Tag: Bible

Daily Thoughts

Veterans Day Plus One

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Yesterday was a day of reflection and gratefulness. As I scroll down on all the post from FaceBook and see everyone give honor and thankfulness to those who served, I can’t help but think of something that continues to fill my mind. Yes, I am most grateful for each and every person who has served in our military and sacrificed so very much, sometimes even their lives. But as I get older, there is something that just fills my heart with wonder. As most of you who read my blog know, I never got to meet my biological dad. He and my mom never married and she had given him instructions to stay out of her life and not to try to even contact her or me, when she learned that he was also the father of another baby that was due to be born around the same time as she would give birth to me. Yes, I am very grateful that she chose to keep me and she loved me and married a man who adopted me and loved me as his own. But being an only child, it becomes such a dream to meet someone that is related to me. My biological dad was named Eugene Gaylord Gipson, known also as Jiggs, from Peru, Indiana. He had four sons and two other daughters. From his obit, I learned that he served as a US Navy veteran in WW2 and was on the USS Wisconsin. My mom always carried around one picture of him and had given it to me years ago so I would know what he looked like. He owned a Tavern, called the Jockey Club in Indiana, after retiring from the military. He died in 1973, I have heard from cancer.

My adopted father, Carl Roland Michaels, served in the Navy, in San Diego until being discharged due to scarlet fever. He married my mom when I was 8 months old and raised me, like I said earlier, as if I were his own. My mom and dad were actively involved in church, serving as youth leaders, then teaching Sunday School, sang in the choir and allowed so many different people, who needed a place to live, in their home. Did they have a great marriage? No, not really. But they did, in their own way, love each other and they did love the Lord. They taught me what serving others looked like so very well. At night, I would walk by their bedroom and see them both kneeling by their beds, praying after reading their Bible. We went to church each week, not out of duty, but out of honor and respect for God. They taught me that the best way to love God was to love others. I remember my mom always saying, to have real JOY, put Jesus First, Other’s Second and Yourself last. My mom struggled with depression and with some anger all of her life. But through those struggles, she always depended on God for provision and for strength. My poor dad seemed to catch the blunt of her anger so many times. But through it all, he still loved her. I have often thought about how different my life might have been had I known my bio dad. God always knows what is best for us and because my mom had a priority to marry someone who would be a good dad, I was blessed to grow up in a Christian home.

The purpose in me writing about this is that maybe you are like me and never met your real mom or dad. Maybe you did not have a family that was the perfect Leave It To Beaver family. But God……He who sacrificed His Son that we might live and live abundantly. Will your life be perfect, because you are a Christian? Of course not. But you will have someone who walks through the valleys of life with you. He will give you strength and peace and joy that the world cannot give you. This is not about joining a church. This is not about a religion. This is about giving your heart to Jesus, who loves you as His own. We all can be adopted into the family of God, no matter who your parents are.

I heard on the radio yesterday to ask yourself every day this questions:

“At the end of the day, what is one thing I did today that I did because I am a Christian, that I would not have done otherwise?” Is there anything that I did that would point someone to Jesus? That is what I am going to begin doing. It helps me keep my eyes on what they should be on…..Jesus Christ.

I might not ever meet any of my biological family members this side of heaven. But I do know that my Father in Heaven loves me and cares for me and will one day say, “welcome home dear child, you are mine and I love you.” What better words could we hope to hear?

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River of Blessing

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What a joy it was to visit my daughter and her family last week in Phoenix, AZ. Yes, it was very hot. But the times of laughter and just being with them after 5 months of not seeing them was such a delight. As we drove around with the younger boys (ages 8 & 11) in the back seat, they ask their mom, Jodi (my daughter) if we could listen to a couple of comedians who we have always enjoyed listening to. One is Brian Regan. He is one of those who just makes me laugh by looking at him when he is delivering his comedy routine. The boys also love listening to him. So as we drove around trying to find a restaurant that didn’t have an hour and a half wait, we listened and laughed. In fact, we were laughing so hard, we were almost crying. Our stomachs hurt, not from hunger, but from laughing. At dinner on Tues night with the whole family, we began to reminisce about when Caleb was born. We were there celebrating Calebs’ 11th birthday that night and as we began to think back about how we thought the first baby the nurse brought out was Caleb and we were all oohing and crying at how precious he was, only to find out that wasn’t Caleb at all, but someone else’s baby, we began to laugh, thinking back about that day. In fact, when the waiter came over several times, he told us, “every time I come back to your table, ya’ll are laughing hysterically” And we were. It was just one of those special times when everyone was in a joyful mood and everything seemed funny. Laughter is truly good for the soul. My last night there, I told Jodi, if laughter keeps a person from getting sick, I probably won’t be sick for the rest of my life, I had laughed so much. But this story is not complete until I tell about the river trip we made on Friday. It just was a reminder of what God wants from us….our trust.

