I fell down.

When we stumble, it is so embarrassing! Once I was rushing to a college class and as I reached the top of the stairs, my shoe caught the lip of the top stair and I went sprawling like a baseball player trying to make a base. My arms, which were loaded with books(no backpack)flew out to catch my fall and I laid there in front of several students who were waiting to get into classes. Oh! I was so embarrassed. One nice young man quickly came to my rescue and helped me up and another one bagan to gather my up notebooks and textbook. It is really funny to recall NOW, but at the time I just wanted to vanish. When we stumble IN LIFE though, due to heavy burdens or mistakes we have made, we must know that the Lord somehow relates to us and comes to us to help us up. He really does relate to us. He did not fall due to his own carelessness or misjudgment; he fell due to the weight of OUR GRIEFS AND SORROWS. This pain was placed upon him by US. The weight of mistakes and sins can feel heavier than a physical weight. Jesus really does know how it feels to fall. Isaiah 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. I love what the psalmist David wrote in Psalm 145:14. The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. Don't lose heart; keep trusting. Don't assume that since you have fallen you are without help. Pride can keep us from asking for help. Pride is a lousy friend. James wrote, Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. James 4:10. Jesus is right beside you holding his hand out to help you up.

I hate pain, but it can be a gift.

When you hurt deeply, it hardly matters to you who sees or hears your cry; you are just desparatly needing help. While in heavy labor trying to deliver a baby, it matters not who comes in the room. All you think about is getting that baby out and getting relief of pain. While pinned in a car after a car wreck you don't worry about how messy your hair is or how horrible you look, you just want to be cut free and given medical help. Pain humbles us. Pain humbles us a lot. As we read the story in the Bible where Hannah cried out with such anguish that Eli the high priest, thought she was drunk and apparently struck her (marked her mouth) in disgust. She was not drunk, she weeping for a child. She was at the end of her own strength; her pride did not matter anymore. She decided that she would either hear from God or she would die in pain. Have you ever hurt that much? God hears our cry and he will send us help. We may be suprised at where the help comes from. We must not let pride determine whether the help God sends us is good enough or not. We learn a bit of how the Lord felt when he was ministered to and worshipped by those that were common or unclean. Things seem different when you are in tremendous pain. Isaiah 53:4-5 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Our Lord knows pain, he chose pain to "buy" our peace, he chose pain to ensure we could be healed. He put our griefs and sorrows on his back. He understand pain and grief and he understands humility.

Joy is hard to hide.

My son Tim preached the other Sunday that our job is to believe and have faith; to trust. It seems so simplistic, but it is true. We can't heal people or move mountains but we can exercise our faith. Bro. Jeff Arnold shocked us at General Conference with the message that it is not enough to just preach the Gospel, we must perform the Gospel! We must lay hands on the sick, we must speak faith to others. We must show or exhibit our faith, we must move! When life is so hard you feel like crumbling in a heap, it is in the performing and moving that we find our strength. For the joy of the LORD is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10 IT IS MY STRENGTH! Joy shows. Joy is hard to contain. Joy goes down to your feet. Joy brings strength. Worshipping the Lord IS WHERE MY STRENGTH COMES FROM. It may be so hard to hold your head up sometimes; life can suddenly change and you feel the ground under your feet shaking, or even gone, but remember that there is a strength above our natural strength; it is supernatural. It simply cannot be explained. When one relaxes in the presence of God and let's go of all this world's troubles, one finds joy and subsequently finds strength. Trust and obey... for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, you must trust and obey.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Want to know God's plan for your life?

God has intentions for you. Yes, you, individually! He has a plan for YOUR life. It is already written. As I was studying recently, I came across a familiar verse, which made me want to look further into the deeper meanings of the verse. Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. (NKJV) Well, here it is, the word "thoughts" is better translated intentions! God's intentions are higher than ours, his thoughts are higher than ours. He has intentions for us personally!!! Now the fun part is to find out what his intentions are for us. I can almost guarantee you they are different than what our intentions are for ourselves. He has such better plans for us; richer, deeper, more blessed, more thrilling, more far-reaching, more generationally inpacting, THAN WE COULD EVER IMPAGINE. Just ponder Josheph's life for one minute. In his wildest dreams, (and he did dream, we know that) he never dreamed that he would have such an impact on the whole world and for many generations to come. Among other things, he single-handedly saved the entire Hebrew nation. Back to you, now. Seek God in your own way for his plans, firt lay your life totally on the altar. Lay it all down. Every dream, every plan and ambition. Allow the Lord to lead you by His Word. New and exciting things will be begin to transpire. New people will come in your life. Don't turn opportunities that come your way down (of course, make sure that your pastor and parents would approve). Take risks. Let the doors begin to open. Don't be afraid. God will never hurt you. << < = = > >>

Saturday, July 7, 2012

When your plans change.

