A Taste Of Unity

Once upon my discouragement…I prayed for the unity of believers to become a reality that I could see, touch, feel in the depths.  My hangup was really simple…Jesus ( the beloved son of God) asks HIS daddy (whom is thrilled with his obedience to death) for unity with the believers.  I find it hard to believe that God doesn’t give his precious son what HE asks for.  But my own perception was clouded with what is theology and what is reality…when actually they need to come together in all aspects of the Word. 

John 17:23…”May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me”. (Jesus Christ)

After many years of traveling on this road, seeking HIM and wanting more and more to be like HIM, this is still my prayer.  Lord, are you not going to aquire unity in the body?  Why does my soul yearn for that?  As I listened to Brent, Tam and the praise team at Table Rock Fellowship…it was so clear to me…

GOD provided for my family to travel across the country, and then provided us good company to stay with…no uncomfortable moments, total awesomeness (yes that is a redneck term). And tonight I saw with my own eyes, the slightest glimpse of unity in the body of Christ.  Absolutely beautiful!!! I am encouraged and ready to move on this road…YES Jesus gets what HE prays for, and HE is praying for our unity…LOVE IT!

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Rockin’ Table Rock

Oregon is a beautiful!  The Hodges are awesome, and it has been just like coming home, maybe a small taste of the unity in the body that we have to look forward to.  GOD is awesome in providing for all of us, and bringing us together.

BTW- to all of you who thought maybe we should have done a background check, honestly God already did all that, we are believing HIM.  However we decided to honestly  take you all seriously and do a background on you all.  🙄  Love you all!

Love- sorry no dirt….

*** Update*** Met Jer and Deb, and they are precious to me!  Thank you Jesus!  and there are more pics on Praise365 my hubs blog…go leave hims some blog love!

Word Up!

2 Timothy 3:16,17

All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 4:2-4

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

God has laid everything out for us to know the way, to know what HE wants from us, and HE has laid out what we are to tell to someone else.  This is all wonderful, but we still need to know our Word.  SO many are picking and choosing what they will believe and what they will teach.  And there is no such thing as partial truth. It is a truth or a lie.  God knows we do not understand completely everything HE has written.  But we are responsible, each one of us, to go to the Word and ask HIM for understanding and wisdom, for application. 

I know we all fall into complacency with studying our Word, but this is urgency!  We need to know it, we need to apply it, and we need to stand firm on it.  SO many doctrines, so many come close and then fall apart.  Don’t be duped…with a small amount of truth…God is 100% truth, even when we don’t understand.  Get in your Word, talk to the only one who knows it well (the author), and get ready…Jesus is coming!!  WORD UP!

Next generation ready to “GO”

Trina (my daughter) has posted an amazing example of God’s provision and how HE orchestrates the day.  I was greatly encouraged by this post.  She returned yesterday from her summer missionary training.  So I am asking for you all to give my girl some blog love, and be encouraged!

Same Old Song

Psalm 33:3 Sing to Him a new song …

Psalm 40:3 He put a new song in my mouth…

Psalm 96:1 Sing to the LORD a new song…

Psalm 98:1 O sing to the LORD a new song…

Psalm 144:9  I will sing a new song to you, O LORD…

Psalm 149:1  Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song…

Isaiah 42:10  Sing to the LORD a new song…

Revelations 5:9 …and they sang a new song…

Revelations 14:3 …and they sang a new song before the throne…

In and through out the Bible I have noticed when God is really stressing a point, that we often will over look HE will say it over and over and over..probably because HE knows how easily we don’t get it, how very good we are with it not getting it, and often we would rather sing the same old song.  Whether it be musically or in testimony, or in our day to day routines.  With each new song that HE has laid on my heart and on my lips, I am content with it.  But I am to want a new song, a new experience, and a new closeness to HIM.  That is really the only place where the new song developes. 

I was once very touched by a womans testimony, and after many years I heard it again, it didn’t have the same impact on me.  May be because I heard it before..maybe because I thought “wow, all this time and HE hasn’t done anything new in your life”… and I thought.. “sing a new song“, not  because the old is bad or has no relevance, but because what had once ignited her fire, seemed to be only a flicker.  While thinking this through, a few questions come to mind;

– Does the impact of the Lord on a heart start to fade without a new song, or experience?

-Isn’t life meant to be lived, therefore new experiences and a new song developes?

-Do I have a new song, do you?

 

 

What Makes You Smile?

Last week Brent wrote a post about what makes him smile, and then posed this question..and as I tried to comment, it was obvious to me that I couldn’t make a simple comment and that I would have to post myself.  😀

What makes me smile

** Spending time with the Lord in the morning, uninterrupted, and HIS voice speaking to my heart.

** My Hubs, he works real hard to hold everything together, and his smile, is contagious.

**My children, when they are just themselves, silly, and content.

**Ministry makes me smile, when thinking GOD really lets me do this!

**the look in someones eyes when they really “get it”, and I get to see the transformation that Christ makes in a heart.

**Sunrises or sunsets, especially on a body of water…love the gold sparkle on the water!

**Color…love it!  Imagine the color GOd has saved for Heaven (HE is an artist, you know)

**Woods, love to walk in it, love to admire how awesome the Gardner is, truly makes me smile, and become speechless (can you imagine me speechless)

**My Pastor, a true picture of Jesus to me, and his love for Christ just spills in his teaching, and when he prays..I know I smile!

**the word “Vacation” BIG SMILE

**elementary kids who ride my bus..always something to smile about.

**the deliverance I have experienced…BIG Smile

**Babies, their eyes as they take in the world..and their determination to learn to be big.

**Puppies! Kittens!  watching them climb all over each other and then just pass out..smile smile smile.

**People do dumb things, including myself…smile! we are so not together like we think!

**blogging makes me smile, and the other bloggers too

** Fill in Friday makes me smile

**Knowing that today is a gift, and everything in it is for me (and you)

 

I spent most of my life without a smile, or tears or positive emotion in general…so I love that I can smile, laugh, cry, and that there is so much good in the world…we just have to look for it sometimes…everything is not grim and full of despair.

SO what makes you smile??