Tag: relationship

A Wake-up Call

“For God is not a God of disorder but of peace” (1 Cor.14:33)

The hardest pill to swallow this year was realizing I meant so little to some people that meant the most to me. That kind of truth hits different! It will definitely humble you, it will also hurt you and teach you all at once. It’s called a wake-up call in my book, knowing that not everyone loves with the same kind of heart as you do. Some people only value you for what you can do for them or when it’s convenient for them. And the moment you stop pouring into them, you see their real intentions or you don’t see them at all, they have a way of diappearing altogether. Unfortunately for them and myself I have had to make some tough love decisions, by walking away from some relationships just so I could have mental clarity and peace. The blessing in the lesson in all of this is clarity. I hate being blindsided. I need communication and I need clarity that’s just how I roll. Be honest with me and don’t use my heart, because there are people out there that really need it and I am willing to give it. God promises to heal the brokenhearted and for that I am grateful. I confess right now I am the healed of the Lord!

I will not be anxious about anything, but in all things, every situation I will present my requests to God. And the peace of God …will guard my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus, that’s a promise for me to stand on. (Philippians 4:6-7).

I also will not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but I will be transformed by the renewing of my mind, so then I will be able to test and approve what God’s will is (Romans 12:2). Through much prayer for direction regarding this wake-up call the Lord has opened doors through therapy and an amazing nerosurgeon Dr. Lee Warren who is teaching me ways to have a better understanding on how the brain actually works through the renewing or rewiring of our thought process.

I am so grateful that God kows what and who we need to speaking into our life at the just the right time.

Little Foxes

“The joy of the Lord is my strength” (Nehemiah 8:10)

Last night there was a beautiful sky that continued on into the morning. I took pictures of it both in the evening and the morning. I made a post on social media describing how God makes everything beautiful. I felt wonderful at that moment and looking forward to a great day and then … “little fox” came along and changed everything.

27 years ago we bought our first home here in Arkansas, it wasn’t everything we would have wanted, but it became my home for the next 19 years. Coming from a background of inconsistency in having a permanent home, both as a child and as an adult, this meant more than I can explain. I use to keep track of every place I ever lived. I remembered every address, what the houses looked like, the phone numbers, I had a good memory, but that was all those places were, was memories. Eight years ago, we sold that home of 19 years and I have struggled with it this whole time. The house we bought to take the place of my home was my mother-in-laws home, her memories and my husbands memories and everyone around us their memories, five generations of memories, but not mine. I have struggled to try to make this my home because of fear of taking away their memories. But I continue to try.

Back to the “little fox.” As I was posting my daily blog I thought I should check my emails, I was expecting a response from a company I had emailed earlier in the week, when I came across a listing of my former home for sale. Suddenly looking through the 17 plus, photos of the place I began to cry. I felt as though I had just been punched in my stomach, the aching of never being able to go back to that place I once called home was literally taking my breath away. I began to see all the things I had lost since the move. My community, neighbors, my job was there, but in the move I decided I would settle for early retirement. My family was moving off, others were not coming as often as they used to and we were not making the trips we did in the past either. My grandkids once made comments about this didn’t feel like our home, it felt like Granny’s, because it was. They to grew up with memories of this place, memories of going to Granny’s. Our home was Mimi & PawPaw’s and it was at a different location than here. Pets were dying and disappearing, my husband lost his job that was suppose to take us into retirement, now we were living a very different kind of life and I no longer had my support system around me. I felt very alone, lonely was more like it. I had shingles right after we moved here for the first time, then covid hit, had that twice and nearly died the first time, ended up with breathing problems since. Brought family here from another state then the relationship fell apart. Brought a former foster of ours that was still family that was battling Leukemia, he passed after two years of trying to get to a bone marrow transplant. I went through a litter of 15 pups all by myself and did well until 6 weeks in I took them to the vet for their first series of vaccines where they contracted parvo and I lost 4 to that. My husband stayed home from work for a week and we worked day and night to keep these guys alive. My husband took another week off work to go through hospice with me and our boy before laying him to rest. I could go on for another several pages of things I lost since I made the move, but I say all this to say, “Little foxes.”

