It’s Personal

“Indeed, every good and perfect thing that has ever come into our lives has come as a gift to us from God Himself. It did not bubble up like crude oil from this earth. It flowed down like rain from the riverbanks of Heaven. It was intentional. It was personal. Yet we see ourselves at the mercy of random events, abilities, and coincidences.”-Beth Moore

It is way too easy to lose focus.  Wars around the world, the news with so many things to tear your security away from you. Health issues.  Yet, we have this…

Our Almighty God, King of kings, Supreme and Sovereign yet Loving and Compassionate. Creator of the universe, including us. Every thing strategically placed in His plan, blessings and cursings. He doesn’t need us, He wants us.  He sings over us and keeps watch while we sleep, everything to bring us closer to Him. His glory will shine, with or without us, but what an honor to shine His glory.  He has done everything to give us a way to be with Him.

The last six months have been difficult with my health.  Changing medicine, trying to understand what is going on with my body, trying not to be angry and bitter.  This week, while surrending to “this must be what you have for me”, He showed me something miraculous!  My doctors did not share with me the danger of being removed from one medication to another.  My Pharmacist put something in my bag, that was just the dangers of leaving that medication, honestly I felt most of those side effects that should have been treated. In my ignorance of all of this, I just rode it out. Some nights I just prayed to sustain me.  I am past the six months of danger, still weak, still having issues with the heat and humidity. This will take a year, but I have not used anything other than my allergy-asthma medication.

I felt the hug from Him, the reassurance that He has been giving me everything I need to live, the love of a Father (who truly can fix anything).

This is personal, He can do anything, He acts on our behalf without asking for the things we need, He already knows and is already doing it.

He is still in control, nothing that is going on in the world or our communities is shocking Him. Focus on Him, and the greatest gift of all, His never ending love. Loving us so much as to make that bridge (Jesus) so we would not be apart from Him.  Beautiful.

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Divine Appointment with Grace

Do you know this verse?  “For by Grace, we are saved through faith, not of ourselves, it is the gift of God” -definition of Grace…it’s a gift, we could never pay it, ever! what a wonderful gift!

A few weeks ago, the temps went to 70 degrees, and it was awesome after a very cold winter.  My friend had a tradgey in her family, so my plans were canceled. Deciding quickly to get out in this gorgeous day! Took my son with me (after bribing him with a Slushie). We headed to the river for a quiet and relaxing afternoon. The weather turned very windy, so we decided to go to a location we never go to along the river, that would be out of the wind.

We had the whole place to ourself! Sunshine! Melted river! What a blessing!  Soon after we arrived, an old man riding a bike equally as old, came through…and decided to sit right next to us.  Finding this rather odd…I paid attention.

He started to witness to me. And we talked some deep things that I studied a few years ago, and I was surprised it was still in the memory bank.  Then we got to the Grace factor.  Ahhhh, this gentleman was Jehovah witness.  My grandpa was also a Jehovah witness, so I am familiar.  Our talk changed…He tried very hard to convince me that works are how we get to heaven, and nothing special about it, we will just be glad we made it.  (insert huge eyes here )

No doubt, God orchestrated that afternoon.  We had a divine appointment.  The gentleman left and very sweetly thanked me for the conversation,  asked if I would visit his church sometime. I told him no, I love the church I am at, and maybe he should visit me.  He spent his whole life seeking for truth. And I prayed as he left…”please let him find the Truth”.  Grace, a foreign word to a man who knew his scriptures so well, some what out of context, but knew scripture none the less.  He could not fathom, Grace.

Romans 4:4-8 (NLT)

When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners. David also spoke when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it:

“oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of sin.”

All of this, and I was still standing at my wall, and this was the beginning of breakthrough, I realized, I do believe, and I still care about a world that is misled. This appointment was not only for him, it was also for me.

Pondering…looking at the Wall

Ever find yourself still, staring at a wall? Can’t get over it? Can’t get around it? not sure how you even ended up here?

Been looking and struggling with this wall for quite some time..days have turned to months, months are quickly turning to years…

The need to evaluate, and re-evaluate is imperative.  The questions that come to mind are scary, and very transparent of the heart.  I’ve been shamed for being at this wall, accused of some horrific sin, dismissed as a backslider…..yet I am exactly where God wants me to be.  HE is shredding my legalistic views, HE is stirring my bitterness to eliminate it, HE is still in control…even here. Only when HE has finished with the extremely painful heart surgery, will HE see me to the other side.

Funny, how we are so quick to judge another at the wall. How quickly we dismiss what we don’t understand. So often we claim to know what God is doing in another. We even claim to know and understand God.  *sigh*

God is not created in man’s image, we don’t even have a conclusive definition of “Holy”, yet we claim it.  I absolutely hate looking at this wall…and at the same time…I believe HE has a plan that is more awesome than anything I could dream up.

