Of Dogs and Directions…Part 1

Of Dogs and Directions…..

Recently our very old dog has begun the slow process of death, and because I fear for her safety and well-being I have directed her up onto our porch during the night.  She does not like this one bit and fights me every step of the way.

After freeing her from the confines of the deck this morning I went out to feed her, which is back up on the deck. I was not trying to confine her in this time but simply trying to give her nourishment.  Instead of trusting that I had some good food for her she ran away from me in fear that I was going to lock her in again up on our deck. 

My dogs actions should lead me to let her just suffer in her own stupidity however, my compassion and love for this dog has been aroused and I cannot let her suffer in this way. I went to her, and coaxed her and did not relent until I had brought her up to eat.  And on top of this, I no longer give her just dry dog food but I am now feeding her choice rice and egg every morning and evening.  However, she does not want to trust me and follow me to where I am providing good food for her.  I do everything in my power to get her to come, I go to her, I gently nudge her to follow but she is determined in her old age to stubbornly refuse my direction, guidance and feeding and chooses to go her own way.

It suddenly dawned on me I am just like this with God.

I too am in a slow process of death….death to my "self"……..   

And because God is compassionate and is interested in my well being He has recently taken me to a place I have not wanted to go... to Kerith Ravine (which means failure) as spoken of in I Kings 17 in which God takes Elijah to the Kerith Ravine to hide and to drink from the brook and be fed by the ravens.  In my death process He has taken me here to teach me to depend on Him and Him alone just as he did for Elijah. 

And in my old age I like my dog have pulled away, shied away, stubbornly refused to go to this place of provision and compassion and caring because I am not trusting the one who is leading me to provide good things for me.

You see It all began with a dream and a kiss…..not a kiss with the world but a kiss to the Son….

Months ago I had a dream in which I was kissing my boss.  Now before you get creaped out, because that’s what I was at first, let me explain what God said to me about this dream.  It was not the woman I was kissing but what she represented which was my job as a physical therapist, my paycheck, my self sufficiency to provide for us. God said to me, do not betray me with a kiss…a kiss to this world and what you can do in it.  And to confirm this God brought me to two verses which spoke of this very thing:

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish [from] the way, when his wrath is             kindled but a little. Blessed [are] all they that put their trust in him. (Psa 2:12 KJV)

Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: "The one I kiss is the man; arrest him." (Mat 26:48 NIV)

Not being one who completely believes in my ability to understand dreams from God yet, I also went before God as Gideon did in Judges 6 in which:

Gideon replied, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 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." (Jdg 6:17-18 NIV)

So…offering a sacrifice of praise I said to God if am I really hearing you in this thing give me a sign. The day I did this my boss came to me at the end of the day out of the blue in casual conversation and asked if she could flex my hours to zero….Ok now I was beginning to listen…..

Beginning is the key operative word here….Have you ever been in this place in your life where God is telling you to obey his directions in your job as he did with me or your marriage or with your kids, your aging parents, or with your friends  but due to fear, lack of trust, doubt you try to ignore His words  and carry on your merry way?   

Me too.  Fortunately God does not relent until He has it all….and in our slow process of death to "self" God in His compassion and love keeps speaking, tugging at us, gently nudging us to follow Him……just as I did with my old dog.

My story does not end here.   Just as I did not give up on my dog God does not give up on us.

Check out the next post for the rest of the story……..

Loving on you,

The Wait...The Temptation....The Fight....The Faith

Sometimes in God's Great Adventure.......

His promises come with a note..........

The Wait

Last time I wrote I spoke concerning our choices, that some, though they look good are full of worms…. those choices get harder to discern when we are called to wait.

And so the wait began…...

We were called out of our land, to leave our home, our children, our property, and my job to come.   To come to the Promised Land…this land was promised on oath by God to me back in 1992 when in my prayer closet I cried out to God as we were in danger of loosing our house, bills were not being paid and Chris did not have a job…. God answered my cry with his promise to me from Deuteronomy 7 and 8.

It has been many years since that first word from God and much has occurred in our lives in those years, we lost our home in San Diego and went onto Santa Cruz where God had called us to rent for a year until the time when God graciously gave us a new home to buy.  We raised our girls into adulthood, followed God through it all, came to understand the gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and then like Jesus after his baptism we were called out again into the promised land via the desert to wait….