I had recently relinquished all of this loss over to the Lord when the little foxes appeared and tried to steal my joy, my hope and my peace by bringing this back up. Please hear me when I say, it’s all little foxes in the spiritual realm of life. Yes, I have lost many people and things over the years and will continue to until I make it to my final home. For me and you, if you are a believer in the One True God, Jesus Christ our Savior, then you know EVERYTHING will one day vanish.

I don’t know what my future holds, but I do know who holds my future and though the little fox from this morning that decided to cause havoc in my mind and heart, he doesn’t get to stay here.

I am learning to give things over to God a whole lot quicker than I have in the past. One scripture that really stands out to me this morning is: (Psalms 30:5b) Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

Will the sadness of my former home be gone completely? No, but I can have joy in knowing that God still has great plans for my life in the here and now.

Weeping does end and morning does come.

Which Is Easier …Visible or Invisible

Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? (Mark 2:9)

It’s easier to say the words, “Your sins are forgiven,” because that’s something invisible and impossible to disprove. But it’s harder to say, “Take up your bed and walk” because, if the man does not get up, then the one who said the words would look like he didn’t have any power or authority to heal. On a deeper level, it is harder to forgive sins, because only God can forgive sins-at the cost of Christ’s death on the cross. So the logic here is that, since Jesus can do the visible miracle (heal the paralytic), this is evidence that he also has the power to do the invisible miracle (forgive sins).

Mark 2:10-12 goes on to say, But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins-he said to the paralytic- “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose immediately picked up his bed and went before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Jesus’ healing of the paralytic verifies that he also has divine authority to forgive sins.

Which is what brings me to this part. The salvation message, the forgiveness of sins, eternal life in heaven, an eternity with Christ Jesus and our Father God. We can’t see Jesus with our natural eye, the Holy Spirit is (the invisible) active force that convicts us of our sin, reveals Jesus, and draws us into salvation. It begins with him convicting us, making us aware of our sin and our need for a Savior, opening our eyes to the reality of Jesus. He gives us understanding, allowing us to comprehend and believe the truth of the Gospel, our hearts become pliable, instead of being hard. Then He seals and secures us the moment we receive salvation. He takes up residence in our lives as a “seal” or guarantee of eternal relationship with God. The Holy Spirit descended from heaven “like a dove” and rested on Jesus when he was baptized by John the baptist. (Matt. 3:16) The Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out on the followers of Jesus as a rushing wind and tongues of fire. (Acts 2:1-4) Also read (Acts 16:5-15).

If reading this has caused a tugging in your heart knowing there is a need for change in your life, that is evidence of the Holy Spirit speaking directly to you and there is a prayer you can say to assure your eternal relationship with God.

Jesus, I am a sinner in need of a savior. I believe in my heart that you are the Son of God who died on the cross and rose from the dead that I may be forgiven of my sins and have eternal life with you. I turn from my sins and invite you into my life, I confess You as Lord and Savior. Thank you for convicting me, saving me and giving me eternal life, In Jesus’ name, Amen.

You Can’t Always Chose The Path You Walk, but You Can Choose the Way You Walk It.

Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or the left; turn your foot away from evil. (Proverbs 4:25-27)

The scripture above is referring to, keeping your eyes on what is right. It means blocking out distractions that try to pull you off course. We can’t always control the obstacles on the path, but we can control where we look. Looking straight ahead keeps us from getting distracted. We also need to ponder (think deeply) study it out, the ground that we are walking on and plan our steps carefully. When a difficult path is coming up our reaction is really going to matter. So we need to stop and think about our choices. If we will choose each step wisely we will be able to keep our footing and we will stay safe. We have a moral responsibility to stay on track as well. We don’t need to be trying to find shortcuts or make wrong choices, no matter how hard the walk gets. I know personally how rough some paths can get and I’ve wanted an easier route myself, heck I’ve even wanted to turn around and give up. Sometimes I go on these hikes for my health & exercise, not just because I like hiking. If I take a shortcut I am taking away from what I plan to achieve and I only hurt myself. The same is true of spiritual shortcuts, not staying true to my values or character and not achieving the results I wanted.