As we were driving to the river, I began to ask Jodi all sorts of questions. I had never been on this river; much less ever thought about paddle boarding. At 70 years old, my idea of adventure is, well, not standing on a paddle board in the middle of the river, trying to balance so as not to fall off and then not be able to get back on the board. But as we drove, the questions increased. What if I did fall? What if I couldn’t get back up on the board? Would I be able to go the 6 miles that we would be paddling? Were there rapids, and if so how would I go over them without falling? Were there snakes in the river? What if I didn’t paddle well and couldn’t go in the right direction? What if I couldn’t stand up or sit on this board for 2-3 hours? On and on the questions flowed. Jodi kept assuring me that, “mom, I promise you, once you are there you will see that there is no need for you to be concerned.” Well, I could trust her or I could continue to allow the thoughts that kept creeping up in my mind, keep me from enjoying the moment. As soon as we arrived, the lady who was going to bring an extra paddle board, ended up bringing a huge float for me instead of the paddle board. So that took care of so many worries. It would allow me to just float behind them and I didn’t even have to paddle at all. All I had to do was sit back and relax and enjoy the trip. My float was actually tied to Jodi’s paddle board and she would be the one who would navigate us through the river. All I had to do was trust her to get us to the point of where we would end this wonderful trip and trust that she knew when to take us up out of the river. There were several places that had exit signs, but she knew where the car was and where we needed to be.
This is what I thought about this morning as I read Isaiah 41:18-20 “I will open up rivers for them on high plateaus. I will give them fountains of water in the valleys. In the deserts they will find pools of water. Rivers fed by springs will flow across the dry, parched land. I will plant trees-cedar, acacia, myrtle, olive, fir and pine-on barren land. Everyone will see this miracle and understand that it is the Lord, the Holy One of Isreal, who did it.”
This scripture brought back to my mind the beauty of what i saw last week, as I floated for 6 miles down the Salt River. Indeed, all I had to do was trust in the one that was caring for me that day. I didn’t have to worry about any of the concerns that I had had. But just like last Friday, isn’t that what the Lord wants for us every day of our lives? He welcomes our questions. He understands our concerns. BUT…..He wants us to trust Him to be our guide “down this river of life” that sometimes has fast currents, sometimes has “rapids” and rocks which are hard to walk over. No, he doesn’t promise us that we won’t go through these hard times in our lives, but He does promise us that He will be with us and guide us thorough. He is and always will be our Lord, our protector, our Shield. Isa 41:10 “Don’t be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.”

Yes, the unknown adventure can cause some worrisome thoughts. Just like the our futures are unknown. But isn’t it wonderful that just like being able to trust my daughter who has been on that Salt River more times that she can count, I can trust her to get me to where I needed to be; AND I can always trust in the God who created me and knows exactly how to guide me to get me to where I need to be…in his plan for His glory.

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Praying In The Parking Lot

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As so many of us have been ordered to stay home as of yesterday, I thought this precious testimony would remind us that God loves us personally and sometimes sends others into our lives to not only bless us, but to be a blessing to others. When I received this today in my email from a precious friend, it made me cry. It convicted me, first of all, of the times when I felt that nudging from the Holy Spirit to go and be obedient to get out of my comfort zone and pray for someone or at least go and see how I could encourage them. We never know what others are going through. They might be struggling physically, spiritually or, as we will certainly be seeing in these coming days, financially. But God…..is still here and still loves us and still wants to bless us. So many times we think that blessings should always be financially, or health related or have things that make our lives joyful and pleasant. But blessings can come in many forms. As this story will tell us, 3 lives were blessed this day because of one women’s obedience.  The blessing  was for one lady, the chance to be used of God to bless another. The recipient was blessed to know that God cared enough and loved her enough to send someone to just encourage her. The 3rd lady, the “witness” of this event, was blessed by seeing how God orchestrated this to show her friend that God was still in the business of loving and caring for His own. I am using just the initial of the lady telling the story, as she does not want the focus to be on her. We will just call her S. This is her testimony…

“My Dear Praying Princesses,

I miss you a lot and hope that you are safe and protected under the shadow of His wings, in spite of all that is happening around us. I am so sorry that I missed last Thursday’s prayer time with you, but your prayers still resound in my heart.

