Category: life lesson

What’s Around the Corner?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6)

So many times in my life I’ve wondered this question. I sense the Lord directing me somewhere, but not sure where I’m headed. What will this place look like, who will be there? Am I even sure this is a place I should be going. What is around that corner? Yet, I am always encouraged by His Word, “Trust.” He is going to guide me. I don’t have to understand and I certainly don’t need to try to rely on my understanding of things, because I can really think some crazy kinda ways at times, just say’n. Because I know Him so well it’s like going to a chair to sit down at the table and I don’t even think about it, I just pull the chair out and sit down. I never ever thought for one minute that that chair was not going to hold or support me once I sat in it. That’s the kind of trust I have in my Father God. I am relying on His character; who He is, His faithfulness and guidance. Sometimes I can get off course a bit, well maybe a lot, but when that happens if I will seek Him; He says, “I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity.” (Jer. 29:14) See, we don’t even have to worry if we have made a wrong turn along the way, He is always with us, watching and making a way for us to get to our final destination. (Joshua 1:9) says, “Do not be afraid or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” I just want to encourage you today, if you sense God calling you somewhere and fear is keeping you from making that corner, my word for you would be, TRUST!

Meditate-Reflect-Ruminate

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:8)

To meditate means much more than contemplation. The idea is we should reflect upon God’s Word in a thoughtful way; Allowing those truths to become personal and applying them to our lives. I love what is says in (Psalms 1:2-3) But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the river of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. I talk to God all day long, I ask Him things regarding my day, but sometimes in the asking it requires me to stop for a moment and go to the Word, find what it is I’m looking for and then meditate/ruminate on that for a bit. It’s an ongoing relationship with the Word, it shapes my thoughts and my actions; causing me to less likely make as many mistakes in my life, that is, if I’m obedient to the Word. This is a good practice to get in to, it is God speaking to us through His Word. “Day” represents conscious study and application of the Word to daily decisions. “Night” represents letting the Word dwell in the mind as the last thought, allowing it to take root in the subconscious. The goal of “Success”: to bring about prosperity, not just material gain, but the ability to be unshaken (“your leaf unshaken does not wither”) like in the scripture regarding the tree planted by the river. If we will get in the habit of getting in the Word and meditating on it, the Word tells us we will become “firmly planted” meaning we will be spiritually nourished and ready for whatever life throws our way. We have a truth to stand on, we become unmovable regardless of the circumstances. Make this the desire of your heart, to know God, know His Word; implant His Word in your heart and meditate on it day and night. Be intentional, it’s divine wisdom!

Mooo…ve

And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap. (Joshua 3:13)

While God is the ultimate initiator, He works through our obedience and movement. So, like in this verse in Joshua chapter 3 we see the priests had been given instruction as to how, when and where to go in moving the ark of the covenant of the Lord. The priests had to STEP into the Joran River before God parted the water, showing that God moves when we act on faith. Faith and obedience go hand in hand here. Even when the path is unclear or fearful, obedience in moving is viewed as an act of faith that aligns with God’s will and allows miracles to happen. Back in the late ’90s we had an evangelist visit our home church in Texas. His title for his message this particular night was, “I’ve never seen a buzzard eating a moving cow.” You know what? me either. His message had to do with the part we play in our miracles, blessings, etc. and that part is called “moving.” It requires putting our focus on our creator, His will, and when He calls for a move it’s not an option, because God is already at the destination, it’s called obedience. Next time you find yourself waiting on God to move, you might ask God if He is waiting on you to move?

Am I, My Enemy?

No weapon formed against you shall prosper (Isaiah 54:17)

If you are allowing your tongue to speak words against yourself, you are becoming your own opposition. You are allowing possible attacks to arise that could destroy you or at the bare minimum keep you from prospering in what you are desiring. God is telling us in the written Word in Isaiah that He condemns the accusers, even as He has equipped His servant/us/all saints, Jews and gentiles, to do so. If God has given us the power in our tongue to come against opposition, challenges, or attacks, ultimately, we are destroying ourselves if we are speaking anything different from His Word. Further in that verse it’s telling us “…and every tongue which rises against you in judgement You shall condemn,” that’s indicating false accusations. You are speaking false things over yourself, STOP IT! Take those words out of your mouth right now and start speaking truth over your situation. Don’t let the father of lies deceive you into believing a lie over what the Lord is trying to do in your life or whatever it is your believing for. Just like writing this Blog. The minute my husband brought this up to me, that I should write again and do it in a Blog, I immediately said, “Oh, I can’t do that, I don’t have the background and training for that.” That’s when I had to stop myself and remember who was actually calling me to this and if He was calling me to it, He would also equip me for it (Is. 58:11) Where He guides, He provides! It is so easy to catch yourself believing for something or petitioning the Lord for something and at the same time speaking words of defeat. Wisdom flows from a thoughtful heart. Think about what you are saying before you say it. Use constructive words. Your words can be a tree of life or destructive. They can heal you or they can harm you. Choose what you speak! Remember, not every thought needs to be expressed; once said, words cannot be taken back.