God called us up into his promised land and we have been in the desert waiting for the fullness of this promise for the last 5 years.  We rent our home and again are on the precipice of loosing the house we own back in the land we were called out of, we lost our property and the dream to build a home and as I write this God has called me to lay aside my paycheck which for all intensive purposes and from a logical standpoint we need and God has called me to lay aside my identity as a physical therapist to wait further still for His purpose for me.

Often the wait is the hardest part.  Abraham was promised land for his descendents and an heir, a child, which was to come from him, and Sarah and he waited eleven years then they decided to take matters into thier own hands.  Once God revealed to them that trying to bring to fullness the promises of God on thier own was disastrous Abraham again had to wait upon the Lord for another 13 years a total of 24 years overall from the time God promised to Abraham the land and descendents. He did not even see the complete fullness of this promise in his lifetime; he died at a ripe old age still believing for the fullness of God’s promise to him.

We have been waiting since 1992, it is now 2013, 21 years…it has been a long wait…God calls it to be a holy wait…I wish that I could say I have waited in full faith never wavering or doubting that God would do as he promised me.

Unfortunately there is nothing new under the sun and as Abraham and Sarah tried to bring Gods promise to fullness by their own means and Saul who when told to wait until Samuel came to offer sacrifices offered sacrifices himself I have been in my wait, shall we say less than holy.

The Temptation

Jesus, after his baptism was immediately led into the desert to be tempted. This was before his full time ministry began.  

It is interesting to note that there were three separate temptations of Christ and God has said to us that we are not tempted by God but by our own evil desires (James 1:13), and that there is no temptation that has come upon us but that which is common to man and that he God provides a way out. (2 Cor 10:13).

I am sure that this wait in what appears to be a desert with all its temptations is similar to that of Jesus, necessary in order to mold me into what God wants to do through me.  I can hardly wait to see what this “fulltime ministry” will look like.

As I said earlier my wait has been a little less than holy and as we have waited in the desert we, like Abraham and Sarah have also tried to bring to fullness  Gods promise to us; the promise in Deuteronomy 8 of building fine houses, increasing our silver and gold and growing our flocks large.  We tried to invest in flipping houses in order to increase our silver and gold, I went to back to school as God allowed to fulfill what I thought was my dream to become a physical therapist and create an identity that would fulfill me.  Not to mention earn a paycheck and step in where my husband might not be able to provide if he lost his job again and prevent a disaster from occurring.  All of which have proven to be utterly worthless. In fact the only thing this did was to produce strife, discontent and a lot of debt.  Is this not so typical of our own self-sufficiency, it leaves us empty rather than full.

As Saul was commanded by Samuel to “Go to Gilgal and wait…. I will come and you will get directions,” (1 Sam 10:8) David Wilkerson states:

Saul’s only responsibility was to wait.  God wanted to hear Saul say “ God keeps his word: never once has a word from Samuel’s lips fallen to the ground.  God said I should wait for directions and I will wait”

God also wants to hear from me and from you as we wait.” God you are faithful to all your promises. And “All your promises are yes in Christ Jesus” 

(2 Cor 1:20) and “ I will wait upon you Lord for those who wait upon the Lord shall rise up on eagles and soar, they will walk and not grow faint, run and not grow weary. (Isaiah 40:31).

David Wilkerson goes on to write:

But pride reasons. “God must not have meant it.  Maybe I heard it wrong.  Instead of standing on God’s word we start trying to figure things out on our own.  Lying in bed in the late hours we say “ Lord here’s how I see it can be done…Saul said because I saw…I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.”  Samuel said to Saul Thou hast done foolishly…the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart…(1Sam 13:11-14)

Saul waited the seven days but that wait was unholy.  He was impatient, angry, fearful and pouting….

Much like Saul, the Israelites in the desert and Abraham in the promised land…we grumble and complain against God, we are impatient, pout and try to bring about God’s promises of our own volition.