I wanted to share with you something that happened to me last Wednesday, March 11th at my local Aldi store, 2 days before the President declared the National Emergency. I was shopping for my weekly groceries, just the essentials and there were not many customers in the store. I was weighed down with my own financial worries, school closing and trying to find healthy food for the kids. I was standing behind a middle-aged woman (must be in her 60’s) at the checkout line and she was having a hard time taking items out of the cart. I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to ask her if I could help put her items on the counter. She said, “yes” and showed me her left hand which was bent. She told me she had a problem with her hands that she could not move her fingers. She could not drive and her friend had brought her to the store.

I remembered Sister Cora’s prayers and Sister Kathy’s story about comforting strangers in our daily life and the Holy Spirit whispered to me in clear words to pray for her. My automatic reaction was…”no Lord, not today…I have so many things to worry about.”

I spent the next 5 minutes ignoring the voice of God within me and hoping that I would be done with my checkout soon but the Lord delayed the cashier for another 5 minutes. We both checked out, the lady was still inside the store bagging her groceries and as I was putting my groceries in my car, I started arguing with God. That is never a good thing because that opened the door for the devil to join in the conversation. I told Jesus that I will pray for her silently in my car, but the Lord said a firm, “NO”, I want her to know that you are praying for her. I want you to lay your hands on her and pray in my Name.” The devil reminded me of the virus, the social distancing, the 6 feet apart rule, worst case what if she is an unbeliever. And a whole list of reasons why this was a bad idea. The Lord replied that we were both protected from the virus by the power of His blood. That shut up the devil. While I had been arguing with the Lord about this, I felt the Lord speak to me that she was His daughter too and that we both will be protected by His blood.

SO  I waited in my car, waiting for her and her friend to come out so I could pray over her in the parking lot where I wouldn’t be too embarrassed if this did not go well. She came out of the store, helped by her friend and amazingly, they had parked their car near mine…I only had to walk 5 steps. (I love how God directed even this small detail).

Finally, I pick up my courage and walk up to them and blurt out something like this. “excuse me Mam, I am a Christian and I belong to this prayer group of Sisters and the Lord has asked me to pray for your hands. Is that ok?” The lady just burst into tears, grabbed both my hands and cried, “YES, YES, Thank you Jesus. I have been a Christian missionary all my life. I have 12 kids and I am suffering because of my hands.” I don’t remember what exactly I prayed, but just that morning, I had listened to a sermon about how Jesus healed the man with the withered hand in the Synagogue on the Sabbath day. I let the Holy Spirit take over my mouth. I prayed for her hands, her family, the promises of Psalm 91 over her for protection  against the virus and I blessed her in the powerful and Almighty name of Jesus.  Her name was Claudia and she was so happy and cried tears of joy.

Claudias’ friend who also joined in my prayers was also in tears and told me “you picked the most deserving and the best person to pray for, she really needed this today. Thank you”.

I went back to my car, fighting back my own tears and ask the Lord for forgiveness for not obeying Him promptly.  I was so busy swimming in my own pool of self-pity and selfishness, that I would have missed the opportunity to be a blessing to someone else. Almost missed the chance to be His voice and His hands, in such a time as this.”

What a great testimony and encouragement for us to be salt and light to a very hurting world right now.

As we have this fresh in our minds may we stop and ponder what all the Lord is trying to tell us!

May we all be reminded to surrender our days to Him and even now, with the restrictions in place for so many of us to not leave our homes, we need to remember that we serve a God whose ways are not restricted by anything. He can and does move in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform. He is the Great I am.

In listening to a sermon yesterday by Jim Cymbala from Brooklyn Tabernacle in NY city, we heard the Pastor preach on Ezekiel 29  and how the Israelites were turning to Egypt for security in the hard and uncertain times. As a nation, are we doing the same?  In God’s Word, Egypt is a symbol for worldliness, are we turning to everything that should be helping this virus stop? Car manufacturers making surgical masks, distilleries making hand sanitizer? Businesses closing for social distancing? What if we looked to the One thing that could actually stop this? The God who could stop this in the blink of an eye. What if, as one people, we acknowledged our sin and bowed the knee before Him asking Him to forgive us for throwing Him out of our government, our families, our schools and invite Him into our lives again? Are we better than the Israelites who kept rebelling against Him and going after other gods? Why do we think that God will not look upon our sin, as He did with His own people?

Yes, we do need to thank God for a government that is trying it’s best to help our Nation and leaders who are trying to stay on top of this awful virus.  We are grateful for companies who are going the extra mile in developing the needed supplies.

Yet, God loves us and desires our love and obedience to Him.

May Ezekiel 36 26 be our prayer in this time of needing to come back to our first love…

“And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new obedient heart. and I will put my spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatsoever I command.”

Verse 37 -38″This is what the Sovereign Lord says, I am ready to hear your prayers for these blessings and I am ready to grant them their requests. I will multiply them like the sacred flocks that fill Jerusalem’s streets at the time of her festivals. The ruined cities will be crowded with people once more and everyone will know that I am the Lord.”