Grateful

I will praise the name of God with a song, And I will magnify Him with thanksgiving (Psalms 69:30)

Sunday morning the last song we sang was, “God I’m Just Grateful” by, Elevation Worship. Doing a little reflecting right now about some of the things that were going through my mind as I sang those words.

There was no way until You made one Grace upon grace, hallelujah Even though I don’t deserve it, You did it Even though I couldn’t earn it, You give it Who am I that You keep me on Your mind? God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for You All my life, You’ve been right here by my side God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for You Holy, holy, there’s only one I give You glory for all that You’ve done Even though I don’t deserve it, You did it Even though I couldn’t earn it, You give it Who am I that You keep me on Your mind? God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for You (who am I?) All my life, You’ve been right here by my side God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for You Whoa, You kept me all my life Been here with me all this time And I, I’m lifting both my hands You gave me chance after chance, after chance And I, I’m giving all that I am ‘Cause You gave me chance after chance, after chance Who am I that You keep me on Your mind? God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for You All my life, You’ve been right there by my side God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for You (who am I) Who am I that You keep me on Your mind? God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for You All my life, You’ve been right there by my side God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for You (I survived) I survived and I am here to testify God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for You I’m alright if they say I’m outta my mind God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for you

Of course, there was a couple lines repeated that I’d purposely did not add for time’s sake, but I think you got it. When I was in that moment of worship, my life began flashing before me. I remembered times when I was a very young child and certain people had violated me and hurt me very badly, times when I was a teenager doing worldly things and feeling like my life really had no meaning and no one loved me, battling feelings of why I should even be alive. I remembered broken relationships; car accidents do to drug & alcohol addictions. Unforgiveness and bitterness that I had held onto many times for way too long. The longer we sang that song to the Lord, I began to dance and at one point I believe I was actually shouting out the words of how “grateful” I was. The thought that I am ALWAYS on His mind made me feel important, loved and valued. I was in awe of the many, many chances He had given me to change my ways, turn my life in the other direction, get on the right path, the one that leads me to Him. How God had taken this mess and is allowing me to turn it into a message. A message of His goodness, His grace, His unconditional love for us. How He is always right there by my/our side. And even though I/we never deserved it, He gives it. I never in a million years could have earned what He has given me. Grace, upon grace. After church was over, I was mingling in the lobby, there was an extremely excited feeling inside of me, one that made me just want to love on everyone I came into contact with. Actually, I think I was one of the last to leave before the next service was about to begin. I was thinking to myself, maybe I should just stay, so I could enter back into that song of gratitude one more time.

OH! One of Those Days

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. Its the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Colossians 3:23-24)

Today is one of those days. I am having all kinds of computer issues, I feel like screaming. I told y’all I am NOT a techy kind of girl. What I am though is, INTENTIONAL! I may have mentioned a time or two regarding my word for this year …. “INTENTIONAL” Challenge ON! I am NOT going to let the enemy come in and steal my joy, or what the Lord has called me too. Just as in the Bible verse above, I am going to do this thing with all my heart as “working for the Lord” and not for humans. Because in all honesty, He is the reason I am Blogging in the first place. Learning this techy stuff is hard, for me that is. I am 63 years old, not a lot of computer experience, it’s not something I grew up with or even wanted to know for that matter. I mean I’m a little old fashion. Yeah, I can type (keyboarding) per my collaborator, but I still like to write with pen and paper, actually pencil so I can erase as often as needed. I even buy the little erasers to put on top of my pencils for when the original one wears out, per my collaborator (Husband) that is, he thought I should include the extra eraser part, I was going to let that little secret slide by. I still enjoy reading books the old fashion way, though I have three kindles, smart phone and a computer. It’s easy to get discouraged, but you know, God said in one of the first Bible verses about work in (Genesis 2:15), “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” This tells us that we are intended and built to work, and I’m going to be encouraged by that, because that just means God has given me a brain that can figure this out. Hard work and dedication yield results and I am putting everything I’ve got into being intentional in developing a better knowledge of this techy stuff so I can write these blogs as for the Lord. To end this “Mountain Moving Morning”, first let me encourage you with a Word. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).