This is nothing less that the first two temptations of Christ.  One: to turn stones into to bread by letting pride say God must not have said that or certainly he did not mean “if I take matters into my own hands and eat from this tree I would die” Why surely God would want me to use my own self sufficiency.  And two: to tempt or test God by grumbling and throwing ourselves down from the highest point in the temple.  Remember we are the temple of God and as we throw ourselves down in a temper tantrum saying to God  “you never”  “I always” or “just give me a sign as I am still waiting in my crummy circumstances” we are doing no less than tempting the goodness, faithfulness, holiness, and grace of God Almighty.

Jesus answered each temptation with “it is written...”.  God has said when we are tempted that He would provide a way out.  No different than with Jesus.  We also can respond to the devil with “it is written…” We have all of God’s word right at our fingertips; we must embed them in our hearts.  Remember our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the powers and principalities of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Eph 6:12)

The Fight

Therefore, we are to put on the whole armor of God as we wage war not against laying aside a job and paycheck, or submitting to our spouse, or going here or there or giving up this or that or loving this person or that person. 

As we are being asked to lay down our right to ourselves, forgiving others for their offense to us or battle the cancer or forgive the spouse or wayward child…. our battle is not against these things we can see it is against the same powers and principalities that Abraham and Sarah, the Israelites and Saul battled.  Our battles may be packaged somewhat differently but they have the same spirits of pride, self-sufficiency, grumbling and complaining that are common to all mankind over the ages.

Thanks be to God that He is the same through the ages.  We are called to put on the full armor of God in our battles and this armor does not change.  

Not only are we to put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness and have our feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel.  

In addition we are to:

take up the shield of faith, take the helmet of salvation (this is your covering before God) and take the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.” (Eph 6:14-17)

You see when we are in our wait for God to fulfill his promises to us we will be tempted to wait an unholy wait but God has provided a way out…HIS WORD…. just as Jesus used it so must we.

My enemy right now is the spirit of Esau or the Amalekites which if you remember; Esau sold his birthright for immediate gratification…. 

I am tempted to sell out and go back to work, that paycheck is immediate gratification and looks to solve a lot of problems.  I am tempted to say to God “you didn’t really mean you wanted me in full time ministry and why can’t you just give me a sign or something like maybe we could win the lottery or some rich uncle could give us a large sum of money, this is how I can see it working out God…you see I am trying to reason with God with what I can see.  

The Faith

God calls us to see simply with the faith like that of a child.  Oswald Chambers in his My Utmost for His Highest writes:

Simplicity is the secret of seeing things clearly.... we cannot think a spiritual muddle clear…If there is something God has put his pressure obey in that matter immediately…immediately we obey we discern…when the natural power of vision is devoted to the Holy Spirit it becomes the power of perceiving Gods will.”

Paul writes in 2 Cor 11:1-6

I am afraid that your minds may be seduced from a single hearted devotion to him by the same means that the serpent used toward Eve”  (JB Phillips translation)

We are to see clearly, with a heart after God battling the temptations of the devil with the word of God and simply obeying, waiting with the faith like that of a child and everything will become clear.  God wants a man or women after His own heart.

 Jesus said whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me…(Mark 9:37)

Welcome the child like faith in you…see as a child…simply, clearly without thinking about or reasoning through what God is asking of you ….as Jesus Calling states “Give your mind a rest from the habitual judging…allow God to have His way in you…”

Mark 9 says:

 If your foot (that which you do, your good works) or your hand (your self sufficiency, that paycheck or job or. …fill-in the blank) or your eye  (that looking around at what the world has that you may not) causes you to loose faith cut them off and pluck them out…for it is better to enter the kingdom of God with one hand, one foot, one eye than to be thrown into hell where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.

 Everyone will be salted with fire (tested and tempted in the desert as we wait….) salt is good (it exposes the worms in our choices, the self sufficiency, the pride, the good works, the lust after things…those adult character qualities that hinder the child in us from believing)

Have salt in yourself and if it exposes some adult like skepticism, scoffing or unbelief cut these off.

Allow God to salt you in the wait but do not give into the temptation, fight with the word of God and believe with a child like faith…. for God is faithful to His word no matter how long the wait.

I am still waiting, we have left our children, lost our home and property, moved about in this promised land, we have fought the enemy and I have laid aside the self sufficiency to make ends meet. God has provided in the desert in marvelous ways and as He has brought me to this promised place and said sit down and feed the multitudes.  He has said walk in my continual presence and you will rise up on wings like eagles and this one thing I know…MY GOD IS FAITHFUL TO ALL HE HAS PROMISED….

