mercy…

The moment I fell I called to Him… HIS mercy to me was that I could see endless blessings from it… I would never chose to fall and be injured, but I pause at this very moment in time to praise time with my kids… It’s God’s time… It’s always been God’s time… It’s always God’s mercy that saves us eternally from our falls…

My kid time is precious but short… I will take whatever time I have, and appreciate it… I cherish my children and His plan… I will cherish time… No rush Lord, I try to just love and live in the present…

Thanks Lord for Your time…

Thanks Lord for Your Mercy…

Amen

Thanks all for letting me share…

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PT divine intervention – song – “Survivor – Eye Of The Tiger”, 23JUN

https://youtu.be/btPJPFnesV4

Survivor – PT-style… I’ve had major progress after surgery,  but this major frozenness in my repaired shoulder after the inactivity requires serious stretches and I’m grateful my therapists are stretching me hard… But quite often doubtful thoughts flood in – that my doctor might not be happy with my progress even though I’ve been working my butt off… but that’s just because I’ve laid down a lot of scar tissue that I can’t help, my body just did it – no choice. So the therapist, as well as a fellow shoulder stretcher Tom, were so wonderfully encouraging today, and just then my classic 80’s motivation song came on the radio – “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor from the Rocky movie. It came on as soon as I was in a moment of doubt – so I knew it was surely a divine reminder to keep fighting… A motivation to keep rising, to get “back on the street… hanging tough…  staying hungry”‘… Oh yeah, could not have been more awesome timing, my fight song, oh the tears flowed big time while I laid on the table as I thanked God for the motivation, I thanked the Lord for knowing what I needed before I knew I needed it… He gave me the release of tears to appreciate His love and He gave me the fight to move forward…. The scripture “He knows every hair on your head…” – Yup, that was exactly the song I needed exactly at the minute I needed it… Blessed… Couldn’t hide my tears even in public, so I got to share (I had to share) with three people what that very song meant at that very moment… awesome to have the right people placed perfectly because as much as God knows I needed that moment, He ALSO knew that I would have to share that moment… much more that sharing His spirit to me – He wanted to share it THRU me… my tears for His glory!

His love I feel so much

His love is amazing…

I’m hanging tough – I’m staying hungry –

I’m Staying hungry for His level of LOVE…

Blessed… thank you for letting me share…

482

Handmaid of the Lord, 15JUN

Somebody challenged me asking if I’ve had a “life verse” – a scripture that defined my journey or a scripture for what I was trying to achieve in my faith… But I said no, I didn’t have one, it’s not like a prerequisite or Christian “coat of arms” – truthfully and in actuality tons of scriptures irresistibly cling to me – I cling to them too with new devotion each time I hear them… Scripture comes alive as spoken WORD… the WORD is alive in us… There are even those who can’t recite scripture yet feel the love gifted to them and love that is shared thru them… God provides…

But you know, a scripture did show up soon after that conversion – surely no one really said you must find just one scripture forever – I wasn’t looking – but this one fittingly found me:

“I am the handmaid of the Lord.” 

Seemingly appropriate and precise fit… From Luke chapter one verse 38, it is seven words of truth, of trust, of seeing once again how God reaffirms our paths directly towards Him…

Yes, verse “I am the handmaid of the Lord” could be ventured to speak of both our desired commitment to Him and our astonishing acknowledgement that we are in the Lord’s plan…

These spoken words are from Mary, in Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus, and are said to have come directly from his interviews of eyewitnesses. Mary acknowledged and trusted the angel’s message from the Lord…  Mary got on board with the plan to bear the Son of God, no matter how daunting that could be, because she knew she was a slave to her Master… She was In His service… Came to realize her role as HIS handmaid… A forever servant… We are all forever servants – we are in this world, but not of this world (John 17:16) – we serve here until we are called home – eternal life awaits us and is joyously calling us home.

Of course, it is a blessing to be working for the Lord. We are all blessed and yes, we all really do work for the Lord. Proverbs 16:3-4 reminds us: “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. The Lord has made everything for its purpose – even the wicked for the day of trouble.”

Yes, verse “I am the handmaid of the Lord” could be ventured to speak of a willingness to follow God’s greatest commandment: LOVE. We know we are His… “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ “. Matthew 22:37-39.

Yes, this verse “I am the handmaid of the Lord” could also be ventured to speak of acknowledgement of our humanness… We need guidance and we need to accept that we need Him – we are to trust and obey. We need our Lord, crucially need to take His hand and rest in His arms… Psalm 1 speaks to the delight we have following the law of the Lord, meditating on it, day and night… Our humanness defaults us into sinful ways, our master sees and knows, and yet loves us anyway and yearns for us to follow His law. The good news is there’s nothing that can separate us from His LOVE.

Yes, verse “I am the handmaid of the Lord” could be ventured to speak of a woman’s freedom to be herself while inevitably causing her to lose herself in her servitude to Him – to be a woman with willingness to work in the system for the greater good of the system is a blessed existence, even when it is hard and heartbreaking… “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15

Yes, verse “I am the handmaid of the Lord” could be ventured to speak of a mom’s duties to be entrusted with her children, raising them faithfully to be children of God, nurturing, feeding, and protecting them. Doing everything in her power to serve her immediate family and friends and all of God’s children. To embrace LOVE…  LOVE grows even more when given away.

“I am the handmaid of the Lord” truthfully allows us and compels us to extend the needed grace and forgiveness to others that is gifted to us. We are to remember that all children of God are human too.

“I am the handmaid of the Lord” truthfully allows and compels us to lean NOT on our own understanding, but trust the Lord’s plan, especially when we don’t know the plan.

We do not know the plan, but we know we are in it. We serve to love, we know freedom in Him, we feel the LOVE.

“I am the handmaid of the Lord”…. surely, eternally blessed.

Amen

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Psalm 1 King James Version (KJV)

1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

² But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

³ And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

⁴ The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

⁵ Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

⁶ For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

481

Thinking about something else but instead a devotion popped out – or should I say leaked out… Truly sorrows (although mine are few compared to so many around the world) are no match for His JOY… GOD WINS…

Here’s my devotion, been a long time since I wrote one – I have peace at camp this morning to share… (PS as soon as I finished writing  I heard car tires and my mom came out to camp to cook breakfast, blessed… This is a camping trip with so many dear family members as we gathered for a memorial of our beloved aunt. We are blessed to gather… We were taught to appreciate our time together…

Coagulation in my Cup, 11Jun

Surely the joy I have – the smile that I get to show – is a result of my overfilling cup… It’s not my right to give away the peace that fills me… Honestly it’s not even my cup…

It’s not even our peace is it?… We did not generate it but we get to share in it, for sure – and that makes me shine a shine of a smile even more… We are blessed to understand that we are vessel, an empty jar of clay… But to be filled with the spirit also means it’s best for us to have an appreciation that the spirit is a gift – peace is ours to maintain… Our cups not just filled – but the cracks are clogged… Clogged cracks prevent leaks… Give us time to look at and count our blessings… Devote ourselves to sharing our blessings..

Peace comes from the Lord… Our Prince of Peace Jesus knows His part of the plan, He teaches us –  His blood represented by wine shared at the Last Supper… His Blood poured out… But remember, blood that pours out of a body coagulates, chunks, globs, it is an attempt to stop the flow… Coagulation in a cup would preserve solid masses – clogging those cracks – preserving the intact vessel best it could be…

Jesus wants our cups to be intact to hold even more…

It’s not our peace to throw away, is it?… it’s not our joy for us to take and crumble down… How could I let my precious peace escape me? How could I not fight to preserve the peace?… All this peace belongs to the one who created us… Created everything… His peace given at a price, so that we are free to be free forever… That’s the good news… The love, the peace, the joy… The mercy for our mess ups, known and unknown. The salvation traded for our sins… There’s nothing to take us away from the love of the Lord whose intervening presence is intended to heal us… Bind our wounds, seal our cups…

Not all cracks can be repaired on our human timeline… But eternally we reach for the source – our eternal home will call us when it’s time and we will be whole…

Here’s my cup Lord, please fill it up…

Lord, please fill the cracks, please clog the spirit leaks. Please Lord, let us be stilled with your peace…Thank You Lord, we know Peace is from You…

Thanks for Your coagulation in our cup…

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Other Duties as “Reassigned” by God… 17MAY

I marvel at how the Lord pre-answers me – takes any questioning that I may have about why I have to endure this shoulder injury and healing – He reminds me that yes, I need to take this downtime for my shoulder rehabilitation and a few other projects… So, a christmas 2015 writing I just posted tells me exactly that this down time is purposeful – for God knows the plan and I don’t!!!…

I try to not question anymore – well sure I still do!!!  we all do!!!  I question especially in the middle of the stretching exercises which are very painful – self induced pain – and I look at the minimized size of my left arm muscles and I think – there must be a purpose here – but it still hurts… but the pain is temporary and the JOY from the Lord is PERMANENT…

So, I asked God for a snow day to upload my writings – maybe a snow week – this is what I got instead, oops – a snow month or months – my duties reassigned… This came with a definite benefit – extra home time with my kids (who exclaiming say “what do you mean we have to sit for dinner EVERY night?” LOL) and means I have a minimum 2 extra hours most every day for a while not having to drive to work… I am NOT saying my writings made or make any difference externally – I know they did to me personally but externally to others that is not my business to know – I just know I want to get the posts up and taken care of…  Where things go from there God only knows…

The food brought by my church family for 15 days now is the huge blessing beyond blessing… Tonight we ate while standing in the kitchen – laughing and fighting over the microwave…and well – not exactly 1950’s but the laughter was priceless – laughter and love 100% gifts from God!

I have been able to share with others endlessly these last few weeks about my God-enforced down time – and I look to the scriptures from Job 38 “²² “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail,…?” I am a scientist but I have no problem with this statement because as a scientist I have been given a small window to study the minutia – but God sees it all as a big picture… As I have been called to write for some purpose – not always known to me – how dare I question? – even though I still do…

As someone working for God – I know now that we all work for God !!! But what to work on?? Well, listening is the best way for us to discern… I have discerned that NOT rushing is important! – that I am not to rush thru God’s work – just like I am not to rush around the corner and slip on a stupid piece of cardboard causing me to fall and snap my rotator cuff – same with that leg burn last year – that was also a big hint – I am to proceed with caution – with acceptance that God needs me to do certain things – and those jobs I must accept… with delight…

I am blessed to have seen a slew of writings from Christmas time – I wrote them a year and a half ago during my first real 100% Christmas – how blessed to see that I was lost right where I was meant to be… the song lyric is “maybe I must may be lost, right where I need to be…”

Today I had interactions with dozens of people – yesterday too – and of course endless opportunities to speak of the good works of God and God’s people – including with our plumber, a nurse friend who took some of my extra food to a fire victim family – and with my own pastor. The blessings we receive enable us to speak of the works of God naturally in simple non-threatening marveling at how things work out and how we don’t know the plan….

I really don’t know the plan but I will sit here in peace – bum shoulder and all – but in peace – and I will work on what I have to work on…  My “other duties as ‘reassigned’… yup, reassigned by God”….

Thanks Lord for including me in your plan!

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An old writing reminding me that i am lost where i am supposed to be… at https://debbieupper.wordpress.com/2017/05/17/the-old-peace-21dec-322/

The Old Peace, 21DEC – #322
“maybe I must may be lost, right where I need to be…”

479 Nooks and Crannies of My Soul, 10MAY

Resting from my shoulder surgery, I have been re-reading, editing and posting old writings… my favorite line in one of them is: “I have been blessed down to the nooks and crannies of my soul…”

I think God slowed me down when I was previously posting these so that I would have this opportunity to feel many extra smiles during my recovery… after 6 hrs sleep they are 3AM blessings to read…  applying ice to my shoulder replaces medication now… then I get to back to sleep…

The work angels (that instantly appeared for a wonderful potluck lunch) whom I wrote about a year ago remind me of last night’s umw angels who randomly brought refreshments when I had failed to ask anyone… blessed… and of course there are many angels bringing my family dinner foods this month while I recover… blessed… and the angels of praise band music have lifted my spirit greatly this week… just today I had the blessing of hearing the first full set of me singing with the band jan2016 and I emotionally heard the moment that I relaxed and my praise took over my nerves… blessed… standing on solid ground – “Rock of ages – my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’s blood and righteousness….”

Rereading this memory writing, I love this line because it is true in the present too… ” my angels daily… They luck me up, they fill my pot of gold so I can redistribute blessings to so many more, they make me realize the abilities I have – and make me want to share them.”

A dear friend sent me a Facebook movie of a rainbow forming EXACTLY after I spoke of God’s forgiveness that I needed – that I humanly needed in advance – and that He was and is willing to give – and I had to take a leap of faith to accept – and realize that yet again a couple angels had been holy-spirit placed to help me process life – process blessings after a rainstorm… yes, angels are there to simply help you feel the joy by showing you a rainbow… the light of the rainbow is Jesus – all colors and always there to shine light in the darkness…. Faith and healing down to the nooks and crannies of your soul…

smiles

thanks angels everywhere!

thank you savior Jesus – for your glorious light

———–

https://debbieupper.wordpress.com/2017/05/10/potluck-angels-24nov/

478

 “AWWW… YOU’RE BROKEN”, 12MAY

Silver linings are showing up in a thousand ways while I am recovering from rotator cuff surgery… And I try to remember that one hundred years ago I would have been stuck for life without use of this left arm… This arthroscopic surgery surely made a rainbow bridge connection reattachment within my shoulder.   I’m blessed, despite the pain, to be healing…

Here is a silver lining – a chance to spend time with friends who come to help – I got a trip to the Amish Market yesterday. YAY! A friend called me out of the blue, scooped me up in her car… I didn’t even have time to change out of my pajama-like leggings, crazy green with circling things – I, of all people, can pull off crazy clothes, but these are a bit extreme that I bought to cheer me up in recovery and because leggings are easy getting dressed with one hand… I thought, “Well the sling will distract anyone from noticing the pants!!”…

Walking in, my friend gave me $20 as a gift “just because” right in front of the Amish pretzel place and went off to do her own shopping at the next stall…

I stood there – just happy in the moment – just happy to have God smiling on me… I smiled because I have the best of friends and I smiled while holding the money ready to get goodies – a cinnamon pretzel, some Amish salads, corn on the cob, and pieces of chocolate covered bacon to share… YUMMY!