If we will fix our vision on truth, which is the Bible, intentionally evaluate our actions, and avoid distractions, this will be the only map needed for staying on a righteous path without swerving into destructive behaviors.

If you are on the wrong path right now, your directions are off, maybe your vision is even a bit blurred. Maybe you have fallen and your bloodied from the fall, Stop! Don’t go any further. Refocus! Look at your map, look to Jesus, let him guide your path. He is so gracious and merciful and he loves you and wants you to make it to your destination, whole, healthy, and unscathed.

Keep our eyes on Jesus

Spiritual Maturity

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6-7)

Milk and meat are referenced in the Bible as metaphors for spiritual maturity. Milk represents the foundational teachings of the faith, while meat represents deeper theological truths. The scriptures encourage new believers to consume milk but warn against remaining on a milk-only diet for to long. Here are a few scriptures referencing milk and solid food: 1 Peter 2:2, Heb. 5:12-14, 1 Cor. 3:1-3

As a mature believer how can we help the new believer in Christ Jesus?

Just as a newborn baby needs milk for nurturing their physical body and to grow so does a new baby Christian need spiritual milk to grow in their faith, the basic truths of the gospel. We would never expect a baby to be able to eat a steak weeks or months into their life, we should not expect a new Christian to be able to obtain more than the basics in the beginning of their walk with Jesus. We need to be gentle with them, protecting and nourishing by instructing them with love and compassion, helping them to know Jesus and to become who God has called them to be.

As they grow in their knowledge, we still show that same compassion by incorporating commitment. Letting them know we are still here, but now we are backing up and allowing God to grow them through conviction. Like a baby that is becoming a toddler they are learning to walk on their own without holding our hand, yet if they fall we are there to help them back up. Staying committed to helping them is so very important because without it, the baby would stay a baby and the new Christian would remain in their current state as well. Don’t leave them to have to fend for themselves when they haven’t even learned to come to the table by themselves. If we say we are there for them and willing to help be sure your actions back your words. Our goal is to get them to the place where they learn to put their trust in God not us. Teaching them to be obedient by living and acting on the Word of God that we have been feeding them, our compassion toward them, as well as our commitment to them. Moving them over to solid food, allowing them to come and sit at the table on their own.

Finally they grow to where they are now on meat, the solid food. This is where their trust has been confirmed and the convictions they are experiencing are moving them in the direction the Spirit of God is speaking to them. They have a real understanding and are surrendering and being obedient to God on their own. This does not mean the Christian will never fall again, nor be in need of being picked up. Life has its challenges for every believer young and old.

Our final goal is to get from just hoping in God to expecting. Expecting that what His Word says is truth. Hope says, “Maybe” being expectant says, “I know.” Expect God’s Word to work, that is what changes results.

We are ALL called to the same thing. Accept, Grow and GO.

Accept …the truth (Jesus Christ) through faith, Grow …in our faith, Go …help other to do the same.

Be Still

“Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10)

It’s time to release control again, quiet my mind, and find peace. In Hebrew, “be still” is raphah-meaning to let go, relax, and surrender the need to strive. How many of you are striving for one thing or another right now in your life? What’s going on in your mind over and over that you just never really seem to have a real peace? What are you holding on to that needs surrendering? For me I find myself in this place more often than I’d like to admit and more often than I ever should be.

Sitting on a rock at a fresh stream of water reminds me of Jesus my Rock, Living Waters refreshing my soul as I still my mind to the sound of the bubbling brook. I realize at that moment I don’t have to carry the weight of everything myself. This is where I release all the heaviness and I find strength in the resting. Inhaling the words “Be still” and exhaling “and know that I am God.” There is where my peace is.

I have to have these moments alone with God. Being alone in general is not enough, I need deliberate time and away from everything, no phone, all distractions, just focusing on God’s presence.

