Draw me nearer

Well, it's that time of year again when we reflect back on the previous one with all the good, bad, and the ugly and try and figure out how we can make the next twelve months better.  We make New Year's resolutions that in a perfect world we would keep with ease, but which in the real world go by the wayside the minute we let the pressures of life come in.  They may crash in unexpected like a tsunami, or just creep in with the tide unnoticed.  Either way we can feel the impending doom of life and all it demands of us.  Christmas for many has even lost its magical presence of love, peace, and good will toward man. Not to mention the joy of family and celebration.  We have instead mounds of stress wanting to live up to expectations we have put on ourselves.  We are exhausted and a good number of us sick before Christmas is over.  Even the extremes we go to, to meet the expectations of getting our Christmas cards out on time astounds me, not to mention the cost!  Now don't get me wrong. I do love receiving Christmas cards and sending them and I in no way imply it is wrong.  But if it is a burden instead of a joy we can know "Houston we have a problem!" and it is just the tip of the iceberg.  Recently I saw an article in my Edmond Outlook about a man who traded his Edmond life for the life of a missionary in Honduras.  Now I have to admit I did not bring myself to read the article. Why? Because I was more than a little envious!  It was during the holiday rush and I felt an urgent desire to chunk it all and go too.   Now don't lie I know you have felt like you would like to chunk it all at one point too.  It made me disillusioned with where I was and all the demands I (not others) had placed on myself to live up to.  Again, don't get me wrong I really do love the idea of Christmas but for the most part I tend to screw it up for  myself. I find myself disappointed in how I so quickly rob myself of all joy by not resting and rejoicing for the reason of the season.  The holy birth of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.  We as a nation have truly taken Christ out of Christmas and all we are left with is a big old 'mas'.  Jesus is no longer the center of our celebration and we have consumed ourselves with parties, gift buying, Christmas cards oh and maybe we will make it to a Christmas Eve service if we have time!  Worse yet we do not even notice this causes our hearts (not to mention our Father's heart) to grieve.  All we know as we get older is we start to dread the stress of Christmas and all the things we think we need to do.  What would Christmas look like if we put Christ back in the center of our celebration and made it ALL about Him.  That is  something to think about and something that for most of us our hearts are grieving for!  "Good News! I bring you tidings of great joy!" Christ did not leave us, He is here and waiting to fill our weary thirst.  "Come to me all who are weary and I will give thee rest."  Christmas has once again come and gone but our Savior has not, He is not going anywhere.  "Lo I am with you always." Rejoice!   "This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it." After all the Christmas stress His mercy and grace are still new and fresh each and every day to a world of sinners who do not deserve it.  Charles Spurgeon put in to words the only New Years Resolution I or any of us for that matter ever need. My hope and prayer for all of us goes as follows .  

Heavenly Father help us to 

     "Grow in all grace: Believe the promises more firmly.  Let faith increase in fullness, consistency, simplicity.  

     "Grow in Love:  Ask that your love may become extended , more intense, more practical, influencing every thought, word, and deed. 

     "Grow in Humility:  Seek to lie very low and know more of your own nothingness, less of  you, more of God, also seek to grow upward, having nearer approaches to God in prayer, more intimate fellowship with Jesus.  He who grows not in the knowledge of Jesus refuses to be blessed." C.H. Spurgeon

" Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, precious Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died."

May your New Year be filled with the love and the joy of Christ!

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

To be or not to be?

And He said: "I tell you, unless you CHANGE and become like CHILDREN, you will NEVER enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3

Do we have regrets of childhood? Things we wish we could go back and do differently? While we cannot change the past; we have today. You may think, well I cannot get my childhood back; but I beg to differ. we must see who we really are in Christ. We my friends are children of God. What we get caught up in is being adults. As children most of us could not wait to grow up so we too could do grown up things. We saw grown ups through the eyes of a child. Let me say that again We saw grown ups through the eyes of a child! They were important; they told us what we could and could not do, and there were times we wished desperately they did not have this control over us. If we are children of God how are we reacting to His will for our lives? If indeed we are reliving the regrets of our childhood, we can stop. We have a choice and we make it everyday. If you could go back and be the perfect child what would that look like? A list might prove helpful at this point. Putting in writing helps to solidify it in our minds. My list would look somewhat like this, a. I would not sneak and do as I please, b. I would be more honest, c. I would think less of myself and more of others, d. I would be more helpful, e. I would say thank you more and so on...

I believe as children of God we must look at our behavior towards our Father. Most of are so caught up in pleasing ourselves as adults we cannot remember how great it is to be the child. Being a child I remember I did not worry about my safety, because my parents kept me safe. I did not worry about money because my parents met my needs. I didn't even know I had needs. My flesh on the other hand had wants and I thought they were needs. Sound familiar? See we are still children because as adults we have wants and the trouble is we work hard at getting them and our focuse has left God. Here's God's amazing grace in this story; we can choose, choose to see the difference. God is our Father and He will meet our needs. Do we trust Him as His children to do whats best? When we choose to trust with all heart, mind and soul watch as our wants seem to ebb away. When I was focused in on a particular thing as a child be it a toy or being popular, the fact that it wasn't meant to be at that point made me miserable, unproductive, and left me feeling sorry for myself! As God's children even in adulthood we do this too and this is proof we still in our flesh know what it feels like to be an immature child of God. We are not resting in Him and we are all guilty at times. On the road to sanctification we are learning; being transformed. Not from a child to an adult but to the image of Christ. What example did Christ live as God's Son? Here is a little poem my pastor gave us in Church that is a true summation of Jesus as God's Son

"Mary had a little Lamb

who's life was white as snow.

And every where the Father went

the Lamb was sure to go.

He followed Him to Calvary,

one bleak and dreary day.

And there the Lamb

that Mary had,

washed all my sins away."

Christ was always about His Father's business, no matter where He was,no matter the cost. We all have different circumstances but we all have the incredible privilege of living each day as God's child. The question is what kind of child will we choose to be?

Father thank You for loving us so much that you gave Your only begotten Son so we might be saved and know how we are to live a pleasing life for You. Father help us when we loose our focus so we may joyfully return to Your safety as Your children. Let the joy of being Your children well up within us and overflow on to others for Your Glory. Thank You for the understanding of " and The greatest of these is Love"

and knowing God our Father is Love! In Jesus name I pray Amen.

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

We choose anxiety

I hear over and over that people want to know God's will for their lives. I do not believe them. Why? Because they are thinking of themselves and that is the opposite of His will. Jesus said "I did not come on my own account but only to do the will of my Father who sent me". "Follow thou me." What part of this do we not understand? For to me, if I am honest, it is crystal clear. I just want to figure out a way to have it all. The problem lies in pleasing ourselves. We jump on that wheel and exhaust ourselves. Look at how hard corporate America works to achieve worldly riches. Yes, we are all guilty and that guilt is what throws us into the anxiety of legalism and we become 'good deed doers' to ease our troubled souls. For only God can discern the heart. But we can see one thing: we can see all the fleshly desires being lusted after at any social gathering or we could just turn on your boob tube as my mother so wisely called it. 

"The mature stage is the life of a child which is never conscious. We become so abandoned to God that the consciousness of being used never enters in ". - Oswald Chambers. This is a truth worthy of being written on your wall to live by.  Alistair Begg said "the presence of anxiety is directly related to the absence of humility".  Another profound statement worthy of posting. I write things on mirrors and walls all the time, so I will recall and meditate on truths that will change the way I live and deal with this life I've been given. Oh, let's say that again: "This life I've been given." Given by Whom? My Father and Creator! Do we even give this a second thought? All the riches in the world are not going to give us one ounce of joy and we must quit living our lives for stuff if we want lasting and profound joy in our lives. 