The Source of My Peace

Peace, I leave with you; My [perfect] peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. [Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.] (John 14:27) (AMP)

Jesus! That is who my source is. “Trust” I put my trust in Him and Him alone. (Philippians 4:7) means more to me today than days past. “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” I have struggled with the need to “KNOW.” Know what, where, when, why, how. Thanks be to Jesus; I have finally reached that place in my life where those questions aren’t as important to me as much as knowing who holds the answer to ALL of them. I used to become angry, frustrated, l would be discouraged to the point of making myself sick literally with the need to “KNOW.” That is actually one of the causes of why I suffered from depression so many times in my life. You cannot have peace, if you are trying to figure everything out in your own mind. It takes trusting the One that is and will cause everything to come into agreement with what the Lord our God wills for us, our life. “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you” (Isaiah 26:3). Have you ever struggled with sleep? Your mind just won’t shut off? You continue to allow things to play over and over and over. I have, way too many nights. Now, if something is bothering me before I go to sleep, I simply let it go, let God have it, there is absolutely nothing I am going to be able to do about it, so by letting Him have it, I can rest. If it is something I actually need to deal with, He will bring it back up to me in the morning, with new insight about it, because I put my trust in Him and I am relying on Him for the answer, not me. “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety”(Psalms 4:8). When God gives you peace, it’s a divine gift of inner calm and confidence even when our life seems to be in turmoil. We are having faith that He is in control. He will guard our heart and mind from fear, allowing us to rest. If you want to receive this kind of peace, you need to develop confidence in God’s promises and character. Pray, talk to God about EVERYTHING, express your gratitude as you’re asking for what you’re needing from Him. Keep your mind on what is true, lovely, and pure, and keep your thoughts on God. I lately have been convicted of where my mind has been going. I once read a book of Joyce Meyer, Where the mind goes, the man follows” True! We have to be careful what we allow our mind to think on. Spend time in God’s Word, learning the scriptures that speak on peace, so whenever you are confronted with thoughts and feelings that bring you worry and discontentment, you can replace them with thoughts that bring peace to your mind instead. I pray for peace right now over everyone reading this, in Jesus’ name, Amen

Shalom my friends

Being Radically Obedient

Try me now says the Lord, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing, that there will not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10)