Be encouraged whatever God has promised you. He is faithful to His word no matter how long the wait…stand in His presence and you will not fall!

Loving on you,

Cherries Choices & Sin

 Cherries Choices & Sin

And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.  It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where

         Their worm does not die,

         And the fire is not quenched.

Everyone will be salted with fire.

Salt is good, but  if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again?  Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.

                                                                        (Mark 9:47-50)

What do cherries have to do with choices and sin you ask?  Let me tell you a story about our cherry trees:

We have 3 very large cherry trees in our garden.  They were loaded with cherries and for weeks I had been eyeing them, waiting, anticipating when these beautiful, sweet, ripe cherries would be ready to eat. 

The day finally arrived and my husband announced we could eat them. Of course we all began eating them immediately and being the sharing type we also wanted to share some with our neighbors and friends. This went on for a few weeks until my husband took a baggie full of these beautiful cherries to work to share.  He was extremely proud that he had grown these cherries this year and wanted to share them with his horticulture buddies at work.  Chris  packaged them up in a plastic baggie, kept them in the fridge overnight and took them to work the next day. 

A co-worker, knowledgeable in pests took one look at the baggies of cherries and pointed out to my husband that these cherries were no good they were full of WORMS.....aaaagggghhhh.  

Of course Chris called me immediately and sent a note to all we had shared the cherries with to let us know the cherries were full of worms and to stop eating them.  I was disgusted by this to say the least.....we had been eating what looked and tasted like delicious cherries for weeks but in actuality we were eating worms!  As it turns out Chris’ co-worker explained a fruit fly had gotten into the fruit and this is where the worms came from.  The remedy to remove the worms……put them in salt water…..

Immediately I thought of the verse above…. and how interesting it is that when Jesus spoke of sin and the worms of hell he also spoke of salt.

The choices of sin are like this.....we can miss them so easily because they are wrapped up in such a pretty package, sweet, juicy, good for food and pleasing to the eye yet full of worms.

I see how Adam and Eve may have been so easily deceived and ate from the one tree they were commanded not to eat from.... particularly since the fruit was:

…good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom,.…- Gen 3:6 NIV

 Our cherries certainly looked like this....

 Oswald Chambers says in his devotional My Utmost for His Highest that we must “reconcile ourselves to the fact of sin.  Not recognizing it and refusing to deal with it produces disasters in life.”

Recognizing our sinful nature and choosing to believe Jesus is the first and most important choice we must make.  This choice saves us from hell where the worm never dies.

However, there are many other choices in life that we see before us that may have us eating worms…..

How often I have made choices based on what looks good, is pleasing to my eyes and yet is something as disgusting as being filled with worms from God’s perspective for my life and creates a disaster.

An example of this was my choice to go back to school to become a physical therapist.  When thinking about and looking at this choice it looked pleasing and beautiful.  I would be helping people, expanding my mind and preventing us from having to depend on my husbands income in case he lost his job again as well as to help pay for college and weddings.  My husband was fully behind me with this choice.  So I pursued this dream. I also felt God was allowing this for me and since the doors opened for me to go back to school I was off and running. As I continued in school I began to anticipate the fruit of my harvest.....the prestige of having the title Physical Therapist and that most coveted reward...the paycheck.

Looking back now I think God sometimes allows us to make choices to teach us lessons….

He says if your eye causes you to sin pluck it out….and in order to pluck out the eye that is causing you to sin you must first recognize it.

What I was “seeing” when I made this decision was not sin at all but a beautiful thing.  I had been a stay at home mom for years which was wasting my talents or so I had been told by the world, my brain was turning to mush and I could stimulate my mind again and I could fulfill my dreams and desires of helping people and my family. 

What I could not "see" was my heart motive behind this choice.  In truth my attitude was one of superiority over my husband since he lost his job and I thought he was no longer able to sufficiently support his family, pride in wanting to be “known” as a physical therapist, a professional with a high degree, and arrogance in taking my destiny and dreams in my own hand and fulfilling my wants and desires.