See, I was already SMILING even before this, I had just told this friend about an opportunity two nights prior that i got a re-affirmation of my faith, verbally stating how i really am needing Jesus as a savior, and how a rainbow video had arrived in my messages box just at the perfect Holy Spirited-time to let me know God was thinking about me and yes Jesus saved me, and yes Jesus saves us… It made me smile then and now – it makes me SMILE at salvation…

So at that moment, I was SMILING WIDE – inside and out… And then this woman sees me as I turn from the pretzel place and immediately she sees my big black sling and blurts out uncontrollably in a motherly fashion: “AWWW…. YOU’RE BROKEN!!!…” I stopped dead in my tracks, ummm… OK, wow, ummm…  Well, what she blurted out wasn’t intended to be mean, those who heard it could have considered it rude but it truly was NOT meant to harm me, it was NOT a cut down, she spoke instantly, openly, like she couldn’t help it pouring out of her head and mouth – and said it very very truthfully….

She certainly had no way knowing what was running thru my brain at that very exact moment… But God did… God knows all… See, my mind at that very moment was in a healing place, just like my shoulder is in healing… It is by the grace of God that we are healing from what is our biggest riff – the riff caused by our sins pushing us away, but Jesus the fisherman is casting His net to catch us back… It is the truth that mentally the Lord heals us… My mind was reaffirmed at that moment and I was able to say internally to myself: “Yes, I AM broken… I am a Sinner… I do need a Savior… Jesus is my Savior… I need healing in more ways than she could ever know… God loves me so much He gave His only Son… God knows we are a BROKEN people”…

God gave of Himself – gave us Jesus – to advocate for the sins of all of us – both the known sins and ones we that have no idea that we are doing… at that moment I was STILLED… I was stopped dead in my tracks… I was exposed… I WAS STILL because I knew God made that register to me in that way – God wanted me to understand my brokenness is true – but His healing is real…

BE STILL and KNOW I AM GOD…

BE STILL… I simply smiled back at the lady…. A BIG SMILE… I smiled because the truth was spoken at that very moment… I answered to inform her, “It’s OK. It’s OK because I am healing”… I smiled at her and off she went…

It’s so clear that we all have the greatest of healers in our Lord… We are a saved people BUT we need to realize it and be remorseful and we realize our human-ness… And WE MUST REACH FOR OUR SAVIOR! And we must ask for healing. “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” John 3:21 NIV

I am bounced even higher in life by going down the road to admit my faults known and unknown… At the end of the road (and even during the rainstorms of life) shines a rainbow… I smiled…

After this encounter I turned to an Amish woman selling chocolate covered bacon and told her a condensed version of what happened, of what the lady blurted out uncontrollably – and that I was not offended – i was OK because I was healing… and reaffirmed that God is good because I can see so many silver linings and blessings from this “downtime”… She agreed… I smiled…

I can’t possibly process this amazement of being saved without speaking it out at times… I can be STILLED internally, but I must speak it out… I must write it out… and thank the Lord I have so many open faith friends to chat with plus these random strangers who might only see me smile, my joy bubbling out… It was a Jewish friend who sent me the rainbow video… I am blessed with angels…

And guess what? No one noticed these crazy crazy leggings – at least they didn’t say anything…

BUT, I am certain people noticed my SMILE that day… Perhaps they will smile too…

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P.S.

That night, I sat at my son’s school band concert, it was great but I was in pain in my left arm from the shoulder surgery was bothering me… I closed my eyes, absorbed the budding musicians’ music, and when I opened my eyes I noticed green color in the sea of children –  a left arm of a child playing cello… He was playing with a green prosthetic arm… I was humbled… I have to remember to reduce my complaints about this repaired and healing shoulder… I’ll take my pain and remember that green arm – a mechanical fix to his brokenness which brightens this child’s future… An opportunity for this child to live to his fullest – and an opportunity for all of us to see how we are to count our blessings…

God is GOOD…

AMEN

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John 3:17 -21 NKJV

¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

¹⁸ “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. ²¹ But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

477

I have had this idea resting on my brain about the Holy Spirit… The Lord STILL wakes me up to write my processing and devotions out – my scripture thoughts often are not new to the world, but I enjoy feeling them re-percolating thru my head… So now I routinely wake after about six hours good sleep, although now in pain post surgery early in the morning causing me to switch from the bed to the chair to get the blood flowing – then after a while, the pain subsides… Blessedly it’s my right arm which writes by swyping on my phone – All 500 pieces one phone (a miracle of technology)! After this Holy Spirit distraction, I hopefully will enter the “second sleep”…

Holy-Spirited Peace and Understanding…

John 14: 15-17 “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.”

Here’s my thought about that crazy fabulous Holy Spirit, who/that replaces Jesus as “another” – in addition to the support given to the disciples and us, it ALSO means the Holy Spirit, like Jesus, does not judge, and has forgiving ways – the Holy Spirit brings out the truth – and lends advice…

The Holy Spirit can be the love that manifests itself in the thousands of people whom come alongside you in your grief, let you vent in your anger, and people who say “I understand”! They may say:”Hey, I don’t blame you”, “no one can walk in your shoes”, “you know what’s best”, “it will all work out in the end”… etc… etc… People who are not afraid to tell you the truth… People who are there expressing their prayers for you to heal your soul by the love of God… Only God can heal…

People have been “Holy-Spirited” into my life for me this week/month (and forever) – they have brought us food for my family post-surgery and sensed when I seriously needed a mental break… people who gave us rides, people who just stopped by to see how we were are doing… My daughter who forced me to rest and just watch TV… My boss who says “don’t worry, just get better”… Ever blessed… These are all the Holy Spirit in action… People are Holy Spirited into place “… And we are those people too!  – we can share the Lord thru our souls, not just “to our souls” (that is how the “Loved by You” song lyric goes…

The Holy Spirit can use anything and everything that moves us forward into peace…

Holy Spirit – thank you for bringing Jesus home to us today – everyday!

Peace…

 

476

I thank the Lord for giving me the peace of early mornings once again – I would have never written by choice, but know I wouldn’t have it any other way – even now I only write when the spirit pushes me… I plan to edit and post many when I am home after surgery for a couple weeks… I plan to sleep much too when I am recovery from surgery – and then I will really be a “work in progress” of regaining mobility and strength…

If writing from tasting scriptures is due to my soul wanting to eat healthy and wanting to grow and blossom – then it’s surely because my soul is a “work in progress”…

Work in Progress, 25APR

I love YouTube – God uses it a lot on me… “You will begin again – take comfort from me – it will take time…” – that was the new song clip a few weeks back but it popped up again this morning EXACTLY when I started piecing together a piece called “work in progress” and wow, the title states the same “work in progress”, as it’s a clip of the artists practicing – the song lyric fits the scriptures that fell into my sight this morning as well – about us being renewed in Christ and it also all fits with a construction sign in a dilapidated window that I felt compelled to take a photo of – “Work in Progress” – yeah the Lord lit the light bulb in my head that morning  but I said “wait wait Lord” – because I was racing to get home to get to NYC with my daughter so I promised the Lord that I would come back to write this piece – and so now with convergent scriptures, song, spirit guidance all together, I am forced to get this writing out…

And the scriptures match not JUST the sign in the window but our pastor’s sermon from a couple days ago – about the Lord calling NOT the perfect people, but the imperfect… Then the Lord qualifies the people whom He calls… Essentially we are all works in progress… The Lord equips those called to share the good news because the Lord loves us, reminding us that Jesus came to heal us, that the Holy Spirit is responsible to move us… One more convergent event for this thought – it is a “new to me” song that we are leaning in band: ” I will boast in the Lord”…. That scripture lyric is ALSO in today’s scriptures too – cool Lord, cool….

And we are all works in progress – we are developing and maturing in Christ…

Apostle Paul reminds us:

 “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel (Colossians 1)”

We are God’s children – we are His “works in progress” – we are not yet complete but we have the best carpenter working on us – and that is Jesus… We are gently being worked upon from the inside out – like a dilapidated building being renovated with the best intentions, it still takes time…

There is a sparked interest for a contractor to improve a dilapidated building – and we know they decided to save it rather than tear it down and start over…   Surely we are like that building too, are  piquing the interest of our  creator  who sent Jesus  to post a shining work-in-progress sign in us -yes, the Lord wants Christ shining thru you – except He’s requesting you help him wash the window of your soiled soul… clear the way for the LIGHT to shine out… Then keep working… All healing comes from the Lord.

Boast NOT in your progress or life achievements – but always boast in the Lord, as He’s the one enabling you to share the gifts that He bestowed on you… It’s good to freely admit that you are under His contract to improve… Not for your own boasting but as an example of the Lord making something out of nothing – from dust you came and dust you shall return… And does light shines brightly in those who realize that God wants them?… Yes God wants you…. ALL of you…

“28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” (Corinthians)”

Apostle Paul asked God to fill the people with “the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1)

Paul reminds us all that we are changed people, we are pariahs no more, and we are works in progress to be presented “holy and without blemish” to God – the Lord is asking us to allow Jesus to help us stay recycled reconciled and redeemed…

“21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of  your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.”

Thank you Lord for working on us… Thank you Lord for noticing the beauty within us which You created and then You reclaimed… We thank You for bringing us back to You… Please keep working on us, we love you Lord… And we know You love us.

Amen

 

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Here are the song clips and the full scriptures…

https://youtu.be/dEFvI-Tmezo Steve Wilson and Ninet Tayeb – “Pariah”

— I Will Boast in the Lord, Paul Baloche https://youtu.be/pBfOcJGEKUU

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Colossians 1 (NIV)

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you  to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The Supremacy of the Son of God

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of  your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

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1 Corinthians 1 NIV

Christ Crucified Is God’s Power and Wisdom

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

 

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Whew, I’m glad already wrote this during the afternoon, it was so out of the blue to write because usually the Lord doesn’t make me stop in the middle of the day, but for some reason I had to write this out today and I’m so glad I did because just now a truck on the turnpike almost hit me (after yesterday that also happened)… Whew… Freaky… Blessed to have the save, but whew Lord that was close!… Fear and joy of the Lord… Thanks for the save Lord!

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Date: Apr 21, 3:45 PM
Children from Rocks, 21Apr

It’s such a blessing when we get to share spirit in an uplifting way like by singing praises… that’s the kind of permanent memory marks that currently and future-ly will permeate my mind when I feel those dark stormy times… Light overcomes darkness, always… Music feeds in to feed the soul…

I don’t ever want to take life for granted, certainly life on earth is a short window of time… It’s a blessing to sing the Lord’s praises everyday… And it’s also a praise that each of us all woke up today… An important pause and praise that I didn’t get taken out by a tractor trailer on the turnpike yesterday, as traffic has been sketchy lately, whew… Thanks for the save Lord…

I believe we all need to thank the Lord for His saving hand, and the joy of life He gives… And the appropriate praise song lyric is: “I bow my heart to sing” (from Your Mercy by Paul Balouche)… And to me that means I fear the Lord, so I best to come in Him in repentance…

Repentance… That is us wanting to change our sinful ways… That is where Jesus comes to help us, but we must ask for forgiveness… We ask for His help and He is very willing to run to us with His mercy.

Scripture tells us that John the Baptist asked for people to repent – offering them baptism in the Lord’s name – he saw the hypocrites of the day and essentially warned them to stop leaning on their entitlement to life as “children of Abraham”, and reminded them that the rocks can be made into children of Abraham, yeah they can… So drop the entitlement and repent… Yeah, fear the Lord for He is really that powerful, and fear and love the Lord for He is good… He loves us sinners and gives us mercy and grace, and forgiveness – and keeps us around another day living for His will… It’s His plan, not ours…

And John the Baptist taught about Jesus… for the purpose of baptizing us with the Holy Spirit… Jesus came, and Jesus also had to leave. Jesus had to leave His disciples so that the Holy Spirit would come to them… He sends the Holy Spirit to us too – we are called to open ourselves to the Holy Spirit moving in our lives – called to be living for His will… It’s His plan, not ours…

Surviving swerving tractor trailers and my own driving distractedness too, these shows me that we don’t know the plan… We just know that we should appreciate that we are in it!

We should ask Jesus to lift our sinful lives. We should also ask the Holy Spirit to guide us…

We are blessed when we repent, our repentance lightens our loads… Jesus lightens our load…

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11

Continued repentance shows our continued devotion to Jesus. Repentance frees us to be children again… We are free to be children of our Lord…

Amen

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Matthew 3:1-12

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”

John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist.His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

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John 14:15-21 (NIV)

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.  On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

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John 16:7-15

…But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

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The Show Must Go On… the Lord Sayeth So, 18APR

Wow, I got a surprise award at work, the “speed, responsiveness and flexibility award” (which I think translates to I get to “wing-it” at work everyday LOL)… $250… Blessed… perfect on the day that I just mistakenly bounced my checking account, oops… this mini financial relief is just amazing, another reminder of God’s grace and mercy, and that the Lord sometimes provides so fast it makes my head spin…

This means I can now take my daughter guilt-free this weekend to see the behind-the-scenes tour of Radio City Music Hall (she’s researching a paper for school about it’s architecture, so I said “let’s go!”)…. blessed blessed blessed… bonus money is meant to be blown on fun things especially your kids.

What was icing on the cake today was that the big boss CEO of our company is in charge of tons of employees said that I “had the best smile of anybody” – wow – I can’t take credit for that! That’s from the Lord! I just fell the most blessed ever to be able to smile for Him! Blessed… All the credit and glory to Him!