I know this is a very long post today, but the Lord laid upon my heart to share these words, that they may bless you and encourage you to be a blessing to anyone He puts on your heart, even today.

 

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Artificial Light

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Isn’t it amazing how the Lord puts an idea in our hearts when we least expect it? This morning as I turned on a light that I  have turned on for the last 8 months each morning on my way to the kitchen, this thought immediately came to my mind….artificial light! Then walking into the kitchen, because that thought had clearly been given to me, I knew the Lord had put that little phrase in my mind, to then go and write this story.

When we were in Italy last summer, we began to look at places online. We knew where we wanted to live and so the search began. About once a week or more, I would go online to search out the possible places that would be available in July , back in Dallas, in our price range. Because we had friends who were living in the area where we wanted to be, they had told us that they would be on the look out for lease places which came up. One day, as I looked, the place where we are now living appeared on the search. Showing Randy the pictures of the place, it looked like something that we would love and we called our friend who not only had been looking here for us, but was also a realtor. Jack called us back and told us that he would contact the realtor and get the details. Well, from the pictures on line we saw that it was light and bright and had a great kitchen and a large living room. It was in our price range and we grabbed it. We were able to move right in when we moved back in July. The day we walked in to see it in person for the first time, we noticed that it wasn’t as light and bright as the pictures that we had seen on realtor.com. In fact, it was obvious that they had brought some professional lighting in to make the pictures look bright and sunny. In fact, the condo is in the corner of a building so it never gets direct sun in the living area, which causes the living room to be quite dark with only one corner window.  As we walked through the condo, I kept telling myself, ‘well, I can just use a lot of lamps and so the lack of windows won’t bother me.” The furniture arrived a few days later and we began to unpack. My son, Jamin, came over that same day and as he walked through, it was obvious that he didn’t like the place. That evening i texted him and told him I could tell he didn’t like it. He texted back to me, “mom, it’s not that I don’t like it, it is just that I know you and what a window person you are. You are not going to be happy in that dark house.” I assured him that I would just use all the little lamps that I have and always keep them on so it will be light. He told me that that was well and good, but I was still not going to like  not having windows and sun, like I had always been use to. Well, we had a two year lease that we had signed before seeing it in person and it was just going to have to be ok.

It is now 8 months down the road and I have to admit that it has been difficult to adjust to never seeing the sun out the living room window. The room is dark, in spite of the lamps. But it has also been a great reminder of so many times in my life that I have tried to substitute artificial sun for the real Son. When difficulties come, as they do, or circumstances arise that are beyond my control, what do I use for my strength, or my power? Am I looking to other things that try to grab my attention or stir my thoughts and affections off of the true “light”?  When days become monotonous or ordinary, what do I turn to? In these challenging days of trying to adjust to the new normal until this crisis passes us by, what is taking the Son’s place in our homes and lives?

As I look around this pretty dark room today, and with the rain, the 6 lamps that are turned on at this very moment, it is still very dark. But…..when my heart focuses on Him and I turn my thoughts to God, this room seems a little brighter to me. I take my focus off of me and turn it to Him and surrender my day and how I can reach out to others. Automatically, the room begins to lighten.

Isn’t it amazing how the true pure light of Christ can brighten up any corner of not just a room, but our hearts as well.  In this trying time, let’s keep our thoughts, our hearts and our minds on the true source of light…Jesus Christ. The dark days of confusion, fear and challenges will become a little brighter.

John 8:12 ” When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Lord, may I quit trying to fill my life with artificial light ,the things of this world that vie for our attention but look to the true source of light, Jesus Christ.  May my mind and heart stay on You and my mind be filled with “whatsoever things are pure, of good report and true” that I will think of these things each moment. Use me to share Your love and gospel to those who are hurting and needing  You. In Jesus Name, Amen

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Soul Shampoo

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TThis morning as I stepped into the shower, I happened to glance at once to the shampoo we had in the shower rack. At eye level, I noticed that of the two shampoos we had, both had words that caught my attention. On the VO5 bottle, the words, “refresh and renew” were on the label. On my shampoo, “Hair Food”. Why this morning did these words jump out at me? As I stood there and allowed the hot water to spill over me (and yes, it does take quite a lot of water to spill over me) it hit me why, today, that these words gave me so much thought.

As I thought back over the last few days, some of the Psalms came to mind. Scriptures that remind me that God wants to be the one who not only guards my soul, but wants to renew and refresh me each and every day. HE wants to be my Soul Food. The Great Shepard Who not only gave me life, but is able to keep me, to love me and protect me.