We make life sooooo difficult! "Bore, bore, bore. Life marches on, Chelsea, and I suggest you get on with it!" On Golden Pond (Katherine Hepburn to Jane Fonda). We choose anxiety when we are conscious of ourselves, and the peace of what God is doing through us is eliminated. How sad is that? We desire God, we were made to fellowship with Him, and yet we wander around in the wilderness trying to have our cake and eat it too. All we have to do is be God's child. If we elevate ourselves and take over we lose our way. We were not put here to solve the world's problems or our children's problems. We were put here to "love the Lord our God with all our heart and all of our mind and all of our soul and all of our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves". That's it! Our Father will speak so clearly if we will simply take ourselves out of the way. "A saint is never consciously a saint. A saint is consciously dependent on God". O.C.

Heavenly Father

It is such a privilege to know You and be Your child. Help us to remember that being

Your child is a joy you desire for us. Nudge us when we try and take over so we do not become

our own road block to the life Jesus came and died to give us . Thank you Father for Your Son

and for the depth of Your great love. May we always be consciously aware of our deep love for

You Our Father which art in Heaven who first loved us and desired to be our Father, we are so

loved. May we be children who honor and exalt You always. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen

Love to all in Christ Jesus. c:)

"Cast thy burdens upon the Lord."

We cannot physically be ten places at once, or even two.  What do we learn from "Greater love has no man..."? Is it a spring board into legalism? If the Word said 

'greater love hath no man than to enslave himself out of his own strength to everyone who begs of him until there is nothing left of our human strength and capability' it would indeed be that spring board and that is exactly where we find ourselves again and again. 

Any parent can tell you they know all too well the feeling of exhaustion and being overwhelmed.  The thing I have come to realize is - whatever stage of life, it does not get any easier; in fact it will only increase, if we are not renewing our minds and walking in the spirit. " Be still and know..." is a command to us arising out of God's mercy for us to bless us in this life. Any one have what we so often call a 'full plate' these days?  Greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for a friend AND Jesus said I call you friend."  We confuse this with wanting to solve everyone's problems in our own strength and we end up hurting instead of helping and healing.  

With the mind of Christ we have compassion, we love people. But get taken advantage of, drained, day after day, and watch that love and compassion melt into resentment and bitterness in which we only feel guilt, which impedes us and dooms us to continue the cycle. "For we are not ignorant of satan's schemes." Maybe not, but we are not paying much attention to them much of the time. We love, therefore we want to fix things, and sometimes through God's grace we do get to help and we all know how good that feels.  It hurts to see loved ones hurt, or see a small child or adult be mistreated, unless of course you are so callous that you have mastered pushing these feelings into your subconscious; but being able to ignore pain is even more dangerous, for it is a defense mechanism that left unchecked leads to the hardening of one's own heart.  

The other side of seeing people hurt is that we spring into the 'fix it' mode. "... Jesus said I call you friend." The key here is are we ready to go, and are we ready to stay and not go?  Until we are so in tune to walking in the spirit we will always question our actions. Practicing the presence of God is the only way we can be ready and not take over the control.  We all know the disastrous results that come out of that, if we are honest. There will always be the needy and the poor among us and we do indeed bear this heartache. Why?  I believe we are to learn to cast all of our burdens upon the Lord, for our joy is indeed in Him alone.  

We often do not get to see the way things end and we often don't understand why most things that we do see the end, end the way they do.  Could it be we are looking only at this life as our end, if so the end is only the beginning, but we have hope for the beginning to end well.  Our focus is off and we must turn our eyes upon Jesus continually to gain understanding and deal with this life as we were meant to.  "... And He shall direct our paths."  When we face the trials and heartaches of others' lives and our own are we spring boarding ourselves into legalism of being a fix it hero? Because if we are we may only be putting a band aid over a cancer only God can cure.  The  point here is if we are not practicing the presence of God we will indeed make things worse instead of better for those we love and for ourselves.  "... for He knows the plans He has for us,... for a hope and a future"  but a holy one and in His timing - not of our own understanding. 

Our peace, our joy lies in Him  alone. If we are truly willing to walk with Him and we leave wide margins in our days, we will indeed see how He is directing our paths.  Be careful not to jump off here with 'we have responsibilities, not enough time in the day to get it all done let alone practice the presence of God'.  God knows what we are up against and He said "Come to me.."  God is bigger than any problem that we could ever dream but we must learn to walk and talk with Him.  As a wife, a mom, and a daughter, I truly desire to spring board myself into legalism and fix all the things that come down the pipe but I can guarantee you one thing from past experience: that is not God's plan. I so much of the time end up exhausted with little to no joy accomplishing so little. In fact, I usually have a bigger mess. That's when most of us throw up our hands and say "Jesus take the wheel" and we do it over and over again and again. God doesn't tire, He knows exactly what it will take for us to surrender all.  

"Be still and know..." this is our hope and we all need to run to it. To our Father's lap, where we can renew our minds, find rest, and be energized so He - not us - may direct our paths. Each day His grace is sufficient and His mercy is new but we often succumb to life's pressures and schedules as if the world would fall apart if we did not. We refuse the gift and instead take the weight of the world upon our shoulders. "... Cast off thy burdens upon thy Lord.." Not to be lazy,  to be proactive! Alive in Christ. "... the life I now live, I live through Christ who strengthens me so I may be equipped for every good work." If we go to God in prayer we can see by His grace where we need to let go. If we refuse to let go Jesus cannot and will not work through us, we will not understand His ways, "For His ways are not our ways..."  

We will indeed hurt and grieve for loved ones and those who are suffering, for we are being transformed into Christ's image and He indeed hurt deeply for us way before His Crucifixion; for He laid down His entire life on our behalf to fix our fallen state once and for all. In our transformation our lives are being laid down as well. Let us have courage and lay our lives down at the foot of the cross each and every morning with thankfulness and praise. This is our joy, our light to shine for all of those in need.  When we surrender God does indeed impart His wisdom, strength and courage to see us through.

Heavenly Father  I pray for my loved ones that I so desperately want to put a band aid on their burdens. Give us all the burning desire to lay our burdens down and pick up our cross and follow after Thee. Let us be intercessors on behalf of others knowing full well it is well with our soul only when You alone are in control. May we indeed be a light in the darkness for others to find themselves healed in Your love. Give us the courage we need to not shy away from your incredible glory, mercy, and grace shining through us. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

"Be quick to forgive..."