I also just found out that I made the cut as a chaperone for the enrichment class field trip with my son to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway in June, so this bonus money is also paying for that trip… I guess the Lord just loves funding the time I get to spend with my kids… Broadway is a nice way to do that…  money in – money out – memories made… Blessed…

What’s extra cool is that putting the finishing touches on this blog together, I just drove by a train station which I remember from many many years ago… my car was dying and overheated and I had already been driving stuck in traffic for an hour going less than 5 miles, I was so anxious to get to a concert it was the big reunion tour of the Police, oh awesome concert that I ALMOST missed… it was summertime in a giant outdoor venue and I was stuck in traffic like 2 hours away and at 90 degrees I chugged along when the check engine light came on in my beloved green Subaru Forester… I pulled over to the side of the road and endured honking horns and made my exit to the first available exit…. I didn’t know what to do – until I saw the train station!!! I parked my car at the gas station across the street, put a sign in it and let the guy know inside that I would be back the next day for it… and then I started my venture out on my own two feet… but of course with the Lord taking care of me, as he always does with all of us. I only had a destination to get to and I knew I would figure it out on the way… so I hopped on the train…. I didn’t have exact change – only a $20 bill – so a lady paid my token for me. I thanked her so much and gave her a dollar coin and a Staples coupon for a dollar – that’s all I could offer her. The people on the train instructed me on all the different connections I had to make to get down to the stadium for the concert. I ended up taking the train, a bus and two subways and then walking the last 5 minutes…  I checked with people along the way constantly rechecking… I gained an amazing story to tell about this journey, just like I do now! I know we all have amazing stories to tell of the times when the Lord smiled in us, gave us a lift and got us to where were were supposed to be – just in the nick of time – the show must go on…

I stepped right into the concert as the lights went down and Sting started singing – the drum started drumming my steps down to my seat and I danced the rest of the night.

The Lord says “The Show Must Go On!”… This I know for a fact… This I know as a blessing…

All good things are from God, how can we stay silent?

Blessed…

Blessed…

 

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Good Friday, Sheep to Slaughter, 14Apr

The Stations of the Cross was presented in a very calm and austere fashion in this 1711 church that I attended today, near work at lunchtime, it was a very convenient location where I’ve also walked for exercise… The church has sheep in its cemetery too… The service was silent, but it was so nice that afterwards the pastor and a kind woman named Holly greeted me.   (Surely not a coincidence that the woman who greeted me at my home church fifteen years ago is also named Holly)…

The station reading that touched me the most was that Jesus was led like a sheep to slaughter… He had to accept it – He had to be quiet about it – and He had to give up His will to God… often I think people focus on the physical pain of the crucifixion – but that was probably minimal compared to the 30 years on earth and forever the emotional pain that Jesus bore, knowing that there’s so many people to be saved that don’t even hear Him, they don’t know Him, let alone those who haven’t heard of Him… How blessed we are to hear, to want to listen, to reach, and to tell of HIS LOVE…

They have a prayer Labyrinth on this church grounds, and I was thinking that entering into relationship with Jesus is freeing, BUT it’s not like God gave us a “free pass” to Salvation – it’s more like God gave us a “work order” to start our journey….

We are blessed to have such a work order to work on our faith journey…

Blessed to journey this Easter week and always…

A Good Friday to reflect the stations of life we are in…

The LOVE we all share in came at a price to our heavenly Father, but all we need to do is pick up our cross and start to walk towards Him…

Amen

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Easter salvation realization…. Apr 12

I think the increased peace of the Lord that I have recently gained in the mornings may re-start my writing, maybe only short windows of writing as I’ve actually asked for time to edit these 500 blogs, but either way it’s all praise… And pause… Jesus reminds us to pause and reflect on how we best follow Him… A daily reminder…   each morning is newly gifted, to restart our lives to serve the Lord the best we can…

Easter…. What does Easter mean to you? That’s the Facebook question a dear friend asked…. And that’s EXACTLY what Easter is – it’s all about YOU – because it’s all about God’s plan – and His plan is all about YOU, His children… Easter reminds us that daily we have a personal choice to follow Jesus… to believe in Him and also believe in and follow His teachings…

Then Jesus said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. Luke 9

To accept Christ, I first had to acknowledge that Christ was and is real…

And this also meant I had to and still have to realize that I am human, VERY HUMAN…. and that God made all of us human and loves us immensely even though we have human failings…

I have to humbly accept and know that I really need a Savior…. When I realize the immense LOVE He gave, and I get to live a new day for Him? That is when I feel the JOY…

Easter means the Lord Jesus humbled himself just for us… We could and should look to His example to pay attention to what God’s direction for our own lives is as well… I bet Jesus could have said – “hey, give me a few more years here to preach” – but God’s plan involved this short window of opportunity for Jesus, and Jesus accepted His Father’s Will… And since then spreading the Good News is a trickle effect of personal salvation realization – spreading the Good News has been tasked to God’s people – who require being moved by and relying upon the Holy Spirit…

Jesus is born anew for each person in their heart… It’s up to each person to realize Easter is a personal gift rather than a blanket free pass to the world… It’s individual realization…. One has to actually participate in reaching for Jesus – DAILY. We have to pick up our crosses daily – but Jesus is the ultimate savior – a tiny faith is a huge faith…. And He’s got you covered…

EASTER… Part of God’s plan… You are part of God’s plan…

God loves you. Jesus is there for you.

EASTER… Christ is Risen! We are SAVED… FOREVER…

HALLELUJAH!

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Leaning on God like Gideon, 11APR – VBS time!

We are so blessed that we get to work for our Lord… and the theme of Maker Fun Factory is perfect this year’s Vacation Bible School: You are God’s precious creation—one that He has promised to be with forever! I know God is with me and wants me to acknowledge that He is the one who brought me down this road… thank you all in advance for helping VBS share the GOOD NEWS that God is with us!

This morning I woke in pain sleeping wrong on my bad shoulder and I reached emotionally for Psalm 23 (and ibuprofen) –-I always wanted a song for Psalm 23 and turns out Michael Card sings one – it is beautiful and as I have met him a few times, I personally hear the devotion in his voice…   Michael Card’s music is one of the many comforting gifts from God placed into my life. Here is the song  https://youtu.be/jgVB96fdUJE

In addition to Psalm 23, this VBS devotion is speaking to me this morning as I prepare mentally for shoulder surgery and VBS – I wanted to share it with you all and I am gratefully placed as His messenger to share:

Day 3:  Bible Point: God is always with you, Bible Story: God is with Gideon (Judges 6:11–7:25), Key Verse: “The Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

God opened my eyes to this story about Gideon, I have NEVER learned this or most of these vbs stories and so I am excited to learn…  Gideon asked God for signs – and God showed him signs…  God provided guidance, comfort and a plan… God came thru… Yes, God comes thru big time…

I gleaned background info from the web: Gideon came just after Deborah (go figure, my own name brings me into this story) and we learn “As is the pattern throughout the Book of Judges, the Israelites again turned away from Yahweh after 40 years of peace brought by Deborah’s victory over Canaan, and Midianites, Amalekites and other Bedouin peoples… God chose Gideon to free the people of Israel and to condemn their idolatry. The Angel of the Lord came “in the character of a traveller who sat down in the shade [of the terebinth tree] to enjoy a little refreshment and repose” and entered into conversation with Gideon….”

The take home message to me on that wiki page was: “God informed Gideon that the men he had gathered were too many – with so many men, there would be reason for the Israelites to claim the victory as their own instead of acknowledging that God had saved them.” – OH….. that is what speaks to me – God wants us to acknowledge that God is the one who saves us both here on Earth and eternally – and that is 100% the truth, we enter our lives with limited power of our own – and sometimes we are distracted and confused too – but GOD IS STILL WITH US…  “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

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More VBS devotion scriptures from the Group VBS website:

God is with you… At Home

“You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do.” (Psalm 139:3)

God is with you… When You’re Confused

“And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” (John 14:27)

God is with you… In Dark Times

“Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.” (Psalm 23:4)

God is with you… Because God Loves You “And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

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Scriptures:

Judges 6 (NIV)

Gideon

6 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.

7 When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, 8 he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 9 I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.”

11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”

And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”

19 Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.

20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. 22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”

23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”

24 So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

25 That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. 26 Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.”

27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

28 In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!

29 They asked each other, “Who did this?”

When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”

30 The people of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”

31 But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.” 32 So because Gideon broke down Baal’s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baal that day, saying, “Let Baal contend with him.”

33 Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.

36 Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised— 37 look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” 38 And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.

39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” 40 That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

Judges 7 (NIV)

Gideon Defeats the Midianites

7 Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. 2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ 3 Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

4 But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

5 So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” 6 Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.” 8 So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.

Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. 9 During that night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. 10 If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah 11 and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. 12 The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.

13 Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. “I had a dream,” he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.”

14 His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.”

15 When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.” 16 Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.

17 “Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. 18 When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”

19 Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. 20 The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.

22 When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholahnear Tabbath. 23 Israelites from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh were called out, and they pursued the Midianites. 24 Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth Barah.”

So all the men of Ephraim were called out and they seized the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth Barah. 25 They also captured two of the Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb,and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was by the Jordan.

—

Joshua 1 (NIV)

Joshua Installed as Leader

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsakeyou. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

—-

Psalm 23 (KJV)

23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

470

Linger with the Lord, 15MAR

I don’t “beware the ides of March” – but I do know to fear the Lord, for He is all powerful – He is Almighty… (and I appreciate snow storms and Him making time for me to ponder!!!)

But on occasion I wonder: “What if?” – I wonder “what if I had not heard the call?” – “what if I had not allowed Jesus to make me reborn into this child of God and long for His instruction?”…  “what if…”  not knowing Jesus like I do now surely brings me to tears.

Naturally, I am filled with such JOY of the Lord that it pours out of me – and I feel I can’t help it – that it has been truly amplified in an awakening to understanding how His Spirit moves in me and how He moves in you and in all His children – these bring me such JOY! – BUT yes one sure way to bring me to tears are the thoughts of “what if” – what if i never heard? – missed the cues? – what if I never opened my ears to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior?… what if???  Tear are natural – some say tears to women are a gift or a plague – but I feel God gave them to us for a purpose – not just for sorrow but for appreciation…. I truly know the Jesus was given to me to realize that I needed Him…

I KNOW that God loves each of His children… He wants to be with them…

Pausing to marvel at how God orchestrates awakenings, I remember that it wasn’t me who opened my ears – I remember that I had no choice – God did it – God Himself used every crowbar of sight and sound to open my ears!  Yes, God opens our ears, moves us to Jesus and Jesus takes care of the rest – giving rest in His arms…

Jesus said: “All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven NOT to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6)

God forces the issues – we hear but then we have to actually listen and head the call…

When we are brought to Jesus, we will then have to learn to LINGER – we have to learn to linger and BE STILL… and only then can we move ahead… We have to learn to listen for the spirit directions for our lives – we have to head the call that “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9). In other words – we have to move when the spirit moves us… the path is narrow but it is sure…

The bible gives us instructions and teachings – we can look to Job to remember to fear the Lord – and love the Lord… and LISTEN for the Lord – what is the use of hearing if we don’t LISTEN  – God wants to fill us with His LIGHT – to turn us back from death…

Job listened and was eternally blessed… we too can listen, we can pray to discern, and we can linger when we feel we should linger and move when we feel we should move – but all in all we are best to move forward as God directs us – we are called and we go – we are ever blessed to hear His call…

The result for us is that we now long to linger – we long to hear God’s call.

Instead of “what if” – we can ask “what now?”

—–

 

In the book of Job, Elihu teaches and warns Job – then the Lord speaks to Job directly – and then Job listens:

Job 33:15 “In a dream, a special dream of the night, when deep sleep comes upon men, while they sleep in their beds, 16 then He opens the ears of men. He teaches them and makes them afraid telling them of danger, 17 that He may turn man away from wrong-doing and keep him from pride. 18 He keeps his soul from going to the place of the dead.” …

29 “See, God does all these things twice, even three times, to a man, 30 to turn back his soul from the grave, that he may see the light of life.”

—–

Job 36:5 “See, God is powerful, but does not hate anyone. He is powerful in strength of understanding. 6 He does not keep the sinful alive, but gives what is right and fair to those who are troubled. 7 He does not turn His eyes away from those who are right with Him. He puts them on the throne with kings and they are honored forever. 8 If they are tied up in chains and caught in the ropes of trouble, 9 then He makes known to them their work and their sins, that they have shown pride. 10 He makes them listen to teaching, and tells them to turn away from sin. 11 If they hear and serve Him, the rest of their days will be filled with what they need and their years with peace. 12 But if they do not hear, they will die by the sword. They will die without learning.

—–

24 “Remember that you should honor His work, of which men have sung. 25 All men have seen it. Man sees it from far away. 26 See, God is honored, and we do not know Him. We are not able to know the number of His years. 27 For He takes up the drops of water that become rain, 28 which the clouds pour down. Much rain falls on man. 29 Can anyone understand how the clouds are spread out, or how He thunders from His tent? 30 See, He spreads His lightning around Him and covers the bottom of the sea. 31 For by these He judges the people and He gives much food. 32 He covers His hands with the lightning, and tells it to hit the mark. 33 His thunder tells of a storm coming, and cattle also know it is coming.

—-

Job 37: 14 “Hear this, O Job. Stop and think about the great works of God”……

21 “Now men cannot look on the light when it is bright in the sky, when the wind has passed and made it clear. 22 A bright gold light is seen in the north. Around God is great power. 23 We cannot come near the All-powerful. He is lifted high with power. And He is right and fair and good and will not make it hard for us. 24 So men honor Him with fear. He has respect for any who are wise in heart.”

—

Job heard the Lord, listened to the Lord, and prayed to the Lord… the Lord heard Job’s prayer –

10 The Lord returned to Job all the things that he had lost, when he prayed for his friends. The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. ………… 16 After this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, his grandsons, and even their sons. 17 Then Job died, an old man having lived many days.

———-

All my days, I pray to linger with the Lord….

Amen

469

Cross-net Cross-stitch, 07Mar

An idea popped into my head while writing a devotion…an idea for a name for our website committee, “CROSSNet”

When I don’t write a devotion for a long time, then one hits me just as I wake, I know God placed it there and I have to get it out!!!