What is my first thoughts in the morning? What and who do I turn to when I need encouragement or wise counsel? Who do I rest in when trouble fills my soul? Is it my Creator, The God who gave up His Son that I might find eternal life? Where does my help, my joy and my strength come from?

What fills my mind these days? Do I look to God to guide me? So many questions began to fill my mind as I began to think about my day. Is He the first thing on my mind or is checking FaceBook? Do I begin to plan my day before asking the Lord how He wants to use me? Do i consider that He might have plans for me that I have to surrender my time and will to do His? Do I look to Him as the giver of the many blessings that pour into my life or do I just think that “it was just a great day” without giving thanks to Him for allowing the good things that do come my way?

It was such a wonderful feeling stepping out of the shower. Not only did I feel so very clean, but “renewed, refreshed” and had been reminded that not only did my hair need cleansing, but my soul needed that reminder this morning (as it does quite often) that God, the great King of Kings and Lord of all, is waiting and longing for me to look to him for all that I need to renew, refresh and feed my soul. He is the Great Shepard and lover of my soul!
Psalm 139:1,3,5,17,23 “O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me…You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest….you place your hand of blessing on my head…how precious are your thoughts about me, O God…Search me, O God and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.”

Asa 121 “I look up to the mountains, does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let you stumble and fall,the one who watches over you will not sleep. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never tires and never sleeps. The lord himself watches over you!…The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.

Isn’t it wonderful that our God, who loves us more than we can ever hope or imagine can talk to us through a shampoo bottle?

in the words of an old chorus “isn’t He wonderful, wonderful wonderful, Isn’t Jesus my Lord, wonderful? Eyes have seen, ears have heard, it’s recorded in God’s Word, Isn’t Jesus my Lord, Wonderful” Yes He is! Let that little chorus be in our hearts today, giving thanks and worship as we surrender this day to Him.

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Mountains & Valleys

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Last week, we enjoyed so much going to church with our kids who live here. Because I was fighting the flu, and didn’t know it, we drove on to church with me laying down in the seat with my feet on the dash of the car. If you read my previous blog, you will know that I was actually not just feeling weak from giving blood the day before, but was already experiencing flu symptoms. Randy kept asking me if I was sure I didn’t want to head to Urgent care but I told him to just drive in the direction of the church and I would let him know by the time we arrived if I needed to go to the doctor or if I was able to go to church. Thinking that surely the effects of donating blood would simply go away, I choose to drag myself into church. After all, getting to sing and hear God’s Word taught “should” energize me and help me forget how bad I felt. So in we go, all the while hoping that I would be able to stand to sing.
The preacher began to talk to us about living our Christian lives and how we seem to think that if we do everything “right” we would have more mountaintop experiences. As I sat there and listened to him speak, it became evident that he had a word that I needed to hear. The scripture reading was from Luke 4:30-44
“Once when he was in the synagogue a man possessed by a demon began shouting at Jesus, “go away, why are you bothering us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know you are are–the Holy One sent from God.”
The pastor brought up an interesting point that I had never thought about before. This man, who was possessed, was sitting right there in the pew, listening to Jesus preach. Were the other’s so use to this man being there every week that they never paid attention to him? Did they just think he was just a little weird? Did the others there that day think that he was just like they were? All scripture tells us is that there he was, sitting in church, listening but yet unwilling to surrender. The pastor began to talk about us as Christians, we think that the more “mountaintop experiences” we have, the holier we are. But is that what Christ is calling us to? Nothing more than people who live for those mountaintop experiences? No, we need the times in the valleys when we are reminded that Christ should be our hope, our peace and the one we strive to grow into His likeness. Mountaintops give us times when we experience times of refreshing and experiencing God’s faithfulness. We know that the prize of our salvation awaits us for all eternity. BUT..it is those times in the valleys which grows our faith and allows us to serve others while they are going through the storms and valleys of life. We are called to serve. We are not called to live on the mountaintops. We must come to the point in our lives as Christians that we seek out those who are struggling and come along beside them to show Christ’s love, compassion and giver of eternal life.
He ended the sermon with this thought:
Am I a friend to Jesus or a demon in the pew? Am I sitting here week after week, listening to Jesus Words, but not allowing Him to use me or surrender to what He has for me?
This week I have had more time than usual since I was quarantined for 3 days to think about that? Am I living for just those those wonderful mountain top times, not wanting to surrender to the valley times so that His light will shine thought me to others? Or am I sitting there, like a devil in the pew week after week?
Thank you Pastor Grosshans for a great reminder that God didn’t promise us a life of no valleys, but He did promise us that He would go with us through them.
The Christian life does have some mountaintop experiences. But we cannot stay there and just glance down to those in the valleys. We have to be down here with others, serving, loving and praying that God’s glory will be evident from our hearts to theirs.