Sometimes I journal the things that are stressing me out, then I will pray over them and ask God to help me surrender them to Him. I rarely go back to that paper simply because it works. I give it to God, He takes it and it’s finished, time to move on. Knowing He is God allows me to spend my time reflecting on His power, and love for me instead of my problems. It also allows me to see how small my problems are in comparison to how big our God is. I was just praying tonight with a group of people from an outreach ministry I am involved in and that was my prayer, “God these things we are seeking you for are small in comparison to how big you are.” When we can look at it in those terms we can find rest in Him.

My prayer for everyone reading this including myself is this. God help us to stop, to be quiet, to be still, and to remember to know that you are God and that you are all-powerful, You are all-sovereign. Amen

Confession Of A Sinner

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38)

David wrote Psalm 51 for the music leader, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after David had sex with Bathsheba.

Here is the entire Psalm written in simple, modern everyday English:

Have mercy on me, God, because you are so loving. Because you are so merciful, please wipe away all my wrongs. Wash me clean from guilt and make me pure from my sin. I know exactly what I did wrong, and I cannot stop thinking about it. I have done evil, and I only sinned against you. You are perfectly fair to judge me for what I did. I have been a sinner since the day I was born. But you want truth and honesty deep inside my heart, and you teach me wisdom there. Wash me, and I will be cleaner than snow. Make me happy and glad again. Ignore my sins and wipe them all from your memory. Create a pure heart in me, God, and give me a new, faithful spirit. Please do not the throw me away or take your Holy spirit from me. Give me back the joy of your saving grace, and make me eager to obey you. If you do this, I will teach other sinners your ways so they will return to you. God, save me from my guilt, and my tongue will sing loudly about how good and right you are. Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will proudly praise you. You do not really want animal sacrifices, or I would gladly bring them. The true sacrifice God wants is a broken and humble heart. God, you will not look down on a heart that is sorry for its sins.

This is a prayer of forgiveness and repentance written by King David. In it, he asks God to wash away his mistakes, fix his broken heart, and restore his joy.

I know we read here about having the Holy Spirit taken from David, yet Christ had not come yet, therefore the Holy Spirit did not dwell within anyone at this point in time. What we have here is God’s anointing on David. Ps. 32:1 states, Forgiveness of sins anticipates the sacrifice of Christ as the ultimate basis of forgiveness according to, (Romans 4:7-8). Also (Ps. 51:7) Hyssop alludes to cleansing ceremonies that point to the final cleansing from sin through the work of Christ (Heb 9:19-28). Which now takes me to (1 John 1:9), “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse of from all unrighteousness.” Now, thanks to Jesus dying on the cross, rising up from the dead and sending His Holy Spirit to dwell within us, we can have EVERYTHING God promised. One last, but not final scripture I want to share is (Romans 10:9-10), “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved”.

Christ promises us the conqueror’s reward: communion with himself and the white raiment of victory. Our name is secure in his Book of Life, and he will confess our names before the Father, since we have confessed Jesus. (Rev.3:5)

With King David, he found forgiveness from the Father through his confession. With us we to have forgiveness through confession with the Son and eternal life.

If any or all of this resonated within you, you to can confess your sins and be forgiven. There is nothing like letting the past go and getting a fresh new life an everlasting life. Love covers a multitude of sins, and while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That’s unconditional grace my friends. You cannot earn God’s love by good behavior or human perfection, it had to come one way and one way only, through the ultimate sacrifice of Christ, a sacrificial love. He did it for me, He did it for you.

Discontentment

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. ( Philippians 4:11)

Paul’s been through some stuff and he knows what it’s like from every angle of life, yet he knew and talked about being content more than anyone else.