I’ve been gathering info about our incoming new pastor and the three committee members I’ve spoken to gave me great insight – and it became clear that we are all looking to connect with this new pastor by finding similarities to us – ways we can relate, and truly each person did find something unique to them. Our lay leader picked up on a small but relevant tidbit – maybe irrelevant to others but very very relevant to her at that moment – they connected on their hobby (which also used to be my hobby) – the new pastor likes cross-stitch! Cross-stitch embroidery is specific purposeful grid-pattern work – individual stitches in X shapes are combined for a bigger picture – and it embodies the essence of the devotion that God knitted-crocheted-stitched into my head this morning…

CROSSSTITCH is what God is directing Jesus to do as He is a “Fisher of men”. Jesus is taking God’s colorful detailed plan and following it – each person in God’s timing.

When God brings someone to Jesus, Jesus stitches them into this NET of fellow believers; one by one He finds the thread to pull on our faith and He hooks us in, according to God’s plan. It’s a loop – God brings us to Jesus and Jesus is following God’s plan to bring each of us back to God, eternally….

 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.” (John 6)

… And as each person is crossed into the grid – Jesus uses His “CROSS stitch” made thru His death and resurrection to complete the loop of His love.  It is because of His CROSS that we become part of God’s NET – and we are then in turn directed to work that very NET… The Great Commission is directing us into using our skills to tell and show others the GOOD NEWS of how God has a plan – for them – God has a plan for everyone. And God sent Jesus to execute the plan.

“28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8)”

I had a meeting last night about a new web committee – to reinvigorate the church website with pertinent rich content – to display eye catching info with the intent of the soul catching…. That’s the mission, soul- catching we are working God’s Net as Jesus’s brothers and sisters – God’s directing us how to spread the Good News the best we can.

And as we are looking for a committee name – CrossNet came to mind – it’s not flashy but it’s Biblical, meaningful and accurate…

CrossNet is descriptive – active – we are actively pursuing God’s directive – helping to reach across the NET to new people – invite them into this fellowship of believers – in order that Jesus can CROSSstitch each person in. Jesus reaches a CROSS across to us – to me – to you!!! And it’s Jesus who also reinforces our connection to the vine. Jesus came to let the world know of God’s plan. Jesus wants us to realize He and we are stitched into God’s plan because God LOVES us.

God loves us working CROSS-NET. Connecting with each other, watching as a Jesus Connection is made.

Amen

—

40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

---

29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

 

468

The Lord Questions, 01MAR

Two scripture stories come to mind in a window of peace that I have this morning, scriptures from Genesis and Elijah, where God asks His people questions, then He directs them…. And there are so many instances where the Lord questions His people… The Lord questions us too. He longs to hear our answers.

The Lord knows all things, but He still asks questions of us – we are still called to answer to Him…

Sometimes God comes in a whisper… Out of the cave, He asked Elijah a question first, before He gave Elijah life instructions… The Lord asked: “What are you doing here?”… I know that the Lord asks me the same question… I ask it myself… “What are you doing here?”… I know the questioning is an opportunity to talk with God.

The Lord wants to interact with us, He loves us, He wants to find out where we are emotionally, then to see if we trust Him, perhaps even to see if we are paying attention.  Our LOVE can be shown to Him when we trust Him… And we truly need to trust Him…. He had made a promise with Noah forward to the present time that He will always take care of us. And we need to trust in that… we need to anticipate answers and listen. We need to NOT shut the Lord out, because after His questions to us comes His directions to us. He’s giving us purpose, He helps us with a plan…

Noah got instructions.

Elijah got instructions.

Jesus got instructions.

Jesus then asked His own questions of us too, and gave us instructions too… and then gave us the Holy Spirit to help.

Direction… The Lord questions, the Lord provides direction… Oh those with ears, may they hear.

Help us, Lord, today and all days to hear your voice, help us reach You… Help us to listen and obey…

Thank you Lord for asking us where we are… Thank you for loving us enough to ask. Thank you for loving us regardless of our answers… Thank you for putting us in Your plan.

Amen

—–

Genesis, after the fall…

– 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

– 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

-Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

– 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

10 The Lord said, “What have you done?

——

From 1st kings 18, Elijah in the cave…

“And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. 13 And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

 

467

A Subaru Valentine’s, 03FEB

You know my Subaru is my salvation Subaru… a tool used by God… Today I mail in my last payment… I pay off six years – with the loan maturity on what day? Feb 14th… Good God… On Valentine’s Day!!!… Wow… Wow…  God gave me a sweet Valentine this year… God, I am yours this Valentine’s, and you send SMILES on me and my Subaru everyday…

I LOVE God’s ways… “Lord you are SO precious to me” the lyrics came flying out of my mouth when I saw that maturity date.. Sweet Subaru – which means “to unite”… SMILES for God’s wordplay!

Perfect scripture of the day:  “But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. You are my strength, I sing praise to you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely.” Psalm 59:16

God is infinitely greater than a Subaru fortress… I think back a year or so ago to a road rage incident where this angry guy cut me off violently and punched at my face by hitting the window for not engaging in a fight… I feel awful that didn’t see his dark car with no lights in the biggest rainstorm when I started to change lanes… I pulled back and there was no accident but he was pissed anyway… He swerved to catch up to me – stopped his car in front to force me to stop and eventually after screaming at me he hit the subaru window… I saw his “gun club” bumper sticker on his car and it was a good thing I was already praying because everything happened so fast.. First thing I said was, “is the Subaru window ok?” The strong window armor of God saved my face – and I forgave the guy on the spot because of the sheer pain on his face… And because I was safe – God knows I appreciated my life remaining intact at that moment and everyday… I try to praise in the moment… Look for the praise because even if it’s not obvious, it is there somewhere.

God keeps us under HIS wing, if we choose to be there… No doubt…

Thanks God for Subaru safety, God armor, and debt repayment…. SMILES for God’s Subaru…. SMILES for God…

DRIVE

SUBARU

FEEL THE LOVE

YES
The More We Live – Let Go
https://youtu.be/7zOxY5lBkwY

You and I can change the world;
The more we live, the more we learn, the more we know.
From this moment on we share the world;
The more we give, the more we love, the more we grow.
The spirit of imagination can lead us through the dark;
The more we see, the more we try, the more we show.
The evidence of our confusion, life has left its mark;
The more we fear, the more we lie, the more we hide.
As we walk into tomorrow
(Turning away from the path we know)
Holding the future with our hands
(We carry the weight of the world we go)
It’s up to you and I — We hold the key; we hold the answers
All our thoughts of doubt and fear are leaving one by one
The more we live, the more we learn, the more we know.
For each of us the road is clear and life has just begun;
The more we give, the more we love, the more we grow.
It’s time to reach the goals we’ve set for ourselves;
The more we fear, the more we lie, the more we hide.
All we need is just to believe in ourselves;
We face the truth, we see it clear, with no disguise.
Cast away our doubt and sorrow
(Turning away from the past we know)
The Universe at our command
(Conserving the fate of the world we grow)
Together you and I, we hold the key to all the answers
Let go
Let go
Let go
Let go
Let go

466

Seeing Clearly, 17Jan

A milestone for me today – a big change – you may think this is silly or flippant but I’ve come to the realization that I needed reading glasses my eyesight declined rapidly after hitting 45 – now that I am 47 there is no denial that I am entering a life phase of change… it’s an age change that’s been forced upon me… and it parallels other big changes to all of our lives both forced and chosen…

Sure it’s normal for so many people to have glasses but I’ve been in denial for so long and was/is hard for me to accept this but I must… I must accept and even embrace change… I must move on forward with a good attitude about change…

There many changes in life we did not ask for – but they happened anyway… for me there are many good changes including:

… having certain health issues clarified by losing weight thru healthy eating – it just kind of happened … and

… having my voice clarified by eliminating milk while losing weight and mostly by focusing for who I was truly singing for – it just kind of happened… and

… writing, I didn’t ask to process life this way –  an introverted change shared in an extroverted way – it just kinda happened…

Change – it happens and it’s God-driven… change gives clarity… “I Can See Clearly Now” – a song lyric that rings true…

Clarity – when I put these minimal strength reading glasses on – wow the difference! the fuzzy light gray text becomes crisp, clear and bolder in color… (yeah I know it’s silly they are just 1.25’s but hey this aspect of getting older is new and weird to me – and getting used to them has made me a bit queasy so far)

Clarity – that’s Jesus – our life focused thru our belief in Jesus is the most powerful change anyone could ever experience… Focus, boldness, relief… Queasy? – yeah it is that too – but queasy motivates change…

Is accepting Jesus a forced change? Well even if you are forced to reach to God, you still have to be the one to open your heart to Jesus… Sure it’s not as simple as buying a $20 pair of reading glasses – but actually, you might say accepting Jesus is even simpler because it’s free – Jesus is free – and Jesus is freeing…

Is accepting Jesus a hard change? Well softening your heart might be tough because accepting Jesus surely causes you to change… Jesus wants to clean out your heart – to get busy clearing clutter in your life – He will yield more clarity than JUST thru wearing glasses – Jesus wants to remove your fuzzy guessing thru life existence too – Jesus wants you to have bold but fearful living – Jesus instructs us and He wants us to be God-focused, love-giving, and living life with eyes open – plus He wants us to have and use sober judgment for future temptation awareness…

Clarity comes at a cost – turning your life over to Jesus – that is a cost… Trust me, your new life will surprise you everyday – because your focus is no longer your own – because God will move your sights onto His work, not yours…

Clarity – there’s no better clarity than living your life thru the new lens of Jesus…

Jesus brings God’s Will into view.

Jesus.

Yup.

Singing “I can see clearly now – Jesus is Lord…”

Amen

 

465

God’s Opportunities, 13JAN

Spring is NOT just around the corner, but this beautiful delicate daffodil flower opened today in my office…And its beauty reminds me of God’s grace – and our potential to seize the opportunities God gifts to us. We have to recognize God’s grace of forgiveness – and then we have to accept that we need it!

I recently found where they dumped thousands of the old flower bulbs at our corporate center for years, many each spring the fresh crop are sold as a fundraiser, but these were leftovers, just sitting there to rot – for years!… I recovered a few and really made no dent to the pile… and I planted them into pots and also planted dozens in the dug up yard after our sewer replacement… I already had the big bag of bulbs before the yard  was dug up, and so then the opportunity to plant them showed up later! – I was waiting for an opportunity and it came – unexpected but it came. It’s kinda like being Robin Hood in life – I pray God forgives my Robin Hood nature… I call it trash picking… I call it being an opportunist… I even got the soil and flowers pots out of the trash… Yup.  God is like Robin Hood to us too – He moves us around where He deems we are a better fit – where we are of use to His plan – and He puts us in opportunities where we can change situations according to His Will…

Surely, I can see beauty of the one delicate flower – but can you see those dozens that will bloom outside in spring? I can!!!…. They will remind us that they survived… they stored up their resources before winter to survive harsh weather, they hid underground to prevent being wasted or eaten, and they survived what the world threw at them…. And so can we… We can survive these times whether they are easy or harsh by preparing and looking towards the eternal spring, we can anticipate and take the opportunity to accept the greatest gift – the GIFT of knowing God – the whispers of His words – the LIFE given by HIS Son Jesus… We can even hide under HIS wing when needed…

The contrast between people who look to the Lord and those that don’t is that we know eternally life will be good, and we also know that in this world there are gems to be seen, flowers to be beholden and life to appreciate thru our journeys, mud and all… We are called to be distracted by the JOY and tolerate the pain… God had a passion to be with us…

The flowers blooming this spring will remind us of God’s Grace – forgiveness enabling eternal life… and to know that beauty came from seeing an opportunity in a mud field… Ideas planted by the Holy Spirit are beautiful to watch grow…

The mud field of life is full of opportunity…. nutrients are present and ready for use, just add water and add the warmth of the Sun…  God also sees opportunity in us… He sculpts our lives where we might see the beauty in the ordinary… He shows us how to bloom… It’s HIS garden of us earthly souls; He just adds living water – warmth of the Son… And He waits for us to grow…

This mud of life helps me visually anticipate spring… God gives me eyes to see opportunity, and He encourages us to rise above the mud… I know that God sees potential in all HIS children… We are made from dust into HIS children, to grow, to bloom, to live, to LOVE…

Amen

“If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” Romans 14:8

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Curls, 08JAN

I was scrubbing off paint in a late night shower when I thought I would curl my hair – I was thinking of my dear friend who had worn curlers under her outfit at our church’s outside Living Nativity on Christmas eve, so that she would look nice for bell choir… I texted her this morning saying I was thinking of her, and she texted saying she also was simultaneously using hot curlers and was thinking of me, LOL – that’s awesome… God pairs up us crazy sisters… and of course it figures that I ran into her when I snuck into church between services and I still had my curlers in…

I could say it’s vanity to have curls – but on this day it seemed about being happy – the small things that make you happy like having the time to curl your hair… this scripture from Ecclesiastes and thinking about my soul sister makes me happy – and God makes me happy – with dreaming of eternity in our hearts how could we not smile…

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.  I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it…” Ecclesiastes 3:11-14

“This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.” Ecclesiastes 5:10-20

As David wrote his ponderings in all of Ecclesiastes chapters 1-12, it is a comfort to remember that God is in control –  we are here for such a short time in this world – we should make the best of it – He concluded: “No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.”

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LIGHT Invades Dark, 07Jan

Haven’t written a devotion in a while, have been focusing on editing and posting the old ones on my blog… But this is new/old because even though each of my writings have come from new thoughts in me of convergent experiences, truly all our LIGHT revelations are all from old LIGHT, a old SPIRIT from before time began… external to time… As God is SPIRIT, He is the creator of all, including time… And He’s a SPIRIT who still wants to illuminate our own darknesses in a new way… it is a LIGHT to catch our attention in a fresh way.

It’s not a surprise that there is a convergence of people’s experiences from finding LIGHT in the darkness – it is not a surprise because it’s the LIGHT that finds them… The bible begins with LIGHT overtaking the darkness… At the appointed time it was and is the LIGHT of Jesus that overcame darkness for all time, Light is trying to seep into every compartmentalized hidden space in the world, Light begins by entering the deepest soul space in us – and it is LIGHT that needs to be pour back out of us into the world.

” Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. 36 Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” John 12

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1

As I read these bible verses… I could speak of many areas of light invading darkness in my personal life, but I like how the scriptures speak individually to each person… each person has new LIGHT invading old darkness… Each soul illumination is a precious moment… Each LIGHT shared brings us back closer to wholeness…

Compartmentalize… often we want to separate our darkness from our happy places… If we are able to keep everything in life easy and LIGHT in life, we can move thru our days… But there’s dark…, there are downtimes, there is grief from loss, sadness, pain, loneliness, and confusion… There are cluttered veils darkening the LIGHT. But all this covering and masking doesn’t change the LIGHT, it CAN’T ever change the LIGHT…

And we CAN’T stay in the dark forever, because LIGHT invades dark… “The LIGHT shines in the darkness, and the darkness has NOT overcome it.” John 1:5

We have seen many who are prisoners in pain, we encourage but cannot heal them, we distract but cannot fix their pain, but we fight dark with sharing of a GIFT… We add LIGHT that’s gifted to us… And we too have to remember to keep walking towards the LIGHT when we are stumbling in our own darkness…

Yes, we ourselves fall into dark places, but we are chosen to SEE… We are chosen to remember to keep the LIGHT burning for others. We were called out of darkness for a purpose that is not even ours to claim… We have no choice – when a fire is lit in our souls we have to feed the fire with openness, it’s not ours to snuff out…

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into HIS wonderful LIGHT.” 1Peter 2:9

“The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27

It’s the truth….The LIGHT of the world cannot be hidden…

“Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” Matthew 5

“The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” Revelation 21

Lord, thank you for the LIGHT and pulling us from our darkest times. May we always follow the LIGHT. May we always desire to SHINE your eternal LIGHT.

“Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. 35 See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness.” Luke 11

Amen

 

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I thought I had a bad day, 17DEC

I thought I had a bad day, but God intervened…

I thought I had a bad day, but God sent me into a situation that made me long for my normalcy, made me appreciate little things, and praise that things weren’t worse…

I thought I had a bad day, but God gave me neighbors who opened their homes and hearts to remedy my immediate needs…

I thought I had a bad day, but God gave me a flexible work situation to deal with life…

I thought I had a bad day, but God sent a school crew of a dozen of His special people kids smiling and waving at me after their lunch outing while I waited in the drive thru line…

I thought I had a bad day, but God gave me free coupons for that free lunch too…

I thought I had a bad day, but God keeps my car running for my freedom, my livelihood, my portable tabernacle…

I thought I had a bad day, but God gave me time to think of an action plan out from financial downing, and sent paddle boards so I would keep my head above water…

I thought I had a bad day, but God relocated me for a day to a place where I interacted with and encouraged a dozen other people, others who gives tirelessly to others, including my own pastor…

I thought I had a bad day, but God gave me an unplanned chance to chat with my child in the car after school and to hear him thank me for being home after my business trip so that I could sing to him at night, and pray with him for sweet dreams, because that “made him happy and sleep well”…

I thought I had a bad day, but God made both my children’s growing faiths as an encouragement that His Faith in mankind starts fresh with every gifted child…

I thought I had a bad day, but I had places to go and people to meet, memories to make to last a lifetime…

I thought I had a bad day, but God sent me freedom to sing out in stores and public with catchy Christmas lyrics about His son’s birth, and no one seems to mind…

I thought I had a bad day, but God reminded me to remind the world that He gave HIS son to them because HE loves them…

I thought I had a bad day, but God reminded me that He was the one who pursued me for years, hunted me down to stop ignoring Him, and woke me up with LOVE for LIFE…

I thought I had a bad day, but God reminded me that He gives me Grace I don’t deserve and won’t deserve for my future sins…

I thought I had a bad day, but God reminded me that He gave me this moment to wake up after precious sleep and still hear the sounds of my family sleeping in peace…

I thought I had a bad day, but I can Be Still…

I thought I had a bad day, but God gave me one more day in this LIFE…

I thought I had a bad day, but God gave me this moment to Praise HIM…

I thought I had a bad day, but God gave me ME…

I thought I had a bad day, but God gave me HIM…

I thought I had a bad day, but God doesn’t ever get return love or acknowledgement from likely 99% of the children that He created… Thousands of years, billions of souls are lost… God’s bad day is epically eternally worse than mine…

I know God is going to try His best once again, today, to win more hearts…

I can try my best too God, I can try to live my best today, for me and especially for YOU…

One more day…. One more day to LOVE…

Thankful for the day…

Thankful for God…

Thankful for LOVE…

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Ah, was a great live show held last night at church – always a tidbit of insight to be gained from the re-hearing of a classic tale. I have seen Scrooge – a Christmas Carol – a thousand times – but this one man portrayal last night by Gerald Dickens, the great great grandson of Charles Dickens, was amazing of course – and so I have to take time to write this new devotion due to a couple small sprinkles of “new to me” verbiage – because the artist portraying all the characters was faithful to the original text which is usually omitted from the glitz productions.  It was the line “and God love it” that perked my ears – God loves the turning of hearts – God loves every little mini smile that becomes the biggest heart gushes – us turning to Him – that’s what God loves…  Scrooge is a redemption story certainly – and it has solid bible teachings underlying the text that always intrigued me – as I always have my radar up for scripture subtly added into seemingly secular situations… but it turns out that it was written not in secular times but in times that were faith- filled – faith was publicly displayed as tremendously important in day to day living.

Here’s my devotion – thanks all for letting me continue to share my writings.

And God Love It, 04Dec

A Christmas Carol is a Christian Christ-mas story, of course, and this story does cross different faiths as well. Dickens has the ability to teach, reach and awaken and certainly to entertain in this timeless classic – it’s scripture in story – the best way to perk the ears of the world – Jesus used this classic method as well in His parables – God knows we LOVE a good story with a happy ending…

My favorite of the Dickens’ ghosts is the Ghost of Christmas Present – “the like of which you have never seen before” – that is because every Christmas is new and renewed – each Ghost (“more than 1800” are more than 2000 now) brings the rebirth of SPIRIT that is a blessing to every turned heart – to each reborn in the LIGHT of Christ …  making life fresh and renewed again… Dickens knew improving the lot of life of all the world is what Christmas is all about – Christmas is about finding the lost and saving the world one soul at a time – the Ghost of Christmas present is Dickens’ heartfelt reminder to find PEACE on earth that is in Christmas – that is FROM Christmas…  And a few times the text reminds us about the founder of Christmas – redemption is 100% possible due to Christ’s birth, death and resurrection.

The text that peaked my interest today is about the Ghost of Christmas Present’s torch – not only did this ghost’s torch shed the LIGHT for Scrooge to see – it SHARED the LIGHT in a fantastical way – the torch shared physical light – scented light – and liquid light – the sight, smell and taste of Christ…  This performance by Gerald Dickens – as well as the original text – mentions the Ghost sprinkling incense on people arguing in the streets to make them of good humor and sharing water drops from His torch (living water from Light?) giving needed relief to the poorest of souls  – all these things causing the people to become more friendly jovial and full of LIGHT at Christmas. – here is the text: “sprinkled incense on their dinners from his torch. And it was a very uncommon kind of torch, for once or twice when there were angry words between some dinner-carriers who had jostled each other, he shed a few drops of water on them from it, and their good humour was restored directly. For they said, it was a shame to quarrel upon Christmas Day. And so it was. God love it, so it was.”

The phrase: “And so it was. God love it, so it was” – yeah that sent mini chills because I had never heard that line from and of the many adaptations – and this time I heard it LOUD AND CLEAR because it was confirming that God LOVES “good humor” and God loves PEACE on Earth at Christmas and all days – because that is why He Himself sent Jesus in the first place… Another great line reminds us to take care of the children as Jesus Himself, the founder of Christmas, came as a child.

I had the privilege to discuss with Gerald Dickens (minutes before the show) that the Christmas Carol was written for the Scrooge redemption story of course – but truly it was really written to awaken the people of the era to the awful plight of the poor and the poorest children… that Christmas of all times is when we can repent and repair our ways and make the world better – starting in our own villages – the world needed and needs redemption (and we know the greatest Redeemer. Yes, and Scrooge needed Him too)…

People do remember that Jesus came at Christmas – but we pray that the world would all really remember WHY He came…  I am reminded now from a chat with my biblical professor in the midst of my early awakening (two years ago this week) that advent is mini-lent – to reflect on that fact that Jesus HAD TO COME – because we were and we are LOST – and that there is such sorrow in the lost souls – the cries Jesus had as a baby (as singer Michael Card speculated about when he wrote “What Her Heart Remembered”) and again as a man (from Lazarus scripture “Jesus Wept”) must have been so deep for the loss of souls – so many souls – so little time…  Jesus wept… Sorrow in His witness of so many lost.

The Ghost of Christmas Present converses with Scrooge about what is in the torch – a bible teaching is underlying this text as the Spirit sprinkles the Spirit on the poorest of meals – it is a hint to Beatitude “Blessed are the Poor in Spirit – for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven”…

Another bible teaching is shared in the next few lines – that the Spirit world is not responsible for the evil in the world – that the SPIRIT brings LIGHT and LIFE – that people sadly do evil as if “they had never lived” – it is so clear that LIGHT and LIFE stems from Jesus – and His teachings… Endless bible scriptures point to the evil we should avoid…  At Christmas and always, we are to focus His LIGHT that shines in the darkness – this is how we are able to LIVE and LOVE:

Obviously, there are so many more biblical teachings that are threaded in this timeless Dickens’ tale – that is not a surprise knowing the era of Dickens – but the last one that I will write about is the image of the two children hidden under the Ghost of Christmas Present’s robe – Ignorance and Want – the worst being the boy – “WANT” because “DOOM” is written on his face – yeah that is why Jesus came in a nutshell – because the world and its trappings has doomed people. This is due to no fault of their own but to original sin but then doom continues due to their ignorance – they will be the branches cast into the fire shriveled up dead without connection to the vine – these children not realizing the chance of redemption, of gaining the LIGHT – until they have the realization of Christ’s redemption – of becoming the Children of God. Humankind needs the Great Redeemer that is Christ to give LIFE – and the Ghost of Christmas present wants Scrooge – and us – to know that it’s not too late to be redeemed… We need to turn to our redeeming new life with a realization that we are God’s child.

And we, like Dickens, are blessed to shed some light on the stories of mankind – seek justice – and sprinkle good humor wherever we go – not to quarrel or be in strife – we are to help our fellow man – whether we know them or not – we are to help bring LIGHT on Christmas – and everyday…

“God Bless Us – Everyone”

“And God Love it”

Merry Christmas

———-

http://www.stormfax.com/3dickens.htm has this “original” text

But soon the steeples called good people all, to church and chapel, and away they came, flocking through the streets in their best clothes, and with their gayest faces. And at the same time there emerged from scores of bye-streets, lanes, and nameless turnings, innumerable people, carrying their dinners to the bakers’ shops. The sight of these poor revellers appeared to interest the Spirit very much, for he stood with Scrooge beside him in a baker’s doorway, and taking off the covers as their bearers passed, sprinkled incense on their dinners from his torch. And it was a very uncommon kind of torch, for once or twice when there were angry words between some dinner-carriers who had jostled each other, he shed a few drops of water on them from it, and their good humour was restored directly. For they said, it was a shame to quarrel upon Christmas Day. And so it was. God love it, so it was.

In time the bells ceased, and the bakers were shut up; and yet there was a genial shadowing forth of all these dinners and the progress of their cooking, in the thawed blotch of wet above each baker’s oven; where the pavement smoked as if its stones were cooking too.

“Is there a peculiar flavour in what you sprinkle from your torch?” asked Scrooge.

“There is. My own.”

“Would it apply to any kind of dinner on this day?” asked Scrooge.

“To any kindly given. To a poor one most.”

“Why to a poor one most?” asked Scrooge.

“Because it needs it most.”

“Spirit,” said Scrooge, after a moment’s thought, “I wonder you, of all the beings in the many worlds about us, should desire to cramp these people’s opportunities of innocent enjoyment.”

“I!” cried the Spirit.

“You would deprive them of their means of dining every seventh day, often the only day on which they can be said to dine at all,” said Scrooge. “Wouldn’t you?”

“I!” cried the Spirit.

“You seek to close these places on the Seventh Day,” said Scrooge. “And it comes to the same thing.”

“I seek!” exclaimed the Spirit.

“Forgive me if I am wrong. It has been done in your name, or at least in that of your family,” said Scrooge.

“There are some upon this earth of yours,” returned the Spirit, “who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us.”

—————–

“Oh, Man, look here! Look, look, down here!” exclaimed the Ghost.

They were a boy and a girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility. Where graceful youth should have filled their features out, and touched them with its freshest tints, a stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched, and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds. Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing. No change, no degradation, no perversion of humanity, in any grade, through all the mysteries of wonderful creation, has monsters half so horrible and dread.

Scrooge started back, appalled. Having them shown to him in this way, he tried to say they were fine children, but the words choked themselves, rather than be parties to a lie of such enormous magnitude.

“Spirit, are they yours?” Scrooge could say no more.

“They are Man’s,” said the Spirit, looking down upon them. “And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it!” cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand towards the city. “Slander those who tell it ye. Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse. And abide the end.”

 

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Don’t Throw Away your Confidence, 03Dec

My head was turned towards Hebrews this morning… I could write a lot but my thoughts have already been placed there in the scripture – so I will just simply share from this verbally verbose apostle Paul, who is always writing devotions and urgings. In his writing, Paul is emotionally freed from his physical trappings by allowing God to take his chains off thru the blood of Christ – thru Him who entered “through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation….. He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.”

So I pray we all can take heart on our focus of the good life to come, promised by our true Father….