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Home & Hope

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We are in the middle of packing to leave Arizona. I must say it is harder than I expected. When we first began thinking about moving, we truly had thoughts of possibly coming back here as we have some of our kids here and have met some wonderful friends. But as the time grows closer, we feel drawn to possibly close this chapter of our lives and be open for what God has for us and where He leads. As I have looked back over my life, my security has been placed so much in my home and where I lived. This morning, in reading in Cheque Book of the Book of Faith, the scripture was “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust; his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Psa 91:4”
As I read on, this sentence really stuck out, “How can we distrust when Jehovah himself, becomes house and home, refuge and rest to us?”
It made me stop and think about where my security and trust lie. Yes, I have felt very secure in some of the places where we have lived. Several of our homes have been in a guarded and gated community, which allowed me to feel very safe. Other homes, we were blessed to be in places of quiet and “safe” communities, where we still lived in an Ozzie & Harriot” neighborhood. But as we leave this place, not really knowing where we are ending up after a few months of playing gypsies, it is easy to begin to feel a little apprehensive. Where will we live? What kind of home will we have? As we begin a new season of trying to “trust and obeying” where God leads, may my hope be in Him. Not in a different house, but truly in Him. The God who promises to be my shield and buckler.
Because our plans to stay for a 3 month period in Italy,is just around the corner, of course, stirrings of doubt and worry can lead me to take my eyes off Jesus. It is easy to place them on things that can arise. Did we book places that are safe? Can we (at our age) manipulate the trains or buses? Can we read the maps and get to where we are suppose to be?
A friend yesterday suggested on Face Book that there are 24 chapters in the gospel of Luke, which if we read one chapter a day in December, by Christmas Day we would have read about the life of Jesus. That by Dec 25th, we might see Him in a whole new way. So that is what I am doing. My prayer for December is that in reading the Book of Luke, may my heart see Him in a whole new light. That gained knowledge of Him, would be more than just head knowledge. May He become the Christ Child who covers me when I trust. ”
“That I would see Him as the Lord who cannot lie; he must be faithful to his people; his promise must stand. This sure truth is all the shield we need….Come my soul, hide under those great wings, lose thyself among those arms of hope and strength.”*

Lord,May this Christmas season, rekindle my trust and strength in You, who came to save that which was lost. For You are my hope and shield. No matter the place, no matter the house. May my home and hope forever be in You.

*Cheque Book of the Book of Faith

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Seasons of Change

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As I sit here looking out the window and waiting for my sweet husband to come back from talking to the listing agent, my mind is swirling around thinking about so many things. Once again, we are boxing up dishes and linens. Christmas Decorations and out of season clothes are being sorted as we tape up box after box. After we left for a month this summer to Texas and California, we came back with a dream of selling the house and heading to Italy for 3 months. Quickly we began to sort out different plans and decided that before Italy, we would love to go stay a while in Florida by our daughter and her family. Since they live clear across the good ole USA, we don’t get to see them as much as we would like, so we called Christi and started planning our adventure. We learned last night from a friend that the Villages are only an hour from our kids there in Florida so we might stay there and learn square dancing or alligator watching while Kenley is in school during the day.
When we arrived in Arizona, we didn’t think that we would ever get the opportunity to head back to Italy, especially for 3 months, but as these last two years have taught us, you never know the possibilities that will present themselves.
Sitting on the beach at Newport in July, we listened to the waves and enjoyed the cool sea breeze as we discussed what was going on in our hearts. Neither one of us are ready to just sit and wait to get old. We miss the adventures which use to tide us from one season to another. As we sat here one evening quickly answering the questions to Family Feud, Randy looked over at me and said, “ok, this is ridiculous, we need to go to Italy and get away from the TV”. So we got out all of our Italy maps and books and began to plan our escape.

It is exciting, but yet a little nerve wracking to think that I will be without all my baking pans and cute dish towels that go with every season. Gone will be all my Christmas decorations, including the 5 trees that light up my house. What will I tell my Southern friends who decorate each and every room with a different themed tree, when all I will have is a Christmas bracelet and necklace because all my “treasures” will be in storage.
Then Valentines, when I love to serve decorated sugar cookies on heart shaped plates. Oh no, Easter! What will my short term lease house look like without Easter bunnies and Easter themed plates? Do not get me started on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. All I know is I will have to buy a suitcase large enough to pack some Christmas, Valentine, St Patricks Day, and Easter decorations dish towels to use where ever we stay. As we planned our adventure, we realized that we need a box of clothes for winter, since we will be going to Dallas in January for a few days. We need clothes to go to Mexico with friends in January. Clothes for Florida for two months, then clothes for Italy. Im not sure, but I don’t think I remember seeing a Walmart in Italy. So am thinking of trying to find a continuing education class on how to pack a suitcase for all the different seasons.