     We all know that is easier said than done.  "Be quick to forgive so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes." 2 Corinthians 2:11 This is a tricky subject for us to understand.  Offense deals with emotions and they are messy to say the least.  I myself am an extremely sensitive person - and it has two sides. When I am offended it cuts much deeper (or so it seems) than a person who seems to let offenses roll off like water.  I am always amazed at people who can acknowledge an offense with a moment of ponder, then go pleasantly to the next thing. I have not found myself to be one of those people.  There is a positive side to the predicament in which I find myself and it has everything to do with others.  When someone is treated offensively by someone else (other than myself) I am quick to feel their pain; and if I am walking in the spirit I can respond with Christ's love and the truth of His word. If I am not walking in the spirit, however, I will only add to the hurt by being offended with them.  Jesus does in fact feel our crushing pain yet He is not destroyed and neither are we and it can be very hard to see this when we are hurting, or when we have hurt someone unintentionally.  What we must learn to understand is the feeling of insult to injury is but half of the equation.  What we learn to do with it is the other half and it has everything to do with being transformed into the image of Christ. "Be quick to forgive..."  forgive, not pretend you never felt the offense.  We must learn to deal with the good, the bad, and the ugly in a healthy way and I truly believe this journey is not instantaneous for anyone.  Either there are many who have mastered affliction or there are many suppressors ( ones who have mastered ignoring hurt so they do not have to feel the hurt of the offense.)  "Go to your adversaries quickly..." not ignore it and pretend it didn't happen.  Both the ones who are hurt and can't get past it and ones who shove it away are both in harm's way. We all need to face reality with God's truth. The 'reed' tool is one method I have found very helpful when I am faced with adversity. r. e. e. d. stands for Recognize the hurt (admit it to yourself), Express your hurt to God, Evaluate it with the truth of His word (renew your mind continually), and Decide to stand on the truth of His word. I have found when I do this I experience healing and forgiveness of others in my heart.  I have also found if I need forgiveness and someone is not willing to forgive me I find healing through my Father "for only God can discern the heart."  Apologies are not for our comfort as much as they are for the healing of the offender; the offender's repentance.  If we can be genuine in our acceptance and forgiveness Christ is alive and well, living through us in His comfort of others.  It would be great if we instantly felt that genuine forgiveness but we must understand God's word about forgiveness, it must be so rational to us spiritually that we live it continually. This is not a quick learn and here is why:  We have a body of flesh in which we dwell and it takes determination of mind to practice the presence of God.  In this spirit of busyness in which we live it is certain we will get tripped up and quite often until we are sick and tired of falling down into the hurt and mess of our emotions.  Think of it like batting practice, we strike out what seems to us all of the time at first. Then to our surprise comes the home run, and the feeling of this home run keeps us going even when we strike out again.  The joy of walking with God is truly knowing what it feels like to genuinely forgive.  Don't be discouraged when your feelings still hurt when you forgive, mean it, do it out of love for your Father, do it because you know He knows you love Him and He knows your heart despite the pain you may feel at the moment. Then we will understand "... and the greatest of these is Love."  God rejoices in our hitting home runs and we all must experience striking out to know the true joy of a home run so when we taste the joy of victory we will determine to press on for the gold. "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:18

Heretic rebel a thing to flout

They drew a circle and shut me out

But love I had the wit to win

I drew a circle and took them in.

Heavenly Father  let us see our identity in Christ, knowing full well we face offenses personally as believers, and our strength and comfort is in You alone.  Let us forgive with Christ love those who offend us and forgive us our shortcomings as well, knowing Your comfort is not of this world but of the Holy Spirit transforming us into the image of Christ. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

"... and He will yet deliver us."

     "Children get older, I'm getting older too." Stevie Nicks Landslide
Many of us are living in what society has dubbed the 'sandwich generation'; and it may surprise you when I say what a blessing it is if you happen to be in it as well. We are the ones who are faced with children and aging parents, and time is the enemy for our love-torn hearts. We truly desire to be in two places at once, with many needs on both ends. We try to keep all the balls up in the air but most of us are not very good jugglers; and we live with regrets and depression creeps in. One way to avoid dealing with it is to stay so busy we do not have time to think about it; but like avoiding reality with alcohol, it is still there when we sober up!
OK, where is the blessing? The blessing is in surrender! "And He shall direct our paths." This sandwich generation did not happen by accident and there is so much to be learned if we are willing to let go of ourselves. "I can pass on a curse or a blessing to those I will never know." Sarah Groves.  Ever stop to think that our grown children are watching what we do concerning our time and how we react to the many growing needs of family? A curse or a blessing, do we actually see we are deliberately choosing one? We are still teaching our children even when they are grown by the way we react and respond to life. My father is now in a nursing home and it is quite heartbreaking to say the least. A stroke has robbed him and his family of a life we all treasured and were so blessed to have. This has been reality for the past seven years. "...and He will yet deliver us." 1Corinthians 1:10 When life is turned inside out God's word is even more sought after, and isn't that what God intended? For us to desire Him above all else? 1Corinthians 1:9 "indeed we had the sentence of death within ourselves, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead." We will indeed long to be in two places at once in this sandwich generation but the miracle of the blessing for those who are listening is God's voice calling "Come to me all who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give thee rest." Do we really believe God is in control? Do our children and parents see this in us? If we find ourselves in this sandwich generation, we are blessed in our difficulties, hardships, and trials to have an opportunity to be living examples of lives surrendered unto God. Let's give our loved ones the joy of seeing us living a surrendered life rejoicing in all things, especially the hard things!

Heavenly Father I pray we may surrender all, for all to You we owe and may we indeed pass on a life lived in faith for others to see. A blessing to those we will never know. In Jesus Your Son's name I pray Amen.
Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

Food for thought

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

We have all heard this many times, but let's take a deeper look at it.  As children we understood it to mean treat others the way you want to be treated and we all know that doesn't mean others will treat us kindly back.  We can either learn to forgive and turn the other cheek or we can harden our hearts and fight back.   To be honest, we have all probably tried both ways but  " The road is long, with many a winding turn..." and "There are many miles to go before we sleep"  for a good reason.  Do what unto others?  2 Corinthians 8:9 says "For you know that the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty you might become rich."  Rich spiritually! When we are truly rich spiritually we will desire poverty so that others may become rich.  What? Desire poverty? You must be mad! And I would be, by the world's standards.  When we disciple others they in turn yearn for us by prayer on our behalf because of the surpassing Grace of God in us.  So by becoming poor so they may gain spiritually we become yet rich , this produces equality.  Jesus became poor. Are we willing to do the same? Do unto others just dove into the deep end and we shall emerge victorious if we are willing to become poor so they may become rich.  Jesus said "love as I have loved.", "Follow after me.", not become rich and retire!  The only retiring we should do is to ourselves, then God will have a vessel He can shine His Son through.  We have the Gospel, we are rich, the question is what are we going to do with it each and every day? "Blessed is the man who lays down his life for his friend, and Jesus said I call you friend."  Are we willing to do unto others as Jesus did unto us?  We are all called for a purpose, to glorify one God with our lives. We all desire to hear "well done", the question is, are we willing to give everything and die to ourselves?  We will indeed desire poverty over riches for then and only then will we know the true meaning of what it feels like to be spiritually rich.  We should never underestimate our ability to give when Jesus is the source of our strength and understanding.  "... for God loves a cheerful giver."  Let us go with joyful hearts as "Onward Christian soldier's marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before..."  This is inverting the paradigm and it will be well with our soul, so let us "do unto others as we would have them do unto us."

Heavenly Father  I thank You for Your amazing Grace, that opens our eyes to see the truth and a light for our path.  Help us to take courage to dive into the deep water of poverty, no turning back, no turning back. Thank you for Your Son who through Your Mercy saved us by Your Grace.  May we live for You in all we do.

In Jesus' name I pray amen.

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

food for thought

Giving no cause for offense in anything!