There is so much to be taken from this testimony, but what I really want to hit on, why I believe God brought it to my mind this morning, “Radical Obedience.” In 1998 my husband I made a move from Texas his home state, to Arkansas. We came here on a job transfer which at the time the pay was only $8 an hour and I was going to be taking a job at the minimum wage of $5.25 an hour once we got here. We came here with a lot of baggage as well and not just the kind you take on vacation, if you know what I mean. Times were tough, for what seemed like a very long time, but we loved God, we trusted Him and we were being obedient to His Word in Malachi. There were days we literally had to believe God for our next meal, via the cousin who was retired and now a vegetable peddler, who would be coming by our home that we were renting at the time with his left-over veggies that he didn’t sell that day at the market. Neither of us had ever lived so scarcely before, yet so intently about our finances and our faith that God would provide just what we needed at just the right time. Standing on the verse (Phil. 4:19) “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” We truly were relying on divine provision through our faith and trust in His Word. Because we were new Christians and we still didn’t really KNOW God, you know, really know Him! Was His Word something we could actually take to the bank? It wasn’t long now until we were about to find out and we found out, through “Radical Obedience.” One of the troubles we had been facing during those tough times was vehicle issues. We had two and they both went out of service at the same time and left us stranded for transportation, how were we going to get to work now? With what money do we have to purchase another vehicle while we fix these? Just like how God is using me right now to share about Him and His goodness, little ‘ole housewife me, he provided a person who we would not have seen coming, to loan us the money for another used vehicle. We are now back on the road because of His provision and our faithfulness and trust in His Word. Now my husband would spend countless hours and hard labor to fix these broken vehicles on his off hours from his job. I thank God for the gifts that He has given each of us, because one of the many He gave my husband was the ability to know the mechanics to fix the vehicles. Money saved is money earned! Now we begin to move forward. We have three vehicles all running and we only need two, but we want to purchase a home of our own and we are going to need some money for a down payment. So, naturally we had the idea we would sell the car we purchased to hold us over while fixing our other two and that would give us “some” of the money we needed. Meanwhile, a lady from our church and her two daughters were going through the same situation we just came out of with three of them, no way to get to work, church, store, etc. I remember it was a Wednesday night and during fellowship hearing their story, I could definitely relate being we had just gone through this same thing. The next day I heard this voice saying, “give them your car.” What? Surely, NOT. We need that money to buy a house. But all day it just kept nudging at my heart, so finally I said, “God, if this is REALLY You, then tell my husband the same thing you are telling me and then I will believe you.” A little time passes and I am getting antsy, I ask my husband, “hey, have you been hearing anything from God?” His reply was, Yeah, I have. I have been thinking about the lady at church, and I know it sounds crazy, but we have this car…. yep, he said it! So, I asked him, “so what do we do?” he replies with, “give her the car.” We really didn’t know what we were doing at the time, all we knew was, if God said, do it! So that next Sunday we went to church with title to the car in hand and gave it to her. First, watching her and her daughter’s reaction was grander than anything I could have imagined. I thought my heart was going to explode. Then, suddenly, the windows of heaven were about to open up and pour out a blessing! We received a check in the mail for three times the amount we were going to sell that car for, and it was EXACTLY the amount we needed to put down on the home we wanted to purchase. Might I add, the money also came from a source only God could have orchestrated. This testimony, like I said in the beginning has many different facets of God that I could touch on, but today I believe it was all about “Radical Obedience.” I would like to add as well, “You cannot outgive God.” You know the Israelite’s once said in (Exodus 24:7)”We will do everything the Lord has said, we will obey.” “Whatever God commands we are in!” that was repeated twice because they finally knew God. Even if we don’t completely understand what the Lord is doing, if He speaks it, just do it. Small acts of obedience are just as important; they will bring your soul satisfaction by knowing you are pleasing the Lord and don’t ever think little things don’t matter to God because nothing goes un-noticed by Him. He delights in His children’s obedience.

The fear of God will result in Obedience to God (Haggai 1:12)

Simply Ordinary

The Lord does not see as man does. For the man sees the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)

Photo by Leeloo The First on Pexels.com

The Bible speaks about God choosing the ordinary, the humbled hearted, the uneducated, broken, and weak to demonstrate that divine strength is made perfect in human weakness. He chooses ordinary individuals to accomplish extraordinary tasks. God’s plans are not limited to the powerful or the elite, like me, He can and will use the ordinary housewife to accomplish His plans. I do not have any religious training outside of going to church, reading my Bible and allowing the Holy Spirit to direct me. I have no social status in my community or anywhere else for that matter. By creating this Blog, it emphasizes God’s sovereignty and His ability to work through anyone, regardless of their social status or personal capabilities. I also, believe that I was called to this and by being intentional and following through it gives me the opportunity to show God my faithfulness and obedience to Him. I am certain that as scripture reads in (2 Corinthians 12:9), “But He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” It’s His power, not mine, I am nothing more than a broken vessel that He has chosen to fulfill a plan. My educational background is a GED. Like Moses was “slow to speech” (Exodus 4:10) meaning the miracles and messages came from God, not Moses’ own eloquence. There is nothing eloquent about me either. I likely am not even using proper punctuation. I just hear Him. I hear Him in the quiet moments, I hear Him while in the shower, doing dishes, cooking dinner, working out at the gym, driving down the road, during worship at church. I just simply hear Hm and because He knows I am listening I believe He entrust me to share what He would have for me and for others alike. Again, this Blog has opened that door for His Word to be heard, not only by me, but for so many others. One day, I will stand before Him and I want to hear, “well done my good and faithful servant.” You see, that’s who I am, a servant, Perfectly Imperfect!