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. ”

These are excerpts – but it’s all a good read – promises from God are given to those doing the will of God… We are to run our best race… “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”

From Hebrews 10
32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. 35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For,“In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.”
38 And,“But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”
39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

—-
From Hebrews 11

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
——

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

—–
From Hebrews 12

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
—-
but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”
—-
From Hebrews 13
15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

 

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I thought I was just doing advent reading this morning – apparently there are some advent writings in me too at this beautiful peaceful 5AM wake up time…Interesting that I had just finished this piece in peace when the house awoke… God’s timing…

The Word Made Flesh, LIFE – Infinite LIGHT in Finite Entities, 01DEC

I can just imagine God making Jesus like a 3D printer to earth – from ALL in ALL HE took all the elements of HIS Spirit that already existed – truly the WORD was made flesh (John 1)…

We all know the Christmas story – how God made Jesus as a baby – from just those first few cells he grew from Mary’s womb – God does not just disregard the beautiful biological systems that He envisioned/created – God used the same system that He already envisioned to be able to evolve – God is NOT external to all this – it is not pre-destiny but life in motion – God is SPIRIT- SPIRIT is always in motion – and if God planned to make Word into FLESH then HE already had a biological blueprint – a sophisticated system ready to go.  God does not work external to LIFE – and LIFE is not external to God. LIFE is from LIGHT-IN-FINITE-ENTITIES – in finite, temporary, individual beings (us) we can look for His Spirit placed/intercalated as a portion of this amazing infinite LIGHT of Jesus… Jesus is LIGHT – Jesus is human but He is not in finite quantities having limits or bounds – He is INFINITE.

We see an illumination of infinite Spirit by the LIGHT that came into the world. Jesus IS the Way, the Truth and the Life. (John 14). For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Jesus (Colossians 1).

It is my belief that God has purposefully planned so many things that we cannot explain – so that we are able to get EVEN MORE intrigued to study them and therefore we have grand opportunities to discover Him. We are not to be afraid of the science – science is descriptive – science’s original definition was natural theology – we can study the richness of biological and physical systems – the mysteries of not just the dinosaurs but all the fossil plants too (yes there were huge plants too and lots of fossils of them still exist!!!) – we can study the intricacies of this planet and the universe down to the shaking sub-atomic particles underlying it all – we can study the ins and outs of all these amazing details of life and still not understand it all, but we DON’T have to dismiss it – we just don’t have to brush it off… and we don’t have to be afraid of what we don’t understand.  Fear is like stepping stones or sinking sand (Joni Mitchell, “I Think I Understand” lyrics) – we use our non-understanding to step to a next level of understanding – Jesus is LIGHT – each stone is lighted – or perhaps some stones seem dark and stepping out in faith means stepping into the dark and then looking for the light when you get there…  Or perhaps bringing the LIGHT with you… “The LIGHT shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

I wonder, I just wonder of my path in life… and I know God made me a scientist – and I know God gave me JOY – and I know God made my ears open – I was there when He drove me to Jesus.  As I am me – a scientist and a believer, I know I am supposed to question and study to build up – not tear down belief systems. I know that God would not leave us scientists hanging out in left field – HE brings us in on the mysteries on purpose – to give us a chance to describe and then to share the LIGHT of the beauty of life…

Once we see the LIGHT and we realize that we are born again as children of God with Jesus as our brother then we can see what the LIGHT has been illuminating this whole while – it is illuminating ALL that is good – it is illuminating ALL that is YOU Lord…

Jesus brings us to YOU Lord, forever…

Thank You Lord – thanks for the little hints of YOU that you leave hanging around the earth…

Thank You Lord – thanks for the big Mack-truck sized hints that we can’t ignore so that we can just simply see you swirling and designing in one of Your mini sandboxes called Earth…

Earth is not a magic box – Lord, I know You know what is going on inside all of creation – YOU have it covered… We can’t pigeon hole to say that we know what You could have and could not have done – we are given faith to believe what we can’t see – and we need to use that FAITH – we need to study You in real time, not as a relic but in the “here and now”…  We do understand, Lord – we do understand that YOU are more infinite than we could ever imagine – we know we are finite here on earth Lord – we exist as brief bits of LIFE as “Light in finite entities” – each one of us in a plan that fits together to Your great infiniteness… All together we are one with You.

Jesus became Flesh – He came to make God known to us — to speak it out so we could hear – really hear – for when our own ears open then we can truly understand that we have been experiencing God the whole time – all that is good is from god – we can not see Him but Jesus has made Him known to us…  “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”

Thank You Lord for infinite LIGHT
——–

Colossians 1:15-23 (NIV)

The Supremacy of the Son of God

¹⁵ The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

²¹ Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. ²² But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— ²³ if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.

—–

John 1 (NIV)
The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

———-
From: Bible Gateway Verse of the Day – December 01

John 1:1-2, 14  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
 

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Well this got this writing all mixed – a devotion about babies with scriptures with an overloaded gush from singing today… I could try to extract just the baby devotion when I get it uploaded (only 200 to go, LOL), but since you folks know the folks I have written about I just left the praise gush in for now… Thanks for letting me release in all praise…

Thanking the Babies, 27 Nov

You know, I find such joy from Go, in His timing and His ways…

Today was a good day to thank the babies… starting and finishing with baby Jesus… But including loving all the babies and all cherished growing children of God…

Matthew 18:10 Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.”

It was my first anniversary of the first day I substituted to sing/audition with the praise band…. And we were scheduled to sing my awakening song today  – “Come to the Cradle” by Michael Card… note – I have sung this song with Michael Card himself, even have a signed copy from him, during another God orchestrated moment, but I KNEW it was my deepest JOY that I wanted to sing this song WITH the band – See, when it was shared it at the Christmas concert two years ago, I missed it – I didn’t hear it live, I was doing kitchen dishes and so when I got a copy of the whole concert to copy to send to our shut ins as a Christmas present from the UMW, I heard the song for the first time where I actually heard it… and played it over and over again on CD a thousand times in my awakening months… I still do… I needed that song, God knew that I needed to hear and take it to heart – and I thank God forever more that He opened my ears… “Come to the Cradle, come and find PEACE!”

What a surprise today for me singing, yes, even though it had been almost a year ALL those nerves just like that first day reappeared INSTANTLY – whew – and then just as instantly, those nerves disappeared “POOF” as I started singing… I remember a year ago that I was singing by chance of substituting for a new mom – but this time, a year later, I was singing watching those twin babies, growing and walking at fifteen months, it was a great distraction for my nerves… And I was of course starring at the exact same Christmas banner that had comforted me that first day… I was remembering of course that I was singing FOR Jesus… God put me there, God made me a member of this band, I know this, this wasn’t in my plans… Everytime I sing I try to do my best, and today it was controlling those nerves, I knew I had practiced, but nerves motivate me to fulfill God’s purpose – not that I know the purpose – but I know that I am in the plan somehow… But showing nervousness when I know what my singing job is, that’s NOT what I wanted to show… People in the audience already know that God changed me, pushed me out if my comfort zone, and plucked me from lost soul to saved child… But today I want to let the words stand alone… It’s the baby inside the others that need spiritual milk, we as a band add our songs as lullabies to God’s children… I thank God for that baby – for those babies – for baby Jesus – for baby Jesus in them – for baby Jesus in me – I thank HIM with ALL my heart because He is IN my heart…

How blessed it is to sing praises, and how blessed to be entrusted to help others’ in worship time… And I remember that singing on Sunday is not for me or for my recognition, it’s for God… Besides, regardless of what we sing Sunday I get to sing in my car and in my head EVERY DAY… But on Sunday I can’t help to smile (and dance a bit) because we share our joy of salvation with these others… Because I know most these people in the pews very well, and I know their praises, and a touch of their sorrows too… They are family…

And I wondered how I would be today nervous-wise: smiling or with tears singing my awakening song?… “Come to the Cradle”… Sure, in the car I’ve had both smiles and tears… Mostly smiles… To realize that I have had my ears and eyes opened by none other than GOD HIMSELF two years ago, wow that’s powerful, to see and feel the changes within my life and then on top of all that to now also open my mouth and praise it back to God, that’s powerful, and to sing JOY when know I don’t deserve any of this, but Jesus took and takes the burden, took the hit, takes the brunt of battling my devil demons… wow… I praise those blessings in tears….

But there were NO tears today in chruch – I was all smiles – warmed by the Sun and Son in my morning Subaru practice in anticipation… During the band practice I closed my eyes in focused praise, whew… Turns out it was JUST another day – another SPECIAL day in God’s timing, which means ALL days are SPECIAL… Because ALL our days are God’s days…

At the end of “Come to the Cradle” practice, as we were singing the final chorus “in the innocent, upward, trusting glance of a child”, thoe twins babies were twin-focused faces on us… Mmmm nice… That’s all God… I actually had the opportunity and I thanked the babies later in the parking lot – it is beautiful God’s timing as that piece of God’s puzzle was slid in HIS timing – as I have written previously, I was asked to sing the exact week that they were born early… Mmmm…. All God… I will never tire of telling that story – it’s God’s timing… All God… in a nutshell I tell my shortened version to people: God got my head on straight about my faith – my voice cleared from skipping the sugar-filled milk and ice cream after charging my diet which enabled me to lose tremendous amount of weight – my memorized praise band music became an addiction which turned into an asset – there was a ripple effect only God could have orchestrated… Awakening, writing, working out, weight loss, singing… PRAISE…

In practice this morning, the twins mom did sing so beautiful and oh how I remember her singing a solo verse last Christmas when her babies were just born and in the NICU and she touched my heart and the hearts of all who heard her beautiful and meaningful praise… I knew the NICU, my own baby in the NICU for ten days, I know that praise to see the babies grow up into my now healthy teen and her praises were doubled with two babies…  So “when God gives a gift, wraps it up in a child, He loves them, made them – so wondrously wild”… Oh how that’s a blessed verse to hear her sing out strong today with her babies right there in the sanctuary with the beauty of seeing grandma and grandpa and dad smiling, they are healthy and growing…. That’s God, all God!!! And thanks babies for making the grownups shine too… Babies make you drop facades and formalities… Babies pull the smiles out of your soul…

I’ve learned so much this year – not just about singing but about me… And love to study and enjoy the other children of God too… Yes, I am that “wondrously wild” child of God…  my baby Christian status was a birth through the Word of truth… I had a circle of blessings today… And the circle will still continue to spiral back to home, we are always going to have to refocus on finishing last to begin first… Our praise is not just for the past – it is for the present and it is for the future – having faith to know that God will see us thru new challenges, sweet and not so sweet, I know God will see us thru those dark times to find the LIGHT…

Matthew 18:1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

And to top off my gifts of the day, singing all the beautiful praises, I now possess the Christmas music song sets that we will start practicing this week, those praises that I have longed to sing openly and not just in my Subaru – because I have been practicing in my Subaru all year… It’s Christmas… All good things come from God… Baby Jesus… beautiful baby born to bring peace thru blood, it’s a breath of baby JOY at Christmas before the conviction and then beauty of rebirth celebrated at Easter…

James 1: “17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”

Because babies are born to learn, and if they are born from God, then we must know that their first instinctual actions are from God – they have needs and wants, real ones not from years of conditioning, they are fresh examples of God’s timing, His yearning, His blessings… and they take work… God knows the gifts He gives us – and we are to understand that all those good gifts in us are to be developed, cherished and cared for… Did you ever thank a baby for giving you a purpose too? Did you ever thank a baby for giving you a chance to show your outpouring of shared love? Thank an actual baby plus thank the baby God gave you to grow in your heart? If you have then you are directly thanking God… That’s praise… People might just think that are relating to a particular baby just as a person, but they are really sharing a private moment of JOY directed by God… You never saw anyone ohh and awe a baby JUST to please another adult – those baby tickles and toe wiggling impulses are making JOY – JOY is from God shaking out of your soul, using the baby as a vehicle… Kittens and baby animals do that too, yup… That shine from your own face was a gift out of your soul from God to God…

So thank a baby, and that’s thanking God… Thank a child of God, and that’s thanking God. And when you see a genuine smiling adult (not a devilish smile but a clear clean one), well you can know that you just saw God working thru them too…

Thanks God… For the music of course, but thanks for the babies, thanks for the births, the rebirths, the opportunity to thank you and for the SMILES…

Dang… God is good… I just set my phone down after writing and read this favorite little devotion book, I thought how about the first devotion, and you guessed it, this devotion reiterates what I wrote, crazy….
GOD is the ultimate – I can’t help but say that is SO COOL…

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Come and Find PEACE, 25Nov

One month until Christmas… Whew… Prince of PEACE is coming, but actually He’s here.  And He’s looking for us.

We wish at this time of year for others to BE at peace, to grow the peace. We wish to share God’s PEACE.

We know Jesus is looking for a place, we hope others will take HIM in as we have… We all wish for HIM to grow in the hearts of all mankind… We wish to grow Him evermore in our hearts too.

If there’s no room in our crowded lives for even more Jesus, then He will wait patiently until we make room… Just like a baby in the stable, asleep in the manger, He will just wait… And like a baby, He will start to wriggle; He will want to be fed…  And when He’s fed He will grow and be even more hungry… Jesus came not just to give peace, He was tasked to GROW – to grow the peace, to change the world – one heart at a time… So to grow peace in our lives we must feed Jesus, we must seek HIM to find PEACE.

When I had gestational diabetes with my daughter I was shocked… Then, when I realized what was happening, I changed my lifestyle for the sake of my baby… Later I felt blessed… This was a correction factor I totally needed… I was eating awful, I had no control over my nutrition, and I was in a stressed state of pregnancy, I was scared and not at peace… This baby was everything to me… everything… I changed… Gestational diabetes was a blessing wakeup call… There is no better motivation then the health of your child… I changed my diet, followed the diabetes plans, peanut butter became my friend… I wore a timer around my neck, I tested my sugar, I made charts and documented like the dutiful scientist I was… I ate healthy… I ate for my baby rather than just for me… I then found out my baby had a single umbilical artery, instead of two… not enough nutrition could enter, every bite I ate was important, like every pregnancy…  As unchecked gestational diabetes would allow the baby to be unhealthy overweight, a single artery might make the baby underweight… I had both to balance, I had to change.  I was the one to hold the balance in how I approached this pregnancy, I had to find PEACE so I changed, my baby born six weeks early from another complication I never saw coming, but my baby was fine, my fifteen year old now is beautiful… My baby had grown to a healthy five pounds… My efforts of balance in eating changed into a new mission of balancing life as a mom, a forever job – a calling – a mission…  being a Mom is a lifestyle… Yes you can always find work with mom skills…

Gestational diabetes was a wake up, my lifestyle change forced. Yet later my eating returned to haphazard, I knew gestational diabetes meant future diabetes, but that seemed so far off. I ate well ONLY when I had a baby to grow, baby two was a completely different pregnancy, and aside from the emergency c-section (he was stuck in a marathon delivery – head turned – I think he was already hungry looking for food), yet it WAS a perfect pregnancy – I had found peace and balance in pregnancy.