All full of worms….I did end up with a masters in Physical Therapy which turned out to be....the hardest 5 years of my life…5 people in my family died in that time including my dad and my brother. And even though I graduated Magna Cum Laude I was failed in my last clinical rotation for political reasons, which threatened to put me back in school for another year.  I did end up finishing on time after having to challenge the committee for academic revue, which was horrifically stressful.  I eventually went on to work as a PT in various jobs however the financial freedom I had so hoped for just did not come.  In fact every year I have worked we have had a huge tax bill we could not pay so we are now more in debt than when I started this pursuit.  I also realized that the dream I thought I wanted so badly was not what I wanted at all. What I realized was the most valuable and worthwhile job I could have was being a wife to my husband and mother to my family.

This choice to go back to school and work hard looked so good from the outside as I gazed upon it however, when I put it into the "salt water" I saw my motives and recognized it as sin…. my choice was full of worms…..

I was in need of plucking out my “eye” for seeing my choices from my own self-aggrandizement, pride and self-arrogance.

God says everyone will be salted with fire…I have definitely been salted with the fire of affliction during these past few years and when I began to take a look at what my heart motives were I realized I needed to pluck out my “eye” that was seeing this as a good thing. Because in reality it was full of worms.

Every one of us has choices to make in our lives, every day and every hour.  What we think, how we react to another’s words, what we will do, how we will behave, what we will buy, where we will go.... And these choices are largely dependent on how we “see” our circumstances. 

Jesus says he is the water of life and we are the salt of the earth….

Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. [Rev 22:17 NIV]

You are the salt of the earth. [Mat 5:13 NIV]

Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other. [Mar 9:50 NIV]

The very first choice that must be considered of course is the choice to take the free gift of the water of life.  The choice to believe in Jesus. 

The salt will come over time as we walk with Jesus and then....

From this perspective we can not only gaze at our choices before us "seeing" the good and the beautiful but we can also take our heart motives behind those choices and put them into the living salt water in us and expose the worms before we ever "eat" of the fruit.

I sure wished I had done this before "eating" my choices however God is good, faithful and forgiving and saves us from the worms....that is another blog though.....

So loving on you,

How Then Shall I Live

So How Then Shall I Live?

In light of the fact that we are:

God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph 2:10 NIV)

And

In view of Gods mercy we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices

(Romans 12:1NIV).  

What the heck does this mean? How am I supposed to live?

I found myself asking this question the other morning when I woke up after tossing and turning fraught with worries and fears because I had just laid aside my job at Gods asking.  

This adventure began last October when we first moved to Place Rd.  God spoke to me through John 6 and like with the feeding of the five thousand He wanted me to stop working, sit down in this place, give thanks for my husbands paycheck for it was to be sufficient and feed the multitude through blogging.

On the one hand I really wanted to do this because I have this burning desire to preach and teach Gods word (to the point of cutting of my husbands ear with the sword I have been given, but this is another blog) and this would be my outlet yet on the other hand, because of choices that we made along the way that seemed good at the time, we are in a very tight place financially which makes this request logically foolish.

Ok, so I was brave enough at that time to lay aside my job for a week.  But then that fear and doubt thing just took over and neither my husband nor myself were ready, willing or even aware enough to lay aside our planned lifestyle and live a lifestyle God had planned for us. So back to a full part time patient load I went.

God though is in relentless pursuit of us to bring us into the perfect place of his plan for us kept after me.  Again He used scripture to speak to me and as I was studying about Gideon in Judges 6 I heard God clearly say, “lay aside your job”.  Now, because I am slow of heart and slow to believe that the God of the Universe would actually be talking to me I asked God to give me a sign like He did with Gideon to let me know it was really God talking to me and not my own vain imaginations.  I then asked God to allow me to bring an offering and set it before Him.  God said ok, bring me an offering of praise and thanksgiving today.  I did just this, thanking Him and praising Him all day as I drove to see my patients that day.  As I was finishing up and swinging by the office I met my supervisor out in the parking lot and she happened to ask “off the cuff” “Hey can I flex your hours to zero this summer?”  That was the sign I needed so I said ok, and began working only as needed or per diem.  I am not ready to quit altogether and do not think this is what god has asked, just a laying aside of my steady part time work.

So now here I am walking this thing out in reality...not so easy…. while my husbands pay check is enough to cover the bills it leaves us with very, very little to live on.  Not to mention the fact that my kids and husband and friends all think I am out of my mind. 