Okay this is straight talk from myself for a minute. Discontentment is a sneaky enemy. I can get angry about something, it’s just there right now, in the moment and that’s that. Or fear, something happens or doesn’t happen and anxiety starts taking over right away, but discontentment hits when I least expect it, everything is just rocking along. My day will be going great, heck I may even be at church praising God and giving Him all the glory for all the good things He is doing in my life, done in my life and gonna do in my life and then like a thief in the night the enemy has come and stole my joy, got me thinking all kinds of things. Likely because I heard someone else talking about something and suddenly I felt I didn’t have what I thought I should have. Like,”Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have so much to take care of around our home, we could be out doing what so-n-so is doing, wouldn’t that be nice?” Or “We sure didn’t think this whole retirement thing through like we should have had we, we would be doing a lot more than we are.” “Dang we are getting old, if we were young like them we could __________fill in the blank.” See how the enemy snuck that one right in there? I just went from being content and I really am for the most part, until the enemy comes along and gets in my head and I decide to entertain those thoughts and that’s all that is, is thoughts. God blessed us with a nice home, we have lived good healthy lives this far, if we would stop allowing busyness to steal our time we would take vacations, even just more day trips. We aren’t in lack, God has been good to us, so how did I suddenly just become discontent?

The Israelites’ journey in the dessert; despite being freed from slavery, they grew dissatisfied with God’s provision and complained against Him. Discontentment will cause us to start grumbling and complaining just like they did. We start acting like God is withholding good things or he doesn’t know what’s best for us. Paul tells us that contentment is learned. Paul struggled with imprisonment and hardship but wrote in (Philippians 4:11-13) that he learned the secret of being content in (any) situation, relying on the strength Christ provides. There is some true gain from having a relationship with God rather than all this worldly stuff that brings about being discontent, (1 Timothy 6:6) “godliness with contentment is great gain”. We need to set our minds on the things above, not on earthly things”(Colossians 3:2). We also need to protect our minds. I once read a book, “Where the mind goes, the man follows” and that is true. Don’t be a follower of the enemy, be a Christ Follower.

Peace On Earth

If my people who are called by name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

The word that stands out to me more than anything at the moment is: “IF”. If my people will humble themselves, seek, pray, and turn. This requires some heartfelt repentance here. This means there is going to be some deliverance, healing, restoration and going home. Most importantly a right relationship with the Lord.

We have got to be a people that acknowledges our weaknesses and submits to God’s authority. Take time to talk to God asking for his intervention. Desiring His presence and will, not just asking for His blessings. We need to stay in an active place of repentance, we have to consciously make a decision to stop sinning and start being obedient. We as parents don’t just keep blessing our children when they are doing the wrong thing, we make them earn it through respecting our authority over them, God does the same thing. We are trying raise obedient children and so is God.

God’s Promise, (“Then”) That’s when we receive the promise of His grace over judgment “when” His people return to Him. I know this promise was made to the ancient nation of Israel, but the principles apply to believers today to. God’s ultimate desire is restoration and forgiveness rather than permanent punishment. If we can do that we can have peace on earth.

Remember “IF” & “When” two very important words. If and when we will do it His way.

Moving Forward

I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. (Psalm 139:14)

If I am being held back from accomplishing anything, it is because of the battle between fear and faith. I know I have in the past and sometimes still find myself shrinking back in the present just not nearly as much as I use to, limiting my own self by doubting instead of trusting His calling. Because I have always had the people pleasing syndrome, spirit of perfectionism, I have allowed fear and insecurity to hold me back. Fear, failure, judgment, or even the unknown have been reasons for holding me back from stepping into my true identity. I spent a lot of time with the Lord trying to figure out how to move past this. Through much prayer and surrender God blessed me with a new boldness, one that makes me say now “YES I CAN” and “YES I WILL,” I’m not scared. If God called me to it, well he will obviously equip me to achieve the task. I’m moving forward, not backward. I am focused on my future, what’s ahead of me. God has been doing a new thing in me and I am not hiding who the new me is He is creating.

If God is calling you into something new, a new purpose, or bolder version of yourself, He promises He will be your strength. You just need to replace your internal doubts by renewing your mind with what Scripture says about your value and your purpose. Remember we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph. 2:10) Let your light shine, people need to see it, this is how we encourage others to move out of their fears and doubts, and move into their call, their purpose in life.

Moving Forward With Purpose and Taking People With me