Years went by, another pregnancy of divine intervention… This time a Christmas baby of Spirit… Jesus came but I did NOT heed the call. I was veiled as those in 2nd Corinthians, I heard but I did NOT understand.
God called to me to birth His peace. I had no room in my inn… Jesus waited outside my doors – until I opened the door of my mind… Jesus was stuck…
Jesus was hungry, I wasn’t feeding myself in His Word… Jesus waited until God stacked the deck against my denials and crumbled my unbelief… This child was being born, I had to change…

Jesus is crying for the world to hear –  for each of us to hear – Jesus wants us in God’s house for PEACE – HIS peace births our PEACE…

I cracked open the door a little and a MIGHTY WIND BLEW THE DOOR WAY OPEN!

You do anything for a baby… You change…

I had to learn to re-balance, I had to change.  I was the one to hold the balance in how I approached this new life reborn in Christ… We continually are called to change. I changed my focus – I changed my lifestyle – changed my eating – changed how I spend my time –  but it was God who changed my LIFE.

Change, Jesus is a catalyst for change. Jesus wants to grow in us… If our mangers can’t handle a growing Jesus then it’s time for us to make room… For God knows we need room for a grown up savior, one who is strong enough to rescue us when we fall asleep, strong enough to carry us to our eternal home with God… We have to feed our baby, our ravenous teen, and sustain our mighty Prince of PEACE… John 6  “40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

As Michael Card sings: “Come to the Cradle – come and find PEACE”…  We find this baby waiting… waiting to be fed – to grow – this child is “wondrously wild”…

Moms feed their babies with milk and we all must remember to feed ourselves with spiritual milk…  the baby Jesus is so hungry in our souls… Before feeding the world PEACE, we must feed our internal peace by feeding Jesus…. “Let there be PEACE on earth, and let it begin with me…”

We will stumble and we will suffer (Daniel 11, 1 Peter 4), but we look up… We know we are called to be Your child… Lord, and we reach to Christ’s hand for lifting… We pray for PEACE, Your PEACE…

Merry Christmas God, thank you for sharing Your GIFT of Jesus. Our GIFT to You is to work for You, our mission to feed Your sheep, to tell the world of Your PEACE.. Your GIFT to us is to BE one of Your sheep, to open Your GIFT of PEACE… And to share this GIFT forever…

Amen

—
Scriptures:
2 Corinthians 3
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

——

Daniel 11:
33 “Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. 34 When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them. 35 Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.

—–
Come to the Cradle, Michael Card, partial lyrics

Come to the cradle
Come and find peace
Alone in the cradle
Simplicity sleeps
Behold perfect wisdom
So gentle and mild
In the innocent upward
Trusting glance of a child

Come hear the call
Of sweet sighs in the dark
Their touches, tender
Touches your heart
The bustle and business
Lasts year after year
But this little baby
Won’t always be here

—–

1 Peter 4 (NIV)

Living for God
4 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. 2 As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4 They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. 5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.

7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Suffering for Being a Christian
12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. 16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And,
“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
19 So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

—

John 6
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

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In the Dark, 19NOV

Often God keeps us in the dark… Of course I mean the figure of speech because there is no way we know God’s plan, God’s timing… God does has a plan though, I am convinced and convicted to that notion, it’s quite surprising at times, but it’s real… And we are in God’s plan – I feel that for sure…

The how’s and why’s ??? – well keep dreaming – I’ve asked God for a backstage pass when (if) I get to heaven – but it’s not my role to expect these answers here on earth… God is NOT our buddy, He’s our master… And if HE WANTS us to be in the dark about something then we are in the dark…

Yeah though – most definitely HE gives us the LIGHT – this gift of an internalized warming bright survival beacon LIGHT of Jesus!!! But our understanding of the ins and outs of all the tests we endure? of all the twists and turns our lives take and how they fit into His plan??? …well that is shared only on a “need to know basis”…

Our path requires us to live and walk by faith NOT by sight… 2Corinthians

God pulls us thru life despite ourselves; constantly angels must be tweaking the system and saving us, buffering our path… Lord knows I feel these last minute saves to my earthly existence, especially when I jeopardize my own life by being human… Lord knows I am grateful, but I probably don’t have a clue how many saves I’ve gotten… To get a save should increase our meditation of His plan for us… Scares will cause us fear, but do we learn? God wants us to learn – He is Our Father.

He is reminding us that we are to fear His power, and we are to trust and obey… He reminds us we are part of His plan…
“Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling.” Psalm 2

If we were to understand it all? well we would likely be stopped in our tracks in wonder, but God needs us to keep moving, to pick up our crosses and move… We are to live on a “need to know basis”, so that we keep moving forward.

The dark is not so dark when we trust in the one God sent… Our LIGHT is FROM Jesus shining thru us… Our consciousness is our beacon…

Our LIGHT is shined internally; our paths are illuminated as we walk towards LIGHT…

Our LIGHT is shined externally; our paths illuminate this witness to our faith.

The path is ours and ours alone… If we are shedding our old selves, then we can see how the SPIRIT gives us a new identity… This also gives us strength to embrace and to live that new life… “In Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God…” 2Cor5

Michael Card sings and speaks to this in a video about “And Dreams”:
https://youtu.be/KEWxsX7bmz8
That we need Jesus to find us, He gives us a new identity in HIM.

We are in the dark – purposefully – for the LIGHT to find us, after we are open to the LIGHT of Jesus, then it’s up to us to run with it… “7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? 8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.” Galatians 5

I thank you Lord for the light, and for the race, please help me to accept Your plans with faith and thanksgiving, let your LIGHT come into the dark – in us and in the world…. Blessed are those who “delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.” Psalm1

I trust You Lord… 
I will listen to follow You Lord, to walk by faith…
You give us LIGHT, LIFE, and LOVE… 
You give us strength…

Amen

——
More scriptures:

Hebrews 12: … let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

—-
2Corinthians 5 (NIV)
Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
…
13 If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

—
Psalm 1
1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
——
Psalm 2: “Serve the Lord with fear
and celebrate his rule with trembling.
12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry
and your way will lead to your destruction,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
—
Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV)

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

—
Hebrews 13 (NIV):
12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

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I lie awake now, solid six hours of sleep but I don’t feel like writing, but as I think about my blistering leg burn, perhaps this morning’s awakeness and awareness is the blistering of my soul that continuously needs to heal… I sometimes have to write but not always, I sometimes choose to write for some purpose unknown to me… All my writing must be the bubbling of my soul, mostly JOY, but sometimes there’s blistering from a need to heal…

Blisters, 17NOV

Oh blisters… Body heal thyself… Blisters from my scalding leg burn are a remedy that’s coming from within…

God’s healing comes from within… God’s grace abounds but understanding His Grace comes from within… Deep within… God is working inside… Truly the internal convictions, confessions and conversations are our moving souls healing from within…

Brownian motion is the scientific term of the inherent movement of all molecules… they just all move… Life is in motion!

GOD’S movement of us within us is often joyous dancing, Paul Simon sings: “I’m just jittery, it’s just a way of dealing with my joy”…  But perhaps at times God’s movement within us is painful cleaning us out – healing yet painful blistering as an attempt to heal our souls in a fluid way. A spiritual fluid-filled blister would chose to envelop us – to contain all the needed safety and liquidity to heal ourselves, a blister filled with the blessed best Living Water, and it’s our job not to burst the blister and just let it do its job…

It’s God’s nature to heal us with His living water, His son, so that we no longer thirst… Jesus is the living water for us to tap into. He came to show us that God is working inside us… His SPIRIT was and is sent to lift us all back to God – bringing us back to the garden – making us whole… We need to hear His voice inside of us – and maintain the blister seal around our wounds – this can help block the noise and invading world and let us hear and heal inside – physically and emotionally… “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” Psalm 147:3

Jesus is like the moon landing astronaut and He has landed onto our individual self planet and staked out and rolled out God’s flag for all to see – marking us to say: “This is God’s turf!!!”… God sent us Jesus as a physical messenger sharing Himself as the Message that He came to quell our blistering souls, teaching us serious wound care, and forgive our seemingly impossible situations with salvation… His Holy Spirit remains with us to nurse us to God’s health.

Jesus’s cross will always be a reminder to us that peace came thru pain… Impossible made possible…  Luke 18: 25-27 “Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”  Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” Yes, Peace thru pain… Eternal peace for those who seek to allow Jesus to heal their brokenness.

Blisters…. yeah our skin fills with fluid to heal wounds… Jesus, our living water to rehydrate our stardust-made souls back into and with the fluid forgiveness of God’s love… God wants to love us forever as we are part of His one body…”You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it.” 1 Corinthians 12:27

To apply gauze to a blister protects it from the hard pressing of the outside world…And the fluid protects the delicate tissue within… Preserving life… Jesus living water given for life… Jesus’s “life revealed in our mortal body…” God brought us to Jesus to heal us and bring us back to God… Applying God’s armor protects Him inside our mortal selves…
Jesus said “whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Thanks for the blisters, Lord, I will preserve every precious drop of you living water irrigating my wounds from within…

Thanks for the JOY, Lord, I will jitter my JOY outwardly as I move closer to you…

Thank you Lord for my life in You, from You, with You, thru You.

Thank you for healing us all from within.
Amen

---

FYI

“Brownian motion is named after the botanist Robert Brown, who first observed this in 1827. He used a microscope to look at pollen grains moving randomly in water. At this point, he could not explain why this occurred. But in 1905, physicist Albert Einstein explained that the pollen grains were being moved by individual water molecules. This confirmed that atoms and molecules did exist, and provided evidence for particle theory. http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/zgr2pv4/revision/5

I like how it was a botanist busybody who described that because I am a scientist busybody too with a botany degree, a thirst for knowledge and a thirst for SPIRIT… I witness the miracles of how the living world works and I know God is SPIRIT – because I feel Him moving – we are all suspended in a fluid spirit-filled and spirit-moved existence… I feel this, I love this… God’s existence is not external to life, God isn’t just intercalated or blended with life side by side but GOD IS LIFE itself.

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2 Corinthians 4:7-11 (NIV)
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.

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John 4:
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
…
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

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John 6 (NIV)
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

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John 7:
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”

41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

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1 Corinthians 12 (NIRV)
Gifts of the Holy Spirit
12 Brothers and sisters, I want you to know about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. 2 You know that at one time you were unbelievers. You were somehow drawn away to worship statues of gods that couldn’t even speak. 3 So I want you to know that no one who is speaking with the help of God’s Spirit says, “May Jesus be cursed.” And without the help of the Holy Spirit no one can say, “Jesus is Lord.”

4 There are different kinds of gifts. But they are all given to believers by the same Spirit. 5 There are different ways to serve. But they all come from the same Lord. 6 There are different ways the Spirit works. But the same God is working in all these ways and in all people.

7 The Holy Spirit is given to each of us in a special way. That is for the good of all. 8 To some people the Spirit gives a message of wisdom. To others the same Spirit gives a message of knowledge. 9 To others the same Spirit gives faith. To others that one Spirit gives gifts of healing. 10 To others he gives the power to do miracles. To others he gives the ability to prophesy. To others he gives the ability to tell the spirits apart. To others he gives the ability to speak in different kinds of languages they had not known before. And to still others he gives the ability to explain what was said in those languages. 11 All the gifts are produced by one and the same Spirit. He gives gifts to each person, just as he decides.

One Body but Many Parts
12 There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ. 13 We were all baptized by one Holy Spirit. And so we are formed into one body. It didn’t matter whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free people. We were all given the same Spirit to drink. 14 So the body is not made up of just one part. It has many parts.

 

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A long processing piece or PEACE:

There is double meaning  to a parking pass sign that I got for my car at a visit to a church soup kitchen… “Working Inside” means: 1) People doing the work of God for people, at a no-judgment zone at the soup kitchen.   And 2) … “Working Inside” everyone has God!!! God is working inside – trying to percolate the eternal peace from the inside out with bubbles of His Spirit…

Fittingly a song of peace called “this is my song”, was beautifully played on piano by a seemingly homeless woman with such tremendous JOY on her face… During this music a friend came up to me and remarked that it was interesting how humans judge the outside but God sees how beautiful every person is on the inside… Yup, because God knows they are all HIS children of God… God is working inside them and working them for the benefit of all His children… HE WANTS THEM TO FIND PEACE… God wants them to find God – the kingdom of the heart…
“O hear my song, thou God of all the nations, a song of peace for their land and for mine”…

Luke 17
20 Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

Here’s the peace processing piece…

Working Inside – Blessed are the Peacemakers, 09-13Nov

I have busy days but I have peace and quiet pockets from time to time – this morning before church I have a peace-filled pocket for writing… and I appreciate all the PEACE that God is working on constantly within us (if all in the world would only listen – and remember to take Jesus up on His offer of peace…).. Pockets of peace exist so that you can slip into them…

Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God, Matthew 5:9

Peace first needs to be achieved internally for any hope of sharing peace externally… PEACE, we have to work at it and peace does NOT mean there will be no conflict… Peace actually costs us big time… Peace cost God big time, He gave His only son… PEACE is unfinished until we are all with Christ…

I pray everyone PEACE; the world shows that it is going to be rough ahead of us, THIS IS NOT NEW, so I look internally for peace everyday for myself with a newness of heart in Christ, so that I can figure out what I can do about peace on earth…

I sing with my nursing home friends: “Let there be peace on earth, And let it begin with me….To take each moment, And live each moment, With peace eternally.”