HE promised to never leave me…

HE promised to finish the work HE started in me…

HE promised to never let go…

Simple promises. Holding on to them with all I got.  Hoping that when I get to the otherside of this wall, that my concept of HIM will have grown in huge proportions.  “I will wait patiently on the LORD”…HE is faithful, even when I am not.

Ever been here? what did you learn if you have been?  Maybe you are there now.  If so, how do you keep looking up?

“Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ”

Abundant Grace~Week two

(trying to keep up with schedules while nursing a back injury is not my stong suit.  Sorry, i need to post once a week for now. If any of you would like to post something from this study, let me know, or leave a comment with a link, or email me and we will work something out so you can do that. Please keep moving with this study…)

Are you amazed yet with the happenings in this family line?  At times they have me shaking my head, and at other times wondering what they were thinking…then realizing they are just people just like us…not perfect, paying for their bad choices, and still blessed beyond what they even know.

Jacob~ deciever…wrestles with God…receives  a new name that will soon be the name of a new nation..then he learns what deception is like at the hand of Laban..he ends up working 14 years for the hand of Rachel.

Judah~ caught with a prostitute bc he ripped her off in his family, by not giving her what was rightfully hers. Tamar, taught Judah a thing about deception..she was still wrong in how she did it, but deception seems to run deep in this family.  Then remember..Judah talked his brothers into selling Joseph but telling their Father he was killed…

Deception…it just seems to grow and grow…how often have we felt the hand of deception and how many  times have we dealt the hand of deception? No Matter… God took their bad and made it good..thats what HE does.  This does not mean that we should continue in that, or that we should condone a deceptive person.  The bottom line to me, GOD’s plan is full proof or fool proof! HE has a plan and it will work 100%, and nothing we do or anyone else does will change that plan.  Our choice is to walk in HIS blessing or walk in the curse.

Jacob..Judah..Tamar.. all in the family line of Jesus.  I love that GOD put this in the Bible easy for us to track. DO you see that our lives and family lines are not that different? Sinners, i need of redemption.  Thoughts???

Booksneeze~Review~Living with Confidence in a Chaotic World

Living with Confidence in a Chaotic World, by Dr. David Jeremiah

Once again Dr. Jeremiah writes eloquently.  Easy to read, Easy to understand, and yet meaty enough to keep my attention. He addresses the world we live in, not excluding any of its chaotic state, or the destruction path we are on. Everything is factual as I checked them out myself.

Dr. David Jeremiah shows scripturally how this is prophesied in Revelation, and how we are to cling to the words of Christ for our comfort. Keeping our eyes on our LORD in order to rise up like on wings of eagles. His reminder through out the book of a cursed/broken world is timely. As believers we need to remember that first, and then the blessing we live under.

I loved this book, although the truth that is spelled our here is hard to swallow at times. Jesus did not promise us a life with out trials, or chaos. HE did promise us to never leave us, to guide us, to comfort us, and to give us peace.

This is a must read. Todays world, todays news can not just steal our confidence but will tear us down.  Thank you Dr. Jeremiah for the truth you have given to us in this book, no doubt a reminder from God.

Surprised! its a trust issue

sometimes God uses the element of surprise to get straight to my heart, and been asking for that for sometime…a heart change.

on sunday our church played a clip with a guy speaking of his childhood, father murdered, mother suicide, and how he is today, still messed up (in my opinion) but learning to hold on to God and accept HIS plan for him. tough stuff…

of course the element of surprise hit quite a few notes in my heart…the enemy raced in to be his ignorant self.  didn’t hear too much of the service after that, but my emotions and thoughts seemed to go nuts!  while i fought to keep my mind focused, the LORD just spoke into my chaotic heart…soft and firm..”you don’t trust me”…that revelation that is mild in comparison of what others hear…was devastating to me.  you see i want to trust HIM, i know longer want to understand the past, and for long periods of time i am believing that i trust HIM.  Just a video of someone i didn’t even know, and just the words murder, suicide..disappointed at that moment that everything in my reacted so differently from what i believe.

God is walking this out with me…i understand Soveriegnty, i understand LOVE, but somehow my mind needs to grasp that HE is all of HIS attributes at once…the enemy needs shut out once and for all, and my trust in HIM should not be so easily shaken.

so today i rejoice in the fact that- i asked HIM to help my unbelief, i know that alot of areas where i fall down at is a result of unbelief…battled for months with where and why do i have this…and now i know…i don’t trust him with everything..do you? how do you do that? are you for real or just giving me the sunday school version because you know that? i know that too..then there is a heart connect, where words and actions should become one and the same..

asked God recently to spare anothers heart, and pleaded with HIM, to want to …odd huh?  and with in 45 minutes a phone call told me, the miraculous had happened in that persons life….again the soft voice…”princess trust me”