OK um sounds nice but we are constantly messing up that one.  The bible talks about fires, trials, and hardships.  This life is boot camp and we groan with every task. Why?Because of our own affections!  They are most difficult to let go of and they are the weed that binds us. I work in my yard and there is this one weed that is a vine and it wraps itself tightly around whatever it is next to.  It is really quite amazing how fast it grows and grips its prey.  Not hard to pull out and when its gone the plant is free but many of the other plants face the same threat.  Left unattended it would attempt at a fast rate to choke out what it has clung to.  The vine has a unique quality of a very sticky grip and it never ceases to amaze me every time I pull one out. Now this vine is no match for the gardener, it actually takes very little effort to remove them. When I am weeding I often think of the parable of separating  the tares from the wheat.  As we face each new day we are learning to recognize the weeds in our lives, so we may separate unto God alone.  If we started with a perfect record we would indeed give no cause for offense but it just isn't so.  We get tired, run down and keeping out the weeds can seem quite a daunting task and it is indeed.  We can do nothing except for Christ's strength, lest anyone should boast.  The question is what are we asking Christ for the strength to do?  We must be willing to have our hearts examined here.  Are we diligently seeking to know Him, living separated  unto God? "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord."  Most of us race out in the mornings with little thought of anything except our own affections.  Those clinging desires we seem to be stuck to.  Most of us are like the song "I work and work until life's no fun..." and we are exhausted when the day is done.  Our own affections produce the weed of exhaustion and we do it day after day after day thinking we are needed and nothing will be right if we do not do it ourselves.  Now we know our God is an awesome God and He does not need us to do this or that, He lets us because He loves us.  As a child when our parents let us do something, there was excitement, anticipation, and joy.  Our Father wants the same for us now, yet unless we learn to separate unto Him alone we will not have what we had as a child.   It is indeed a growing process to become a child in His image;  giving Him complete control, desiring His desires over the weeds of our own, that threaten to choke us out.  It would be nothing for God to pull out the weeds of hardships, trials, and difficulties, but then what would we learn? Instead we must desire to root out the vines because without hardships, trials, and difficulties, we would not even know we were being choked.  We must go boldly before the throne and ask God to open our eyes and give us wisdom and understanding to see what is not of Him in us, and for the courage and determination to root it out!  "Through Christ we can do all things."  When our desires are freed from our own affections they are God's desires for those of us who love Him and desire His will for our lives and we will know what it is for our joy to be full in whatever the day may bring; by living a life separated unto God.

and Jesus told them "Love as I have loved."

Heavenly Father, as we walk through each day, help us to see through the difficulties to Your grace knowing our joy is full in You alone.  That we may desire Your desires above all else. In Jesus our Savior's name I pray, amen.

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

Food for thought

The ahhh of hectic

"Master, where dwellest Thou?... Come and see... Follow Me." John 1:38-39,43

How do we put the arising self interest to death permanently? We cannot. It must be a continual sacrifice, a determined choice. "There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus." O.C.  We all at times face a very hectic life and most of the time it seems as if it is constant,  a never ending rat race.  So many things to get done and not enough hours in the day to do them all.  We have to make choices and let some things go, but that means letting go of control and it goes against our very human nature. And that is the very point! Going against human nature with perserverance and determination of mind.  If we want to become a surgeon we pay a price of self discipline to achieve that goal.  The same discipline applies when we truly desire a relationship with our Father.  We do truly desire it too, but few are willing to make the all out sacrifice daily of self interest.  It sneaks up on us in so many ways that it seems as if our priorities and goals are rational and in line with God's will. "Oh what a tangled web we weave."

We satisfy our lust in so many ways and justify it in our thinking.  I kid you not. I do not enjoy writing this because the truth is convicting and grieves me deeply.  Why? Because I am guilty and I feel fine in saying we all are. For we all fall short and only God's free gift of His Son, His incredible mercy, His unbelievable grace, is for us to believe in and receive salvation.  

Right now my life seems pretty much to be a hectic pace of a jumbled mess.  There is no way to get everything done, I am pulled in so many directions, and I want to go back to bed bury my face in my pillow and pretend it will all go away!  Yes, the good fairy will come wave her magic wand and it will all get done.  Just as when I was a child and Santa came down the chimney to leave me just what I wanted.  Ahhh yes, this is good , let's just stay here. "Master where dwellest Thou?... Come and see..."  Lets bury our hearts and minds in God's word and we will truly know the meaning of Ahhh! sweet relief! When life is out of control is Jesus saying go follow after men? We know that is a lie we at times follow especially when life crashes in like a tidal wave. We are vulnerable to being tripped up, sucked into the undercurrent and confused into exhaustion.  Our Lord said " Come follow after Me."  "I have come so you may have life and life more abundant." To thine own self be true! Thine own self is made in the image of God and our will is in line with God's, yet self interest is like a lion seeking to destroy our very life and we go willingly like lambs being led to slaughter. Jesus went willingly in the opposite direction so we may know the path to take. I have a million and one things to get done today (or so I think) and yet my heart longs for the Ahhh!  I can work myself until I am bone tired and feel some sort of sense of accomplishment just to face a whole new list tomorrow with the same anxiety. Or I can sit with my Father and give Him control of my day and rejoice in His ways knowing It is well with my soul; for He knows the desires of my heart and the plans He has for me. Love is our anchor and God will work everything to the good according to His purpose and that is all we need.  So in conclusion, " Be anxious for nothing but in prayer and supplication let your requests be known to God and the peace that surpasses all understanding will be yours in Christ Jesus."  Learn to love the out of control hectic times, like my husband says, learn to surf! This is when you have the opportunity to shine for Christ like no other, and that is our joy.

Father, Thank You for Your incredible peace and understanding, let us rest amongst the chaos so others will see to do the same.  You alone are our rock and salvation.  Thank You for loving us, giving us Your Son so we might live. Everything we do let us do for You.  In Jesus Your  Son's name I pray. Amen

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

Food for thought

Determine to Rise up!

"I'm gonna walk by faith and not by sight, cause I can't see straight in the broad daylight." How true this is; life in general is about as clear as mud.  Daily we face challenges, decisions, worries, frustrations and they are there for our own good.  We for the most part just look at them wrong.  We question, compare, wonder, and even grieve over if we are doing the right thing under our given circumstances.  In Hebrews 11:18 it says of Abraham " He went out not knowing wither he went ."  Oswald Chambers points out that in the old testament personal relationship showed itself in separation as in Abraham being separated from his country and family.  Abraham trusted and followed after God.  God may very well use us in this way but many may lack true understanding of what separated unto God means.  It is not works and we try and make up for many shortcomings this way and we throw ourselves into legalism with a crushing weight of bondage and exhaustion to go along with it.  Are we determined to give others our interpretation of God or are we determined to rise up and follow after Him not knowing where it may lead?  The incredible thing here is it may not lead any further at times than your own back yard.  If we are separated unto God it will be of no difference where we are and for how long!  The only way we will ever be content is to determine to rise up and separate ourselves unto God.  Determine to follow after Christ whether it is pulling weeds in your back yard or cleaning up your toddler's face, or perhaps talking to someone in the grocery line.  We must determine our focus and let God lead.  Just guess what fruit does this produce? Contentment. The question is: how bad do we want it?

Heavenly Father help us to remember each day we give to You before our feet hit the floor and each night we owe a deep and humbling gratitude of thanks for Your presence in our day and slumber. Let us always desire but one thing and that is to be in Your presence doing Your will.  In Jesus' name I pray amen.  

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

Food for thought

Seek Ye First

The negative side of all our devotional books.  You mean there is one?  Well the one that is most obvious to me and the one I am guilty of is I tend to reach for them first and pretty soon I realize my bible sits beside me unopened many days at a time.  "Seek ye first, what a verse" Sarah Groves.  If we do indeed intend to have an intimate relationship with our God, then we must desire Him first, personally.  My faith and knowledge has been deepened and blessed by giants of faith such as Oswald Chambers, Brother Lawrence, Charles Spurgeon and many other pastors/people God has anointed for His purpose.  I really cannot imagine going through this life without their gift of shedding light and understanding .  The problem is, however, it is easier to grab their understanding than to get alone with my Father one on one and let Him reveal to me. He can and does use all things to reveal Himself but I often shy away from the one on one. Could it be that I am afraid of what He wants me to see?  It often seems much easier to hear from God through these giants of faith than actually believe God wants to walk with me the same way.  Not that I am going to be able to articulate it to others in some profound way that all will read someday! No, that would be a tragic goal for me to set .  I can set no goals other than my relationship being about my Father's business of doing His will in the moment "For He shall direct my path"  and if I take control I will most definitely miss out! Oh I know I do, but believe me that is when my life spins out of control into inner desolation and my bible sits upon my shelf . "The Word was, and the Word is, and the Word shall be."  It seems ironic when reading from the spiritual giants that I would turn anywhere but to the very source of their wisdom first!  If God is nudging me, maybe there are others of you that tend at times to do the same thing.  God can and does use all His creation to speak to my heart so He will indeed give me understanding and wisdom from His word and I know what He has to tell me is priceless!  May I suggest 1Cor. Ch. 3 God has much to tell us here on this subject through His servant Paul.