As seasons of our lives change, we are finding out that our thoughts and desires change as well. Selling the house will be bittersweet. We have loved this house and have many great memories of having family and friends over for dinner. Randy and I also enjoyed a season of sitting out in the sunroom most mornings with coffee (well I had my Diet Dr Pepper, he had coffee) all the while having a morning devotion and would just sit and talk to each other. It was a different season of not being in a hurry to get someplace, but to simply sit and talk. I learned things about him that I did not know. He learned things about me that maybe he didn’t want to know. But we have met some precious folks here that mean so much to us already. As we pack and plan, we are praying that whatever God has planned for us in this new season, we will be ready to serve Him, no matter where He takes us, or returns us here.

Yes, Seasons change and locations change. One think that does not change is our desire to live and serve according to His purpose and plan for our lives. We learned a few years back never say exactly what we are going to do. God has a way of sometimes showing us that His plans are different from ours. We have learned that the hard way. So as we continue to box up another set of dishes, this thought will end this post today…..
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths” Proverbs 3:5-6

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

One Word

Chocolate Castles1 Comment

For a few years, I have taken the advice of Debbie Stuart and prayed that the Lord would give me a word for the year. The word which He gives you is a word that will amazingly appear in places you would least expect and you know in your heart that the word you are given is for a reason. For 2017 my word was Tenacity. I had begun to pray and ask the Lord what word He had for me for 2017. One morning in early December I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and tenacity was the word that was in my mind. I had to go look it up because I truly never remembered using it ever, nor did I know what it really meant. When I looked it up, I discovered that it meant “learning to be content with circumstances and to persevere, going forward. For the next few mornings I would wake up thinking that word. Looking back over 2017, I know why that word was the word that I was suppose to study, to take to heart and to apply to my life. 2017 came with some struggles of circumstances which I had never thought would come across my life. God was faithful and provided His grace and sufficiency to me in areas that I needed to grow up, not only spiritually, but mentally. Fast forward to 2018.
Reading an email from a friend who was talking about what she felt the Lord had given her as her word for 2018, I suddenly realized that I had not even begun to think about praying for this year’s word. So I quickly began to pray and ask the Lord what word He had for me this year. Past years’ words for me have been,
“tenacity” “restore” “serve”. So when I was praying, I expected my word to be something along those lines. But once again, on December 6th I woke up thinking about the word “kindness”. I thought about that and wondered why that word was on my mind. But again the next day, “kindness” would just pop into my mind. IT was then that I begin to ask the Lord if that was indeed my word. On December 8th, I woke up and came into the living room and opened up my devotion book as I do each morning. As I opened up Streams in the Desert for December 8th, this was the scripture at the top of the devotion, “Colossians 3:12, Put on as the elect of God, kindness.”
It was the story of an old man who went around town who carried a can of oil everywhere he went, and if he passed through a door that squeaked, he poured a little oil on the hinges. Anyplace he went that needed a touch of oil to stop squeaking or lubricating, making the hard places easier for those who came after him, he oiled them. The devotion went on to say:
“Have you your own can of oil with you? Be ready with your oil of helpfulness in the early morning to the one nearest you. (oh boy, that meant that I had to be continually “kind” to my husband for a year,) It may lubricate the whole day for him. The oil of good cheer to the downhearted one-oh how much it may mean…our lives touch others but once, perhaps, on the road of life; and then, mayhap, our ways diverge, never to meet again.
It ended with “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love.” Romans 12:10
About an hour after reading this, a dear friend from California texted me with this message;
“thought of you this morning as I was reading Streams in the Desert……….hope you have a blessed day” She had never written to me about a devotion before and here she was writing about the same one I had just read.
Then on December 13th, a blog I read from time to time called Two Chums popped up in my email. For “some” reason, I opened it that morning and this was what it opened with, “above all else, be kind”. It was at this point that i quit asking God for more confirmation and declared that my word for 2018 is Kindness. I don’t know why yet and I don’t know what circumstances will be in my life this year. Sometimes it might be hard to fall on the promises of God that “I can do all things with God’s strength” and “nothing is impossible with God” But I can rest assured that “my God will supply all my needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus”, even His strength to help me show kindness to everyone, no matter what!