It Was the Night Before

“If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” (Matt. 9:21)

My story of the over-flowing of the Holy Spirit actually started the night before. Much like the woman in the Bible who we do not know her name, what we do know is she had a twelve-year affliction. She was in a dire situation; this affliction caused her physical pain as well as emotional isolation. She spent all the money she had with Dr’s, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. (Mark 5:26). Much like this woman I found myself afflicted in deep depression. I had just gone through the death of a child/adult, non the less a child to us. He had suffered two years with AML and when reaching his final days here on earth he wanted to do hospice at home with us. Which he had been living with us a good portion of the two years already, naturally we wanted the same. Before we knew he was not going to be able to get the bone marrow transplant, which we were believing and standing in faith for complete healing and he did finally receive his complete, total healing from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, just not here on earth. That is a whole other story, maybe one day I will share that because God did some preparation in him, us, his siblings and others for his eternal homecoming. Glory be to God for that. At the same time this was going on, a few months before he got really sick, I decided to breed my Doodle for the very first time and she had 15 puppies. I had to deliver the first 3 all by myself, this turned into a very LONG night, but it gets even worse. My husband was driving a coach bus for a company that required him to be out of town a LOT, this was one of those times. Our son was very sick just before the birth of the puppies and he needed to go to the hospital for a blood transfusion and that required him to stay in the hospital for a few days. When he came back home, he tried to help me out with the puppies, but he didn’t have the strength and I was not eating, or sleeping, I had lost 15 pounds in two weeks. Six weeks after much hard and I mean hard work, keeping 15 puppies alive and healthy, by myself, it was time to take the puppies to the veterinarian for their first series of shots, where they contracted parvo. I immediately went back to my vet, got the necessary meds, hydration bags, needles, etc. to come back home and build a quarantine area for sick, still nursing puppies. Thank God my husband was home for that week, or I think I might just be up there in Paradise with our son. We lost the first sick puppy, then we lost 2 more here at home, but praise God, He gave us the strength and everything else we needed to save these little guys & gals. Now my husband is back on the road again, and our son takes a turn for the worse. He immediately meets me at the hospital and that’s when we find out it’s time for him to come home on hospice. Everything happened so fast, I was literally living and moving on adrenaline only. The pain had gotten to be too much the last 24 hours for him, so we went to the hospital for those last hours. Then we had a funeral service to prepare for. Again, I am leaving so much out because I am trying to stay focused on the message I am trying to deliver here today. Honestly, I could write a series of books if given the time for most of these blogs. Now, back to the night before I received the mighty encounter with the Holy Spirit. Like the woman in the Bible, she spent so many years full of dead ends, helpless and hopeless, but she heard the reports about Jesus and that was all it took for this disheartened woman to move forward, there was this tiny seed of hope in her heart, that gave her the courage to take a BIG risk. That’s when she reached out to touch His cloak, with faith believing for her healing. She had to be bold as well, because she was out in the crowd with all the people and Jesus, she wasn’t even supposed to leave her home. When she made her way to Jesus, as soon as she touched the edge of His garment the bleeding, her affliction had stopped (Luke 8:44). Mark says, “Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering” (Mark 5:29) But her story is not over. Later, when Jesus wants to know who touched Him, Jesus didn’t humiliate her in front of the crowd, instead you hear Him calling her “Daughter” and tells her, “Your faith has made you well.” All because she dared to reach out to Him for help when every earthly avenue had ended in nothing but loss and despair. Back again to the night before. I was all alone again, after burying puppies, saying my goodbyes to our son, and watching my husband leave again for another lengthy road trip. It was around six in the evening, and I decided to take what little energy I had and get in the shower. I cried out to Jesus with everything I had inside of me. I needed a miracle, I needed change in my life, I needed strength, I needed someone to love and care for me, right now, this very moment or take me out of here, yes that is exactly what I said to Him. I think I was crying harder than the water was coming out of the shower head and of course my voice was as load as a train coming down the track. I needed Jesus to hear me! Then, suddenly, I heard Him. He was comforting me, telling me He had me and everything was going to be alright. He instructed me to go to this Woman’s conference the next morning. I really did not want to go there; I didn’t feel I fit in with the women there and I was already feeling all sorts of negatives inside me. Fear had been playing a huge role in my life at that time as well. Satan loves to use fear as one of his tactics to keep us from our destination. Well, let me tell you, that next morning I got up early, mustered up all the courage I could and I went! I didn’t just go, I sat on the first row, end seat, and when the worship music began, I jumped up and went to that alter with all the bravery and boldness I had in me. That’s where I released EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHNG. Fear was gone! By the time the conference was over, I felt equal to any woman there. I had been delivered, set free from my afflictions! and I could hear Him call me Daughter. Then, comes morning. Feel free to read the blog, titled, “Where You lead, I Will Follow” if you haven’t already.