Heavenly Father  I thank you so for your servants who love You and devote their existence to walking with You.  It is indeed indescribable that You have given each of us that same desire, I pray we will seek it with all our hearts. Thank you for Your neverending drawing of our hearts to You. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

food for thought

Are we dying of thirst?

"It is Christ ... who also maketh intercession for us." " The Spirit ... maketh intercession for the saints." Romans 8:34,27

Do we need any more argument than this to become intercessors ... ? O.C.  For most, life is busy but we manage, and for many it includes quiet time with our Father through Jesus our Lord and Savior. Time to worship, pray, study and reflect; but what about when a crisis hits and we are spun right into survival mode? Peace like a river seems more like the Mojave Desert. When crisis strikes the real test comes, the test of not demanding to take over.  Our decisions and reasoning must be met at this time and everything will be handled and we may once again get back to our busy lives.  Oh really? surely we jest!  How many times do we get into situations where we just wished we knew what to do and we would do it?  The point here is for the most part we do not even stop to consider who is interceding on our behalf when a crisis hits.  We probably do indeed pray, but lack of faith is evident in the stress and toll it takes on the body.  We are indeed weak, and in our weakness comes our Father's awesome mercy, for in our weakness, God's strength is made known.  When we come face to face with our weakness it is then we will rest in God's strength. Our problem is we want to fix everything, which is natural, but we are not called to be natural, we are called to be spiritual.  Let me give an illustration here.  I have or am living through a hard place to be at the moment.  I am watching loved ones suffer, of course I'm doing everything I know to do to help but I cannot fix the problems.  I pray 'God's will be done' but do I think that will mean a loved one will never have to suffer?  I slide into the thinking of 'not if I can help it!'  I am guilty these days of going into survival mode, I feel the weight I have put on my shoulders to fix what I can and it is all time consuming and I quickly wear out, do not feel well, and find I have neglected  the very source of my strength. Oswald Chambers said "Then let us call a halt and get into such living relationship with God that our relationship to others may be maintained on the line of intercession whereby God works His marvels."  Does that mean I do not have to lay down my life for the good of others?  Not at all; it means I put God back where He belongs as the director of my path.   Walking so close to Him that the outcome of the crisis I'm in either way will be well with my soul.  If I believe in an all knowing, all powerful God who knows the plans He has for me and the number of my days, then I must realize God is in control.  When I find myself in the desert as we all do I must simply stop and turn to rivers of living water.  Going through a crisis lets us wake up and realize how dry and thirsty we really are.  I desire to rejoice all the more in weakness, hardships and difficulties, for where I am weak, He is strong.

"Draw me nearer nearer precious Lord to the cross where Thou hast died."

Heavenly Father, be ever near to us, let us feel the desire of Your presence .  For You are standing in the fire with us and we may have peace in all our circumstances through our faith and intimate relationship with You. " Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." In Jesus your Son's name I pray amen.

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:) 

Food for thought

Do we laugh and cry with joy?

Lord I want so much to be with You in pain, trial, and tribulation but also in laughter and tears of joy, for it all encompasses Your love, sweet, sweet love.  In Jesus' name. Amen.

When we are doing anything outside the will of God, instantly our joy is gone.  Think back (and for most of us it won't be too far) to a time with friends or family when you discovered something about a mutual friend that irritated you both and how right you feel about them being wrong!...gossip.  You may in agreement shake your head about it or laugh about it but in that moment we have no joy because the glory of God's presence is not being poured out through us.  Christ cannot dwell in us any other way than who He is and was when He walked this earth.  When we bow to our flesh in the slightest way (which begins, by the way, with our thoughts) Christ can be no part of it.  "Lo I am with you always" this is true but we blatantly choose to ignore His presence and instead please our flesh.  "If any man hears Me knocking and comes to the door and opens it I will come in and commune with him and he with Me."  Now that's exciting, but are we so busy talking that we don't give our Savior any time to speak?  Oh, that we may be first and foremost listeners, not speakers!  We want this, but on our terms, not His!  Our focus must remain on Him - we must be so consciously aware of Him and His way until it becomes who we are.  The conscious awareness of His perfect love will guide our thoughts and actions if we let Him.  I pray the next temptation I have to speak out on an irritation I have felt due to others' behavior that I may see my Savior writing with a stick in the sand to the accusers.  When we gossip is that not what we are, accusers agreeing on the fault of another? judging?  Oh no, not us, we are Christians ( Christ followers, imitators.) Oh really? Can we even dare to think such nonsense!  We are saved by grace, the fact that our eyes are opened to how unworthy of that grace we are is His mercy on us.  So yes! Let us see Him writing in the sand our sins and we will be humbly blessed.  I know why my Father has to reveal this to me, for it must be rooted out of me.  I must see so I will detest in me what is not of Christ who is Holy and blameless and came to live through us, the church.  Are we there yet? 

Where we will do whatever it takes to be one with Him even if it means keeping our mouths shut?  Anyone who knows me personally knows that this is one tall order and I cannot do it, but Christ can and will if I keep the door open for Him.  The beautiful thing is this, I am (by my pride) being exposed, crushed, and shamed by my mouth and actions on a daily basis but I find indescribable joy in God letting me come to grips  with my shortcomings in such a conscious way and root out what is not of Him.  This is humbling and heart wrenching when we see how short we fall and it produces the sweetest fruit of all in us, the fruit of humility.  With great joy and awe we can serve but without humility it is devoid of joy.  So it is our heart's desire to be in God's presence in pain, trials, and in  laughter and joy for it is all encompassed in His love, sweet,  sweet love. 

Father I am deeply crushed by my shortcomings and at the same time in an awe of thankfulness for Your Son  who writes it upon the sand for me to understand.  If You did not give Him for us we would never know.  We tremble at Your grace and mercy which encompasses all who love You. Thank you for Your amazing patience in letting us learn; our joy is indeed in You alone!  Mold us into Your image Lord for only this is well with our soul.  In Jesus Christ our Savior's name I pray. Amen

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:) 