I find myself thinking about how I am going to pay the taxes we owe from my working too much, the bills, how I am going to buy gas, what am I going to cook for dinner which leads me to how am I going to buy groceries? Not to mention what are my friends and family thinking? How come they can work and they just don’t understand what I am hearing...and on and on the list goes.

And God speaks:

You are to lay every burden down…you are still burdened with the things of life…you ask how then shall I live?

Clothe yourself with Christ.  In the garden mankind made a covering that was completely inadequate made from fig leaves when what I required was a blood sacrifice. I gave them a temporary covering by the sacrifice of an animal and now I have made the perfect covering, the once for all time covering through the sacrifice of my Son. 

I have made a call on your life and My call and My gifts are irrevocable (Romans 11:29 NIV).  

You are to clothe yourself with Christ and do not think about how to gratify the flesh rather you are to offer your body- your mouth, your heart, your eyes, your emotions, your will, your personality, your soul and your mind as a living sacrifice (Romans 13:14 NIV)

Christ died…that’s the dead sacrifice or covering however Christ was raised from the dead so you could be clothed with life.  Now you are to walk it out, this is your living sacrifice.

Think about Me; how to gratify the Holy Spirit in you by renewing your mind.  Dwelling on what a beautiful day it is rain or shine, listening to the birds singing, or asking Me who I want you to love on that day.

Never be lacking in zeal, keep being excited about Me. Keep your spiritual fervor, serving me.  Be joyful, patient, faithful, share with others and practice hospitality (Romans 12: 11-13 NIV).

Yes, you are to submit to authority established by Me (Romans 13:1 NIV) and you are to pay what you owe to the governing authorities such as taxes and not let any debt remain outstanding except the debt to love one another (Romans 13:8 NIV) but your are not to be burdened by this.

How?  You ask, when it seems the more you work the more burdened by taxes you become and the more you get to know me the more your family thinks you have lost your mind and the more judgmental you become toward them. (I made a vow to God about eating and drinking and found myself judging my husband on this issue) 

To this I say:

Put aside the deeds of darkness, the worries of the world and put on the armor of light, behave decently, clothe yourself with Christ (Romans 14:12-14 NIV) and stop worrying about your burdens.  Stop judging others whose faith is weak for this pleases Me and is approved by mankind.  And don’t worry about what others around you are doing or eating or drinking or what you are eating or drinking for:

My kingdom is not about eating and drinking but rather it is about

Righteousness  (which is your covering given to you by Christ)

Peace

and

Joy in the Holy Spirit          (Romans 14:1617 NIV)

You then who are strong in Me ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not please yourself but you should please others; your neighbor, spouse, child, parent, and friend for their good to build them up (Romans 15:1-2 NIV)

In other words be patient with others even when they mock you or don’t seem to understand where you are coming from.

For even Christ did not please himself but as it is written:

            The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. 

            (Romans 15:3 NIV)

When you are insulted by others weak faith, misunderstandings, ignorance, etc… you are to put them on Christ as you are clothed in Christ and then lay them down, let them go and do not worry.

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us that through endurance and the encouragement of scriptures we might have hope (Romans 15:4 NIV).  Accept others; your spouse, your children, your sisters and your friends to bring glory to Me and so clothe yourself with the life of My Son.

Remember life has nothing to do with eating and drinking and rules and regulations but how you live with others and how you treat them.

Submit to others, stop fighting with them and trust in Me, not in your job, your family, your friends, your church but simply in Me alone.

And I will give you endurance and encouragement and a spirit of unity with others as you follow Christ. 

So that with one heart and mouth you may glorify Me God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Accept one another then as Christ accepted you in order to bring praise to Me. (Romans 15:5-7 NIV).

I have given you all you need to live a life holy and pleasing to me and I will supply all your needs according to my glorious riches in Christ Jesus.  (Phil 4:19 NIV)

Wow! What encouragement just when I was ready to give up, throw in the towel and run back to my old life of doing my own thing God speaks.  Some days it just seems it would be easier to live according to the worlds view, gratify my own desires and wishes and give up on this God thing but that in the end that would be disastrous. 