When your plans change! I have always been somewhat in awe of those that plan out their lives with such meticulous care. I've had teacher friends that planned the month they would give birth to their baby so as to not disrupt their school year. And others that have planned ahead with money management programs so they knew right when they would be debt free. Even though I am curious and as I said "in awe" of that forethought, I simply cannot relate. It seems that I am handed a daily plate of variables and managing those variables is a supreme challenge. There are certain things that are not negotiable. My love and commitment to the Lord and to the church is not going to budge. I know better than to go that direction. And faithfulness to my husband and children; not giving in there either. But there are unexpected visitors that constantly knock on our front doors, like: unexpected bills, broken hearts, health issues, infertility, unexpected fertility, accidents, being led by the Lord to do certain things or go certain places. When you hear from God that you are to go back to school and have to live on "peanuts" for years, or when you hear from God to start a church by yourself with no one but your children to assist you, or when you learn that you do not have the "flu" as you had supposed and that you are going to have a baby in your forties! These are things that cause you to re-write any plans that you had. Life is wonderful and full of wonder. A child of God can trust that God knows what he is doing, and the sooner we relax and allow ourselves to praise him FOR EVERYTHING, we will be better off. God loves it when his children are led by him. He will fight our battles if we let him; he will bring the victory. I know people that have followed a financial plan for their lives but in doing so, they have "lost" what matters most. What matters most? That we follow after God and see that our children follow after God too. When the trumpet sounds, it won't matter if we still have unfinished things in our lives. What will matter is that we are READY to go.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Joy cometh in the morning.

I sometimes write this blog with a specific person in mind; sometimes it's me. Sometimes I feel so much inspiration; it feels like that adrenaline or Holy Ghost rush (I should sound more spiritual, right?) you get right before you are to share what the Lord had given you to speak in a church..... I again am amazed. God certainly knows where we are and knows what we are going through. If the people that are supposed to speak into your life are not able to due to distractions, spiritual injury or lukewarmness, God will send someone else. He will. Just hold on and follow hard after the things of God. Direction and peace will come. As kids we rode this ride at Como Park in St. Paul that was so scary then AND still is NOW! It was round and the carnies strapped us into it standing up. After we began to spin and spin, they removed the flooring of the ride and we were held in place by the force of the spinning, (centrifigal force). That is how some of our trials feel. Life is spinning out of control it seems and then on top of everything the bottom drops out of our lives! It's awful, it's a time for panic..but then you realize you are being held up by a power greater than yourself. God is holding you. He will continue to hold you until you are back on the ground, and then he will still hold your hand, always. Get your strength from the Word...don't just read about the Bible; READ THE BIBLE. Talk to God, let the tears flow. He is aquainted with grief, he understands our sorrow and our joy. Psalm 30:5.....weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Jesus understand weeping but he understands JOY TOO! Be of good courage, my friend, you are not alone.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Backsliding. Slow Fade. Lukewarm. Falling Away.

I don't care for the the term "backslider"...but....I feel I must address this issue AGAIN. You see or hear some terrible news of someone acting in an ungodly way. You are shocked but in time you step back and ponder. I ponder so much that it hurts my head sometimes. As one ponders and takes the entire picture into perspective a hidden motive may become more obvious. Under the evil popping up out of the ground, one will find the love of money. The love of money is behind all evil... I didn't write that; this is Scripture. "ALL EVIL"?, my pondering mind says. Yes, all evil. Here are just a few examples of loving money... -a mother sees her friend's nice things; yet she struggles, she is tempted to leave her marriage and seek after a wealthy new guy... -a father is tired of being so financially strapped that he is tempted to just "chuck" the marriage and fatherhood. -A single man marries the wrong lady. He marries another because she has connections and money. -A single woman does not marry for love but for advantage. -A preacher fails to preach biblical truth since truth may offend his parishioners ie:support base. -People can step on others in their effort to climb the ladder of success. -A skilled physican goes into the field of medicine that TAKES life since there is guaranteed income. -A person takes a job where the focus of the company is inherently destructive to individuals and families. -People are tempted to dress immodestly to attract another for personal advantage. When a believer gets the money section in order, he/she is so much stronger. I know some people that are blessed abundantly and their children are blessed as well JUST because they have the MONEY question settled. This is not a blog about tithing....but honestly, giving God our first fruits is so fundamental, yet people nit-pick about it. If the patriarchs got it...and the New Testament church gave even more than their firstfuits or tenth, why do we question the power and truth of the tithe? It reminds me of speaking with tongues. It makes no sense, yet it is a God thing. When we surrender all of ourselves to God, we begin to worship him and it's no time that we lose ourself in the Spirit of God and a beautiful utterance comes out of our mouth. Advice from a friend; don't mess with money. Trust God, give him the first fruits, and don't covet. Just tell the Lord when you need or want something. He will provide. He's the best daddy you could ever dream of. "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."Luke 12:32 Next time you see evil popping out of the ground...look at the roots,you will find the love of money. Put God back in charge and trust HIM for all of your needs.