Food for thought

"Come near before the Lord for He has heard your grumblings" Exodus 16:9a

My dear friend Jill once shared a saying that is worth repeating often: "If this is the worst thing that ever happens then we have got it made!" Why? Because it gets the mind in the driving gear of developing a good attitude despite our circumstances. We whine, moan, and complain, and I call this "being an Israelite in the desert".  I know in this world we will have trouble, but for the most part we bring it upon ourselves.  I'm not talking about sickness and true "innocent" suffering, I'm talking about day in day out normal complaining.  Yesterday, for example, the wind was fierce all day, the day that leaves dirt and pollen heavily dusted everywhere.  Since I have asthma I know that it is best not to venture outside too long or better yet not at all. Funny, I can go for days busy working in my home but when it would be best for me to stay home I somehow get that restless feeling.  Maybe an ice storm  or a snow day, no school and the natives are restless, you know the drill.  Or perhaps we have had a drought and then like last spring it rains most of the time.  It's either too hot or too cold, and if we are not complaining, we go to a party or we throw one and someone is there to fill the gap.  Someone brings up a complaint and we all rush in like starving children to add our 2 cents worth, having us a grand ole time!  And it doesn't stop there, we return home to rehash the discussion. Solving nothing, and why? Because we are not putting our complaints in the light of God's word.  If we did we would find peace in the midst of our circumstances.  I love going down these rabbit holes because it helps me to grasp realities I otherwise would not notice, that I so easily dismiss.  The powers that can dominate me. The power of complaining.  I'm sure there are many more; lust, greed, etc., and we all face the flesh. But complaining seems less invasive than some of the others and I think that is but an illusion but I will go with it anyway.  Anything we yield to but Jesus Christ will produce bondage in our lives.  Maybe many of you remember singing  "I've got joy, joy, joy, down in my heart! Where? down in my heart! Where? down in my heart! and if the devil doesn't like it he can sit on a tack Ouch! sit on a tack Ouch! sit on a tack. I've got joy, joy, joy down in my heart to stay!"  We all would love to be full of joy but few are willing to examine personally what it is in us that is robbing us of that joy.  "The first thing to do in examining the power that dominates us is to take hold of the unwelcome fact that we are responsible for being truly dominated." O.C.  We are slaves to ourselves because somewhere we gave into the temptation of our flesh.  We yielded to our fleshly desires.  A majority of the time it is so subtle we do not take notice.  I have found journaling makes me sit up and take notice - and I highly recommend it.  Get alone with God and He will reveal His truth and uncover what is not of Him in you.  We all fall short of the glory of God but few take the time to face it head on.  I, for one, would much rather face it now than later (or at least I say that right now).  "Every knee shall bow".  It's like putting off homework and the stress of it becomes so intensified that your whole attitude goes down the drain. Believe me when I say this I know this all too well.  However, what I have discovered over time (and a good part at first was pure obedience to my convictions) is that I love doing homework. I love learning God's truth.  Journaling has become one of the greatest blessings in my life.  We do not realize how dark it is until we ease into the warmth of the light.  Don't be dismayed if the light at times hurts your eyes, take time alone with your Father to adjust to the light because it is full of His Glory, glory you do not want to miss here and now.  " Open my eyes that I may see, visions of eternity."  "Draw me nearer nearer precious Lord; to the cross where Thou hast died."

Heavenly Father, I pray that our hearts would jar us when we start to complain, so we may at once put our eyes back on You.  May we be mindful that our joy in the midst of our circumstances is a light on this path we share with others.  In Jesus Christ name I pray amen.

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

Food for thought

Lovest thou Me? John 21:17

The Word of God is to hurt. O.C.  What? What is sweet, loving, or compassionate about that?  We want the mercy, grace, and unconditional love, then we can try and convince ourselves that the Word does not hurt; but we are only adding to the depth of that hurt. We will never reach the bottom of that hurt because we cannot.  God can and will but we must let Him reveal the deep hurt of His word.  We all indeed fall short of the Glory of God.  Living in our fleshly tent we know this is a thorn in our side we all must bear.  If God did not love us and desire a personal relationship with us He would not hurt us with the truth of His word.  He would not show us for who we are if we are not one with Him alone.  We would indeed remain blind.  The hurt comes when we realize how much we do not deserve His love and forgiveness, when we see our missed opportunities to be Jesus to a hurting world and we know we could have done more.  There is no comfort for our selfish shortcomings once the hurt of the Word of God sinks in and it produces the humility God knew we must have all along.  The hurt of the Word of God is mercy, grace, love, compassion , strength, wisdom, power, and understanding; and we run and hide for the most part like injured dogs licking our wounds of selfishness in shame.  "By His stripes we were healed."  Are we brave enough to hear the hurt of the Word of God and to accept the fact we crucified Jesus by our sins so by His stripes we could be healed?  We are each one guilty, imagine, no one is better than the next, we all fall short.  We have no right to think we are special, better, or deserving.  We have truly been blessed in this nation and we think we had everything to do with it, we had nothing.  God puts nations into power and God destroys them.  Why? Because we refuse to realize who we are and who God is.  We become prideful and arrogant and we all know pride cometh before the fall.  What part of the word humble do we not understand?  I think we do understand and painfully so because to be humble would mean we would have to die to ourselves, be willing to be last, the least, be willing to become poor in order to become rich. We would have to live the inverted paradigm and we reason this is impossible.  We are right, it is impossible for us and the only way to do this is to surrender and let God do it through us.  Die so we might live. "Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me."  Do we believe what we sing? Do we even hear what we sing?  Are we willing to go to the cross and be crucified with Christ?  Christ died a physical death so that we might be free from sin and able to commune with God as His brothers; the longer we put this off the deeper the pain of our grief shall be.  We must die to ourselves and consider all else rubbish; it is the one common job we all have here to do.  How much denial will we swallow before we are at the depth of a pain we can no longer live with?  Most of us think we will probably not be asked point blank in the face of life and death if we love Jesus?  Ah but we are! "Do you love me ... feed my sheep." and if it fits into our hectic schedules maybe we will put it on our to do list. How pathetic is that!  Ever consider the fear of God? If not, I suggest you read the Old Testament because we will all answer one day one on one with God alone.  Only God can discern the heart and we know what is between us and God.  " Are we able said the Master?" , "Will they know we are Christians by our love?"  We must accept and acknowledge who we are apart from God. We are sheep who wander, but it is written " My sheep shall hear My voice, I will call to them and they will come to Me."  We can try and hide, licking our wounds but it will only intensify.  We inflict our injuries by not facing the hurt of God's Word in sweet surrender, for it was finished at the Cross on Calvary.  We are the ones who refuse to surrender all. God can control our knee jerk reactions, our emotions to what the world throws at us but we must know the hurt of God's Word or we will not want Him to.  It is the sweetest most humbling pain and God's strength has been given to us to endure, only then will we be about our Father's business. As the body of Christ we have that one goal.  "Love as I have loved."  

Father grant us the courage to go where we are scared to comprehend the truth of the sweet humbling pain of Your Word, so we may be transformed into Your image and feed Your sheep. May we be good and faithful servants.  In Jesus our Savior's name I pray. Amen

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

Food for thought

Discipline of Dejection

"But we trusted... and beside all this, today is the third day..."

I feel it is pretty obvious that today depression is an epidemic in this nation.  Depression lies at the root of much evil. It brings out wrong behaviors in every aspect of life.  Relationships are strained and you do not have to look any further than your own family and your bathroom mirror to see it. " In this world you will have trouble, but my peace I leave with you."  So why don't we run to Jesus and live? Do we believe the lie that we are in a deep dark hole with no way out?  Are we too busy feeling sorry for ourselves, under our time constraint, pressure of circumstances (which we choose to create by the way) that we actually believe we do not have time to read and get to know our Father and Creator? Sounds pretty absurd when you write it down but in reality it is the lie we live as a truth in this society of busyness.  The truth is, we believe the lie and are depressed because all has gone to hell in a hand basket so to speak.          "But we trusted..."  "Oh ye of little faith..." we are.  If we trusted, a good portion of our time would be spent poring over the scriptures in pure joy renewing our minds and it would be evident in this busy stressful world.   Yet we do not, and then here comes our meaningless prayers of 'help us save us!'  "The meaning of prayer is that we get a hold of God, not the answer." O.C.  What does this mean? We should ponder a while this profound statement.  "The meaning of prayer is THAT WE GET A HOLD OF GOD", that IS the answer!  It is a shift of focus, we do not demand our prayers be answered to our desires but that our desires become one with our Father.  "Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." Church is not where you go once a week to hear a sermon and walk away feeling you have somehow honored God by your presence! We are the church, as believers in Christ, be it any day of the week but for most we are at best luke warm.  Nothing will turn out in joy for our lives if it does not line up with our Father's will. We desperately need to let this sink in and understand it; for if we do not, depression will, and it will add fuel to the fire for disastrous results. We must renew our minds in the truth of God's word or we will not know where or how to run to Jesus and live.  Renew, Renew, Renew! Let truth become the truth you live and we can throw all those antidepressants away!  Sounds easy when you write it on paper, the hard part is the lie we believe and that is -  surrender is hard; surrender means to give up and we have been taught in this world that to succeed we must never give up!  Sweet surrender / never give up! May I suggest one thing only that we never give up, our determination to surrender all!  Then we will understand the answer to our prayers  for God will have helped us through knowing Him alone.  "God would grant through the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man." Ephesians 3:16

Father our strength, security, wisdom, and hope all come from You alone, may we realize our true desire is knowing You and may we be obedient to act on this desire and get alone with You, constantly renewing our minds so Your thoughts may become ours.  In Jesus' Name I pray amen.