Sometimes at the nursing home we sing the Star Spangled Banner and with lyrics of “rockets’ red glare” – it is an interesting dilemma of peace with war…  peace thru conflict… hmm… the devotion book pointed out that God sent Jesus to bring PEACE but Jesus did not experience peace himself – it was certainly not given by humans – Jesus’ human time on Earth ended with a non-peaceful crucifixion – but we are able to persevere with Him as Spirit in us.. Peace thru Christ… Working inside…

At a Veteran’s day ceremony i noticed that God is sliding the pieces of His peace puzzle (that is our lives), and I listened and appreciated the service of our Veterans even more – the speaker told of how it is against human nature to become military folks and having to be trained to be able to engage in conflict – and that it is also the duty of us at home to support the “retraining” and decompression of these soldiers as they transition back to civilian life – we are failing there as a country – we have so many homeless veterans… Peace thru conflict…

We have so much freedom that we take for granted… we really do… I bet fewer and fewer people visit Gettysburg then visit their local malls… schools don’t even take field trips hardly anymore… I decompressed this thought with a fellow photographer at the Revolutionary War cemetery – that the tens of thousands killed in three days at Gettysburg would fill a major college stadium – those were all Americans fighting, wow… We barely remember…

At the homeless soup kitchen in a Center City church the Deaconess spoke of the 20% veterans who walk through the door… Yeah 20% are vets!… She asked us to spread the news and become advocates for fair wages and for fair treatment of citizens… she called for justice which mirrored the devotion of our UMW meeting… Peace thru justice…

All the homeless are marginalized and many of them have been racially profiled as well for criminal offenses which makes it even tougher to find a job at a living wage… there are so many stories so many hurting people… and the people I talk to were so smart and interesting… there is so much peace to be shared with everyone and so much to be learned from all children of God… at least two gentlemen urged a seven year old boy (whom I was working with as a cheerful greeter) to do well in school and go to college… He and I conversed with many folks and we both agreed that our jobs that evening were to be the salt of the earth – to be friendly and kind to everyone just like Jesus would be… A seven year old knows how Jesus acts, we should all learn from these pockets of peace…

A smiling woman carried a backpack of well used piano music, she has played piano since she was 10, plus one of our youth group members also played the piano for her…  this woman and her partner had complete JOY on their faces while she played… she showed me a song and I sang with her and her partner… “This is my song” – a song about peace that is desirable through all the nations…we discussed the songs derivation; she and I shared how people don’t always tap into that internal conversation with God – how important that is… She and I understood how God’s peace is vital to our lives … How God brings peace and JOY and the ability to continue on…

Reading the lyrics reflect my life observations lately – they tell us there is no greater prayer then to pray thru God’s hand for peace internally and throughout the world – Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called Children of God.

God is “Working Inside”; we are to listen to our internal peace keeper… And keep listening…

Amen

—-

This is My Song
https://youtu.be/H8FPOjgX07c

“This is my song, O God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine;
this is my home, the country where my heart is; here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine: but other hearts in other lands are beating with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

“My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean, and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine; but other lands have sunlight too, and clover, and skies are everywhere as blue as mine: O hear my song, thou God of all the nations, a song of peace for their land and for mine.

“This is my song, O God of all the nations,
a prayer that peace transcends in every place; and yet I pray for my beloved country — the reassurance of continued grace: Lord, help us find our one-ness in the Savior, in spite of differences of age and race.

“May truth and freedom come to every nation; may peace abound where strife has raged so long; that each may seek to love and build together,.a world united, righting every wrong; a world united in its love for freedom,
proclaiming peace together in one song.”

This is my prayer, O Lord of all earth’s kingdoms, thy kingdom come, on earth, thy will be done; let Christ be lifted up ’til all shall serve him, and hearts united, learn to live as one: O hear my prayer, thou God of all the nations, myself I give thee — let thy will be done.

More info on the song at
http://prometheusli.com/musings/a_song_of_peace.htm

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Jesus Wept, 23OCT Message for Women’s Retreat, 05NOV

I share these NOTES from a spoken message that I was blessed to share at our Women’s Retreat last month  – about the scriptures from Lazarus – and the HOPE Jesus gives us.  and I like taking the time to “revise and extend my remarks” as they say in congress – which writing and editing allows… these are really NOTE format….

This was a message about Jesus weeping – but getting back up and continuing His job – and this message was/is about us knowing the HOPE that God is there for us, and Jesus even crying with us…. but I feel we are not to take a victim stance in life, because Jesus saved us from that and we are to keep moving forward – remembering that HIS grace is sufficient, 2Corinthians 12…

We have been commissioned by God to love God and to know His love for us –  and that allows us to do HIS work…. a tremendous song by Steve Wilson lyric states – “Come to us, Lazarus It’s time for you to go”… meaning get up, give it up to God, and go.  God kept sending Lazarus references after the weekend retreat – just today, three more Lazarus pieces crossed my sight- a youtube video sent by a friend of the Gospel of John acted out – a youtube video of David Bowie’s “Lazarus” – and thirdly Michael Card’s song “Jesus Wept”.

There was a very focusing moment when learning of my Czech cousin’s death yesterday – at age 93 after a tremendous wonderful life – I have no tears but smiles for Jesus’s huge hug for her – that must feel so wonderful – my cousin was a tremendous believer and witness – and shared that love with her family. She told her family that we (U.S. family members) existed – she was the last letter that got thru in 1946 to her uncle, my great grandfather, she always held HOPE that we could reconnect and I was the blessed one to pull a new string, reconnected us in 1996 and we reap the love of generations of her HOPE – 50 years after losing touch – our LOVE exploded – rebirth to a family –  God didn’t let this connection die… God found a way…

HOPE for life eternally renewed – beloved friends in addition to Savior and Saved – Jesus and Lazarus – to show the world eternal LOVE…

It was a blessing and humbling to be asked to share the message at the service on our Women’s Retreat – because I don’t have a biological sister, I feel God has blesses me with so many sisters in so many facets of my life – and these women have been there for me thru thick and thin for 15 years now…what a blessing to share God’s WORD at our beloved Sunday morning service…

Galatians 6:2 was the perfect emailed “verse of the day” for this retreat – and then later when I told my friend at home about the verse and the message, he pulls out the devotion book he was just about to present to the youth group – same verse – yeah – that happened the previous week too – we both had the same scripture – cool God, cool)

Galatians 6:2(NIV) ² Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

———–

Jesus Wept, 23OCT

While preparing this message it was crystal clear that God has been looking out for me recently – and forever – as He looks out for all of us…  I guess it’s feels like cheating because I feel that the Holy Spirit pre-prepared this message especially with my busy schedule…I had a morning devotion that I wrote but that I didn’t get to finish in to send out – then my retreat organizing committee ladies asked me that evening to share the message – and this devotion fit perfectly. It was/is about “Lazarus”, a song by progressive rock artist Steve Wilson and about Jesus picking us up… and it was a devotion about overcoming sorrow and loss and it’s completely about us resting our heads on the chest of Jesus and allowing HIM to pick us up…. That’s prayer and care 100%…. Sweet…

And you know, it’s a good saying that we need (I need) a good cry in a retreat, LOL, and then let Jesus build us (me) back up… So driving home that night I thought I should look up scripture about crying. But I didn’t have to because God easily popped it into my head: “Jesus wept” – which of course you know is the shortest scripture of the Bible and comes directly from the story of Lazarus… coincident? I don’t think so – the next day, out of the blue, Pastor separately mentioned Lazarus  to me – it was all fitting together…I can’t look a gift devotion/sermon in the mouth without realizing it’s from God, in God’s timing… When God pre-writes this kind of stuff, and saves me time, I am truly grateful…

This secular song speaks to letting Jesus handle our angst… those times when “moonlight is bleeding from out of your soul” – we are to try to remember Jesus wants us to rest our heads on HIM –  and give our worries to HIM – let me read you the lyrics:

——–
Lazarus, Steve Wilson
https://youtu.be/YMM2Iqvmu_4
As the cheerless towns pass my window
I can see a washed out moon through the fog
And then a voice inside my head, breaks the analogue
And says

“Follow me down to the valley below You know
Moonlight is bleeding from out of your soul”

I survived against the will of my twisted folk
But in the deafness of my world the silence broke
And said

“Follow me down to the valley below You know
Moonlight is bleeding from out of your soul”

“My David don’t you worry
This cold world is not for you
So rest your head upon me
I have strength to carry you”

(Ghosts of the twenties rising Golden summers just holding you)

“Follow me down to the valley below You know
Moonlight is bleeding from out of your soul
Come to us, Lazarus
It’s time for you to go”
…………….

So – yeah –  these lyrics call out to the character “David” to pull him out of his angst – to put away worry and like Lazarus, get up and keep moving – we are all this person– and we need to just be ourselves and realize we have a great counselor friend in Jesus – life is about letting go of anger and angst – of letting go of that feeling downtrodden and unable to get up – it’s about stopping being the victim – stop being victimized by our own victim-feeling status – it’s completely about being Lazarus and letting Jesus come rescue us – it’s about listening to that voice in our head that breaks the silence – yeah that is God calling…

We are NOT to hold onto a victim status – even if we feel to be the victim – Jesus came to take that away from us – Jesus is sufficient to raise us back up.

A web-based synopsis of the song lyrics also projected that we give up the failed idolized hopes and dreams that might ALSO be holding us back – about getting over any concepts of what we THINK we should have – removing that internal jealousy of what we wanted – and what had hoped for ourselves that never came true – and we should surrender the sadness of that up to God as well…

———–

We take stock of our lives (especially here at the retreat) and we acknowledge our brokenness and we acknowledge His GRACE is sufficient to heal us… We take our thorns, we look for the path that is narrow but sure, we change direction as God calls us on purpose to a purpose… He calls us out of His love for us… God’s faith in us is that we accept His golden repair – our brokenness traded for HIS strength.

⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-11 (NIV)

That is where we find HOPE – Jesus gives us that HOPE to keep moving – when we are weak we find HIS strength.  Jesus is the one holding the brokenness holes closed – making us whole – so that “moonlight stops bleeding out of our souls” – and Jesus helps us hold our cups up to let God fill it back up.

—

Let me share the actual scripture (the symbols*** marks where I added interpretation) (and … is where I condensed for time):

John 11 (NIV) The Death of Lazarus

11 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, (***  our retreat is in the building called Bethany ***)  the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) ³ So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

⁴ When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”^{5 6 7 8 9 10}

……

¹¹ After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” (*** See Jesus already knows what is going on with our lives ***)

¹² His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” ¹³ Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

¹⁴ So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵ and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

^…

Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus

¹⁷ On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸ Now Bethany was less than two miles^[b] from Jerusalem,¹⁹ and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. ²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

²¹ “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴ Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

²⁸ After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside.

…..

³² When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ³⁴ “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

³⁵ Jesus wept.  (*** see Jesus cries with us!!!!!!   And Jesus knew he was on God’s mission to help the whole world – so many that would never know him – a song from praise band at Christmas has a lyric that speaks to the crying Jesus must have had for the lost in the world: “He would weep – A dark so deep -For all her love – She couldn’t comprehend”***)

³⁶ Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead

³⁸ Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹ “Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

⁴⁰ Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” (***Jesus was upset and yet still got up to do His mission – He was focused on God’s plan for Him ***)

⁴¹ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

⁴³ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

—

See, Jesus tells Lazarus – “It’s time for you to go” – just like in the song – it is time for us to keep moving – give it to God and keep moving on our journey…

God gives us HOPE – not for the prayer that He makes our lives EASY but for the HOPE that He makes our lives CLEAR.

God moved the mountain that was me – and He can in you too – God has faith that we all can change and the classic saying holds true: “when we walk toward Him, He is running toward us.”

Searching out scriptures for the word Hope, I came across this statement: “Our earthly desire is to avoid trials and struggles. Indeed, we tend to measure the quality of our salvation by our lack of problems. Yet, HOPE is not measured by the lack of trials, but by what learn about Jesus when we walk through the trials. Suffering produces endurance, endurance shapes our character, and the knowledge that Jesus has successfully led us through trials before, gives us the confidence that he will see us through the next one. This confidence in God’s provision is the kind of hope which does not lead to disappointment.” (Fred Bitner, http://www.faithgateway.com/bible-verses-about-hope-20-scriptures/#.WBeyj0YrLIU)

Yes, we look for the HOPE in the Lord – not in what our earthly desires are – but we know and we HOPE that the Lord will pull us thru – we know that we are strongest when we are weak because we are depending on Jesus – we have to lean NOT on our own understanding –

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) – a vacation bible school verse…

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart     and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ in all your ways submit to him,     and he will make your paths straight.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 : about HOPE

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

—————————

(For each of the women I handed out these versed about Hope – each person took and read one – then we took time for individual sharing:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. — 1 Peter 1:3 (NIV)

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. —  Romans 5:2-5 (NIV).

Romans 8:24-25 (NIV)
For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Romans 12:12 (NIV)
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 

Romans 15:4 (NIV)
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 

Romans 15:13 (NIV)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. 

Hebrews 11:1 (The Voice)
Faith is the assurance of things you have hoped for, the absolute conviction that there are realities you’ve never seen. 

Titus 1:1-2 (NIV)
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began. 

Proverbs 24:14 (NIV)
Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off. 

Psalm10:17 (NLT)
LORD, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them.

Psalm 33:18-19 “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.”

Titus 1:1-2 “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.”

First Timothy 4:10 “For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.”

Second Corinthians 1:7, 11 “Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.”

Psalm 23

A Psalm of David.

¹ The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
² He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
³ He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
⁵ Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

>———–
FYI here are song links – one from the message and the three that came later:..

Steve Wilson Lazarus
https://youtu.be/YMM2Iqvmu_4

book of John – Lazarus
https://youtu.be/gMdCQ5vwU8E

David Bowie – Lazarus (social media says after his cancer diagnosis he was drawn even closer to a spiritual interest – his song Blackstar also shows his dying interest to understand – he questioned inside his art and in interviews… I am pretty sure from my personal experience that God likes questions because He can get down to business with you as your ears are opening and God loves it when the people are actually listening… And thirsting…
https://youtu.be/y-JqH1M4Ya8

And I love listening to Michael Card speak (in person and in video) probably even more than his singing- I have his books, about the four gospels, in my pile to read list – when you meet Michael, you can tell he is like a great Jesus nerd, he just wants to share all the details he has learned… here’s his song “Jesus Wept”
https://youtu.be/sZPURz3cuP8

Thanks ALL in ALL