A Year of Blessing - March 9, 2010

Many people talk about spending time with God early in the morning. I love mine. It is a special time with just me and my Maker. I don't do the same thing every day: Sometimes I study, sometimes sing, sometimes journal, always pray, sometimes just wait, listening for His quiet answer. It is my strength time, and I feel lost without it. It is my spiritual vitamin that, when taken everyday, keeps me healthy and strong inside.

It is amazing how many times I have studied verses, or written down my meandering thoughts, only to find someone else has been studying or thinking something similar. If I wake with a song (which I always do!) the message of the song is like a thread in my day, weaving thought to thought, person to person, God to us. He's amazing! It's another one of those things about Him! How does He do that...except as our God!

Psalm 27:3-5 (The Message)

When besieged,
I'm calm as a baby.
When all hell breaks loose,
I'm collected and cool.

I'm asking God for one thing,
only one thing:
To live with him in his house
my whole life long.
I'll contemplate his beauty;
I'll study at his feet.

That's the only quiet, secure place
in a noisy world,
The perfect getaway,
far from the buzz of traffic.

A Year of Blessing - March 8, 2010

It's....almost....SPRING!

I'm thinking that God must enjoy watching us patiently (?) anticipating... Like me watching the flowers out front. Waiting. Waiting for the first one to have a bud. Waiting. Waiting for the flower...

Maybe that's what Jesus Messiah is feeling. Waiting for one more seed of the Word to be planted. Waiting. Waiting for one more person to know Him. Waiting. Waiting for the Father to say....

Revelation 21:1-5 (New International Version)

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"

A Year of Blessing - March 7, 2010

Friends are hard to come by...at least for me. So I cherish the friendship that has developed between this sweet lady and me! Linda is a tiny woman with a giant heart for people. Her enthusiasm is contagious. Her smile is too! But for all of that, I have had the privilege of knowing some of her hurts, struggles, and weaknesses. For that I love her all the more.

I wonder why it is that I feel I have to wear my pretty mask, saying pretty things, doing pretty jobs and never let anyone see how I really am? I just finished a study on fear, and I have to say that that is my answer. I fear people knowing the ugly me. But when I do open up and allow them to see, something wonderful happens. My ugliness is swallowed up by His beauty. And it brings me closer to the relationship Christ died to give me. One that is full of love and acceptance.

Thank you, Linda.

Proverbs 17:17 (The Message)

Friends love through all kinds of weather,
and families stick together in all kinds of trouble.



(Now..about that guitar in the church....)

A Year of Blessing - March 6, 2010

This photo falls very very short of the actual event. This benign announcement didn't tell of the life changing, heart wrenching, soul awakening message dear Liz Pense had. It didn't say that I would be reduced to tears only to be made totally aware of God's power and love! A redeeming love! It doesn't even hint that her message would give me a simple grammar tool that transforms my situation...any situation really, into a God event. It didn't say that I would be having discussions and conversations with family members, friends and some total strangers about the way God took this total atheistic woman and brought her to the point of total, abandoned dependence on the creator of all things.

No, the printed page fell far short in describing the day...but then even the Bible couches huge events in subtle terms..."In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Think about it. Roaring atoms of stuff coming together in spectacular pyrotechnic explosions? God created. And in the midst of all that event, God was thinking of us...me...and how I would be trying desperately to convey the wonder of His plan for all mankind. He, God, Father coaches his acts in such simple terms, but they have such life changing, life giving meaning for all his children! Oh that I could make a message that could truly give God the glory He is due!

Oh, wait! It would probably look like Liz Pense! And His glory is not written on the paper announcement but on a heart redeemed! Like your heart. Like my heart. Like Liz's heart! Be blessed today with the wonder of God!!

2 Corinthians 3:2-3 (New International Version)

You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

A Year of Blessing - March 5, 2010

I was able to do some embroidery work today! Now that doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is. Since my back surgery, I have been limited on quite a few things. Quite a few things that I really enjoy doing! This is one of them. The last time I tried (a few months ago) it was a very painful labor of love. Today it was lovely! No pain. A little stiff, but I can work through that.

Healing is so fascinating! Just when I am stuck and ready to give up, God comes through showing me my patience is worth it! Bit by bit. Little by little. From glory to glory. That's how He works. I'm so glad He doesn't do everything my way. Life just wouldn't be as sweet!

2 Corinthians 3:18 (King James Version)

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

A Year of Blessing - March 4, 2010

I love it! The temperature is 60 degrees! I am out and about without a coat! If I could dance, I would! Winter is on it's way out, and Spring is just around the corner. And, no, I haven't forgotten about my post yesterday...but I still like warmer weather...and have plenty of other things besides cold weather that I dislike!!

Thank you, Abba, for warmer weather!

Psalm 111:1 (The Message)

Hallelujah! I give thanks to God with everything I've got—
Wherever good people gather, and in the congregation.
God's works are so great, worth
A lifetime of study—endless enjoyment!

A Year of Blessing - March 3, 2010

Winter is not my favorite time of year. The cold is one part of it. The other is that the world just looks dead. Grass is brown. Trees are bare. No flowers. The days are short and dark nights long.

But today I noticed something in a neighbors weeping fig tree. I had always admired the shape of the tree with its long, trailing limbs covered with beautiful dark green leaves, but Winter had ripped it of leaves and left it looking lifeless. Looking closer, I noticed a nest snuggled in the interior of the tree where, in Spring, it would be safe and hidden. A home with the finest, downy feather lining.

God is showing me the things I tend to detest can hold sweet secrets that are only seen when I allow myself to look beyond my dislike.

Job 5:8,9 (The Message)

If I were in your shoes, I'd go straight to God,
I'd throw myself on the mercy of God.
After all, he's famous for great and unexpected acts;
there's no end to his surprises.

A Year of Blessing - March 2, 2010

I started walking again not only for exercise but for some stress management. God and I have a few heart-to-heart talks while I walk and I can pound the pavement with my frustration, grief, and hurt and by the time I get home I am calmer and able to move on.

Today I put my ipod on Dennis Jernigan's This is My Destiny album and started my journey around the neighborhood. I had been praying for almost a mile with Dennis crooning song after song in my ear when I finally reached a point in my prayer that I asked God to just let me know He heard me. I really NEEDED to know that what I said mattered to my Lord. I can't go on with just my own strength! As I paused in prayer, I heard these words from the song I was listening to:

I would never make it one day
Without your love in my life!
You're my Rock
When the world sweeps over me!
Lord, so many times
I don't see a way
So just keep holding me tight,
For I know
That I need you desperately!

Looking down at that time I saw this huge rock sitting beside the sidewalk!

Hide me in the cleft of the Rock; (rock? the song continued)
Clothe me in the love of the Son.
Lord, surround me! Surround me!
I release the joy of my heart,
Flowing from the River of Life!

For you are my Refuge,
A present help in my trouble,
A River of Gladness
My help as the morning comes.
You are my Refuge
Though the world falls around me,
I will not fear, Lord,
For I have your love!

I cried in joy the rest of the way home! How God orchestrated all of the hope and absolute answers He gave me on that walk I will never understand! The rock was placed YEARS ago by that sidewalk! The song was recorded in 1999! Put on my ipod...several years ago! I had walked to just the right spot, prayed just the right words! At the right time I paused in prayer to listed to just the right words of the song, and recognized them for God's presence and love for ME!! Coincidence? I THINK NOT!!!

I will not fear, Lord, For I have your love!

Psalm 46:1-5 (New International Version)

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.