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

Food for thought

Destitution of Servanthood

"Though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved." 2Corinthians 12:15

"Though He was rich yet for your sakes He became poor."

When we look at the world, by its standards we see we are rich; so why would we want to become poor? Mama didn't raise no fool! Are we sure about that? We think only materially and Jesus was speaking spiritually. This is very important to understand and apply to our lives.  Are we not rich but refuse to become poor? ouch!  Why is this so difficult for us as believers?  I know Jesus is showing us as much now as He was in person back then but we are frightened by the leap of faith we must take from being what we think of as rich to become poor.  Remember we are products of the Fall, we must learn to invert the paradigm my friends.  We must see with our spiritual eyes how poor and destitute we really are.  "Blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall inherit the kingdom of Heaven." Jesus did not come for the rich, He came for the poor, and believe it or not that is us if we truly die to ourselves so He might live through us. He became poor and so must we if we want to be as Christ in this life; the choice is up to us.  The problem is that we are blindly deceived by the world's standards. Jesus came to show us who we are in our poverty of worldly riches without Him.  How many miserable rich people do you know?  I bet we could all make a list but are we willing to put our name on that list? Probably not, because we have reasoned ourselves into our worldly standards of comfort. Hey, I don't like this anymore than any of you! Why? Because it is a constant battle to deny one's own self, it is indeed a thorn in our side that cannot be removed in this life.  Without that thorn it would be a no brainer, there simply would not be a choice to make. Putting our name on that list of miserable rich people is the first step to self recognition of who we are and why Jesus had to die so we might come to Him and find life.  We will never know joy without this spiritual awakening.  Oswald Chambers wrote " Jesus' idea of a servant of God is that we serve Him by being servants of other men."  Jesus the holy Son of God actually came to us and lived His life here for our example to follow! "I did not come to be served, but to serve and give my life as ransom so you MIGHT have life and life more abundantly." Might have life - the choice to live that life is up to us each and every day.  We do not get saved by works and yet through our faith comes good works.  "Oh, ye of little faith" has a definite sting, and it should. We want fuller lives and we seek it in all the wrong places. We are guilty and yet forgiven. How merciful is our God indeed.  "The real test of a saint is not preaching the gospel, but washing disciples' feet, that is, doing the things that do not count in the actual estimate of men, but count everything in the estimate of God." O.C. Well, there you go that's it in a nut shell.   

I have the incredible privilege of being married to the closest model of a saint I have ever known.  I will share an example of this blessing God has poured out to light my path. Back in the late 80's we lived in Boulder Co. in a nice neighborhood with swimming pools and movie stars, OK not movie stars but cabanas in the middle of cul-de-sacs.  We were having an annual neighborhood cookout with fancy table cloths and live music by the pool. Adults only, evening attire.   My friends who know me can laugh because this type of event is way out of my comfort zone. Dressing up, socializing with for the most part people who couldn't give a rip, not my thing to say the least. My husband is very laid back and seems to enjoy the moment what ever circumstance he is put in.  I have come to love and admire that about him but it used to be the sand in my oyster so to speak.  As the caterers arrived to set up for the evening, my husband saw they were short handed and he could be of help.  So he proceeded to go and do as they asked of him.  Cutting up amongst the workers and having a grand ole time.  Then dum dum dum! a neighbor who did not know my husband started snapping orders at the workmen and you guessed it, he was very rude and belittling to my husband as well.  My husband just acknowledged him and did as he was told, never saying a word.  That night we got all dressed up and walked over to the event and I wish you could have seen the look on that man's face when he realized he had been so rude to his neighbor. This continues to be the mirror my husband holds up for me to look in and even though its difficult to make myself look and see my own failures I am so thankful for the light it sheds on my path.  It gives me the courage each day to persevere in dying to myself.  Jesus lived so He might serve and be an example to us all and it is a true blessing not to be able (for any of us) to pat ourselves on the back when we are brave enough to look in that mirror.  I am indeed thankful for these mirrors that light the path of servanthood in Christ alone.  "Blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall inherit the kingdom of heaven."   ''The last shall be first"  " whatsoever you do for the least of these, you do for me."  Watch your actions, they really do become your destiny, for actions will indeed speak louder than words. As Charles Spurgeon said, "men count words as pennies but deeds as dollars". 

Father  I am so thankful for your patience with us.  Let us rejoice whatever the situation we find ourselves in, in the joy that we are walking in the Spirit and serving You for Your glory. May we be doer's in the life of Christ our Savior . In Jesus name I pray. amen

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

Food for thought

"For the love of Christ constraineth us."

"We are living in a material world and I am a material girl." Madonna.  I have always detested that song. Why? Because it is so evidently true of us and no one likes to hear the truth when it hurts.  I see with spiritual eyes the sickening truth of what this nation has become and it is not one nation under God.  We do many charitable things in the name of God - but drive into traffic or watch someone speed down a neighborhood street. How about the relative or neighbor you don't particularly care for? Be honest, that's an ouch! Watch the backstabbing presidential debates and ads, or listen to people bash the opposing candidate. I'm just saying where the rubber meets the road I see very little evidence of one nation under God. God help us - and oh if we truly meant it!  When tragedy strikes, like the Murrah bombing in Okla. City or 9/11 in New York/DC we see people put the insignificant things aside, and we see some pretty amazing Christ-like qualities. How sad that it takes a disaster of great magnitude to bring out those qualities in us in everyday life for the most part.  We also see in disasters looting and riots, the line in the sand is drawn and you are on one side or the other.  The world becomes pretty black and white for a moment, but on a day that all is well there are many shades of gray and that is where we live most of our lives. " ...Lord, Lord didn't we...? and He answered them I knew you not." Those are the most tragic words any of us could ever hear. Our shades of gray are pretty black and white to God and we are either for Him or against Him in every decision and action we take. For example, let's say you are driving your child to school and they have realized they forgot their homework. They panic. You respond by flying down a neighborhood street to retrieve it, not once thinking about anyone else. They're upset, they might be late, or maybe you will now be late to work or worse even yet you are just upset by the inconvenience of it all.  Most likely they make it to school on time and you make it home or to work whew! what a hectic morning! glad that is over right? wrong! What about your nerves? Ever think of how that set the stage for your child's day. Ever think about what could have happened?  We all know what being in a hurry does, it practically demolishes us in the moment and isn't that what Satan is after?  Elisabeth Eliott once told a friend that Jesus was never in a hurry.  Say that to an anxious person in a hurry and I bet most won't thank you for it, no more likely they will snap your head right off. If you are ever in this position count it joy when they do because you have planted a seed. If you are going to point out some truth, always do it in love and expect persecution in return. Do it with love and hold tightly to your Father's hand, let Him speak through you or say nothing at all. We must learn what it is to walk in the spirit. We live in the chaos of busyness but we do not have to. Practice saying no to good things so you can say yes to a life lived abandoned to following after Christ who died so we might live. "I surrender all, for all to Him I owe. Sin has left a crimson stain; He washed it white as snow" Not being stressed or in a hurry, or living a life of guilt, sounds like heaven on earth and it is or could be. The choice is ours each and every moment of every day.  My daughter, when she was small, used to say " Where we go today mommy?"  I love her so much! What words of wisdom from a child.  Ask yourself "where we go today?" Then reach for your Father's hand; someone just might be looking to you to see where we go today. We must ask ourselves: am I following Christ? Because somewhere someone will be affected by where I go today!