Whether you are in an easy place or hard place in your life right now, whether God seems close or far away, or is asking the seemingly impossible from you

Be Encouraged, keep going Gods way, offering your whole self, mind, body and soul as a living sacrifice to God. 

Allow Him to have His way with you for in the end It Will Go Well With You!

Live, Laugh and Love much for if God is for us then who or what can stand against us! (Romans 8:31 NIV)

Loving on you,

Love Letter To A Grieving Young Woman

A love letter to a grieving young woman……

Last week a young women close in age to my 3^rd daughter in her 20’s lost her precious baby girl for no apparent reason.

This loss has rocked the world of this young mommy and the many around her who love and care for her.

I pray for her, fearing the lie may reach her heart that this is God’s doing, asking the questions of God:  Why?  Why would one so young be taken away?, How?, How could you do this thing?

I have pondered these things over and over, asking God what can I say, what can I do?  Nothing was His answer, saying to me, you can do nothing.  But God did say  listen as I speak, write these things down.  Following are the words I heard, God’s love letter to her:

You are my precious child,

"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.  I will build you up again…and you….will be rebuilt. Again you will take up your timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful. Jer 31:3-4 NIV

I Lord God Almighty did not do this thing, for I created you, I created this earth, and I created you to live forever, that is the way it was meant to be…But there came a day long, long ago that a crafty lying fallen being deceived mankind and brought upon the earth the one thing never meant to enter my world….Death. 

Every human being knows deep in his or her heart that there is something very wrong with death, for eternity has been stamped on every human heart. I know you are grieving right now, please know this was never my intent.

Beth Moore explains the wrongness of death beautifully saying: that I God, hovering in the vast expanse of eternity created a block of time and placed it into eternity, and out of this vast eternity I placed mankind into this block of time.  Then I reached back into eternity and took a piece of eternity and placed it back into the heart of mankind.  That is why the sting of death is so great.  I did not create death, only life, and that for eternity.

Evil has snatched your precious baby from this world, but I want you to know she is not lost to death, but is here with me in heaven for eternity, waiting for you until your appointed time on earth is finished. You will again hold this precious one, and you will rock her and cuddle her for eternity. 

Although I have given mankind a choice to make concerning coming back to me she is not old enough to make that choice and is protected by my great hand.

I know right now you have a gaping flesh wound in your heart, which is hemorrhaging and draining the life out of you.  I also know every tear you have shed and hold them in my hand (Psalm 56:8 RSV).

I want you to know also that the sting of death has been taken away; that is not to say there is not a gaping hole left by the life of your baby girl returned to me.  However, I want you to know she is not dead but alive with me, waiting for you.  You see, though I never intended for death to enter into the picture through mankind’s choice, through deceit and lies, death did enter.

Hear me now o precious child, I have overcome death, that is why it is said:

"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"…But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. - 1Cr 15:55-57 NIV

and again:

"Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." - Eph 5:14 NIV

My precious one I am here.  I know you are bleeding profusely and have no life left in you.  The blood of my Son is waiting to transfuse into you, to bring you back to life.  At your say so, It Will Be Done!  Just say the word—I believe—he is the one who can end the bleeding and bring you back to me.

I am waiting for you to take my hand and place it over your heart, the wound is great but by my mighty hand I am able to heal this great heart wound, slowly, peacefully, beautifully without scar tissue to mar it.  Won’t you believe me when I say I created you and your precious baby….As it is written:

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. -  Psa 139:13-16 

I have loved you with an everlasting love, but dear one there is a chasm between us that was placed there in the beginning by evil, deceit and trickery—and it sits and it waits for a your choice to be made

But take heart! I have overcome...this chasm... this death—by my Son! (John 16:33)

Won’t you take His blood, accept His transfusion and place my hand over your heart to touch you, to heal you.

There is still so much time for you here on this earth, but I promise

I have gone to prepare a place for you and if I have gone and prepared a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me also that you (and your baby girl) may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going." ..., "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (Jesus.) - Jhn 14:3-4, 6 NIV

I know your baby girl is with me now and I know it is hard to wait to see her again but if you will take hold of my outstretched arm I will heal your brokenheart and bind up your wounds.  (Psalm 147:3)

Your Loving Father


I pray these words touch the tenderest part of your heart and soothe the hurt.