If you have never ask God to give you a word, begin to pray about that. It will be amazing how He will reveal it to you and how He will use it for your spiritual growth. Also there is a book called “My One Word” by Mike Ashcroft.
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Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Tell Of His Wondrous Acts to Perform

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We are instructed in Psa 105, to “O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name; make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto him; talk ye of all His wondrous works.” When we pray asking the Lord to guide us, that is what we are suppose to do. To allow Him to guide us, not walk ahead of Him; but that is exactly what I have been doing.

When we moved to Arizona, we had spent many hours in prayer asking the Lord to lead us to the church home that He wanted us to be in service to Him. After visiting churches around the area, we found a church that had amazing preaching and people who were so very easy to love. Even though it was very different from the churches we have been members in both Texas and California, we felt that this church had great folks and great preaching, so we decided that this would become our church home. Each week, we would leave the service and get in the car and I would get teary eyed. Randy would take my hand and say, “I know this is not what we are used to, but churches out here are very different and I guess this is the best it’s going to be.” I know this is not the attitude that we should have, but I began to think that if we joined, maybe it would feel more like our “home church” and being a member would make us feel better about things. So I began to tell Randy that we should begin the church membership process. This is certainly not something that I am proud of, and is exactly why we are encouraged to allow the husband to be the head of the household. I could tell he was not feeling the same about joining, but after me continuing to say that “we need to do this”, he agreed and we went forward in preparing the church membership videos. The appointment was set to meet with one of the pastors and we went. The entire hour we met with this sweet young man, I felt a check in my spirit, but just decided that maybe it was because I was still trying to “make it happen”. So we joined. The two Sundays after joining, each week, we would leave the service and get in the car. Tears would fill my eyes, and we both knew that we had indeed got ahead of the Lord and was not in the place where we should be.

The week after joining, a friend called me to tell me that they felt that they had found their church home. She began to tell me about it and let me know that it had a traditional service and had Sunday School and a Women’s Ministry, which is something that has always been such a passion of mine. As she spoke, I remembered the whole past year of both Randy and I praying and asking the Lord to allow us to find a church which had Sunday School and a traditional service and a Women’s Ministry. Randy had heard the whole conversation because I had my phone on speaker phone. This was on a Thursday. Right then I decided that for once, (yes I do get ahead of God so many times) I would not even mention this to Randy, but to let him be the one who suggested that we attend Grace Community Church. Calling my BFF in Dallas, I began to relay the whole story to her when she spoke up and said, “Trudy do you not remember me mentioning Grace Community to you when you first moved there?” No I didn’t remember. She had heard about it from her daughter who lives in Scottsdale and had friends who attended Grace. The next Sunday morning, we got up and began to get ready for church when he quietly said, “what do you think about going to visit Grace Community this morning?” Quickly I responded, YES! So off we went. After the service, we walked out and got in the car and just looked at each other. As he looked over to me, I said, “what did you think? He told me that he loved it and we both said that it was a church we could see ourselves growing old in and serving” The next 3 weeks, we went back and have begun visiting Sunday School classes. But now the burden of telling our sweet friends who have been not only our small group leaders, but my ladies Bible study leader who invited us into their small group. We left for a couple of weeks for vacation and we ask friends in California to pray for us as we felt badly for now telling these folks who had become such sweet friends to us, that we would be leaving the church. But God….He truly goes way beyond our needs and answers prayers which still amaze! When I talked to Marilyn, she was just so sweet and kind and told me she totally understood. Then she told me a story. She said that as soon as she got my email explaining our story, she went in to tell her husband. It was then that he revealed to her that he had just received an email from a couple who had tried once before to get in their small group, but there wasn’t room. The man had written to Bob and had ask him if there was still no opening in their group, as their small group had disbanded and they were desperate to be in a small group. So us leaving allowed them to be able to invite this couple into theirs. All that happened on the very same day. A confirmation from the Lord that we were being called to a new place. So from this circumstance, several things were learned.
1. Do not try to “make things happen”. Allow God to lead in His timing, not mine.
2. Don’t settle for something less that what God has intended to give you. We had been praying for a year for a church that was more like our home church in Texas and California. We didn’t wait, but took it upon ourselves to get ahead of the Lord, thinking that this was as good as it was going to get. God never gives you anything but His best. Why can I not learn that?

3.When we don’t wait on God and lead ourselves, instead of allowing God to lead, there are consequences. Yes, He forgives our trying to control situations, but my consequences were that I had to go back then and tell precious friends that we had made a mistake and acknowledge that this was just not the place for us.

4. Quit trying to be the spiritual leader of our home. Randy was not ready to join, and had I listened to him, we would not have signed a church membership covenant.

Lord, there are so many times when I try to get ahead of you and think that I know better than you how to live my life. Forgive me Lord and may I learn to trust You more and more and may my faith in You grow no matter the circumstances.

“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” Mark 11:24

2 Corinthians 5:7 “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.