Father may we be ever so conscious of walking with you and talking with you. Anoint us from head to toe so your sweet aroma will drift off of us every where we go today, tomorrow and always.  In Christ Jesus name I pray Amen.

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

food for thought

Count it all joy!

The days we are exhausted, the days you are sick, the day's you're sad and hurting. How do we do that? For most of us our minds do not put hardships and joy as going hand in hand. It is like trying to make two positives or two negatives attract. Hmmm we all know you have to have a positive and a negative to get a connection with batteries, magnets, protons and yes even people! Yet we do not like it when someone apposes our point of view we are offended and feel attack! So lets see Count it all joy um no still can't feel that one and that is the problem and the answer! We equivocate our feelings with joy. Joy being a deeper form of happiness, so happy, sad opposites right? We would never know what it is to feel joy if we have no idea what if feels to be sad or angry. So let's see, Count it all joy! not (feel) it all joy. We work and strive to have joy in our lives, we want to be happy all the time and not have hardships, live the American dream right? but what does the word say? "In this world you will have tribulation, BUT my peace I leave with you." When someone has offended you do you feel peace? I doubt most of us do and yet I have been around a few that let almost every offense roll off their back. They have either a very high opinion of themselves, or very tough skin, or perhaps they have learned to walk in the presence of God my friend. Our problem is not other people, it is instead where we seek our joy and peace. Do we seek it in people, or the things of this world? As believers we all know we are not going to find it there so why do we keep so busy at trying to achieve it. "Come to me all who are weary and heavy burden and I will give thee rest." With rest comes peace and we can have that rest and peace in the midst of our circumstances if we are willing to Count it all joy! " My brethren count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." Negative, positive they go together, we would not know we had such a great need for God if we were just happy with no mountains to climb. We will all climb some pretty steep cliffs in our lives and we can either let fear and heart ache grip us and paralyze us from moving forward or we can equipped our minds for the journey in the truth of the word. I don't know about you but put me on a steep cliff and I want a safety harness. "Lo I will never leave you"; I'm for one taking that straight to the bank to deposit! This world is full of unknowns and tribulations so why are we looking to this world for our peace and joy? It makes no sense at all. Yet the minute we quit looking at the world through the truth of God's word we become offended hurt and miserable and believe the lies the world shoves down our throats of happiness and wonder off to go exhaust ourselves. How deep is the love and patience of our Father indeed. You and I have a choice to make every moment of every day in every situation . " Turn your eyes upon Jesus , look whole in His wonderful face and the things of the world will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace." Only then will we be able to count it all joy despite our circumstances.

Heavenly Father I pray we will not hesitate to run to you and live. Let us feel your loving nudge when we choose to curl up in the pain of our circumstances and die, give us the strength, courage, and wisdom to stay in your presence knowing the fullness of your love which is the fullness of our joy! Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new stregth they will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. Amen Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

Food for thought

Submit to my Lord and rest in Him

Why do so many 'whys' stay in our subconscious and go unanswered?  They may cross our mind at some point, but we complain, dismiss them and keep right on going. What we don't see is where we are going.  "Will (we) go round in circles?" to quote the late Billy Preston and very few of us break free to "fly high like a bird up in the sky."  Here's a thought; what if we make a list, not a 'to do' list but instead a 'what not to do' list.  It would be a start to realizing just how caught up we are in living in the spirit of busyness!  It's a challenge, I know, but like spring cleaning it will feel so good to let unnecessary things go. If we make a list of the zillion and one things we believe have to get done, we will be amazed how long the list becomes.  Most of our why questions will have answers, answers we already knew but chose to ignore.  What I'm getting at is that we are responsible for being so busy and miserable.  We refuse to simply let go and let God.  We would rather believe a lie, stay overworked and stressed, than spend time in the word of God getting to know His truth.  How sad that is, and yet for the most part that's what so many of us do each and every day.  Another idea would be to take our 'to do' list and make two lists out of it.  One list would be an upkeep list and if it is taking every minute of our day maybe it's time to eliminate some things.  God will direct our paths but we are stiff- necked and stubborn for the most part.  The second 'to do' list is things you enjoy. For most this list will be much shorter (and how sad is that?).  As I make my lists I realize this is not the life Christ died to give.  "I have come so you may have life and have it more abundantly." 1John 1:10.  Trials will always be a part of life, but in what spirit we handle them is a choice we have to make.  When we make choices with our day have we given any thought to God?  Am I willing to lay down my burdens and put on a yoke that is easy?  Seems like a no-brainer but for this super-competitive world in which we live, we for the most part go round in circles.  Isaiah 40:31 "Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary."  Isaiah 41:10 "Do not fear for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God, I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."  May we all spring clean our 'to do' list with the truth of God's word. If we do, and consider all else rubbish, we will indeed realize what it is to fly high like a bird up in the sky. 

Heavenly Father let our focus remain on You in every situation so we may take Your yoke in exchange for the crushing weight of this worldly one, being forever Yours in Christ Jesus. Amen

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

food for thought

"Who art Thou Lord?" Acts 26:15

Have you ever set out with joy to help someone just to find negativity or disappointment in others' response to your good deed?  Oswald Chambers said we wear ourselves out in how WE determine to serve the Lord.  Could it be that our good deeds are filled with our own motives or shortcomings?  Are we willing to go there, be analyzed, so the Holy Spirit can reveal any unclean thing that is in us?  "No good deed goes unpunished."  A curse, one would think, without spiritual vision.  So let's put on our spiritual eyes and get ready to see our own shortcomings.  Disheartening as it may seem, we cannot grow without spiritual self- examination.  This may seem clear as mud because the truth is we do not want to see our faults, we want to complain and be vindicated. It is a personal journey, one God has to teach each one of us, but do we have the courage to let God examine our hearts?  No use in hiding, God knows where we are on this road to sanctification.  "You can run but you can not hide."  Movies and t.v. shows all have examples of good deeds being punished and we all have opinions of them. Some are pretty black and white, those are the easy ones but what about all the shades of gray in between?  It is here the mud thickens.  Just look at the presidential race and for the lack of paper, time, and God's mercy on my soul I will not dive into particulars on that one.  We all have our reasons for liking or disliking what candidates stand for and want to do, but the truth is, there are pros and cons to all of them and after whomever is elected one thing is for sure, we will hear mostly cons about them for the next four years. 

The question is: are we willing to quit complaining and being upset about the way things go in ours or others' lives, whatever the case may be, and pray and seek God's truth in the matter? Seeking God's truth isn't going to change our thinking to another's point of view or vise versa, but it will help open our eyes to God's truth.  If we are willing to seek, we will find, but so often we are so focused on the injustice we feel that we never see what God has for us to learn. When we are willing to be examined by God, we all will most likely see faults in ourselves which we have pushed into our subconscious in order not to deal with them.  The injustice we often feel put on us by others always has two sides, the person who wronged us and our reaction to it.  It is our demand to be justified that must be rooted out. It is always ugly and we may even have supporters but do we realize we are dragging them down with us in our complaining of the offense? Elisabeth Eliott said  "The Throne before the phone." and we would be wise to heed that advice.  If we indeed want to live a humble life, following after Christ in His image, there simply is no other way.

"The Throne before the phone." Elizabeth Elliott.

Heavenly Father draw us closer to You so we will desire only Your will for our lives.  Examine our hearts, Lord, make us aware of any unclean thing in us so it may be rooted out for Your glory alone.  In your Son Jesus' name I pray. Amen

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)